From what I've seen with folks struggling with SIBO and Candida among other things was that cutting out sugar completely is probably the first and easiest place to start. No sugar at all, especially added sugar like you might find in a pasta sauce or other store-bought foods. Do that for 3 months straight and then eat something with sugar after that. You'll probably feel sick.
This would represent a radical and complete change in diet in me and probably many other people. Since it would mean having to change from most cheap preprepared versions of common foods such as pasta sauce, like you mentioned, and even regular store-bought bread. These foods would either more considerably more expensive or time-intensive versions that don't include sugar, or replacing them with completely unlike foods.
It's in no way an "easy" change, and involves so much alteration that I doubt the significance of the "no sugar" component matters as much as the other collateral changes.
Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If you can just start by reducing the added sugars, you can monitor any changes as you go along. If it seems helpful, you can then take more expensive/drastic measures.
If you don't want to do food prep, or you don't care for traditional high fat, moderate protein, low carb food options, you can get meal replacement shakes.
I prefer KetoChow, rotate through several different flavors, and it costs me ~$3/meal. It take 5-10 minutes of prep every 2-3 days (fill blender bottles with heavy whipping cream, ketochow powder, water, shake, toss in fridge). At 5' 6", I went from ~180 lbs to ~155 lbs. I don't need to work out, I maintain a healthy weight, and it's both affordable and non-time intensive.
Otherwise, cut breads, sugars, and liquid calories (regular soda & beer) out of your diet. I know people who eat primarily meats, cheeses, and green veggies, and they feel better than they ever have and quickly shed any excess fat without exercise.
It’s doable, but for social reasons, not easy.
Having the occasional sugary dish isn't going to ruin you. Anything you do to reduce sugar is better than doing nothing.
not significantly different from the bodybuilder protein shakes.
I reduced salt intake to a couple hundred milligrams per day last week, and I've barely noticed.
My main staples are lots of steamed vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds, fruit, and a little fish and brown rice. I also do some calorie restriction, and water fasting for 2-5 days at a time. I cook almost everything from scratch and do meal prep a couple of times per week to have quick access to healthy foods. Two years in, and I'm 65 pounds lighter and feeling satisfied with the meals.
I'm not sure if lectins are a problem to worry about. Most results that I see in Google are blogs by self-described health experts who are selling products and personal brands. There's also this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/going-lect...
I don’t know if the WaPo is a good resource to debunk anything ;)
The Washington Post article is written by a registered dietitian and there is some kind of editing process. The other link is self-published.
It says things like, "our ancestors just didn't evolve eating this type of food and our immune system can't handle it".
but humans have been eating grains for 100,000 years:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/humans-fea...
I'll keep an eye out for lectin research though. Thanks for the tip.
I meant purified sugar, like cane sugar or high-fructose corn syrup
Cutting out dairy after I found out I'm lactose intolerant probably had the biggest effect on my quality of life - I'd urge anyone with digestive problems to get tested for it, it's a lot more prevalent than one would think.
No daily coffee, no past-noon sugary snack, you know the other stuff. It's not brain science.
If you want to self experiment, at a minimum, start a food diary. Record what you eat, when you eat it and track any health metrics you hope to change, whether sleep or something else. Establish a baseline for your current normal. Then try no more than one new thing every week or two to establish whether it does anything and, if so, what effect it seems to have.
Supplements are easier to work with at the start because it is the best way to try to isolate a factor. Dietary changes are much harder to understand because they always involve at least two changes: the new food you are adding and the discontinuation of whatever you used to eat. This always leaves the question "Is the new food helping? Or is the effect from removing the old food?"
That's before getting into the issue that most things you eat are complicated products containing multiple ingredients.