I’m seriously considering making another huge change to the way I eat now that I know my health crisis is likely caused by mold illness. I won’t make changes until I speak with my doctor and get lab tests confirming mold illness and leptin resistance (which often goes hand in hand with mold illness).

The lead researcher of mold illnesses, Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker, recommends the No Amylose Diet to help his patients lose weight and recover from the systemic inflammation and hormone imbalances caused by mold illness.

Amylose is a natural polymer made up of glucose. Eliminating foods high in amylose and glucose helps burn fat without increasing blood sugar. It’s similar to the Paleo diet and the Atkins diet only it’s less restrictive and much easier to understand than the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

The basics of the diet:

• Eat at least 6-8 ounces of protein per day.
• Don’t fast or skip meals.
• Avoid vegetables/legumes that grow underground including potatoes, peanuts, carrots, beets, and tapioca. The only exceptions are onions and garlic.
• Avoid simple sugars like table sugar, honey, agave nectar, and corn syrup plus maltodextrins. Stevia, sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners are okay.
• Avoid the cereal grains wheat, rice, barley, oats, and rye. Corn is okay (other than corn syrup).
• Avoid bananas and plantains. Other fruits are okay.
• Avoid commercially prepared fruit/vegetable juices. Fresh squeezed juice is okay.

This isn’t too far away from the eating plan I had to follow when I was at my sickest. Eating gluten, potatoes, and sugar increased my inflammation symptoms. I can now eat limited amounts of all three but if I eat too much I feel the effects. Eliminating them and other foods is worth it if I can further improve my heath.