Todd Moody wrote:
> But that kind of a diet need not exclude starch sources such as root
veggies, tubers, squashes, etc.

Do root veggies and winter squash contain starch?  I'm not sure about this.
Starch means polysaccharide--amylose or amylopectin.  I think that many
(most? all?) root veggies and winter squash contain dissaccharides but not
polysaccharides.  I'm guessing this based on their carbohydrate percent as
compared to starchy tubers like white potatoes or sweet potatoes, but I don't
know for sure, and have never found a source for this information.  I could
test this with some iodine--I just haven't done it.  If you put a little
iodine on starch, it turns black.

Todd Moody wrote:
> If I had to guess, I'd bet that the bowel problems are caused by damage to
the bowel caused by grain lectins, compromising the ability to deal with what
would have been a normal starch load.

That may be a component, but it can't be the whole story because researchers
really did recently identify a gene associated with IBD.  It's long been
observed that IBD runs in families and in certain gene pools.  For example,
it's more common in people of Eastern European Jewish descent (like myself).
Also, it's without question an autoimmune problem--there is T-cell
involvement--and this isn't explained by lectins (at least not as I
understand the lectin issue).