There's a current "funny" going around on facebook -- "i hesitate to ask anymore how dumb people can be, because some seem to see it as a challenge" or words to that effect. But it's still a valid question!
I'm reading a very intelligent treatise on the role of food intolerance on CFS/ME, and after implying that the more perfectly people follow a diet designed to minimize known food intolerances, the better they feel, the article goes on to say that they hesitate to recommend this kind of avoidance technique! It seems that patients consider this healthful practice onerous, difficult and burdensome -- awwwww, poor things.... You CAN get significant improvement of life-limiting illness, but you're actually going to have to give up your favorite toxin!
What's the deal, here??? Is it THAT traumatic to dump wheat, or dairy, or chocolate, or whatever, in order to GET YOUR LIFE BACK?
This viewpoint points out some really screwed-up priorities! YES, you're going to have to think and plan ahead. Yes, you'll have to forgo some goodies MOST OF THE TIME (experience seems to point out that, once identified, trouble foods can be used on an extremely rare basis once the body has done some healing and the reaction threshold is lower). Yes, you WILL have to exercise a certain amount of "won't-power."
There is no free lunch when it comes to wellness. A few people (especially the young) can eat, drink and do whatever they want without noticing deleterious effects, but that doesn't apply to the majority of us, especially aging women. I'm willing to trade regular high-histamine foods in my diet (yes, even wine) for increased well-being! I'd rather be OFF misery-inducing treats than ON side-effect-producing pharmaceuticals! ... How about you?
Showing posts with label food sensitivity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food sensitivity. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Sunday, August 11, 2013
histamine reading continues....
While eating a lot of the wrong things myself, i continue to read about theoretically controlling histamine.... :-) Today's brunch was a really yummy platter of preserved meats (sausage, confit, headcheese, bresaola, ...), goat brie, pickled vegetables and a couple glasses of champagne, and i paid the price -- feeling miserably bloated sitting on the sunny side of the car, and having to soap my ring off when i got home.
I have no doubt that some of my allergy problems are in fact histamine-intolerance issues. When i first read about the subject a couple of years ago, it rang a bell (set off an alarm clock actually), but something distracted me and i'm only just getting back to it. This time i'll make every effort to stick with it a little better.
On the way home from the restaurant, though, we stopped by the neighborhood health-food store and i picked up a bottle of holy-basil tincture and at home i took a dropperful -- felt better pretty quickly. Gonna use it for a little while in place of benedryl and see how it works in the long term.
Well, back to the reading ... but just have to gripe a bit about the people who write on the subject! OBVIOUSLY know diddly-squat about the subject of nutrition because they seem scared to death they're going to give themselves a case of malnutrition by omitting "whole food groups" -- where have we heard THAT before? ;-) ...Unless of course they're talking about giving up MEAT* -- that IS a mistake!
______
* and the proclamation against "red meat" is based on the factoid that "Red Meats are hardest on us as they are usually from animals who had antibiotics injected or were force fed etc." also that they're supposedly very high in omega-6s -- i guess these people don't know about grassfed....
I have no doubt that some of my allergy problems are in fact histamine-intolerance issues. When i first read about the subject a couple of years ago, it rang a bell (set off an alarm clock actually), but something distracted me and i'm only just getting back to it. This time i'll make every effort to stick with it a little better.
On the way home from the restaurant, though, we stopped by the neighborhood health-food store and i picked up a bottle of holy-basil tincture and at home i took a dropperful -- felt better pretty quickly. Gonna use it for a little while in place of benedryl and see how it works in the long term.
Well, back to the reading ... but just have to gripe a bit about the people who write on the subject! OBVIOUSLY know diddly-squat about the subject of nutrition because they seem scared to death they're going to give themselves a case of malnutrition by omitting "whole food groups" -- where have we heard THAT before? ;-) ...Unless of course they're talking about giving up MEAT* -- that IS a mistake!
______
* and the proclamation against "red meat" is based on the factoid that "Red Meats are hardest on us as they are usually from animals who had antibiotics injected or were force fed etc." also that they're supposedly very high in omega-6s -- i guess these people don't know about grassfed....
Saturday, August 10, 2013
new clues to encourage a happier body
A couple of days ago a new realization filtered into my brain.... The way Dr. Donaldson ("Strong Medicine") designed his dietary recommendations, his approved food list ("allergy bandwagon" he called it) turned out to be LOW HISTAMINE.
I read a little bit about the question a couple of years ago, but while doing the program it didn't occur to me -- i have no idea why it popped into consciousness now. But yeah -- freshly grinding a beef chuck into burger and cooking it the same day decidedly gives you a smaller histamine dose than buying that family pack of ground beef. A lot of the foods Donaldson frowned on are high in histamine irritation: wheat, tomatoes (all nightshades in fact), citrus, strawberries, chocolate.... It seems also that some foods which give me hypothyroid symptoms -- sauerkraut leaps out -- are also high in the nasty bioamine, too.
Oh, and also those "neolithic agents of disease" grains, legumes and polyunsaturated (ie. rancid) seed oils.
I think it's highly likely that i'll feel much better by trying to minimize histamine-containing foods in my diet. According to "thelowhistaminechef.com" one of the huge number of histamine-intolerance symptoms is trouble with the thyroid. Gotta read up more....
The worst part of this is that red wine falls into the "avoid" category. :-(
I read a little bit about the question a couple of years ago, but while doing the program it didn't occur to me -- i have no idea why it popped into consciousness now. But yeah -- freshly grinding a beef chuck into burger and cooking it the same day decidedly gives you a smaller histamine dose than buying that family pack of ground beef. A lot of the foods Donaldson frowned on are high in histamine irritation: wheat, tomatoes (all nightshades in fact), citrus, strawberries, chocolate.... It seems also that some foods which give me hypothyroid symptoms -- sauerkraut leaps out -- are also high in the nasty bioamine, too.
Oh, and also those "neolithic agents of disease" grains, legumes and polyunsaturated (ie. rancid) seed oils.
I think it's highly likely that i'll feel much better by trying to minimize histamine-containing foods in my diet. According to "thelowhistaminechef.com" one of the huge number of histamine-intolerance symptoms is trouble with the thyroid. Gotta read up more....
The worst part of this is that red wine falls into the "avoid" category. :-(
Thursday, July 4, 2013
another seeker doesn't tolerate meat-only diet
Because of one thing and another, i'm slow in presenting the news -- my husband gave the Strong Medicine protocol the ol' college try, and concluded that it isn't for him. He faithfully played the game for three days, and got thoroughly bored with it ... AND said he wasn't feeling very well either.
Of course, three days didn't get him past the low-motility phase (i was doing it with him, and nor did i adjust in that fashion). However, i "allowed" him to quit at the point he did because of his first objection -- if the dietary tedium got to him so quickly, there's no way he can do this long-term. Sustainability is immensely important when choosing a dietary plan to live with for (essentially) the rest of your life.
I came up with a new way to compromise in our shared dietary future: he gets an additional side of bagged salad with home-made (low-omega6) dressing to add fat calories and bulk to every lunch and dinner we have at home. He's much more fond of salad than i am, and tolerates lettuce just fine (while i don't). Since i learned the stick-blender method of mayonnaise production, it'll be quite simple to churn out plenty of good dressings, especially since my daughter gave me the MDA recipe book of sauces and dressings for my birthday (thanks, L!).
For my part of the food landscape, i'll continue to go meat-heavy while being careful of what vegetable-matter i use by way of garnish. Realizing that some of my intolerances may be related to my intestinal flora, i recently began a probiotic containing C. Butyricum (and a couple of other "bugs" -- thanks for the inspiration, George!) in hopes of improving diversity of population in there. I've also been inspired by Kindke's recent post to increase my intake of carnitine, and i just ordered a bottle of a high-potency liquid version....
We'll see how these tweaks succeed! As Wooo pointed out, there's still a couple of months to profit from summer's seasonal benefits before autumn's fat-encouraging qualities descend on us again.
Of course, three days didn't get him past the low-motility phase (i was doing it with him, and nor did i adjust in that fashion). However, i "allowed" him to quit at the point he did because of his first objection -- if the dietary tedium got to him so quickly, there's no way he can do this long-term. Sustainability is immensely important when choosing a dietary plan to live with for (essentially) the rest of your life.
I came up with a new way to compromise in our shared dietary future: he gets an additional side of bagged salad with home-made (low-omega6) dressing to add fat calories and bulk to every lunch and dinner we have at home. He's much more fond of salad than i am, and tolerates lettuce just fine (while i don't). Since i learned the stick-blender method of mayonnaise production, it'll be quite simple to churn out plenty of good dressings, especially since my daughter gave me the MDA recipe book of sauces and dressings for my birthday (thanks, L!).
For my part of the food landscape, i'll continue to go meat-heavy while being careful of what vegetable-matter i use by way of garnish. Realizing that some of my intolerances may be related to my intestinal flora, i recently began a probiotic containing C. Butyricum (and a couple of other "bugs" -- thanks for the inspiration, George!) in hopes of improving diversity of population in there. I've also been inspired by Kindke's recent post to increase my intake of carnitine, and i just ordered a bottle of a high-potency liquid version....
We'll see how these tweaks succeed! As Wooo pointed out, there's still a couple of months to profit from summer's seasonal benefits before autumn's fat-encouraging qualities descend on us again.
Monday, April 15, 2013
new mystery?
I had a "bad" night. Dana Carpender is on my shit-list today! ...Okay, not really -- i just needed a dramatic line. ;-) Sorry, D....
For years i've been using shirataki noodles; i don't really LIKE them, but they're a convenient addition to otherwise-appropriate, favorite old recipes which unfortunately contain pasta. If you handle them right and don't overload the dish, the slight extra chewiness isn't a big problem -- hell, some people's "al dente" pasta has worse texture.
Up to now i've used the "regular" version of shirataki, because i'll always and forever TRY to minimize soy products in my life. In the cookbook "Fat Fast," the authors say that having done the math, the quantity of tofu in the hybrid noodles calculates out to be very small ("like a teaspoon of tofu per serving"). They also praise the improved texture of the product, and its availability in shapes that are more appropriate for certain dishes than are the angelhair-like shirataki noodles i get in my local international-foods stores. In addition, they note a new product which is supposed to be similar to tofu-shirataki but without the soy-- Pasta Zero.
I went searching online for PZ (amazon.com didn't have it), and discovered that it's (theoretically) stocked at a local grocery, so i went searching IRL for it: no soap! So as not to waste my errand, and because i'd been assured by knowledgeable people that tofu-shirataki has very little actual soy in it, i picked up a couple of bags of the fettucine version. We tried one of them last evening in a signature dish of J's, shrimp fra diavolo.
Well, the noodles did the job of "carrying" the spicy tomato mixture to the mouth, and kept the shrimps company on the plate, but they're still recognizably shiratakis. They more closely resembled wheat pasta to-the-eye than do the non-tofu kind, and the fettucine shape works better than angelhair, but that's about it. We concluded that the tofu-shirataki was a better choice for certain dishes for non-gustatory reasons.
I changed my mind at 3:00 this morning, when i was awakened by a hot-flash from hell and a very unhappy belly. I don't know what else it could have been, if not those noodles! Though sleepy, i couldn't doze off again till almost 6. A few systemic enzyme caplets helped my stomach, but i really didn't know what was going on with it -- a "normal" person waking up to a belly like that would probably run for the cookie jar! It still feels funky.
Now, i haven't suffered a hot-flash since i started using progesterone creme, which was before i started my current regimen of pregnenolone tablets. Notably, too, i didn't get the "hypo" symptoms i usually feel when overdoing legumes, which are abnormal chilliness, edema or brain-fog. My symptoms were on the estrogenic page, not the thyroidal.
Since there's another little bag of the noodles in the fridge, i'll conduct another experiment with the tofu-shirataki sometime when i'm feeling particularly great (good baseline) and in an analytical mood. I'm not ready to condemn the product YET ... but i'm definitely suspicious.
FOR THE RECORD: so far, i LOVE my "Fat Fast" cookbook! The recipes i've tried so far have been innovative and intelligently-crafted. We're looking forward to trying a lot more of them.
For years i've been using shirataki noodles; i don't really LIKE them, but they're a convenient addition to otherwise-appropriate, favorite old recipes which unfortunately contain pasta. If you handle them right and don't overload the dish, the slight extra chewiness isn't a big problem -- hell, some people's "al dente" pasta has worse texture.
Up to now i've used the "regular" version of shirataki, because i'll always and forever TRY to minimize soy products in my life. In the cookbook "Fat Fast," the authors say that having done the math, the quantity of tofu in the hybrid noodles calculates out to be very small ("like a teaspoon of tofu per serving"). They also praise the improved texture of the product, and its availability in shapes that are more appropriate for certain dishes than are the angelhair-like shirataki noodles i get in my local international-foods stores. In addition, they note a new product which is supposed to be similar to tofu-shirataki but without the soy-- Pasta Zero.
I went searching online for PZ (amazon.com didn't have it), and discovered that it's (theoretically) stocked at a local grocery, so i went searching IRL for it: no soap! So as not to waste my errand, and because i'd been assured by knowledgeable people that tofu-shirataki has very little actual soy in it, i picked up a couple of bags of the fettucine version. We tried one of them last evening in a signature dish of J's, shrimp fra diavolo.
Well, the noodles did the job of "carrying" the spicy tomato mixture to the mouth, and kept the shrimps company on the plate, but they're still recognizably shiratakis. They more closely resembled wheat pasta to-the-eye than do the non-tofu kind, and the fettucine shape works better than angelhair, but that's about it. We concluded that the tofu-shirataki was a better choice for certain dishes for non-gustatory reasons.
I changed my mind at 3:00 this morning, when i was awakened by a hot-flash from hell and a very unhappy belly. I don't know what else it could have been, if not those noodles! Though sleepy, i couldn't doze off again till almost 6. A few systemic enzyme caplets helped my stomach, but i really didn't know what was going on with it -- a "normal" person waking up to a belly like that would probably run for the cookie jar! It still feels funky.
Now, i haven't suffered a hot-flash since i started using progesterone creme, which was before i started my current regimen of pregnenolone tablets. Notably, too, i didn't get the "hypo" symptoms i usually feel when overdoing legumes, which are abnormal chilliness, edema or brain-fog. My symptoms were on the estrogenic page, not the thyroidal.
Since there's another little bag of the noodles in the fridge, i'll conduct another experiment with the tofu-shirataki sometime when i'm feeling particularly great (good baseline) and in an analytical mood. I'm not ready to condemn the product YET ... but i'm definitely suspicious.
FOR THE RECORD: so far, i LOVE my "Fat Fast" cookbook! The recipes i've tried so far have been innovative and intelligently-crafted. We're looking forward to trying a lot more of them.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
avoiding goitrogenic foods is SERIOUS business
Yesterday i found the threshold. About a half-cup of sauerkraut with my lunch, maybe a third-cup of cooked kale at dinner, plus an additional half-cup of the leftover coleslaw (just to finish it up), and i was COLD last evening. I slept well, and woke this morning with a tongue that filled my mouth to overflowing. Two strong symptoms with me, that my thyroid is under-performing.
I can usually have small amounts of problematic foods as long as i continue to eat well otherwise. The other day, i had about a quarter-cup of baked beans without symptoms, and i had more than that of lentils on another day with impunity, but after my whole30 last year when i added refried beans in, a half-cup of THOSE caused the cold to grip me. Then, a few months ago i tried a heritage variety of beans (Anasazi, and a small quantity at that) in my chili -- probably a quarter-cup was too much.
Obviously, different legumes, and different preparations of some foods (like cabbage) make a HUGE difference! After all, i had a good-sized wedge of cabbage (probably a cup's worth) cooked with corned beef not long ago, and didn't turn a hair. I can eat a reasonable serving of cooked broccoli or cauliflower (i avoid them raw these days) with no trouble. If one has a weak or sensitive thyroid, only self-experimentation can teach you what you can live with and what is just TOO MUCH.
And these are only the goitrogens! Grains and dairy cause a constellation of very different symptoms not necessarily associated with thyroid function. One small serving of wheat doesn't bring on significant joint pain, and for those who don't realize they're sensitive because they don't have glaring symptoms -- well, they aren't likely to believe they have any problem at all. It's only with an elimination diet and a LARGE dose of the offending substance that they'll come to notice they have ANY trouble! I suspect that few people have as strong a reaction as Lori did to a foodstuff ... OR do as good detective-work in figuring it out. You have to pay close attention to your body's cues, and not add too many novel foods too fast.
The additional amount of dairy (specifically, cream) that i've been consuming since my husband got home from his last business-trip has contributed its toll as well -- i've noticed before that dairy contributes to skin break-outs. I had been thinking about trying a new recipe for barley bread, and i was curious to see if my reaction to that flour would be like what i have to wheat and oats, or more like my almost-nonexistent response to sourdough rye ... and now i'm glad i did NOT make it. Too much of a load of "dangerous" foods at once!
Well, i've had fun experimenting but it's time to go back to a purer diet. The last few days have "gifted" me with more body aches and allergies than i've felt for quite awhile, so enough is obviously enough.
I can usually have small amounts of problematic foods as long as i continue to eat well otherwise. The other day, i had about a quarter-cup of baked beans without symptoms, and i had more than that of lentils on another day with impunity, but after my whole30 last year when i added refried beans in, a half-cup of THOSE caused the cold to grip me. Then, a few months ago i tried a heritage variety of beans (Anasazi, and a small quantity at that) in my chili -- probably a quarter-cup was too much.
Obviously, different legumes, and different preparations of some foods (like cabbage) make a HUGE difference! After all, i had a good-sized wedge of cabbage (probably a cup's worth) cooked with corned beef not long ago, and didn't turn a hair. I can eat a reasonable serving of cooked broccoli or cauliflower (i avoid them raw these days) with no trouble. If one has a weak or sensitive thyroid, only self-experimentation can teach you what you can live with and what is just TOO MUCH.
And these are only the goitrogens! Grains and dairy cause a constellation of very different symptoms not necessarily associated with thyroid function. One small serving of wheat doesn't bring on significant joint pain, and for those who don't realize they're sensitive because they don't have glaring symptoms -- well, they aren't likely to believe they have any problem at all. It's only with an elimination diet and a LARGE dose of the offending substance that they'll come to notice they have ANY trouble! I suspect that few people have as strong a reaction as Lori did to a foodstuff ... OR do as good detective-work in figuring it out. You have to pay close attention to your body's cues, and not add too many novel foods too fast.
The additional amount of dairy (specifically, cream) that i've been consuming since my husband got home from his last business-trip has contributed its toll as well -- i've noticed before that dairy contributes to skin break-outs. I had been thinking about trying a new recipe for barley bread, and i was curious to see if my reaction to that flour would be like what i have to wheat and oats, or more like my almost-nonexistent response to sourdough rye ... and now i'm glad i did NOT make it. Too much of a load of "dangerous" foods at once!
Well, i've had fun experimenting but it's time to go back to a purer diet. The last few days have "gifted" me with more body aches and allergies than i've felt for quite awhile, so enough is obviously enough.
Monday, September 24, 2012
...but what does that have to do with hypothyroidism?
Continuing from my not-terribly-well-expressed blog post of yesterday (i was trying to do too much at once)....
I believe that choosing my diet carefully is the most important thing i can do for my health, as it relates to my wimpy thyroid. I'd MUCH rather limit foods that mess with my sense of well-being, than be able to eat "treats" OFTEN and juggle with pharmaceuticals and painkillers. Some people would rather go the other direction -- we all choose our own poisons! :-)
An AWFUL lot of hypothyroidism is of the autoimmune variety. It's well-established that wheat-eating is a trigger for this, via a leaky gut. Other things can cause it to happen, too, like components of dairy foods. Ergo, i will limit problematic foods. ...So what foods are problematic? A SHITLOAD of them, and many people (but not all) will find the same things more troublesome than others.
Many healthyfruitsandvegetables mess with intestinal integrity, for more reasons than i enumerated yesterday. But unfortunately, even a lot of "acceptable" items (in FODMAP terms) are, or should be, limited in the diet of the hypothyroid individual!
Among the conditionally acceptable:
So this is YET ANOTHER reason i go light on the veggies -- so many are doubly problematic because of my physical limitations. I'm very happy for Dr. Wahls, that she healed herself with greenstuffs. I just wouldn't expect that EVERYBODY would have her good outcome.
I believe that choosing my diet carefully is the most important thing i can do for my health, as it relates to my wimpy thyroid. I'd MUCH rather limit foods that mess with my sense of well-being, than be able to eat "treats" OFTEN and juggle with pharmaceuticals and painkillers. Some people would rather go the other direction -- we all choose our own poisons! :-)
An AWFUL lot of hypothyroidism is of the autoimmune variety. It's well-established that wheat-eating is a trigger for this, via a leaky gut. Other things can cause it to happen, too, like components of dairy foods. Ergo, i will limit problematic foods. ...So what foods are problematic? A SHITLOAD of them, and many people (but not all) will find the same things more troublesome than others.
Many healthyfruitsandvegetables mess with intestinal integrity, for more reasons than i enumerated yesterday. But unfortunately, even a lot of "acceptable" items (in FODMAP terms) are, or should be, limited in the diet of the hypothyroid individual!
Among the conditionally acceptable:
And i didn't even strike out the nightshades, as i did the goitrogens! If you go further, and remove the starchy ones as most overweight individuals should, that leaves precious few "safe" vegetables to eat, and some of them definitely belong in the "garnish/flavoring" category rather than as belly-filling choices.Bamboo shootsBean shootsBeans (green)Bok choyBroccoliCapsicumCarrotCeleryChivesCornCucumberEndiveEggplantGingerLettuceOlivesParsnipParsleyPotatoPumpkinSilverbeet [chard]Spring onion (green section)SpinachSquashSwedeSweet potatoTaroTomatoTurnipYamZucchini
So this is YET ANOTHER reason i go light on the veggies -- so many are doubly problematic because of my physical limitations. I'm very happy for Dr. Wahls, that she healed herself with greenstuffs. I just wouldn't expect that EVERYBODY would have her good outcome.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
FODMAPs and yellow vegetables
It took some convincing to get me to abandon CW's opinion of vegetables. Everybody and his dog agrees on this stuff! Robert Atkins, Barry Sears, and Mark Sisson believe in plenty of veggies! DARE one not get enough soluble fibre and antioxidants, and those vegetable-source-only vitamins and minerals? Surely your colon will rot!
Then you start reading. You learn about Stefansson and you read "Strong Medicine" and "Fiber Menace" and Zeroing in on Health, and you learn that breast milk has no fibre though heaven knows babies poop like there's no tomorrow. You find out that "antioxidants" are toxins-in-small-doses, and that a certain responsible doctor managed many patients for extended periods on no-veg diets, with excellent results.... You start to think that just MAYBE CW is wrong about this, as well as so many other things.
After months of good results, good health and no negative repercussions of minimal plants in my diet, i actually started thinking about WHY eating vegetation might not be the best thing. :-) ...About time, huh?
I already knew about phytates and lectins and such. Plants can't run away or scratch or bite, so they make ingestion as unpleasant as they can for opportunistic predators. Point taken. The more plants you eat, the more of certain nutrients you NEED -- that was an eye-opener. Then i reread what Donaldson had to say about vegetables, and a faint memory began to stir. There are all kinds of vegetable foods that people have trouble with. Grains, of course. Nightshades. Peanuts. Citrus. I googled food sensitivities, and the subject of FODMAPs jumped out at me.
I found that the "yellow vegetables" which Donaldon said were largely well-tolerated, mostly belonged to the list of those with low-fructans. Fructans are fructose polymers (strings of fructose molecules), found to be problematic in people who are also inclined to fructose malabsorption -- one of those "duh" things, i should think, but it took me awhile to get there.
Wikipedia tells me that normal healthy people can only absorb 25-50g of fructose at one sitting (and malabsorbers may have a much lower tolerance) -- WHOA. Then i read that the fructose that ISN'T dealt with in the small intestine moves down the line to mess up things, from water absorption in the colon to unbalancing the gut-bugs, causing them to metabolize their unnatural diet into unpleasant by-products. Fermentation ... altered motility ... conditions promoting biofilms ... changing bacterial populations ... decreasing blood levels of tryptophan, folate and zinc ... bad news.
And some people think that 30 bananas a day promote health? Ye gods. My intestines have left me with no doubt: too much plant material = trouble. Now i know another reason why.
Then you start reading. You learn about Stefansson and you read "Strong Medicine" and "Fiber Menace" and Zeroing in on Health, and you learn that breast milk has no fibre though heaven knows babies poop like there's no tomorrow. You find out that "antioxidants" are toxins-in-small-doses, and that a certain responsible doctor managed many patients for extended periods on no-veg diets, with excellent results.... You start to think that just MAYBE CW is wrong about this, as well as so many other things.
After months of good results, good health and no negative repercussions of minimal plants in my diet, i actually started thinking about WHY eating vegetation might not be the best thing. :-) ...About time, huh?
I already knew about phytates and lectins and such. Plants can't run away or scratch or bite, so they make ingestion as unpleasant as they can for opportunistic predators. Point taken. The more plants you eat, the more of certain nutrients you NEED -- that was an eye-opener. Then i reread what Donaldson had to say about vegetables, and a faint memory began to stir. There are all kinds of vegetable foods that people have trouble with. Grains, of course. Nightshades. Peanuts. Citrus. I googled food sensitivities, and the subject of FODMAPs jumped out at me.
I found that the "yellow vegetables" which Donaldon said were largely well-tolerated, mostly belonged to the list of those with low-fructans. Fructans are fructose polymers (strings of fructose molecules), found to be problematic in people who are also inclined to fructose malabsorption -- one of those "duh" things, i should think, but it took me awhile to get there.
Wikipedia tells me that normal healthy people can only absorb 25-50g of fructose at one sitting (and malabsorbers may have a much lower tolerance) -- WHOA. Then i read that the fructose that ISN'T dealt with in the small intestine moves down the line to mess up things, from water absorption in the colon to unbalancing the gut-bugs, causing them to metabolize their unnatural diet into unpleasant by-products. Fermentation ... altered motility ... conditions promoting biofilms ... changing bacterial populations ... decreasing blood levels of tryptophan, folate and zinc ... bad news.
And some people think that 30 bananas a day promote health? Ye gods. My intestines have left me with no doubt: too much plant material = trouble. Now i know another reason why.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
digestion, again -- cashews!
Yesterday afternoon i ate a few cashews that i had soaked "raw" and dehydrated myself, along with the last half-glass of champagne from last week. ...I'm beginning to think i have a problem with cashews, or champagne*, or both.
After my dinner of baked wild-caught salmon (which was very rich), i ended up taking a betaine-HCl ... and then finally, shortly before bedtime, a dose of enzymes. That helped.
OBVIOUSLY, i'm going to have to change the way i process my cashews, or give them up entirely. "Raw" cashews are in fact not really raw; they've been heat-treated in the process of removing their casings -- i hate to call them SHELLS, because cashews aren't really like other nuts. In fact, they're related to mangoes and poison ivy.
From what i've been able to find out in 15 minutes with the help of google, a lot of people have trouble digesting cashews -- it seems the main protein(s) aren't broken down well with pepsin in the stomach. The most complete info came from here: http://www.chetday.com/nutprocessing.html
I was ready for them to perform differently in soaking and dehydration, upon advice from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. You're not supposed to soak them for over 6 hours, because the heat-treatment they've already gone through keeps them from being sproutable, and they just get slimy and ferment. They need dehydrating at a higher temperature than the other nuts/seeds i've worked with, too, and it took quite a long time. They finally came out, with a very good texture, but there was barely any saltiness to them.
I might use up the rest of the quart of the "finished" nuts i have, by putting them in combination with other things and cooking them more, or ... maybe they won't bother my husband, and he'll happily finish them. The last of the raw ones, i'll try doing in the oven (higher temp than the dehydrator) with a little sea-salt sprinkled directly on them.
[sigh...] And i love cashews. :-( But if it's a case of feeling like i have a nascent volcano in my belly, they may have to go the way of wheat. There are plenty more fish in the sea -- i mean NUTS in the TREE!
________
* the good news is, there doesn't seem to be a lot of anecdotal evidence for champagne causing maldigestion, outside overdrinking.
After my dinner of baked wild-caught salmon (which was very rich), i ended up taking a betaine-HCl ... and then finally, shortly before bedtime, a dose of enzymes. That helped.
OBVIOUSLY, i'm going to have to change the way i process my cashews, or give them up entirely. "Raw" cashews are in fact not really raw; they've been heat-treated in the process of removing their casings -- i hate to call them SHELLS, because cashews aren't really like other nuts. In fact, they're related to mangoes and poison ivy.
From what i've been able to find out in 15 minutes with the help of google, a lot of people have trouble digesting cashews -- it seems the main protein(s) aren't broken down well with pepsin in the stomach. The most complete info came from here: http://www.chetday.com/nutprocessing.html
I was ready for them to perform differently in soaking and dehydration, upon advice from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. You're not supposed to soak them for over 6 hours, because the heat-treatment they've already gone through keeps them from being sproutable, and they just get slimy and ferment. They need dehydrating at a higher temperature than the other nuts/seeds i've worked with, too, and it took quite a long time. They finally came out, with a very good texture, but there was barely any saltiness to them.
I might use up the rest of the quart of the "finished" nuts i have, by putting them in combination with other things and cooking them more, or ... maybe they won't bother my husband, and he'll happily finish them. The last of the raw ones, i'll try doing in the oven (higher temp than the dehydrator) with a little sea-salt sprinkled directly on them.
[sigh...] And i love cashews. :-( But if it's a case of feeling like i have a nascent volcano in my belly, they may have to go the way of wheat. There are plenty more fish in the sea -- i mean NUTS in the TREE!
________
* the good news is, there doesn't seem to be a lot of anecdotal evidence for champagne causing maldigestion, outside overdrinking.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
radical health improvement from diet X
Every time i hear about a spectacular health turn-around after a person changes his/her dietary style, the first thing i want to know is, exactly what was changed?
Yep, a Real Home Cooking diet, in which whole foods replace CIAB will make the whole family feel, look and perform better, even if it contains the worst grains and beans in the world. Most plant toxins aren't nearly as nasty as some of the man-made ones which flood the food supplies of modern countries!
I heard the success story of Terry Wahls, and i couldn't be more happy for her! Especially considering her profession, this is a coup for advocates of nutritionally-based medical treatment; she's harder to shrug off than most of us grunts. AND she's very vocal about her situation; :-D ...i do so admire the people who get out there and fight for what i believe in, but into which i am not willing to pour my whole life's-energy. But do i think that her diet is optimal for universal health? No, at least not for me.
The "wow factor" of dietary change frequently depends upon your starting point. Mine has been changing step-wise, and to see how my health has improved i have to search my memory for details that are confounded by (comparative) youth, fitness, etc.
I started out from i categorized above as a Real Home Cooking diet. I grew up eating white bread and corn oil, but at least we always COOKED. Frequent eating-out didn't happen till about twenty years ago, and i had been fighting the battle of the bulge before that. As food-and-supplement fads came and went, i never noticed a significant improvement with ANYTHING until i added systemic enzymes to my daily routine. I suspect i was developing fibromyalgia; i would sit with my feet up and vaguely ache all over. My chronic fatigue i attributed to the hypothyroidism.
So, first enzymes actually promoted some improvement, then my doctor recommended iodine supplementation, and that helped much more. I went on Atkins next, and my general improvement was immensely noticeable. No more morning brain fog, significantly improved allergies, better energy, and weight-loss without constant hunger. I was a FAN.
The biggest reason that low-carbing didn't result in all the weight-loss i could ever have wanted was the temptation to add foods in too soon. One sees all those opportunities to again eat the things the low-fat-me had been denying myself so long.... And, as an enthusiastic cook, i was also hot to adapt old recipes to the new philosophy, and got caught in the carb-creep that is so hard to resist. I screwed up.
I don't remember what led me to Mark's Daily Apple, but it was my portal to the paleo/primal world. I no longer link his site from mine, but it's still one of the first to which i send my paleo-curious friends. Like so many other eating plans, if you go straight to it from the SAD your results will be absolutely stunning: i didn't, so mine were much less noticeable. Not perfect, and nor is the Perfect Health Diet ... for me.
What DID produce jaw-dropping IMPROVEMENT for me was the Personal Paleo Code program, and the Strong Medicine protocol i tried after it. In my case, i found out that health challenges have been all about dietary intolerances and "personal toxins."
So yeah: a veg*n diet will be beneficial ... if you ate absolutely horrible things before. So will Atkins, despite the highly-questionable ingredients in their trademarked products. So will a low-fat diet, if you go from lots of omega-6 oils to almost none (and can stand the hunger).
To eat OPTIMALLY is going to take a lot of n=1 experimentation. Eat only things that are "never" toxic or allergenic for a month, then add things back one at a time, slowly. It's ILLUMINATING.
Yep, a Real Home Cooking diet, in which whole foods replace CIAB will make the whole family feel, look and perform better, even if it contains the worst grains and beans in the world. Most plant toxins aren't nearly as nasty as some of the man-made ones which flood the food supplies of modern countries!
I heard the success story of Terry Wahls, and i couldn't be more happy for her! Especially considering her profession, this is a coup for advocates of nutritionally-based medical treatment; she's harder to shrug off than most of us grunts. AND she's very vocal about her situation; :-D ...i do so admire the people who get out there and fight for what i believe in, but into which i am not willing to pour my whole life's-energy. But do i think that her diet is optimal for universal health? No, at least not for me.
The "wow factor" of dietary change frequently depends upon your starting point. Mine has been changing step-wise, and to see how my health has improved i have to search my memory for details that are confounded by (comparative) youth, fitness, etc.
I started out from i categorized above as a Real Home Cooking diet. I grew up eating white bread and corn oil, but at least we always COOKED. Frequent eating-out didn't happen till about twenty years ago, and i had been fighting the battle of the bulge before that. As food-and-supplement fads came and went, i never noticed a significant improvement with ANYTHING until i added systemic enzymes to my daily routine. I suspect i was developing fibromyalgia; i would sit with my feet up and vaguely ache all over. My chronic fatigue i attributed to the hypothyroidism.
So, first enzymes actually promoted some improvement, then my doctor recommended iodine supplementation, and that helped much more. I went on Atkins next, and my general improvement was immensely noticeable. No more morning brain fog, significantly improved allergies, better energy, and weight-loss without constant hunger. I was a FAN.
The biggest reason that low-carbing didn't result in all the weight-loss i could ever have wanted was the temptation to add foods in too soon. One sees all those opportunities to again eat the things the low-fat-me had been denying myself so long.... And, as an enthusiastic cook, i was also hot to adapt old recipes to the new philosophy, and got caught in the carb-creep that is so hard to resist. I screwed up.
I don't remember what led me to Mark's Daily Apple, but it was my portal to the paleo/primal world. I no longer link his site from mine, but it's still one of the first to which i send my paleo-curious friends. Like so many other eating plans, if you go straight to it from the SAD your results will be absolutely stunning: i didn't, so mine were much less noticeable. Not perfect, and nor is the Perfect Health Diet ... for me.
What DID produce jaw-dropping IMPROVEMENT for me was the Personal Paleo Code program, and the Strong Medicine protocol i tried after it. In my case, i found out that health challenges have been all about dietary intolerances and "personal toxins."
So yeah: a veg*n diet will be beneficial ... if you ate absolutely horrible things before. So will Atkins, despite the highly-questionable ingredients in their trademarked products. So will a low-fat diet, if you go from lots of omega-6 oils to almost none (and can stand the hunger).
To eat OPTIMALLY is going to take a lot of n=1 experimentation. Eat only things that are "never" toxic or allergenic for a month, then add things back one at a time, slowly. It's ILLUMINATING.
Friday, June 1, 2012
sometimes, fasting just FEELS good!
With one thing and another, my dietary habits have been VERY discombobulated this week! I did well at my event, but not at my daughter's house. It's a social thing -- we talk a lot and drink more wine absent-mindedly, then our inhibitions are down and we eat things we shouldn't. Yesterday i fasted till mid-afternoon, and i felt significantly better ... till i overloaded at dinnertime. My digestion felt very "off." This morning, even coffee doesn't sound very good.
Here in the Houston area, it never gets COLD, ever. Nor does the humidity ever go away. Mold is a problem, and i'm sensitive to it.
When an animal doesn't feel well, it goes off its feed, and even children instinctively lose their appetites when under the weather (till their ignorant parents succumb to marketing, and ply them with drugs and drinks). Nature knows what she's doing.
I've learned from Nature, too -- our afflicted digestive systems "reset" themselves best when not burdened with input. I'll be taking it MUCH easier today, and staying away from "yeast" foods like cheese, wine, mushrooms, etc.
Dr. Donaldson, in "Strong Medicine," spoke extensively about allergy, and Dr. Atkins devoted a couple of chapters to food sensitivity as well. The variety of unpleasant symptoms possible when one eats "incompatible" things is truly impressive. Who would think that a little sugar would result in sinus issues ... but it can. Ditto for pollen in the air and weight loss, and for a surprising range of foodstuffs and athlete's-foot. One of most beneficial effects of an all-fresh-meat diet MAY just be its low-histidine aspects.
Thank heavens i have some potato-based gin to fall back on if needed -- less reactive than things like wine and grain alcohols! Alcohol HAS therapeutic uses, after all.... ;-)
Here in the Houston area, it never gets COLD, ever. Nor does the humidity ever go away. Mold is a problem, and i'm sensitive to it.
When an animal doesn't feel well, it goes off its feed, and even children instinctively lose their appetites when under the weather (till their ignorant parents succumb to marketing, and ply them with drugs and drinks). Nature knows what she's doing.
I've learned from Nature, too -- our afflicted digestive systems "reset" themselves best when not burdened with input. I'll be taking it MUCH easier today, and staying away from "yeast" foods like cheese, wine, mushrooms, etc.
Dr. Donaldson, in "Strong Medicine," spoke extensively about allergy, and Dr. Atkins devoted a couple of chapters to food sensitivity as well. The variety of unpleasant symptoms possible when one eats "incompatible" things is truly impressive. Who would think that a little sugar would result in sinus issues ... but it can. Ditto for pollen in the air and weight loss, and for a surprising range of foodstuffs and athlete's-foot. One of most beneficial effects of an all-fresh-meat diet MAY just be its low-histidine aspects.
Thank heavens i have some potato-based gin to fall back on if needed -- less reactive than things like wine and grain alcohols! Alcohol HAS therapeutic uses, after all.... ;-)
Monday, April 30, 2012
alternatives to alternatives
When circumstances occur that make us reconsider what we have "decided" before, it's probably a good thing. I mentioned the other day that my esteemed DIL has deadly allergies, the most virulent of which are to nuts. Tree nuts, from coconuts on down to filberts (is there anything larger and/or smaller?) ... she can't have 'em.
Low-carbing is something she's willing to do, and has done with success in the past, but for her the choices are more limited. Therefore, i've been considering what might be some nice alternatives.
Most of us make do with nut flours when we want to "eat our cake and have it too." Coconut pancakes and tortillas, hazelnut-meal bread, almond cakes and cookies are out the window this week. What to make instead? Well, i think we ARE going to have to go a little higher in carbs. It's time to experiment with legumes, and to cave in to flours made of tubers.
I'm thinking that a sourdough starter can be begun with a little rye, augmented with chickpea meal, and finished with potato or rice flour (i need to look at the exact protein/carb ratios of these). It will require some baking soda to lighten the texture.... By souring the legume flour during the week the starter ripens, the antinutrients should be weakened considerably.
Sunflower and pumpkin seeds should be legitimate to use as well, ground up to a meal in the food processor. And mixing those with finely chopped peanuts should be pretty tasty -- i'm seeing a cake made with these ingredients and iced with chocolate cream cheese. Do i have anyone's mouth watering yet (besides mine)?
Resuscitating ground-up pork-rinds is a good idea as well -- i've liked using them in the past (during the Atkins Era), but of course when i started avoiding omega-6 oils, they had to be relegated to "neolithic purgatory." I don't think ANYBODY in my neck of the woods is frying the things in acceptable fats, so if i want to start using them again, i'll have to fry them myself. Coincidentally, i have a package of pork skins in my freezer at home, some tallow in the deep-fryer, and lard in the pantry -- let the experimentation begin!
At a higher carb count, there are quinoa, buckwheat and that sort of thing. Compared to wheat, they're angels of light. Tapioca ... sweet potato ... maybe even konjac flour....
Oh, and i almost forgot the original Revolution (or "oopsie") Rolls! All is not lost -- there are LOTS of options we can explore!
Low-carbing is something she's willing to do, and has done with success in the past, but for her the choices are more limited. Therefore, i've been considering what might be some nice alternatives.
Most of us make do with nut flours when we want to "eat our cake and have it too." Coconut pancakes and tortillas, hazelnut-meal bread, almond cakes and cookies are out the window this week. What to make instead? Well, i think we ARE going to have to go a little higher in carbs. It's time to experiment with legumes, and to cave in to flours made of tubers.
I'm thinking that a sourdough starter can be begun with a little rye, augmented with chickpea meal, and finished with potato or rice flour (i need to look at the exact protein/carb ratios of these). It will require some baking soda to lighten the texture.... By souring the legume flour during the week the starter ripens, the antinutrients should be weakened considerably.
Sunflower and pumpkin seeds should be legitimate to use as well, ground up to a meal in the food processor. And mixing those with finely chopped peanuts should be pretty tasty -- i'm seeing a cake made with these ingredients and iced with chocolate cream cheese. Do i have anyone's mouth watering yet (besides mine)?
Resuscitating ground-up pork-rinds is a good idea as well -- i've liked using them in the past (during the Atkins Era), but of course when i started avoiding omega-6 oils, they had to be relegated to "neolithic purgatory." I don't think ANYBODY in my neck of the woods is frying the things in acceptable fats, so if i want to start using them again, i'll have to fry them myself. Coincidentally, i have a package of pork skins in my freezer at home, some tallow in the deep-fryer, and lard in the pantry -- let the experimentation begin!
At a higher carb count, there are quinoa, buckwheat and that sort of thing. Compared to wheat, they're angels of light. Tapioca ... sweet potato ... maybe even konjac flour....
Oh, and i almost forgot the original Revolution (or "oopsie") Rolls! All is not lost -- there are LOTS of options we can explore!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
back on track
Yesterday i indulged in a fat-fast, to rid my body of the poor effects of my weekend intake. I consumed a full can of coconut milk, divided between three or four cups of coffee, and a couple of tablespoons of butter (i bought two "new" brands at the import grocery, and needed to taste them for preference). I wasn't hungry at all.
I'm a half-pound up from where i was on Friday, but i imagine it was because of drinking too little water yesterday. I also woke up this morning with a stuffier head than usual -- support for the suspicion that i have a minor sensitivity to nuts. Thank heaven for neti-pots! :-)
Having overslept a bit, i didn't get the walk done before breakfast, but Spenser doesn't care if we do it later in the day, so long as we do it. I had my half-pound of ground lamb for breakfast with a cup of coffee, and i'm well into my morning jug of water. The last of the pot-roast will be dinner, and supper will be a liver dish (with onions AND bacon) that i found in an old Scottish cookery book. ...I'm DETERMINED to find a way to enjoy liver, in addition to foie gras!
I spent much of yesterday reading the archives of Pal Jabekk's blog, Ramblings of a Carnivore; Sunday i did the same on Lucas Tafur's. The latter often stretches my understanding, when it's not completely over my head. The former is very accessible. Both have taught me a great deal about physiology which my body can corroborate! THAT is the important bit -- over the last year or two, i've read a huge amount that SOUNDS plausible, but which doesn't pan out in practice.
Conscious intermittent-fasting and carb refeeding, conscious hormesis-inducing behaviors had the ring of truth, but like the failed low-fat hypothesis, seem not to make much of an impact on my body. The Shangri-La oil-guzzling technique, on the other hand, works WITH the Strong Medicine protocol THROUGH Peter Dobromylskyj's description of FIAF (fasting induced adipose factor).
WOW. Makes ya feel like you know what "42" means....
I'm a half-pound up from where i was on Friday, but i imagine it was because of drinking too little water yesterday. I also woke up this morning with a stuffier head than usual -- support for the suspicion that i have a minor sensitivity to nuts. Thank heaven for neti-pots! :-)
Having overslept a bit, i didn't get the walk done before breakfast, but Spenser doesn't care if we do it later in the day, so long as we do it. I had my half-pound of ground lamb for breakfast with a cup of coffee, and i'm well into my morning jug of water. The last of the pot-roast will be dinner, and supper will be a liver dish (with onions AND bacon) that i found in an old Scottish cookery book. ...I'm DETERMINED to find a way to enjoy liver, in addition to foie gras!
I spent much of yesterday reading the archives of Pal Jabekk's blog, Ramblings of a Carnivore; Sunday i did the same on Lucas Tafur's. The latter often stretches my understanding, when it's not completely over my head. The former is very accessible. Both have taught me a great deal about physiology which my body can corroborate! THAT is the important bit -- over the last year or two, i've read a huge amount that SOUNDS plausible, but which doesn't pan out in practice.
Conscious intermittent-fasting and carb refeeding, conscious hormesis-inducing behaviors had the ring of truth, but like the failed low-fat hypothesis, seem not to make much of an impact on my body. The Shangri-La oil-guzzling technique, on the other hand, works WITH the Strong Medicine protocol THROUGH Peter Dobromylskyj's description of FIAF (fasting induced adipose factor).
WOW. Makes ya feel like you know what "42" means....
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
allergy season
Here i am, concerned about something left in my diet which is causing allergic annoyances. and i completely dropped the ball. Yes, i went to the local department-of-health pollen-and-mold site, and saw nothing particularly noteworthy -- what i failed to do was take a drive outside my usual dog-walking route.
Yesterday i finally caved in, and went to do some shopping for the new tyrosine supplement, various meat supplies, and kitchen notions. The warm spring weather here has caused Nature to rejoice in her usual way, encouraging blossoms of all sorts, flora and fauna, to multiply themselves. Yes, the city is abloom with things that DON'T get listed with the DOH: Bradford pear, for one.
The way-too-short time i lived in Tulsa, our property abounded with the trees; looking out the bedroom window, you would have thought a snowstorm was raging, the view was so white. That first spring resulted in no misery, but every succeeding spring that i've been around the things, they've driven me crazy.
Not only do new allergies pop up when we're overexposed to stimuli, the tricky bit is that they're also CUMULATIVE. Pollen X or mold Y or food Z may not pull the trigger, but get all of them going at once, and suffering takes on a whole new form. I learned this when we lived on the gulf coast of Texas, where it seems that NOTHING EVER DIES ... in the microscopic world, anyway. You never get a break from the mold, mildew, algae, etc etc. The ubiquitous oak trees pollinate THREE TIMES A YEAR. Then there's the ragweed, goldenrod, yarrow.... Fighting fleas and roaches is an endless battle.
So the unpleasant surprise concerning an unknown allergen in my VERY limited diet is most likely a minor sensitivity when the landscape is covered with snow or heatwaves, instead of flowers. I'll stay away from things i know (or suspect) to be irritating in small doses: nightshades, citrus, eggs, nuts, chocolate, perfumes, whatever. I'll have to be cozier, though, with one of the few pharmaceuticals i depend on anymore -- Benedryl!
Yesterday i finally caved in, and went to do some shopping for the new tyrosine supplement, various meat supplies, and kitchen notions. The warm spring weather here has caused Nature to rejoice in her usual way, encouraging blossoms of all sorts, flora and fauna, to multiply themselves. Yes, the city is abloom with things that DON'T get listed with the DOH: Bradford pear, for one.
The way-too-short time i lived in Tulsa, our property abounded with the trees; looking out the bedroom window, you would have thought a snowstorm was raging, the view was so white. That first spring resulted in no misery, but every succeeding spring that i've been around the things, they've driven me crazy.
Not only do new allergies pop up when we're overexposed to stimuli, the tricky bit is that they're also CUMULATIVE. Pollen X or mold Y or food Z may not pull the trigger, but get all of them going at once, and suffering takes on a whole new form. I learned this when we lived on the gulf coast of Texas, where it seems that NOTHING EVER DIES ... in the microscopic world, anyway. You never get a break from the mold, mildew, algae, etc etc. The ubiquitous oak trees pollinate THREE TIMES A YEAR. Then there's the ragweed, goldenrod, yarrow.... Fighting fleas and roaches is an endless battle.
So the unpleasant surprise concerning an unknown allergen in my VERY limited diet is most likely a minor sensitivity when the landscape is covered with snow or heatwaves, instead of flowers. I'll stay away from things i know (or suspect) to be irritating in small doses: nightshades, citrus, eggs, nuts, chocolate, perfumes, whatever. I'll have to be cozier, though, with one of the few pharmaceuticals i depend on anymore -- Benedryl!
Monday, March 12, 2012
still one unresolved allergy....
A zit appeared on my chin yesterday morning. Damn. That means there's STILL something in my diet that shouldn't be there.
When i went from the Personal Paleo Code to Strong Medicine, the slight flushing on my nose and cheeks i used to get in the evenings got better. Before i started all this, i blamed it on wine. When it didn't go away on the PPC, i suspected it was either the nuts (i used a lot of coconut milk during that month) or the eggs (a dozen and a half per week). On SM, i expected that pimples would be a thing of the past, too.
Now, bearing in mind that i haven't been PERFECT this past week, it doesn't have to be the meat i've been eating, the coffee i've been drinking, or the slices of lime i've put in my six glasses of water a day. BUT, since i've been back at home, the only other things i've had are a small acorn squash, some butter, and 4 oz. of sake (unless i'm forgetting something). The things i ate before leaving California are not out of the question, however; some reactions take awhile to manifest.
*Sigh* ... I'm going to have to try another experiment; that's the only way to erase ALL the question marks. From last night on, it's black tea, not coffee, with my otherwise-compliant diet. (Wish i liked green tea, but something about it puts me off.) I could have removed the lime/lemon from my water first, but plain water-drinking is something i have so little enthusiasm for, i might not drink enough ... and i suspect that my mostly-meat diet requires more flushing away. I've read that people who have food sensitivities can react to coffee as well, so that is -- unfortunately -- a possibility. :-(
When i went from the Personal Paleo Code to Strong Medicine, the slight flushing on my nose and cheeks i used to get in the evenings got better. Before i started all this, i blamed it on wine. When it didn't go away on the PPC, i suspected it was either the nuts (i used a lot of coconut milk during that month) or the eggs (a dozen and a half per week). On SM, i expected that pimples would be a thing of the past, too.
Now, bearing in mind that i haven't been PERFECT this past week, it doesn't have to be the meat i've been eating, the coffee i've been drinking, or the slices of lime i've put in my six glasses of water a day. BUT, since i've been back at home, the only other things i've had are a small acorn squash, some butter, and 4 oz. of sake (unless i'm forgetting something). The things i ate before leaving California are not out of the question, however; some reactions take awhile to manifest.
*Sigh* ... I'm going to have to try another experiment; that's the only way to erase ALL the question marks. From last night on, it's black tea, not coffee, with my otherwise-compliant diet. (Wish i liked green tea, but something about it puts me off.) I could have removed the lime/lemon from my water first, but plain water-drinking is something i have so little enthusiasm for, i might not drink enough ... and i suspect that my mostly-meat diet requires more flushing away. I've read that people who have food sensitivities can react to coffee as well, so that is -- unfortunately -- a possibility. :-(
Thursday, March 8, 2012
progress assessment point
During the two-plus months i've been writing here, my eating patterns have been far from consistent! To recap:
I began, strictly following the Personal Paleo Code, with very good results. I leaped into a new physical activity after only one week and irritated my weak knee, causing inflammation which hasn't completely left me yet. At the end of four weeks, i began introducing a few foods, because i was on a short holiday and felt entitled/self-indulgent (that's so frequently a bad idea...). For a couple of weeks after that, i experimented with a handful of different foodstuffs, which i had eliminated at the beginning.
Almost three weeks ago, i discovered "Strong Medicine," a book by a retired doctor whose experiences during the first half of the twentieth century taught him a considerable amount about diet and health, and which he decided to share. I chose to try some of Dr. Donaldson's recommendations, but had to tweak them a little to make them work for me. Both ways, they were remarkably effective.
About a week and a half ago i took another trip, and was away from home just over a week. Most of the time i adhered quite well to a dietary pattern which was a hybrid of the two above, but on ONE day, i was VERY naughty.
So here we are, just over nine weeks from my starting point: i've learned a CONSIDERABLE amount ... and lost about ten pounds.
I began, strictly following the Personal Paleo Code, with very good results. I leaped into a new physical activity after only one week and irritated my weak knee, causing inflammation which hasn't completely left me yet. At the end of four weeks, i began introducing a few foods, because i was on a short holiday and felt entitled/self-indulgent (that's so frequently a bad idea...). For a couple of weeks after that, i experimented with a handful of different foodstuffs, which i had eliminated at the beginning.
Almost three weeks ago, i discovered "Strong Medicine," a book by a retired doctor whose experiences during the first half of the twentieth century taught him a considerable amount about diet and health, and which he decided to share. I chose to try some of Dr. Donaldson's recommendations, but had to tweak them a little to make them work for me. Both ways, they were remarkably effective.
About a week and a half ago i took another trip, and was away from home just over a week. Most of the time i adhered quite well to a dietary pattern which was a hybrid of the two above, but on ONE day, i was VERY naughty.
So here we are, just over nine weeks from my starting point: i've learned a CONSIDERABLE amount ... and lost about ten pounds.
- the Personal Paleo Code WORKS. It's a powerful tool for determining what foods promote well-being, as well as weight-loss. Without even giving up ALL the "autoimmunity compromising" foods he listed, and despite the injury to my knee, i felt incredibly WELL -- considerably younger;
- rice seems to be a harmless food for me -- but not for breakfast. I must eat a fat-protein breakfast, or i'm hungrier all day. My body agrees with the studies about meal composition and metabolic flexibility (for a change);
- alcohol is NOT harmless, though i tolerate sake much better than wine. I'll need to do the same sort of introduction as with the former, before i can make a comparative judgement about spirits. The difference in joint pain and stiffness (between the beginning of February and now), i believe, can be attributed to the alcohol i used;
- the "Strong Medicine" prescription also works, but doing without salt is out of the question for me -- my digestion apparently needs it. It seems to work well, past that one-week point during which one is losing the easy stuff, and after which most eating plans don't render much progress. It's not for the weak, though; you've got to be determined and motivated to forgo variety in the diet, even though hunger is not a problem;
- the book "Deep Nutrition" made a big impression on me, and i'll be keeping Dr. Cate's viewpoints in mind while formulating my menus from now on. Meat on the bone, organ meats, bone broths, fermented vegetables, etc., will be more heavily used in my house!
- i have suspicions about eggs and many nuts as allergens for me -- they no longer get a free ride. I also seem to have a fructose malabsorption issue;
- i've decided to add tyrosine to my list of supplements. That amino acid is not heavily present in the foods i customarily eat, so my body is only getting significant quantities through conversion from phenylalanine. Since it's a building-block of thyroid hormone, and i've craved protein all my life, and i know i have absorption issues, i'm postulating that this may be something i need to consciously supplement. My uneven energy levels MAY improve: we'll see, and i'll let you know later.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
magical Medicine
Here i go ... getting carried away with my own cleverness, and formulating a Personal Theory -- hear those echo-chamber sound effects! ;-) I've always been opinionated, but i'll try not to fall into the "it works for me so it must be UNIVERSALLY APPLICABLE" trap.
No. NO. I'm too put off by others who think that THEIR dietary path is The Only Path; i would despise myself if my ego let me sink into the same quagmire. Now, where was i?
"The 'magic resetting' aspect of the SMD regimen".... These are just speculations, mind you -- i have none of the credentials which a lot of COMPLETELY MISTAKEN "experts" do. i just enjoy thinking about old ideas in the light of new science, and modern ideas from a vintage point of view.
Dr. Donaldson tells us that 75% of his patients stuck with the weight-reduction instructions he gave them and did a great job (25% are non-compliant from the starting line). He doesn't tell us outright that they all reach their goal weights but he kinda implies it. Nor does he claim that they all maintain their losses afterward, but we know he had an enviable record -- i.e., better than the 2-5% successful dieters these days.
My thoughts about the mechanism of success:
It takes a lot of energy to metabolize protein, and it takes awhile to do it. Add those yummy animal fats, and the situation spells S-A-T-I-A-T-I-O-N (and satiety) in big letters. This is how someone can lose a lot of fat without hunger.
Enthusiasts of the "food reward hypothesis" will say that the limitation of foods bolsters their argument; i contend that it goes much further.
This diet breaks carbohydrate addictions and de-conditions snacking/craving behaviors. More important, it EMPOWERS the person who employs it. You feel you could conquer the world, it's so easy, mindless and effective. Fast, too -- losing more than one plodding pound per week is encouraging. I can't speak for everyone, but MY mood is great on this program. And you don't have to spend hours carefully planning meals, shopping for arcane grocery items, and cooking.
You can easily avoid allergens and toxins on a mostly-meat diet, too -- just choose meats you don't have a problem with! ;-) Duh.
We know that one can get every required nutrient from "fresh fat meat" as Dr. Donaldson repeatedly expressed it ... with the caveat that organ meats are occasionally necessary for certain vitamins and minerals. Therefore, the "Strong Medicine" prescription could easily be resolving nutrient deficiencies that people don't even know they have. As a result the overeating-in-an-attempt-to-become-properly-nourished (well covered in The Perfect Health Diet -- lets call it OIATBPN) is solved -- there is much less temptation to overeat. Your nutritional needs are thoroughly satisfied.
Chronic low-grade malnutrition (and i'd argue that most people in the western world suffer from it) MAY be behind the recidivism problem that dieters have. Going off a low-carb or low-fat or low-calorie diet, one is extremely likely to progress to a diet that is not "perfect" -- people are too eager to be able to eat things they've denied themselves during the weight-loss process! Going from a limited diet to a doubtfully-nutritious one WILL be problematic: one has loosened one's inhibitions, and one will be missing dietary necessities -- how can this NOT be a recipe for OIATBPN?
Yeah -- i'm happy with THIS hypothesis, Strong Medicine works because it's:
hunger-free
simple
effective
empowering
non-toxic
nutritionally replete during weight loss
nutritionally replete after weight loss
=reset fat/weight setpoint
No. NO. I'm too put off by others who think that THEIR dietary path is The Only Path; i would despise myself if my ego let me sink into the same quagmire. Now, where was i?
"The 'magic resetting' aspect of the SMD regimen".... These are just speculations, mind you -- i have none of the credentials which a lot of COMPLETELY MISTAKEN "experts" do. i just enjoy thinking about old ideas in the light of new science, and modern ideas from a vintage point of view.
Dr. Donaldson tells us that 75% of his patients stuck with the weight-reduction instructions he gave them and did a great job (25% are non-compliant from the starting line). He doesn't tell us outright that they all reach their goal weights but he kinda implies it. Nor does he claim that they all maintain their losses afterward, but we know he had an enviable record -- i.e., better than the 2-5% successful dieters these days.
My thoughts about the mechanism of success:
It takes a lot of energy to metabolize protein, and it takes awhile to do it. Add those yummy animal fats, and the situation spells S-A-T-I-A-T-I-O-N (and satiety) in big letters. This is how someone can lose a lot of fat without hunger.
Enthusiasts of the "food reward hypothesis" will say that the limitation of foods bolsters their argument; i contend that it goes much further.
This diet breaks carbohydrate addictions and de-conditions snacking/craving behaviors. More important, it EMPOWERS the person who employs it. You feel you could conquer the world, it's so easy, mindless and effective. Fast, too -- losing more than one plodding pound per week is encouraging. I can't speak for everyone, but MY mood is great on this program. And you don't have to spend hours carefully planning meals, shopping for arcane grocery items, and cooking.
You can easily avoid allergens and toxins on a mostly-meat diet, too -- just choose meats you don't have a problem with! ;-) Duh.
We know that one can get every required nutrient from "fresh fat meat" as Dr. Donaldson repeatedly expressed it ... with the caveat that organ meats are occasionally necessary for certain vitamins and minerals. Therefore, the "Strong Medicine" prescription could easily be resolving nutrient deficiencies that people don't even know they have. As a result the overeating-in-an-attempt-to-become-properly-nourished (well covered in The Perfect Health Diet -- lets call it OIATBPN) is solved -- there is much less temptation to overeat. Your nutritional needs are thoroughly satisfied.
Chronic low-grade malnutrition (and i'd argue that most people in the western world suffer from it) MAY be behind the recidivism problem that dieters have. Going off a low-carb or low-fat or low-calorie diet, one is extremely likely to progress to a diet that is not "perfect" -- people are too eager to be able to eat things they've denied themselves during the weight-loss process! Going from a limited diet to a doubtfully-nutritious one WILL be problematic: one has loosened one's inhibitions, and one will be missing dietary necessities -- how can this NOT be a recipe for OIATBPN?
Yeah -- i'm happy with THIS hypothesis, Strong Medicine works because it's:
hunger-free
simple
effective
empowering
non-toxic
nutritionally replete during weight loss
nutritionally replete after weight loss
=reset fat/weight setpoint
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
we interrupt your regularly-scheduled program for this announcement
Sunday was a busy and discombobulated day. Flying may take less actual travel-time than pursuing the same course on the ground, but it's far more upsetting to the routine. Had i driven for the eight or nine hours which that evening's trip monopolized, it would have been a piece of cake (piece of steak?) for me to comply with the Strong Medicine requirements. Three half-pound chunks of meat and three coffees, a quart and a half of water. Done.
Instead, i ended up eating a lot of cheese (for the first time this year), a little shrimp and smoked salmon, melon and nuts, and one glass of red wine for dinner. Since then, not only is Ralph giving me more pain than usual, but my hips and legs in general are aching. And one shoulder. Even my eyes have been dry and itchy (not from the flying -- that's different), which i learned is a common symptom of this sort of food sensitivity. It doesn't look good for casein!
I remember my surprise and delight after a stiffness-free drive of some 12 or more hours, two different days last month. Opposite situation here, and one gets to move around a LOT more in a plane than behind the wheel of a car. My mood, energy and sense of well-being have been disrupted too, though i concede that i had way too little sleep on Sunday night, to blame it ALL on diet.
New dietary conclusion and rule: being freshly self-diagnosed as dairy-sensitive, cheese must be eaten IN EXTREME MODERATION. Butter seems to be fine. Cream definitely requires a careful test period. Ditto for yogurt/kefir.
[sniff, sniff, pout] Dammit, i love cheese....
Instead, i ended up eating a lot of cheese (for the first time this year), a little shrimp and smoked salmon, melon and nuts, and one glass of red wine for dinner. Since then, not only is Ralph giving me more pain than usual, but my hips and legs in general are aching. And one shoulder. Even my eyes have been dry and itchy (not from the flying -- that's different), which i learned is a common symptom of this sort of food sensitivity. It doesn't look good for casein!
I remember my surprise and delight after a stiffness-free drive of some 12 or more hours, two different days last month. Opposite situation here, and one gets to move around a LOT more in a plane than behind the wheel of a car. My mood, energy and sense of well-being have been disrupted too, though i concede that i had way too little sleep on Sunday night, to blame it ALL on diet.
New dietary conclusion and rule: being freshly self-diagnosed as dairy-sensitive, cheese must be eaten IN EXTREME MODERATION. Butter seems to be fine. Cream definitely requires a careful test period. Ditto for yogurt/kefir.
[sniff, sniff, pout] Dammit, i love cheese....
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
i can't bear eating all this FOOD!
The scale is down 3/4 pound again, and i even allowed myself half a cup of cooked white rice with my beef tenderloin last night.
But my discomfort level has risen: between the lack of salt and the high meat intake (about 50% higher than it was a month ago), my stomach is not at all happy, even with daily use of betaine-HCl. Today is a day for readjusting the formula. (I just took a 1/4 t. of sea salt, washed down with water, as a good beginning.)
I was VERY comfortable on the IF technique of coconut milk in my coffee for breakfast, and only two real meals per day. The only trouble with that was, i wasn't losing any weight, despite consuming fewer calories than i am now. (So THERE, CICO people!) When one of Donaldson's patients reported in without having lost any weight on one occasion, it turned out that he had begun skipping breakfast in hopes of reducing faster....
Yesterday, i DID feel improvement in my bad knee, and the other felt pretty much normal again. I did my half-hour of walking on the treadmill upstairs instead of around the neighborhood, because i suspected the cold was affecting my knee badly. Treadmills aren't perfect walking-machines, though -- posture and muscle use don't mimic REAL walking (see Dr. Wong...). Today i'm going to walk outside at a warmer hour, or use the stationary bicycle; i customarily use it for my Tabata sprints, as it's MUCH kinder to the knee.
...I just resolved to name my knees -- "my once-injured knee" is so unwieldy -- so it'll be Ralph (the "bad" one) and Louie. ;-) I'm so original!
Volume of meat is going down! Instead of 8 ounces, it's going to be 6, and i'm going to put salt on it. Truly, it hasn't been my taste buds that missed the salt, it's been my stomach-acid missing the chlorine! In all the agonizing over sodium in the last few decades, "experts" predictably overlooked the other important ingredient of table salt. Without a good source of chlorine, less stomach-acid is produced -- and contrary to what "everybody knows," an awful lot of indigestion is due to LOW acid, not high. As a hypothyroid, i'm already inclined to have low stomach acid (which is why i keep the betaine supplement on hand), and i've been exacerbating it. That stops now.
On the positive front, allergic symptoms are reduced on my lower-toxin diet. I was surprised to see, under the strict PPC regimen, that i still showed a little cheek-flushing in the evenings -- something that i hitherto blamed on wine. The most likely suspects were nightshades (which i took it very easy with), eggs (eaten in moderation), and nuts (mostly consumed in the form of coconut milk). Last night i took stock, and found the flushing significantly reduced.
Well, today is going to be a low-intake day, just to reset my system. I WILL stick to the approved food list in "Strong Medicine" though! Considering that i lost approximately 3 pounds in three days, there's no doubt that Dr. Donaldson was onto something, even though the medicine seems to be a little TOO strong for ME.
p.s. Despite the dire warnings of reduced thyroid function on a VLC diet, i've noticed no such reaction -- and believe me, i know what it feels like. I hypothesize that: 1) sufficient protein ingestion raises insulin levels enough to allow the receptors to work just fine, and; 2) being well-adapted in ketosis with plenty of glucose made by the liver from protein AND fat (as confirmed with my glucometer) provides all the glucose necessary for T4 conversion. Dare i suggest that the trials where thyroid function was impaired took place in particularly-established glucose burners...?
But my discomfort level has risen: between the lack of salt and the high meat intake (about 50% higher than it was a month ago), my stomach is not at all happy, even with daily use of betaine-HCl. Today is a day for readjusting the formula. (I just took a 1/4 t. of sea salt, washed down with water, as a good beginning.)
I was VERY comfortable on the IF technique of coconut milk in my coffee for breakfast, and only two real meals per day. The only trouble with that was, i wasn't losing any weight, despite consuming fewer calories than i am now. (So THERE, CICO people!) When one of Donaldson's patients reported in without having lost any weight on one occasion, it turned out that he had begun skipping breakfast in hopes of reducing faster....
Yesterday, i DID feel improvement in my bad knee, and the other felt pretty much normal again. I did my half-hour of walking on the treadmill upstairs instead of around the neighborhood, because i suspected the cold was affecting my knee badly. Treadmills aren't perfect walking-machines, though -- posture and muscle use don't mimic REAL walking (see Dr. Wong...). Today i'm going to walk outside at a warmer hour, or use the stationary bicycle; i customarily use it for my Tabata sprints, as it's MUCH kinder to the knee.
...I just resolved to name my knees -- "my once-injured knee" is so unwieldy -- so it'll be Ralph (the "bad" one) and Louie. ;-) I'm so original!
Volume of meat is going down! Instead of 8 ounces, it's going to be 6, and i'm going to put salt on it. Truly, it hasn't been my taste buds that missed the salt, it's been my stomach-acid missing the chlorine! In all the agonizing over sodium in the last few decades, "experts" predictably overlooked the other important ingredient of table salt. Without a good source of chlorine, less stomach-acid is produced -- and contrary to what "everybody knows," an awful lot of indigestion is due to LOW acid, not high. As a hypothyroid, i'm already inclined to have low stomach acid (which is why i keep the betaine supplement on hand), and i've been exacerbating it. That stops now.
On the positive front, allergic symptoms are reduced on my lower-toxin diet. I was surprised to see, under the strict PPC regimen, that i still showed a little cheek-flushing in the evenings -- something that i hitherto blamed on wine. The most likely suspects were nightshades (which i took it very easy with), eggs (eaten in moderation), and nuts (mostly consumed in the form of coconut milk). Last night i took stock, and found the flushing significantly reduced.
Well, today is going to be a low-intake day, just to reset my system. I WILL stick to the approved food list in "Strong Medicine" though! Considering that i lost approximately 3 pounds in three days, there's no doubt that Dr. Donaldson was onto something, even though the medicine seems to be a little TOO strong for ME.
p.s. Despite the dire warnings of reduced thyroid function on a VLC diet, i've noticed no such reaction -- and believe me, i know what it feels like. I hypothesize that: 1) sufficient protein ingestion raises insulin levels enough to allow the receptors to work just fine, and; 2) being well-adapted in ketosis with plenty of glucose made by the liver from protein AND fat (as confirmed with my glucometer) provides all the glucose necessary for T4 conversion. Dare i suggest that the trials where thyroid function was impaired took place in particularly-established glucose burners...?
Monday, February 13, 2012
what's working, revisited
I went to bed early last night, and today i feel great! :-) Part of the credit for that, i feel, is the half-dozen raw oysters i had last evening as a first course (the rest of the meal was a lobster tail with butter, roasted okra from the "Paleo Comfort Foods" cookbook, sweetener-free raspberry-orange sorbet and coffee -- yum). We ate comparatively early, which always agrees with me.
I had a few ounces of a good sake with the oysters -- it seemed to call for it! That, or champagne, or vodka.... Now, i haven't added champagne back into my diet yet, as i had "trouble" with chardonnay. On Saturday afternoon i had a short bloody-mary made with a bacon-flavored potato vodka, tomato juice and hot sauce, and i felt draggy the rest of the day. Perhaps even potato-based vodka isn't going to agree with me -- i'll try it again sometime later, in a mixture that doesn't include the nightshades. Sake, though, continues to be comparatively non-toxic.
My discovered "tricks of the trade" may not work with everybody. I strongly suspect that if one's middle-aged body resists weight-loss when all of the "neolithic agents of disease" (NADs) are removed, then low-carb is definitely the way to go. Some people say they've tried it and they felt terrible, but i suspect they weren't eliminating a "sensitive" food that they should have. HOWEVER: i'm not in a position to say they're wrong, either! Not everybody's body functions the same way -- a young, healthy, athletic male body's physiology is entirely different from mine: female, middle-aged, thyroid-challenged, food-sensitivity-ridden, and moderately overweight.
Having discovered, with the help of the Personal Paleo Code, what the worst offenders are against my health and well-being, i can offer this partial list of what helps me most:
I had a few ounces of a good sake with the oysters -- it seemed to call for it! That, or champagne, or vodka.... Now, i haven't added champagne back into my diet yet, as i had "trouble" with chardonnay. On Saturday afternoon i had a short bloody-mary made with a bacon-flavored potato vodka, tomato juice and hot sauce, and i felt draggy the rest of the day. Perhaps even potato-based vodka isn't going to agree with me -- i'll try it again sometime later, in a mixture that doesn't include the nightshades. Sake, though, continues to be comparatively non-toxic.
My discovered "tricks of the trade" may not work with everybody. I strongly suspect that if one's middle-aged body resists weight-loss when all of the "neolithic agents of disease" (NADs) are removed, then low-carb is definitely the way to go. Some people say they've tried it and they felt terrible, but i suspect they weren't eliminating a "sensitive" food that they should have. HOWEVER: i'm not in a position to say they're wrong, either! Not everybody's body functions the same way -- a young, healthy, athletic male body's physiology is entirely different from mine: female, middle-aged, thyroid-challenged, food-sensitivity-ridden, and moderately overweight.
Having discovered, with the help of the Personal Paleo Code, what the worst offenders are against my health and well-being, i can offer this partial list of what helps me most:
- very low carbohydrate diet;
- intermittent fasting;
- sleep! 7-9 hours of it!
- stress control (i use tincture of licorice when feeling overburdened);
- supplements, which are entirely individual, though the Perfect Health Diet website makes some good recommendations;
- high-fat and protein meal early in the day, and any significant amount of carb i allow myself, saved for dinner;
- avoiding EVERYTHING that actively disagrees with me (all the NADs, and more), no matter how much i like it!
- tabata sprints, not too often, and walking, as Mark Sisson says;
- limiting goitrogens;
- not snacking;
- progesterone creme (again, it's individual -- but it helps the thyroid, balances estrogen-dominance, and is NOT CARCINOGENIC, California!)
- ... uh ... i'm sure there's more ... oh yeah, coffee! i think i need another cup.... ;-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)