Emstar1892
Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2015
- Messages
- 346
Hey everyone, my name is Emma and I'm from London, England. I'm 23.
My history goes like this:
1. Ages 1-12, never slept as a child. Ever. Like, we're talking 3-4 hours a night all those years. Never worked out why.
2. Age 14+ developed acne. Given Dianette birth control and tetracycline antibiotics. Taken EVERY DAY for 4 YEARS!!!!!!
3. Age 15+ smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. Diet was mainly junk, crisps/doritos/sandwiches from my local shop, pasta pesto, super noodles, cakes, biscuits, etc.
4. Age 18 stopped smoking, came off birth control pill and antibiotics. Year of brain fog, cystic acne, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, weight gain, hair loss, insomnia, racing thoughts, waaaaa.
5. Age 19 embarked on a diet-fulled acne mission. Cut out dairy, skin stopped being oily. Cut out gluten, stopped getting cysts. Cut out sugar, almost clear.
6. Age 19-22 Ended up on a low carb "whole food, mainly raw vegan" diet. Managed to sleep again, exercise again, eliminate anxiety, perfect skin, clockwork periods, etc. Diet consisted of nuts, seeds, seeds, nuts, some seeds and a few nuts. Sometimes with oil, if I was feeling spontaneous. If I wasn't feeling spontaneous, I'd add more nuts and seeds.
7. Age 22-23 Realized I hated life and felt like turd. Went to restaurants with the family and cried into their rice while I ordered undressed salad and raw cutlery. Went to the gym and passed out before paying to go in. Wore tampons with my fingers crossed but my menstrual cycle had truly left me. Face like a pale cushion.
8. 23 - Decide to embark on a high-carb vegan diet a la "Freelee the banana girl." Feel amazing. Skin perfect. Wonderful month. Continue eating bananas and dates for 3 more months...Feel like I'm dying. No blood tests but reckon my blood sugars were all over the place, probably diabetic in the mornings. Sweating/palpitations/blurred vision, you name it.
9. 23 - Go straight back to low carb, low-protein. (thought this would minimize insulin in my blood). Eating mushrooms and pesto. Literally. Didn't sleep at all for about 5 months. Sometimes eating sardines and beef. Sometimes avocado. Just all over the place...
Realise that I'm completely insulin resistant. Realise I may always have been. Realise this may have caused my acne in the first place. Bought a glucose meter and found that after 20g of sweet potato I'm at 8.2. WTF!!!!!
10. Present day - trying to recover. At the moment I'm on something like John McDougall's starch solution. Oatmeal at breakfast, brown rice and sweet potatoes at lunch, buckwheat and beans/corn for dinner. No fat (unless it absolutely necessary in which case it's like 2g coconut oil). If I'm starving I have crackers/a bowl of cornflakes. It worked great for a while. Now I can eat 100g carbs in a sitting and get 6.2 after a couple of hours, max. But over the last 2 weeks I've become completely exhausted. I can't exercise, my brain is in a fog, I'm forgetting things, I'm very pale, my skin is dry and I'm hypoglycemic between meals. For instance, after 110g carbs from my morning oatmeal I was at 3.5 after 3 hours. I couldn't even drive to work. Sadly, although i'd like to think the blood sugar is just clearing faster than ever, I think my body is over-producing insulin and that eventually my blood sugars will creep up. In other words, I think that I'm still insulin resistant, but at the stage where my pancreas can overcompensate with an extortionate amount of insulin. Also have very fine hairs on my face indicative of PCOS. Brain fog after meals another sign of insulin resistance. When I wake up I literally look like a ghost. White face and navy blue undereye circles. I'm almost embarassed to go out I look so ill.
It's a tall order and I apologize for it, but does anyone think there's any way I could one day live a normal life and enjoy food without dying? Have any of you ever overcome insulin resistance? I like Peat's ideas, but dairy is a HUGE problem. It just doesn't get along with any of my bodily processes, dammit!
My history goes like this:
1. Ages 1-12, never slept as a child. Ever. Like, we're talking 3-4 hours a night all those years. Never worked out why.
2. Age 14+ developed acne. Given Dianette birth control and tetracycline antibiotics. Taken EVERY DAY for 4 YEARS!!!!!!
3. Age 15+ smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. Diet was mainly junk, crisps/doritos/sandwiches from my local shop, pasta pesto, super noodles, cakes, biscuits, etc.
4. Age 18 stopped smoking, came off birth control pill and antibiotics. Year of brain fog, cystic acne, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, weight gain, hair loss, insomnia, racing thoughts, waaaaa.
5. Age 19 embarked on a diet-fulled acne mission. Cut out dairy, skin stopped being oily. Cut out gluten, stopped getting cysts. Cut out sugar, almost clear.
6. Age 19-22 Ended up on a low carb "whole food, mainly raw vegan" diet. Managed to sleep again, exercise again, eliminate anxiety, perfect skin, clockwork periods, etc. Diet consisted of nuts, seeds, seeds, nuts, some seeds and a few nuts. Sometimes with oil, if I was feeling spontaneous. If I wasn't feeling spontaneous, I'd add more nuts and seeds.
7. Age 22-23 Realized I hated life and felt like turd. Went to restaurants with the family and cried into their rice while I ordered undressed salad and raw cutlery. Went to the gym and passed out before paying to go in. Wore tampons with my fingers crossed but my menstrual cycle had truly left me. Face like a pale cushion.
8. 23 - Decide to embark on a high-carb vegan diet a la "Freelee the banana girl." Feel amazing. Skin perfect. Wonderful month. Continue eating bananas and dates for 3 more months...Feel like I'm dying. No blood tests but reckon my blood sugars were all over the place, probably diabetic in the mornings. Sweating/palpitations/blurred vision, you name it.
9. 23 - Go straight back to low carb, low-protein. (thought this would minimize insulin in my blood). Eating mushrooms and pesto. Literally. Didn't sleep at all for about 5 months. Sometimes eating sardines and beef. Sometimes avocado. Just all over the place...
Realise that I'm completely insulin resistant. Realise I may always have been. Realise this may have caused my acne in the first place. Bought a glucose meter and found that after 20g of sweet potato I'm at 8.2. WTF!!!!!
10. Present day - trying to recover. At the moment I'm on something like John McDougall's starch solution. Oatmeal at breakfast, brown rice and sweet potatoes at lunch, buckwheat and beans/corn for dinner. No fat (unless it absolutely necessary in which case it's like 2g coconut oil). If I'm starving I have crackers/a bowl of cornflakes. It worked great for a while. Now I can eat 100g carbs in a sitting and get 6.2 after a couple of hours, max. But over the last 2 weeks I've become completely exhausted. I can't exercise, my brain is in a fog, I'm forgetting things, I'm very pale, my skin is dry and I'm hypoglycemic between meals. For instance, after 110g carbs from my morning oatmeal I was at 3.5 after 3 hours. I couldn't even drive to work. Sadly, although i'd like to think the blood sugar is just clearing faster than ever, I think my body is over-producing insulin and that eventually my blood sugars will creep up. In other words, I think that I'm still insulin resistant, but at the stage where my pancreas can overcompensate with an extortionate amount of insulin. Also have very fine hairs on my face indicative of PCOS. Brain fog after meals another sign of insulin resistance. When I wake up I literally look like a ghost. White face and navy blue undereye circles. I'm almost embarassed to go out I look so ill.
It's a tall order and I apologize for it, but does anyone think there's any way I could one day live a normal life and enjoy food without dying? Have any of you ever overcome insulin resistance? I like Peat's ideas, but dairy is a HUGE problem. It just doesn't get along with any of my bodily processes, dammit!