who's driving the malaise-car?

I woke up cold this morning, and a couple of times (briefly) during the night.  This means that something i consumed YESTERDAY was deleterious to my well-being.  I'm lucky that i have a promptly-responsive barometer, because those who have problems that take awhile to be observed have a much harder time figuring out what went wrong.

What i ate yesterday:  black coffee, important supplements, the last serving of Fat Fast Cookbook cheese-broccoli soup (the first time i had no problem on a larger bowlful, so i exonerate it), swiss cheese and pork rinds (similar side-comment), one small Campari-and-soda (ditto), 6 oz. chardonnay (ditto), and the condemned-by-elimination leftover-pork-roast-based chow mein i made!  It contained the coconut oil i cooked it all in, a minuscule amount of konjac flour (the stuff shirataki noodles are made of) to thicken, meat and natural broth, a little shallot, a little canned mushroom, moderate amounts of celery and canned bean sprout, and the largest vegetable component, my half of the small can of bamboo shoots i shredded to make the "noodle bed."

Insignificant quantities of carbs, as you see!  Can't blame the rice because i didn't have any.   Not likely the shallot or celery as i seem to find them non-toxic.  I've had the same brand of mushroom recently, and they're from the same cartonful of cans, so that too is unlikely.  Only suspects, the histaminic buildup of the meat, or the MULTIPLE GOITROGENIC COMPOUNDING of the bean sprouts and bamboo shoots.

Even eating tiny quantities of certain questionable foods can gang up together to give a sensitive person problems!  Now, imagine that your doctor is trying to help you determine how much your dosage of exogenous thyroid hormone should be, and you're eating a mixed diet of all sorts of things that affect your native output...!  No wonder it can be such a battle and such a puzzle.

What i DIDN'T eat yesterday, now -- ruminant meat that i know makes me feel GOOD...

ongoing search for health and fitness

Since i began writing here, things have changed in the paleo blogosphere.  It's kinda funny, really -- some very fervent advocates have deserted the cause, some continuing believers have slowed their rate of publishing, others have largely lost their audiences (you can tell from the volume and variety of commenters), and some "anti's" have crowed that they just KNEW paleo was BS and it was only a matter of time....

Meanwhile, there are still seekers after improved health, some of whom have also moved on to other schemes, and some like me who have experienced improvement but insufficient wellness to satisfy ourselves, who keep tweaking and telling you about it.

Since returning from our son's farm in VA where our dog Spenser picked up a bacterium which nearly was an end to him, both my husband and i have also dealt with some health issues which i can't help but suspect of being related.  J (the last one to catch "something" as he usually is) ended up with what looked like a virus that settled in his lungs, and which he recalls began when i got the super-vacuum that stirred up all the nasty stuff that was living in our bedroom carpet.  I (earlier) got that horrible exacerbation of allergy which i subsequently identified as histamine/tyramine intolerance, which INSPIRED the purchase of the vacuum and bedroom super-air-filter.  My studies into histamine intolerance led me into beginning a study of "chronic fatigue syndrome" -- something i think i've been dealing with for most of my 58 years, but which i've been too "proud" to admit widely.

I haven't even finished reading "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:  a Treatment Guide" but i've learned some interesting things which i'm beginning to put into practice.  Don't get me wrong -- the book is far from perfect (like, the authors aren't very savvy about diet), but i AM a big proponent of looking at the experiences of others and considering whether their tweaks might be helpful to me too.  There's a LOT more reading to do, and i think i can safely promise to keep passing along what i've found valuable and helpful.  ;-)

For now my message is, paleo isn't wrong, it's just incomplete.  "Coincidentally," paleo foods -- "non-neolithic" foods -- ARE lower in toxins than what people have been eating for the last couple of thousand years ... ESPECIALLY the last 100.  A big part of our modern malaise is because:

• "neolithic" diet foods are much higher in histamines, tyramines and salicylates as well as overt toxins;
• modern reliance on antibiotics for TOO MANY things have completely messed up our microbiota;
• "recent" cultural ideals promote health-eroding behavior;
• expecting drugs/medicine to be "the answer" cause society as a whole to hand over our responsibility for wellness to those who have a vested interest in promoting antagonistic practices.

I won't be surprised when i find that few people besides me find this a compelling reason to limit diet and influence behavior.  My biggest problem is knowing that a lot of the suffering around me is self-inflicted, and that although i know my findings COULD help others it will be widely ignored.  :-(

a digression

Some people fret that, on a long-term low-carb diet, they seem to run a slightly higher blood sugar than they did, when they first started.  I just had a little idea that might explain what they see....

You know how PHYSIOLOGICAL insulin resistance is different from its PATHOLOGICAL alter-ego, i hope;  Petro has talked about this phenomenon at length.  The first is the normal body's reaction to starvation, designed to save glucose for the cells that really need it, and the second is the panic-stricken cell's way to avoid a perceived toxic situation.

I suspect that a slightly-raised blood sugar as seen in LC eating may be analogous.

Reading along at ketotic.org, i found a string of interesting articles about "excess" protein being converted to glucose via gluconeogenesis (GNG).  The short version is, doesn't seem to happen in the absence of GNG triggers like raised glucagon -- it's not a supply-motivated operation, but demand-inspired.

It occurred to me to wonder, if GNG is demand-motivated, does this not explain why we sometimes see a higher morning BG?  For SOME REASON, our bodies are asking for a little bit more glucose, and our livers are obligingly -- and appropriately -- responding?

It's not like our blood-sugar is steadily rising.  If that were the case, we could truly be described as "pre-diabetic" but although a little raised, the FBG is not actually GOING UP.

The Mayo Clinic's website tells me, "Illness or stress can trigger high blood sugars because hormones produced to combat illness or stress can also cause your blood sugar to rise."  It took me all of thirty seconds to find this information.  The site also volunteered that a change in physical activity can also result in varying glucose levels, as can certain medications.

So the next time you see a slightly higher than "normal" BG but it doesn't get worse, it just jumps around a few points, do NOT start thinking OMG I'M GIVING MYSELF DIABETES WITH MY HIGH-FAT DIET -- no.  Ain't happening.

"post-viral fatigue induced food intolerance with hypotension" ... and variants?

In the CFS/ME world, there is agitation to change how people refer to their illness, and i can't blame them.  Doesn't "chronic" ANYTHING imply "oh, you're always bitching about something"?

Even more obnoxious are some designators that GPs are inclined to call it -- "bored housewife syndrome" ... "yuppie flu" ... then there's "20th century syndrome" and the ol' reliable "hysteria."  If i were one of the sufferers who is barely able to leave her bed without passing out, and i were described that way, i'm afraid i'd end up incarcerated for killing someone -- or at least hiring it done.  ;-)

I'll give credit to the writer of the article i just read for having more sensitivity and compassion than a lot of "authorities" -- especially in the CDC and other national- and international-level alphabet-soup organizations.  He objects to too much inclination to call chronic fatigue a psychosomatic illness, though psychosocial aspects exist for many physiological problems.

http://www.sswahs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/research/RoleOfFoodIntoleranceInCFS.pdf

HOW stupid can people be?

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?

conditions have to be just right ... i.e. wrong?

I'm currently reading "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: a Treatment Guide" and it's interesting stuff.  It brings out in me the qualities of the gentleman who read a medical book on a rainy afternoon and found in himself symptoms of all the illnesses described ... except Housemaid's Knee.

Being introspective is helpful when it comes to self-diagnosis.  After all, if one's natural focus is outward it's good for some things but not necessarily observing one's own body's reactions to stimuli.

In discussing the search for causes and defining characteristics, the authors point out the frustrations of the researchers and physicians doing the investigating -- sometimes they see this and sometimes that, but "never always."  As a "paleoid" thinker, i can't help but add my own paradigms to their basic science and say, what happens when you start with a virus, add a bacterium or mycoplasma, THEN complicate with a diet full of lectins (or not), AND reduced native proteolytic enzyme production (from simply being over 30 years old)?  The latter two conditions certainly cause the subject to be more susceptible to any and all infections.

Being a rapidly aging individual having a faulty body to work with, i'm interested in avoiding all the stumbling-blocks i can and getting all the mileage-enhancing tips possible.  This book promises some insights i'll find useful!  I'm afraid my readers will have to put up with this subject while i work my way through the book and record my thoughts along the way.  ;-)

the chicken or the egg

There are so many things which cause a body to dial back on its thyroid production and T4-to-T3 conversion!  Malnutrition (ie inadequate raw materials), illness, infection, excessive omega-6 or insufficient saturated fat, stress, a very-low-calorie diet, too-heavy exercising....  Anything which makes the body think it's in danger of hard times coming and needs to garner its resources -- a siege situation -- is enough to make it slow metabolism via the thyroid.

As i read about the assaults that "tainted" foodstuffs make (my histamine studies), and the postulated infective origins of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME), i can't help but connect dots until i get back to thyroid function.  (It may not be my only tool, but i DO have a hammer....)  I had already supposed that there was a chicken/egg situation going on before, and this complicates the matter further.

Bad nutrient absorption (amino acids, vitamin A, iron or B12 perhaps) because one has poor stomach-acid production due to low thyroid will lower thyroid function which will lower stomach acid which will ... ad infinitum.  Or h. pylori infection can lower stomach acid which will also ....  Or other viral, bacterial or mycoplasma issues -- whew.  All roads lead to Rome.

So for those of us who suffer from thyroid misfunction (low, high or fluctuating), does the trouble originate in a faulty body, or do infective or nutritional influences cause the poor function which snowballs into worse function?  I suspect all the above.