Did I Diabetes Myself? HYEEEELP!

[haidut]

Thank you for your diagnosis; the iron deal has cleared up a few things, though as my doctor just called me yesterday and told me he was referring me back to the GP, so he apparently wasn't too worried (ahem: knowledgeable) about the transferrin. I'll find another GI doc, I guess.

Funny; I was thinking yesterday of adding the cortisol test, but I didn't. I haven't had any such test, yet, but I will.

Really, thank you again.

Please don't use the word diagnosis here. Neither I nor other members here are in the business of diagnosing as we are not licensed doctors. All I did was share knowledge commonly available from lab testing websites like LabCorp and Quest.

 

[explosionlord]

Sorry. I'm on the up-and-up; never would hold you or any others here accountable. Still, you shone light on something that was under my radar, and I'm grateful. I did send the tests to the doctor, seeing what he'll say.

 

[explosionlord]

So, there are two paths usually. If transferrin is low and ferritin high (especially with high iron saturation index) then this means iron overload in tissues. With ferritin low-normal, iron saturation index low and serum iron also low then it suggests iron deficiency anemia. The part that bothers me a bit is that in iron deficiency anemia these would be low BUT transferrin would be high. In your case transferrin is also low, which suggests reduced ability to carry iron to tissues. The iron carrying proteins like ferritin and transferrin are produced by the liver, so when they are low it may be due to liver dysfunction. I would ask the doctor what he thinks about that. In situations like that giving more iron may be dangerous as with low transferrin the iron won't be carried to the tissues and will just float around causing all sorts of problems including (more) liver and brain damage. I would definitely follow up with the doctor on these things. If iron issue are not straightened out metabolism will not be optimal. Have you ever had blood/urine tests for cortisol?

Welp, don't know if this is from the doctor, his assistant, or from the nurse who called me (these specialists have all kinds of guard dogs), but they saw my numbers and suggested I take an iron supplement for a month while I wait for my next visit with the actual doctor (on Halloween, of all days). The lady even said "well, your ferritin is normal so you're probably not anemic," completely disregarding what that could mean with low transferrin/TIBC. So, going today to PC to get a referral for someone else and also see what she has to say about the numbers.

Ray is right about doctors.

 

[haidut]

Welp, don't know if this is from the doctor, his assistant, or from the nurse who called me (these specialists have all kinds of guard dogs), but they saw my numbers and suggested I take an iron supplement for a month while I wait for my next visit with the actual doctor (on Halloween, of all days). The lady even said "well, your ferritin is normal so you're probably not anemic," completely disregarding what that could mean with low transferrin/TIBC. So, going today to PC to get a referral for someone else and also see what she has to say about the numbers.

Ray is right about doctors.

I would actually call back and point out that the transferrin is low and there would be nothing to carry (i.e. "transfer") that iron to the cells (make sure you talk to a doctor). So, that extra iron supplement will elevate serum iron and potentially cause iron toxicity in liver, brain, kidneys, pancreas, etc. Ask to speak with a doctor and keep pushing for a detailed answer to the question "why would taking an iron supplement in the presence of LOW transferrin be safe?".

 

[explosionlord]

I would actually call back and point out that the transferrin is low and there would be nothing to carry (i.e. "transfer") that iron to the cells (make sure you talk to a doctor). So, that extra iron supplement will elevate serum iron and potentially cause iron toxicity in liver, brain, kidneys, pancreas, etc. Ask to speak with a doctor and keep pushing for a detailed answer to the question "why would taking an iron supplement in the presence of LOW transferrin be safe?".

Well, I had a long talk with my GP (let her see the numbers and all). She is of the mind that since my red blood cells are not deformed or tiny, i.e. my hematocrit, et cetera are normal, that I ought to do iron supplementation with ferrous sulfate for a month. I did really push on the transferrin multiple times, but her response was mostly that she'd like something to compare my current numbers with (she mentioned she wants to see if this is a downward trend), and that usually they ask for a 3 month time before re-testing but she understands my concerns. She also signed off on an abdomen MRI, due to my concerns with this back pain and radiation (that is, she didn't go for a CT).

So, I don't know. As nice and listening as she was about everything (unlike the GI), I still feel leery giving an iron supp a go. I suppose I'll do it for a week just to see how I feel.

 

[sladerunner69]

I would stop eating fat, switcht to low fat diet immediately. Fat is generally less efficient than carbs, from what Ive observed on forums and in my own trials. I have always felt substantially more calm, focussed, less burdenned when I keep my fat intake low. Diabetes in reality is an inefficiency in sugar metabolism. Incorporating sugar into your diet steadily and gradually while lowering fats should do the trick. The brain fog symptoms you are experiencing sounds like arterial constriction, which can come from fat because it has negative temporary affects on your circulation.

 

[explosionlord]

I would stop eating fat, switcht to low fat diet immediately. Fat is generally less efficient than carbs, from what Ive observed on forums and in my own trials. I have always felt substantially more calm, focussed, less burdenned when I keep my fat intake low. Diabetes in reality is an inefficiency in sugar metabolism. Incorporating sugar into your diet steadily and gradually while lowering fats should do the trick. The brain fog symptoms you are experiencing sounds like arterial constriction, which can come from fat because it has negative temporary affects on your circulation.

I've been doing low-fat since the end of July. I did gradually try to recoup a bit of fat so I wouldn't end up with 1000 calories/day. According to my cronometer, I've averaged 18.8g/day for the past 7 days (not incl. today).

I did ask the GP if anemia might account for the brain fog and she said yes, but I'm not sure about that (since mine always seems to be linked to eating something, whether carbs, protein, fat, and especially the latter two).

 

[sladerunner69]

I've been doing low-fat since the end of July. I did gradually try to recoup a bit of fat so I wouldn't end up with 1000 calories/day. According to my cronometer, I've averaged 18.8g/day for the past 7 days (not incl. today).

I did ask the GP if anemia might account for the brain fog and she said yes, but I'm not sure about that (since mine always seems to be linked to eating something, whether carbs, protein, fat, and especially the latter two).

So how sre things going? glucose metabolism improve at all? i know it can be reaired it qill just take time and commitment to diet thats all.

 

[explosionlord]

So how sre things going? glucose metabolism improve at all? i know it can be reaired it qill just take time and commitment to diet thats all.

Hey, thanks for Czech-ing in!

I suppose so, though I'm not completely convinced I have/had a glucose metabolism problem; just was trying to figure out what the brain fog was all about.

I've been so annoyed about everything, I just stopped all testing, doctors, et cetera. Just dealing when I feel bad...there doesn't seem to be much of a rhyme or reason why certain foods at certain times irritate and why at others they don't. For most of the last few months I couldn't do greasy fats and mostly no fats in general. Now I'm fine on fats, though I don't go super-overboard (60 g/day tops). Recently, I had a couple of bad fevers after eating 1) white rice noodles, and later, 2) Corn grits. I thought it could be the high starch content, but I ate some white bread (Alpine Valley) in a couple sandwiches (Alpine Valley, so no fat), and nothing. I also obviously cooked and rinsed the noodles, so I dunno. Like I said, pretty tired of worrying about it. If I start to feel bad, I just get up and do something constructive. If I lay around, I tend to feel worse.

I also exed the iron pills after a week and a half; saw no difference, and not trying to have a pile o' iron dickin' around inside me.

 

[beachbum]

Hey, thanks for Czech-ing in!

I suppose so, though I'm not completely convinced I have/had a glucose metabolism problem; just was trying to figure out what the brain fog was all about.

I've been so annoyed about everything, I just stopped all testing, doctors, et cetera. Just dealing when I feel bad...there doesn't seem to be much of a rhyme or reason why certain foods at certain times irritate and why at others they don't. For most of the last few months I couldn't do greasy fats and mostly no fats in general. Now I'm fine on fats, though I don't go super-overboard (60 g/day tops). Recently, I had a couple of bad fevers after eating 1) white rice noodles, and later, 2) Corn grits. I thought it could be the high starch content, but I ate some white bread (Alpine Valley) in a couple sandwiches (Alpine Valley, so no fat), and nothing. I also obviously cooked and rinsed the noodles, so I dunno. Like I said, pretty tired of worrying about it. If I start to feel bad, I just get up and do something constructive. If I lay around, I tend to feel worse.

I also exed the iron pills after a week and a half; saw no difference, and not trying to have a pile o' iron dickin' around inside me.

Hi Explosionlord,

All I have to say is as I read your symptoms it sounded like myself a year ago but I had worse symptoms. Anyway, what I did is eat what I wanted if didnt make things worse, what I was craving I ate if it bothered me it went on the maybe later list. I dropped all supplements because it made me worse. I believe it was cortisol/estrogen related which I believe affects the liver and I also believe it was adrenal related. Try to eat small meals too. What I had to do is heal my body first just with food, and this my sound weird but I ate whatever I wanted because I was extremely underweight. I acually followed matt stone first then found this site, anyway. Listen to your cravings, I did and it worked. I am thinking know to do some liver cleansing because I know I can handle it better. Just to let you know my mom had gallbalder attacks and took olive oil for them, she said it worked, I tried but it was it or miss so I stopped that. After doing the healing with food the only supplement I used then was progesterone

 

[explosionlord]

Hi Explosionlord,

All I have to say is as I read your symptoms it sounded like myself a year ago but I had worse symptoms. Anyway, what I did is eat what I wanted if didnt make things worse, what I was craving I ate if it bothered me it went on the maybe later list. I dropped all supplements because it made me worse. I believe it was cortisol/estrogen related which I believe affects the liver and I also believe it was adrenal related. Try to eat small meals too. What I had to do is heal my body first just with food, and this my sound weird but I ate whatever I wanted because I was extremely underweight. I acually followed matt stone first then found this site, anyway. Listen to your cravings, I did and it worked. I am thinking know to do some liver cleansing because I know I can handle it better. Just to let you know my mom had gallbalder attacks and took olive oil for them, she said it worked, I tried but it was it or miss so I stopped that. After doing the healing with food the only supplement I used then was progesterone

Hi! Thanks for the insight; after reading some "horror stories" about bad reactions I've been on the fence about progesterone for a long time, as well as DHEA . I took the cop-out route on those, by going with pregnenolone and hoping its conversions would give me what my body needs as far as the prior two.

Like you, I am massively underweight and I work out which probably makes it worse (though I have mostly cut cardio). What's frustrating is once one symptom subsides, some other new symptom comes in its place. Right now, I'm dealing with almost non-stop LPR (silent reflux). I think I've been abusing levothyroxine in trying to combat it (as you said, fight the cortisol issues), as I'm using a lot and having no results. I'll probably cut it, and I have already cut niacinamide and most other supps. I hypothesized that my lower esophageal sphincter is maybe not getting the cue to close because stomach pH isn't low enough to activate that mechanism, but I made some low-pH vinegar and downed it with no positive result. The other way, baking soda, just gives me the burps and I still have the LPR.

I've also pretty much subscribed to your "eat about anything" idea, except I try to keep fats low out of principle. I am really bad at eating small meals, though, which may make you say "BINGO!" I generally am so uninterested in eating and more interested in my work throughout the day, that it gets to be 5:00 and I'm like "crap, I have 800 calories today" so I try to play catch-up. That said, my appetite doesn't really cause me to have "cravings," so I kind of just eat for the sake of eating.

 

[beachbum]

Hi! Thanks for the insight; after reading some "horror stories" about bad reactions I've been on the fence about progesterone for a long time, as well as DHEA . I took the cop-out route on those, by going with pregnenolone and hoping its conversions would give me what my body needs as far as the prior two.

Like you, I am massively underweight and I work out which probably makes it worse (though I have mostly cut cardio). What's frustrating is once one symptom subsides, some other new symptom comes in its place. Right now, I'm dealing with almost non-stop LPR (silent reflux). I think I've been abusing levothyroxine in trying to combat it (as you said, fight the cortisol issues), as I'm using a lot and having no results. I'll probably cut it, and I have already cut niacinamide and most other supps. I hypothesized that my lower esophageal sphincter is maybe not getting the cue to close because stomach pH isn't low enough to activate that mechanism, but I made some low-pH vinegar and downed it with no positive result. The other way, baking soda, just gives me the burps and I still have the LPR.

I've also pretty much subscribed to your "eat about anything" idea, except I try to keep fats low out of principle. I am really bad at eating small meals, though, which may make you say "BINGO!" I generally am so uninterested in eating and more interested in my work throughout the day, that it gets to be 5:00 and I'm like "crap, I have 800 calories today" so I try to play catch-up. That said, my appetite doesn't really cause me to have "cravings," so I kind of just eat for the sake of eating.

Yeah dont look at calories and as for the fat if you crave it eat it...ok please listen to your body, I went the try this or that and yeah something may have worked but it did make it worse. So this is what I did was eat and I use to fast and alot at once and stopping this helpped ALOT..DGL helpped also..Also after I posted above post I was doing alot of thinking that maybe focus on reducing inflammtion, this is what I plan on doing. Two years ago my bloodwork should my antibodies 2.1 which in the past have been up too.

 

[Ella]

baking soda, just gives me the burps and I still have the LPR.

Hey explosionlord are you going to be OK for this research project as it will mean much stress. Your state of health sounds precarious.

I would ditch the starches. They are doing you no favours. Like Peat says absolutely no starches when gut issues are involved. This is why he goes to so much trouble in extracting those keto acids from potato and fruits. Look up his potato juice recipe. Eat only easy to digest foods. This means well cooked and no raw. Extract from greens leafy vegetables the folate, calcium magnesium etc. Real gelatin broth as this will help to optimise digestion. Make sure to take the fat off the broth. Don't worry about the fat being the diet. You want to keep as low as possible to keep PUFAs low. Sun-ripen fruit will be your friend here. You want to get you calcium up to increase the tone of LES. Is reflux during the day or early hours of the morning? You are not storing adequate glycogen. Liver has to be really bad before you see elevated enzymes.

Have you been tested for small bacterial overgrowth? Keep the gut sterile. Carrot and bamboo fibres important and gut motility. Constipation will do you in, so good that you stopped taking iron. Optimise iron by ensuring you are getting co-factors in your diet in order to use iron properly. Haidut has made some good recommendations. Copper is needed, so I would check ceruloplasmin and I would check zinc levels. Have you supplemented zinc in the past? Supplementation can very quickly lower copper and substitute for it in copper-dependent enzymes - which happen to be extremely important for metabolism and detoxification

Those co-factors for iron are folate, riboflavin, Vitamin A (retinol). Vitamin A will also help to increase ceruloplasmin. You want to check B12. Do both serum and the Active B12. You may be lacking cofactors to convert B12 to active B12. Eating a little liver, which has everything you need - will be of enormous benefit. Watch how rapidly B12 is converted to Active once liver is in the diet. Stop trying to supplement as you just cause further imbalances. You need real food which is nutrient and mineral dense. Are you eating shellfish? We need robust health and need to be stress resistance otherwise, we achieve very little in life due to living in a hypo-energetic state.

Have you had your thyroid investigated? Numbers may look good, however, check Reverse T3, this will give an idea with how much stress your body is experiencing. You are eating too few calories to sustain your resting metabolic requirements.

You want to reduce fat and muscle meat that contain inflammatory amino acids, in order to be able to oxidise sugar. High amylase and back pain indicate pancreas is suffering. You want to focus on getting those amylase numbers down. At the higher end of normal is not good enough.

Get cholesterol (shellfish will help here) up with adequate Vitamin A and B12 so that you are making adequate hormones. Pregnenolone should help here and make sure you optimise thyroid hormones.

Eat small meals (easy to digest foods) every 3 hours during the day in order to increase glycogen stores. You will know you are on track when reflux stops and you are sleeping through the night.

Are you tracking, temperature and pulse? Make sure these are optimised.

Keep a food diary and eliminate those foods that trigger symptoms. Your gut lining will be extremely sensitive and will react quickly to any insult. OJ has many benefits, however through its mechanism of detoxification, can be too harsh on a sensitive gut. You will be prone to histamine reaction to all kinds of foods. Ph of the small intestines is critical if this occurs. You will be dumping loads of acids once you start to remineralise. You need to buffer with adequate alkaline pancreatic juices. If these alkaline minerals are low and they will be, you will be unable to buffer these acids. You can also experience an increase in allergies. Reflux can be seen as a response to allergies.

It sounds like you have been running on adrenaline for a long time. This will not heal overnight and takes time. Your diet has been very deficient and mineral poor. This allows for much toxicity especially if you having been eating SAD. A nutrient dense diet eating real foods prevents the toxic state. You need to work hard in restoring your digestive function and alkaline reserves. Improvement comes with restoring minerals and keeping them in their right balance. As Ray says supplementing can be a disaster. Do not guess whether you need to take a supplement. Test first and then use diet to replenish and if this still does not do the trick, then supplement cautiously. I have many stories of supplementation gone bad and people poisoning themselves. "First do no harm". I am with Peat on this one. The zinc in particular and it is not just about contamination in supplements. There is still much that we don't know and there is a huge social experiment going on. People have been supplementing since 1970s. Today every man and his dog rely take supplements instead of upgrading the diet. I don't see a healthy population - only sicker and sicker people . We have become a population that can longer digest the food that is supposed to sustain us. Is there really something wrong with the food or is it really about the people who have damaged their metabolism and digestion that is the problem. I have zero tolerance listening to these alternative health practitioners go on about diet and then tell you that you should be buying supplements. No bloody wonder people have lost the ability to eat real food. Remember, the body is extremely economical. It will not waste precious resources (especially in a hypo-energetic state) in supporting a function that is not being used. People need to educate themselves in the art of cooking and eating seasonally. Meals should delight and be delicious, aromas should stimulate saliva and gastric juices in anticipation of the eating process. Meals are meant to be shared with family, friends and community in a relaxed and amicable state. This is all part of the magic that makes digestion work.

Breathe work and breathing through the nose can't say it enough. Tape your mouth when sleeping and exercising. You don't want huffing and puffing exercise routines. Gentle, gentle breathe work. Everything you do to your body must be gentle, do not injure yourself by being aggressive - body does not like it!! People always want to abuse themselves. If you can tolerate milk; try to increase tolerance, otherwise if it causes you grief; then potato juice. Please be kind - we need you to complete your experiment intact and not end up in a heap.

 

[explosionlord]

Ha ha, yeah, I'll be fine; actually, stuff like this is why I live and I like to beat a challenge and "make people proud". It's existential stuff like this eating and having to drive in a town full of impatient-o's and no-drivers that stresses me out. I won't become a heap, promise.

I generally am pretty good about starches; though recently I was eating well-cooked potatoes (just so many nutrients and calories!). I made a "soup" of potato juice the other day, with carrots and mushrooms. I tried to sieve out as much starch as I could and I cooked it well, but still got silent reflux; you're right, can't expect a cure to come overnight. Reflux is pretty much tied to eating, but I've had night bouts too.

I haven't been tested for SIBO, but I've gotten to a point where I can't stand even lab tests anymore, let alone doctors. I think my low iron problem was actually due to copper, as I was drinking coffee from a copper mug and actually heating the water in a copper pot! Since I stopped, my levels came back up (got a follow-up). I think I might have a folate absorption problem, if my promethease results are correct. I tend to "supplement" with asparagus, to that end. I do eat shrimp often, but am ashamed to say I haven't had liver for a while (was doing so once a week at one point). I got MRSA at the end of last year (dunno how, don't hang in hospitals), and actually was doing better on the antibiotics than before or after. Maybe a nod toward the SIBO thing.

My temperatures and pulse have been dreadful for a long time, I do check them daily. Even with aspirin and thyroid, they are ridiculous.

I had thyroid tests done, TSH was in a nice range as I recall. Didn't check the RT3, mostly because I was being cheap. I agree completely about the amylase, but the one GI scoffed right in my face at the notion that a debilitated pancreas could have upper "normal" range numbers, though even "dumb" Wikipedia has sources to that tune. I just did my own thing and the back pain eventually went away. Cholesterol has always been low, total and HDL. B12 was apparently normal, but didn't do the test you recommended.

My exercise routines are pretty spartan due to efficiency and time considerations; I do very Dr. Peat-approved things i.e. no stressing the body out with focus on negatives and only HIIT when it comes to running to reduce stress.

I've kept a Cronometer almost unwavering for about 4 years. I think my main problem is, as you say, not getting enough food and not eating small enough meals. I'm really bad with food habits, really really bad. Not the typical "eat fast food" kinda thing, just not bothering eating...been like that since my teens really. Now suffering because of it. The adrenaline thing is probably right.

All this said, I'm getting the study done or bust. I've just learned to ignore the pain, don't really get into low-energy lethargics; I have too much work to do. Still, I'll do what you said and eat every few. I generally do okay with milk, just got an off brand of skim recently that gave me bad stomach pain. I had been on a vit. A palmitate free milk for a long time, so maybe my body doesn't like the palmitate. Did rectify by getting the old milk again, here's hoping.

 

[Bluebell]

Hey explosionlord are you going to be OK for this research project as it will mean much stress. Your state of health sounds precarious.

I would ditch the starches. They are doing you no favours. Like Peat says absolutely no starches when gut issues are involved. This is why he goes to so much trouble in extracting those keto acids from potato and fruits. Look up his potato juice recipe. Eat only easy to digest foods. This means well cooked and no raw. Extract from greens leafy vegetables the folate, calcium magnesium etc. Real gelatin broth as this will help to optimise digestion. Make sure to take the fat off the broth. Don't worry about the fat being the diet. You want to keep as low as possible to keep PUFAs low. Sun-ripen fruit will be your friend here. You want to get you calcium up to increase the tone of LES. Is reflux during the day or early hours of the morning? You are not storing adequate glycogen. Liver has to be really bad before you see elevated enzymes.

Have you been tested for small bacterial overgrowth? Keep the gut sterile. Carrot and bamboo fibres important and gut motility. Constipation will do you in, so good that you stopped taking iron. Optimise iron by ensuring you are getting co-factors in your diet in order to use iron properly. Haidut has made some good recommendations. Copper is needed, so I would check ceruloplasmin and I would check zinc levels. Have you supplemented zinc in the past? Supplementation can very quickly lower copper and substitute for it in copper-dependent enzymes - which happen to be extremely important for metabolism and detoxification

Those co-factors for iron are folate, riboflavin, Vitamin A (retinol). Vitamin A will also help to increase ceruloplasmin. You want to check B12. Do both serum and the Active B12. You may be lacking cofactors to convert B12 to active B12. Eating a little liver, which has everything you need - will be of enormous benefit. Watch how rapidly B12 is converted to Active once liver is in the diet. Stop trying to supplement as you just cause further imbalances. You need real food which is nutrient and mineral dense. Are you eating shellfish? We need robust health and need to be stress resistance otherwise, we achieve very little in life due to living in a hypo-energetic state.

Have you had your thyroid investigated? Numbers may look good, however, check Reverse T3, this will give an idea with how much stress your body is experiencing. You are eating too few calories to sustain your resting metabolic requirements.

You want to reduce fat and muscle meat that contain inflammatory amino acids, in order to be able to oxidise sugar. High amylase and back pain indicate pancreas is suffering. You want to focus on getting those amylase numbers down. At the higher end of normal is not good enough.

Get cholesterol (shellfish will help here) up with adequate Vitamin A and B12 so that you are making adequate hormones. Pregnenolone should help here and make sure you optimise thyroid hormones.

Eat small meals (easy to digest foods) every 3 hours during the day in order to increase glycogen stores. You will know you are on track when reflux stops and you are sleeping through the night.

Are you tracking, temperature and pulse? Make sure these are optimised.

Keep a food diary and eliminate those foods that trigger symptoms. Your gut lining will be extremely sensitive and will react quickly to any insult. OJ has many benefits, however through its mechanism of detoxification, can be too harsh on a sensitive gut. You will be prone to histamine reaction to all kinds of foods. Ph of the small intestines is critical if this occurs. You will be dumping loads of acids once you start to remineralise. You need to buffer with adequate alkaline pancreatic juices. If these alkaline minerals are low and they will be, you will be unable to buffer these acids. You can also experience an increase in allergies. Reflux can be seen as a response to allergies.

It sounds like you have been running on adrenaline for a long time. This will not heal overnight and takes time. Your diet has been very deficient and mineral poor. This allows for much toxicity especially if you having been eating SAD. A nutrient dense diet eating real foods prevents the toxic state. You need to work hard in restoring your digestive function and alkaline reserves. Improvement comes with restoring minerals and keeping them in their right balance. As Ray says supplementing can be a disaster. Do not guess whether you need to take a supplement. Test first and then use diet to replenish and if this still does not do the trick, then supplement cautiously. I have many stories of supplementation gone bad and people poisoning themselves. "First do no harm". I am with Peat on this one. The zinc in particular and it is not just about contamination in supplements. There is still much that we don't know and there is a huge social experiment going on. People have been supplementing since 1970s. Today every man and his dog rely take supplements instead of upgrading the diet. I don't see a healthy population - only sicker and sicker people . We have become a population that can longer digest the food that is supposed to sustain us. Is there really something wrong with the food or is it really about the people who have damaged their metabolism and digestion that is the problem. I have zero tolerance listening to these alternative health practitioners go on about diet and then tell you that you should be buying supplements. No bloody wonder people have lost the ability to eat real food. Remember, the body is extremely economical. It will not waste precious resources (especially in a hypo-energetic state) in supporting a function that is not being used. People need to educate themselves in the art of cooking and eating seasonally. Meals should delight and be delicious, aromas should stimulate saliva and gastric juices in anticipation of the eating process. Meals are meant to be shared with family, friends and community in a relaxed and amicable state. This is all part of the magic that makes digestion work.

Breathe work and breathing through the nose can't say it enough. Tape your mouth when sleeping and exercising. You don't want huffing and puffing exercise routines. Gentle, gentle breathe work. Everything you do to your body must be gentle, do not injure yourself by being aggressive - body does not like it!! People always want to abuse themselves. If you can tolerate milk; try to increase tolerance, otherwise if it causes you grief; then potato juice. Please be kind - we need you to complete your experiment intact and not end up in a heap.

Great post Ella. Could you give an example of a daily menu of the one are you talking about here? (with 3 hourly meals, potato/veggie broth etc).

I also agree that going without supplements completely can be very good for healing (though I keep adding them back in). Can I ask what is your daily diet at the moment, and do you manage to keep your calcium/phosphorus ratio up on diet alone?

 

[Bluebell]

Hi explosionlord!:) One thing you might want to try experimenting with: try cutting out all coconut oil for a couple of weeks (even refined coconut oil, and also coconut oil/meal in any processed/restaurant food). For a small minority of people, me included, it gives terrible reflux.

 

[Ella]

Didn't check the RT3, mostly because I was being cheap.

rT3 is not so expensive and if high can provide answers as to why pulse and temps don't come up, especially if you have been supplementing thyroid hormone. Too many FFAs in the system which will be messing with pancreas, liver and thyroid function.

I'm really bad with food habits, really really bad. Not the typical "eat fast food" kinda thing, just not bothering eating...been like that since my teens really. Now suffering because of it. The adrenaline thing is probably right.

Yeah, it all makes sense - typical type A personality. I would be careful though. I was trying to link stress, Type A personality and the eye condition I was researching. At the time many people debated whether stress even existed. Sounds like the dark ages and it definately felt like it. Today we have sophisticated instruments like LC//MS/MS which not only detect but also quantify stress hormones and inflammatory markers in the different compartments of the body. So today, there is no denying that stress affects our health. My work involved the development of a simple and non-evasive diagnostic test with tear fluid that could detect the pathologial condition way before any physical signs were evident. By the time you could see the damage, precious time had passed to remediate the cornea. A simple solution for a devasting condition. I was loathed by the optometry profession whose turf I was trespassing onto (they were akin to the mafia) and frustrated me no end. They stole money that I had worked hard for my research. I say stolen as it was my time and energy fundraising the money in order to fund the research in the direction I was advocating: nutrition and lifestyle factors. How naive and stupid of me to think that anyone would care about the truth? When they saw the pile of money, they sought to get their grubby hands on it and use it for their own research. I was then told there would be no position available for me after I completed my research. I also became embroiled over the ownership of the intellectual rights of my work with the university. In the end, I had a complete physical breakdown. It took me 9 months before I could walk again. I too lived for my work and would skip meals and work through the night, night after night with very little sleep. I could get away with it when I was young but going into menopause I was running low on those youth hormones, exhausted all my mineral reserves and was rapidly putting on weight. I didn't recognise myself and lost trust in my body and terrified at thought of what to expect next. This was a body that did all the right things during all my pregnancies, breastfeeding and tackling all life challenges and crises - a body that had been incredibly robust up to that point. There were signs, but I had no reference for the trainwreck that was about to occur. It was when I started to read Peat's work that it all fell into place. I had run on adrenaline for most of my life; my focus now is solely on repair and regeneration. I am adamant that I will not end up in a nursing home, drugged out of my mind and ringing for the nurses who are run off their feet, too busy to bring me a bed pan because I can't get out of bed. I have asked my husband and children to just give me an injection and put me kindly down.

Peat says if you want a high metabolism you need to be prepared to support it. Running on adrenaline blitzes through your alkaline minerals. If you are hypothyroid you are in conservation mode. Metabolic processes slow down in order to conserve resources. Now that I have restored my metabolism, I find I need loads of food and if I don't eat regularly, my energy levels go down. If my life was more relaxed and not stressed, then I think I would be able to get away with less food and more exercise. I can skip meals without problems but I find that I am extremely ravenous at my next meal and will just eat anything I can get my hands on. It is too easy to get enthralled with a project and skip meals. I use the pulse rate and temps to monitor my food intake and keep a check on adrenaline. I wish I had known all this before my breakdown. I think many people underestimate the beauty of this simple tracking method. If I exercise, I know I am going to be more hungry to fuel the muscles. If I do more brain work, I need more carbs otherwise my brain refuses to work. When I was low-energy and hypothyroid, I could skip meals and not feel hungry. This was adrenaline and cortisol coursing through my body tearing my body down to feed my hungry cells. So the more lean muscle I lost, the fatter I got around the waist and fat deposited on my back as a result of high cortisol and estrogen. I am glad that I now have control over my weight. I can choose to lose weight without starving myself or maintain my current level. It seems that I have been able to restore the on/off button. I think my body is capable now of losing weight just by being more physical without food restriction.

You need to meal prep, so that snacks and meals are not missed.

I got MRSA at the end of last year (dunno how, don't hang in hospitals), and actually was doing better on the antibiotics than before or after.

Where you on the antibiotics before the MRSA? Didn't you have an operation?
I have a client you contracted MRSA from a hip replacement surgery. She was able to clear it out of her body without antibiotics (she hates medications). There is no trace of it; the doctors have not ever seen this happen. What is her secret? She toils in her beautiful 5-acre vegetable and fruit garden. Milks her own cow. Eats her own meat raised on the property. It is all organic and uses no chemicals. The only luxury that comes from the supermarket is her chocolate which she think is naughty. She is elderly, but no prescription medications; does not believe in supplements, no diabetes, no thyroid meds, no high blood pressure, no gut problems, no anti-depressants and a wicked, wicked sense of humour. She loves Elvis and rock n roll music and on the pensioner's day out to a pub lunch, she grabbed one of the old fellas for a dance and he ended up having a heart attack after he finished dancing with her. She is one dangerous woman and her life has not been an easy one, having endured a dreadful marriage to an alcoholic and abusive husband, who beat her and constantly threatened to kill the kids and her. He eventually hung himself on the property. She doesn't understand why her friends and sister (who has no husband or children) are on anti-depressants, miserable and can't cope with their lives. Learnt helplessness is a foreign concept to her. She is Irish and grows many different species of potatoes.

After sieving the potato mixture allow the starch particles to settle to the bottom and decant only the liquid, leaving the remaining starch at the bottom of the container. I bottle the liquid, keep several in the fridge and drink with salt flavoured with fresh rosemary. I don't have any gut issues but love to drink the potato liquid throughout the day or first thing in the morning.

My potatoes are absolutely gorgeous this season. The liquid is yellow, waxy and so viscous that it forms a thick film. This is a sign that they are low in starch and high in protein. I am hoping that the waxier ones will be less likely to cause persorbption of the starch molecule.

Is anyone up for a research project?

With SIBO and reflux you need to be very strict with the starch. Grated carrot and bamboo help enormously. I use to have pain where my pancreas is located. Scared the ***t out of me. I was convinced that I was gluten and starch intolerant because it happened when I ate bread and starches. The carrot and bamboo shoots worked a charm and the pain has been long forgotten. I too had my amylase levels checked. Dr wanted me to do endoscopy as she thought the pain was due to a blockage. I didn't do it because I am not so brave when it comes to medical procedures. I have been doing the carrot fibres for the past 4 years.

 

[explosionlord]

rT3 is not so expensive and if high can provide answers as to why pulse and temps don't come up, especially if you have been supplementing thyroid hormone. Too many FFAs in the system which will be messing with pancreas, liver and thyroid function.



Yeah, it all makes sense - typical type A personality. I would be careful though. I was trying to link stress, Type A personality and the eye condition I was researching. At the time many people debated whether stress even existed. Sounds like the dark ages and it definately felt like it. Today we have sophisticated instruments like LC//MS/MS which not only detect but also quantify stress hormones and inflammatory markers in the different compartments of the body. So today, there is no denying that stress affects our health. My work involved the development of a simple and non-evasive diagnostic test with tear fluid that could detect the pathologial condition way before any physical signs were evident. By the time you could see the damage, precious time had passed to remediate the cornea. A simple solution for a devasting condition. I was loathed by the optometry profession whose turf I was trespassing onto (they were akin to the mafia) and frustrated me no end. They stole money that I had worked hard for my research. I say stolen as it was my time and energy fundraising the money in order to fund the research in the direction I was advocating: nutrition and lifestyle factors. How naive and stupid of me to think that anyone would care about the truth? When they saw the pile of money, they sought to get their grubby hands on it and use it for their own research. I was then told there would be no position available for me after I completed my research. I also became embroiled over the ownership of the intellectual rights of my work with the university. In the end, I had a complete physical breakdown. It took me 9 months before I could walk again. I too lived for my work and would skip meals and work through the night, night after night with very little sleep. I could get away with it when I was young but going into menopause I was running low on those youth hormones, exhausted all my mineral reserves and was rapidly putting on weight. I didn't recognise myself and lost trust in my body and terrified at thought of what to expect next. This was a body that did all the right things during all my pregnancies, breastfeeding and tackling all life challenges and crises - a body that had been incredibly robust up to that point. There were signs, but I had no reference for the trainwreck that was about to occur. It was when I started to read Peat's work that it all fell into place. I had run on adrenaline for most of my life; my focus now is solely on repair and regeneration. I am adamant that I will not end up in a nursing home, drugged out of my mind and ringing for the nurses who are run off their feet, too busy to bring me a bed pan because I can't get out of bed. I have asked my husband and children to just give me an injection and put me kindly down.

Peat says if you want a high metabolism you need to be prepared to support it. Running on adrenaline blitzes through your alkaline minerals. If you are hypothyroid you are in conservation mode. Metabolic processes slow down in order to conserve resources. Now that I have restored my metabolism, I find I need loads of food and if I don't eat regularly, my energy levels go down. If my life was more relaxed and not stressed, then I think I would be able to get away with less food and more exercise. I can skip meals without problems but I find that I am extremely ravenous at my next meal and will just eat anything I can get my hands on. It is too easy to get enthralled with a project and skip meals. I use the pulse rate and temps to monitor my food intake and keep a check on adrenaline. I wish I had known all this before my breakdown. I think many people underestimate the beauty of this simple tracking method. If I exercise, I know I am going to be more hungry to fuel the muscles. If I do more brain work, I need more carbs otherwise my brain refuses to work. When I was low-energy and hypothyroid, I could skip meals and not feel hungry. This was adrenaline and cortisol coursing through my body tearing my body down to feed my hungry cells. So the more lean muscle I lost, the fatter I got around the waist and fat deposited on my back as a result of high cortisol and estrogen. I am glad that I now have control over my weight. I can choose to lose weight without starving myself or maintain my current level. It seems that I have been able to restore the on/off button. I think my body is capable now of losing weight just by being more physical without food restriction.

You need to meal prep, so that snacks and meals are not missed.



Where you on the antibiotics before the MRSA? Didn't you have an operation?
I have a client you contracted MRSA from a hip replacement surgery. She was able to clear it out of her body without antibiotics (she hates medications). There is no trace of it; the doctors have not ever seen this happen. What is her secret? She toils in her beautiful 5-acre vegetable and fruit garden. Milks her own cow. Eats her own meat raised on the property. It is all organic and uses no chemicals. The only luxury that comes from the supermarket is her chocolate which she think is naughty. She is elderly, but no prescription medications; does not believe in supplements, no diabetes, no thyroid meds, no high blood pressure, no gut problems, no anti-depressants and a wicked, wicked sense of humour. She loves Elvis and rock n roll music and on the pensioner's day out to a pub lunch, she grabbed one of the old fellas for a dance and he ended up having a heart attack after he finished dancing with her. She is one dangerous woman and her life has not been an easy one, having endured a dreadful marriage to an alcoholic and abusive husband, who beat her and constantly threatened to kill the kids and her. He eventually hung himself on the property. She doesn't understand why her friends and sister (who has no husband or children) are on anti-depressants, miserable and can't cope with their lives. Learnt helplessness is a foreign concept to her. She is Irish and grows many different species of potatoes.

After sieving the potato mixture allow the starch particles to settle to the bottom and decant only the liquid, leaving the remaining starch at the bottom of the container. I bottle the liquid, keep several in the fridge and drink with salt flavoured with fresh rosemary. I don't have any gut issues but love to drink the potato liquid throughout the day or first thing in the morning.

My potatoes are absolutely gorgeous this season. The liquid is yellow, waxy and so viscous that it forms a thick film. This is a sign that they are low in starch and high in protein. I am hoping that the waxier ones will be less likely to cause persorbption of the starch molecule.

Is anyone up for a research project?

With SIBO and reflux you need to be very strict with the starch. Grated carrot and bamboo help enormously. I use to have pain where my pancreas is located. Scared the ***t out of me. I was convinced that I was gluten and starch intolerant because it happened when I ate bread and starches. The carrot and bamboo shoots worked a charm and the pain has been long forgotten. I too had my amylase levels checked. Dr wanted me to do endoscopy as she thought the pain was due to a blockage. I didn't do it because I am not so brave when it comes to medical procedures. I have been doing the carrot fibres for the past 4 years.

Thanks for imparting all this, it has kind of knocked me back to my senses; the experience of people who have been there is always enlightening to me, and I'm glad you gave me a glimpse into potential "Christmas futures." I generally do the pulse/temp thing at waking and after my first meal, but I'm starting doing it more often from today. How I was doing it with the poor eating habits was like an experiment with no control, anyway. Since you have done well with your issues, I'm inspired that I might. I too get frustrated with the lack of logic and power of money in this society, but I guess that's another story; point is I should take care of myself.

I wasn't on antibiotics before MRSA, and had no surgeries (actually, I pretty much ignored advice from my second GI about getting fundoplication because of fears of MRSA and other surgery/mechanical issues). I did have the endoscopy and HIDA scans, but those were months before the MRSA, which was on the back of my leg for whatever reason. I envy your client, though I do think antibiotics did me good in this case (at least while I was on them). Still, I envy people who can have such a mentality and stay healthy (my wife calls them people with a "growth mindset").

I wanted to ask you if you have any intel on things like calories, micronutrients, et cetera for potato juice. Info is very scant online (lots of health guru raw food sites) and a tip-of-the-iceberg search of articles hasn't gotten me anything. I figure the vitamin C is good, potassium, protein precursors, et cetera, just unsure of calories. Something for me to look into in the future, if you're not sure. I'm super-anal about the sieving process; generally give it 3 goes through cheesecloth, allowing settling time each go. Then, I cook it and sieve it through a stainless steel coffee filter I ordered online. You can always see the "hidden" starch granules floating big time after cooking.

I guess we're diverging topics here; but my thought for the experiment, if I'm only given due time/resources to do one item, is to go with younger red potatoes. I believe Dr. Peat pegged them as the ones with the least starch, being waxy.

I'll get my RT3 tested.

Hi explosionlord!:) One thing you might want to try experimenting with: try cutting out all coconut oil for a couple of weeks (even refined coconut oil, and also coconut oil/meal in any processed/restaurant food). For a small minority of people, me included, it gives terrible reflux.

I'll keep that in mind, but I rarely use coconut oil since I tend to try to avoid fats. I think it's great stuff, but I don't really fry anything or add it to foods. We have a ton sitting around, usually gets used as a carrier oil in massages. Maybe tmi, haha. Thanks for looking out.

 

[Ella]

Could you give an example of a daily menu of the one are you talking about here? (with 3 hourly meals, potato/veggie broth etc).

Bluebell, I think the meals need to be individualised for each person depending on their health goals. Everyone is at different stages in their healing journey and tolerances to foods, dairy, starches and fruits, unstable blood sugars vary considerably. Increasingly more people are developing histamine reactions to all kinds of foods; regardless whether they are organic, homegrown etc - there seems to be no safe food for these people. Extremely frustrating as instead of food being a nourishing and delightful experience, food becomes the enemy. How does one get to this point? The human body is supposed to be extremely adaptable and we have enzymes that recognise every possible bond between molecules. We are not like koala bears that can only eat eucalyptus leaves. This really did my head, in my earlier days. Enzymes are the workhorses for a biotechnologist. However, as we learnt in high school, enzymes only work when conditions are just right - not too hot and not too cold. Enzymes are temperature, pH and substrate specific. So if our internal core temperature is low, then digestion ain't going to happen. Enzyme activity is also seasonally dependent, giving strength to the notion that seasonal eating is a rational approach.

When digestion is broken then much of the digestion needs to occur outside the body via cooking, fermenting (which is why it helps so many). I'm with Peat on fermented foods, the lactic acid is problematic.

The fact that one is dealing with broken digestion, means that we need to supply the body small amounts frequently in a state that the gut can extract nutrients with little effort. These individuals can not afford to skip meals and then hope to get all their needs from 1 - 2 or even 3 large meals a day. The food will be wasted and the digestive system will be overtaxed.

It's summer in Aussieland and really hot with high humidity, so the meals for me are going to be very different to those in the dead of winter. Potatoes are basically available most months of the year and store well for the winter months.

So when you asked about sample menus it depends on the person and their digestive capacity. What I eat may be entirely inappropriate for someone else. The issue is for the person who needs to keep starch out of the diet until SIBO is resolved or the individual that has been eating a diet high in animal proteins loaded with methionine and other sulfur proteins and is low in the alkaline minerals. Then the focus needs to be the potato juice in drinks and soups, gelatin to optimise digestion, liver for the vitamin A to help modulate gut lining sensitivity. You can do a potato juice smoothie using a little cooked liver, stewed apples, pears and dates provided the pectin in the apples and pears does not cause you grief. They need to be very well cooked. Raw juices will be hard going for a sensitive gut lining. The yellow flesh, waxy potatoes in a gelatin broth may be easier to tolerate until digestive function is restored. People find that they can eat a little, however, a lot causes them grief. If reflux is the problem then I would increase carrot fibre and focus on tucking away more glycogen during the day using fruits and sugar and optimising thyroid hormones so that gut transit time is not slowed. If you suffer night time reflux then glycogen storage is important. Strategies to reduces LPS load, ammonia, nitric oxide, constipation etc.

The basic potato juice can be bottled and kept in the fridge or stored in the freezer. In hot weather, I drink two big glasses on wake-up and continue to drink nice and cold throughout the day to keep electrolytes up and cool me down as I am sweating so much due to the humidity.

I use to drink a lot of tea which I have now swapped for either potato juice, gelatin broth or fruit juice + gelatin. I prefer the potato juice rather than gelatin broth when it is hot & muggy. However, I do combine them for colder days, in soups, stews, sauces anything and everything if it tastes good. I add to sauces like tomato sauce, liver pate and other liver dishes. Potato juice can be added to white sauces and served over other vegetables, pasta and rice dishes. I am not a fan of rice, it does not do much for me and persorption is always a fear. It is interesting that my pulse and temps go down when I eat white rice on its own but in a gelatin- rich soup/broth temp and pulse are maintained. The risk is always eating too many starches that encourages SIBO and LPS if you are not producing adequate bile. I need to be strict, so that rice once in a while is not going to be an issue because. Pasta is fine for me and homemade potato nioche as easy to have on hand with a nice tomato based sauce which has gelatin in it also. I usually spend a whole day if I have lots of potatoes and stack my freezer in batches that are easily defrosted. I also stack my kids freezer so they can have them on hand. They usually get eaten extremely fast. I need to grow more potatoes to keep up and need more help in the kitchen which is when I call my mum to help. Feeding people is a full time job and needs to be a family affair. You can drop them into boiling water still frozen and be ok - nioche not the family.

If you have problems with starch, then they are not going to be good for you and its best to stick to sugar and fruit. You are right about fat even coconut oil has to be restricted. If you have been eating lots of animal foods they will come with a significant amount of fat. This fat is stored in your adipose tissue so you already have plenty on board. However, we need to deplete fats slowly because if we do it rapidly, we run into problems if we have lots of PUFAs on board.

I would check urinary pH as keeping it in the range may help with the reflux.

Can I ask what is your daily diet at the moment, and do you manage to keep your calcium/phosphorus ratio up on diet alone?

I think I over did it with the fruit and sugar as my phosphorus is low. This is the reason, I have included more wholegrains into my diet and reduced my milk and cheese. I always eat my fruit with milk and cheese. I love my cheese which the whole low phosphate was a surprise to me.

I'm super-anal about the sieving process; generally give it 3 goes through cheesecloth, allowing settling time each go. Then, I cook it and sieve it through a stainless steel coffee filter I ordered online. You can always see the "hidden" starch granules floating big time after cooking.

Explosionlord, that's anal on the grandest scale. Type A personalities are pedantic to the nth degree; so we need to chill. I don't have issues with starches and whole grains. Bread though is my biggest bug bear due to potassium iodide (not the gluten) plus all the other crap in it. I am sensitive to iodine but have no issues with seafood. I can eat lots of oysters and shellfish and I don't react. Salty drinks are always on the menu for me to counteract the iodine.

So a snack for me could be a few prawns with potato juice and some fruit. I love the OJ but need to be careful. I have a feeling that the sweetness is the issue. Now I only have freshly squeezed and not too much. It's too easy to have OJ + gelatin or milk and fruit, stewed fruit + ice-cream or custard. These are all delicious to eat. Potato juice on its own would tie me over to say lunch if I have a decent breakfast.

If I am hungrier, then boiled potatoes with a tomato based sauce or home-made chutney. I keep a big batch of boiled, mashed potatoes, potato casserole or fritatta in the fridge so I don't have to resort to having a sandwich or toast.

I love to combine slices of boiled potatoes with leafy greens like silver beets and parmesan cheese. If I have a good quality sourdough, then I layer sourdough bread with boiled potatoes, boiled mushrooms, silver beets and parmesan cheese. I include a couple of ladles of gelatin broth. You can add the parmesan to the sourdough toast, grill so the cheese melts and then layer the rest, or serve with tomato based sauce. I have batches of each cooked in the fridge ready to go as needed. My children can drop in without notice, I need to keep a well- stocked fridge and freezer ready to feed them. Gosh, there is so much that you can do with potatoes - I guess this is the reason they get such a bad rap. They are cheap to grow, need little care - only water, and make many other vegetables redundant. We need to keep potatoes a secret, otherwise, we will see their price increase like oxtails, lamb shanks and liver.:)

Bluebell, sorry I don't think I have answered your question. You need to experiment with ways to use the potato juice. I have not made the pancakes and need time to experiment which I don't have at the moment. I don't think you need to make it too complicated as just drinking the juice or as a soup is going to be the easiest option. Any dishes that ask for water or milk (if milk is problematic) you can substitute potato juice. Don't take it as gospel though as potato juice would work well in scrambled eggs, an omelete but not sure how it behaves in a quiche. I would have to try it. Sometimes I use skim milk in quiche and it never cooks firm enough.

Potato juice can be added to any recipe for example; I add to porridge instead of milk. Not everyone though can tolerate oats and grains. Grated carrots though make them safer to eat and need to be properly prepared and well cooked. I soak my grains for 3 days and then cook and sit overnight. Then heat again in the morning.

My favourite potato dish is potato and leek casserole. My kids love this dish and they demand it on the menu for their birthdays and special meals.

The biggest obstacle to eating well these days is not having a full-time cook in the kitchen. We are just trying to eat on the go with little time to plan and prepare. When a woman's role in bygone days was that of a homemaker and much time was spent in the kitchen. The wealthy of course had staff to keep the home running as it should. Much time was spent in planning, shopping, preserving and making sure that the family had 3 square meals a day. Today, no-one is in the kitchen (kitchens are only for show); everyone is working flat out and have little time to fit in proper meals. Both men and women are working equally hard these days; then who is going to be doing the cooking? Big Food is ready and armed to take over the role of feeding us, but can they be trusted when profits and not nurturing is their motive? So far it has been a disaster. It is a huge dilemma that we and especially future generations are facing.

We are fortunate in this community we have a wealth of knowledge and some basic tools on how to reverse the predicament of hypometabolism or the low-energy state.

 

[Ella]

Explosionlord, I have not read Peat's research on the variety he tested.

links on discussion of high protein potatoes by growers that contains links to other sites.

Potatoes with High Protein - Tomatoville® Gardening Forums

I had a look at the Clearwater Russet (attachment) and the flesh is white however they are touted as being high protein compared to other varieties. I grow Royal Blues which are noticeably yellow.

Clearwater Russet also is notable for having
a higher protein content than those of standard
potato varieties, with 38% greater concentration
than Russet Burbank.

I believe Dr. Peat pegged them as the ones with the least starch, being waxy.

Do you know the variety Peat tested and why he settled on it? He must have screened the others to settle on the final one. The Russet potato (have not heard mention a specific variety of the Russet) is the variety recommended for celiac's and other gut issues by some health gurus. From my experience, starch even if low, is best to keep out until digestion is more robust.

I figure the vitamin C is good, potassium, protein precursors, et cetera, just unsure of calories.

Calories in food are not actually tested, it is a derived figure. The following link explains.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-food-manufacturers/

The calories may not be that different even if protein content is higher, as protein and carbs are the same 4 calories/1 gram, provided fat content remains the same. However, in the body will behave differently due to lower starch, higher protein, keto acids and so many other variables.

The USDA database will give you nutrients, calories, minerals etc. You need to check whether it gives info on different varieties. I am not sure it does. Cooked with skin off or on will make a difference to the nutritional profile.

https://ndb.na
l.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/3093?manu=&fgcd=&ds=Standard%20Reference

If you decide on potatoes, you could include the purple skin purple flesh ones. I don't know about protein or ketoacids in these ones but there is quite a buzz about antioxidants and oligomeric proanthocyandin (OPCs) levels in purple pigment plants.

Potato Antioxidant Research | Cooperative Extension: Agriculture | University of Maine

Strange about the MRSA, more stranger on your leg. Perhaps it was from the endoscopy procedure. Plus copper poisoning??? Copper displaces iron and zinc. I would check zinc levels. In hypothyroid individuals the immune system is also low functioning and these individuals are harbouring all sort of viruses, bacterial pathogens etc that can not be cleared from the body. The are laying low, or hiding inside cells and nervous system, spinal fluid etc. When liver is eaten, these pathogens are brought to the surface (thrown off) as the immune system is activated.

You may be thinking that you contracted it from infected liver or liver is bad for you, but the likely scenario is that your immune system was activated to deal with it. Make sure your Vitamin D levels are also optimised as vitamin D upregulates antimicrobial peptides. You don't want too low or too high. Sun exposure protects you from Vitamin D toxicity and if you supplement you need to monitor every 6 weeks. You want Goldilocks levels of just right. Same applies to everything else. Too many people are poisoning themselves. Moderation and balance should be at the forefront when trying to optimise. Remember, food is powerful along with Sun, Sleep, Rest, Exercise, Breathe, Love and laughter - all powerful when it comes to restoring and maintaining our health. All of these are free except for the food.

I would also check your zinc (RBC) levels as the copper may have depleted your zinc along with iron. Retinol and zinc work synergistically, especially when it comes to the immune system and parasitic infections. The fact that you felt better with antibiotics is telling. More reason to have thyroid working optimally and temperature >36.6. Your pulse should guide you on how much food you require.

I didn't mean to crush your passion. Too easy to get wrapped up in the science - extremely seductive. Look after that magnificient piece of machinery and you go a long way in achieving all that you desire.