To reduce the population of inflammatory bacteria that can contribute to autoimmune disease (particularly AS and psoriatic arthritis), it can be incredibly helpful to avoid foods that contain significant starch and sugars.
How strict you need to be to get results is highly variable between different individuals and different forms of autoimmunity. Those with ankylosing spondylitis often need to be the most careful in avoiding starch, but they also have the most to gain from this strategy. To reflect the different approaches that can be taken to lowering starch and sugars, the Keystone Approach divides the low-starch diet in to basic, intermediate, and advanced levels.
A printable version of the foods allowed at each level is available here:
For those would like more detailed information on the starch content of an even wider array of foods, I created an excel file, which you can download below:
Note that there are separate pages in the spreadsheet for each category of food. The data in the excel file is derived from the UK government composition of foods data set (2015). This is the most accurate information we have, yet it is still not always reliable. For example, the starch content of pumpkin, winter squash, and many fruits can be very unpredictable, depending on season and ripeness. If you are very sensitive to starch, you may need to test these foods with iodine each time to ensure that they truly are low starch.
For further information, see The Keystone Approach on Amazon
Or start reading now by downloading a free PDF of chapter 1