Digestion Issues and Diet Feedback

[proteome]

Hi, please have a look at my diet and suggest any in-place replacements you can think of that are sure to make an improvement, or, if you have a scientific basis for it, suggest an alternative model.

I responded to some digestive problems by intermittent fasting and, at times, full keto or meat only diets.

These made things worse. Even elimination of Fructo-oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols, the "FODMAP Elimination Diet", did little for me.

Over time, and after my TSH levels went from the low 1s to 3.45, and after a lot of weight loss and hair loss, I decided to focus on my hormones, specifically on reducing cortisol.

Honey, coffee, raw egg yolks, and milk in the morning helped me. This suggested to me that my primary issue might not be entirely digestion, at its root.

Anyway, I am still on a somewhat restricted diet, and still have some digestive problems. I usually hit my macros, at least according to the app Cronometer that so many on this forum use.

When I started taking MiraLax and Citrucel, I had a reduction in symptoms. I suspect Methylcellulose, the active ingredient in Citrucel, has helped my digestion, but I also wondered if the increase in easily digestible calories helped, too. I've continued regular Methylcellulose, and occasional Propylene Glycol.

Recipes:

Carbonated Orange Juice:
2 freshly squeezed grapefruits or oranges, with 1/2tsp of Calcium Carbonate (Now Supplements) and, occasionally, 1/8tsp of 100% grass fed whole beef thyroid powder mixed in

Shake:
300g organic milk (Various) or 300g Fairlife Fat Free Milk
2 raw egg yolks from back-yard chickens or ducks
20g organic chocolate powder (Amazon product ASIN B07CNSG3FBView: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CNSG3FB
)
20g back-yard honey
1tsp powdered coffee or 1/2 cup drip coffee
5g pure methylcellulose (Amazon product ASIN B075Y19W8NView: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075Y19W8N
)
5g creatine monohydrate (Thorne)
5g glycine (Now Supplements)
5g gelatin (Amazon product ASIN B0C35DQQM9View: https://www.amazon.com/Gelatin-Unflavored-Thickening-Pasture-Natural/dp/B0C35DQQM9
)

Supper Ground Beef Taco Stew:
200g cooked ground beef from organic or grass fed cows, seasoned with something like the Riega Organic Seasoning (Amazon product ASIN B0B4X7LY18View: https://www.amazon.com/Riega-Organic-Seasoning-Perfect-Marinade/dp/B0B4X7LY18
) or a mix of my own with smoked paprika, ginger, and a hint of cayenne pepper
20g gelatin (Amazon product ASIN B0C35DQQM9View: https://www.amazon.com/Gelatin-Unflavored-Thickening-Pasture-Natural/dp/B0C35DQQM9
)
Beef broth or 3x filtered water (fluoride removed)
150g cooked White rice rinsed many times, several times with filtered water, then soaked for 24 hours with lemon juice in the fridge, before steaming (I'd like to eat rice less regularly, and may replace this with potatoes or carrots)
5g C8 organic fractionated coconut oil
5g methylcellulose


Snacks:
Raw pineapple 1/2" shavings cut against the direction of the fruit fibers
Raw carrots
Dark chocolate
Ginger Tea with 5g gelatin dissolved in after steeping
Milk

If I haven't hit my macros, I will sometimes eat Haagen Dasz, and occasionally mix in glycine powder or gelatin granules.

I don't eat the following regularly, but I'm considering eating them more frequently:

Baked Organic Chicken seasoned with Old Bay, 24-hour soaked Quinoa cooked in a rice cooker,

Yogurt Pancakes:
Organic Yogurt, Organic AP Wheat Flour, Potassium Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Baking Powder


What do you think of the brand of Gelatin I've chosen, MicroIngredients? I'm considering re-ordering it, and the "pharmaceutical grade" glycine powder from Now Foods.

 

[proteome]

Other things to mention:

Partially Hydrolyzed Guar Gum, as known as P.H.G.G. or SunFiber
Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid, as known as T.U.D.C.A.
Limosilactobacillus Reuteri
Bifidobacterium Longum

 

[GTW]

Details are significant. What particular digestion issues\problems?
Such a complex diet! How did our ancestors survive without so many refined foods and ingredients?

Food in Ireland 1600 - 1835

When the potato arrived in Ireland it seemed like a godsend, easily grown and nutritious enough to sustain whole families on little else. The Irish climate suited it well and before long it was the staple food of almost the entire population. A better fed Irish population began to grow rapidly...

www.dochara.com

 

[proteome]

#Eating vs. Digesting vs. Sleeping

I hope you do not mean to cast shade on the result of trial and error in a desperate situation. If I eat something not digestible enough, I will often not be able to sleep. My diet before this problem got so extreme was about as un-processed as it gets, e.g. sweet potatoes put in the oven with some butter and salt, just cutting up raw fruit, or frying organic meats or eggs on cast iron. But I have had to make trade-offs in favor of digestibility. This "diet" I'm on is one step from taking the highly processed, highly digestible "elemental diet" recommended for extreme cases of SIBO/SIFO, one of the causes I've speculated could be involved. In any case, I'll take what I can get, but if I had my druthers I'd get silence, serious questions, or thoughtful advice based on reading. Not glib or trite repetition of the obvious.

Anyway, I tend to need to switch my meals up, at least a little, on a weekly basis in order to keep myself eating. If I eat the same thing too many days in a row, I simply stop feeling hungry, and getting myself to eat is almost painful. The last time I simply choked my way through those feelings, I ended up vomiting and not being able to eat properly for a long time.

#Digestion Issues

Now, on to the digestion issues. I've long had slow gut motility. When I saw the Bristol stool chart, my initial impression was that the chart must be mistaken, and that the slow-motility stools were normal. But it was just me, I realized I'd had digestive problems for longer than I'd thought!

Around the beginning of 2022, about a month after getting SARS-2-CoV, and about 5 months after getting the Pfizer RNA+mRNA shot, I had severe fatigue, and the occasional bloating I'd get after certain kinds of meals became more of a regular thing. I also ended up not being able to stay awake past 14:00, even with 3-4 cups of coffee around 10:00-11:00, and waking at odd hours.

The chief issue, lately, is minor bloating, with major burping. If I self-massage my abdomen, I can get much of the burping out in a while. But even with a relatively strict diet, I have a persistent feeling of air in my abdomen, and much more burping than normal.

If I induce back-pressure on my stomach, do the aforementioned abdominal massage around the area of my colon, or, sometimes, even compress my abs, I'll end up hearing or feeling some kind of abdominal gurgling, usually followed soon after by some more burping.

It was an inconvenience, and a stumbling block to socializing, until it started to affect my sleep. Then, once the burping began to interfere with sleep for too many hours in one stretch, it became my sole focus and priority.

I've consulted with about 5 different Gastroenterologists in multiple countries, and they all agree that there is a psychological component, and that my issues are simply esophageal burps.

However, the dependence on diet, the fact that I can be awakened by burps, and the gurgling noises followed by burping when I self massage my abdomen, make me think that, if that is true, it isn't the full story.

#Blood Work

I've had a lot of blood work done, and my TSH levels have varied between 1.0 and, during an insulin stim test, 3.40.

Test	When	Result
Thyroid
TSH	20220416	1.73 micro-IU/mL
TSH	20230120	1.32 micro-IU/mL
TSH	20230515 (during an insulin stimulation test)	3.40 micro-IU/mL
TSH	20230915	1.64 micro-IU/mL

And I got some other blood work done, in case there might be clues there. An upper endoscopy, H. Pylorii breath test, Glucose Breath test, and esophageal manometry were all inconclusive. I've avoided abdominal CT scans until I can do some more research on the potential dangers, or lack of danger, of that level of ionizing radiation.

Thyroglobulin Antibody as of 20230515 was <1.0IU/mL

I haven't measured reverse T3 yet, but the other thyroid values all came back normal.

Serotonin 105ng/dL
TIBC 55%
Thyroglobulin <1IU/mL
Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies 1.5IU/mL
T3 Uptake 30%
T4 Total 8.5mcg/dL
Free T4 Index (t7) 2.5

Sedimentation rate was 3mm/h.

#Diet Recommendations?

Back to the diet stuff, though. I plan to add potatoes back in soon, once I get the hang of cooking them longer, and with less oil.

And can anyone recommend a good brand of gelatin, or some macros I might need to put more emphasis on? Micronutrients I might be missing here?

Does anyone know of good reasons to suspect the default cronometer recommendations for macros?

 

[proteome]

Food in Ireland 1600 - 1835​

When the potato arrived in Ireland it seemed like a godsend, easily grown and nutritious enough to sustain whole families on little else. The Irish climate suited it well and before long it was the staple food of almost the entire population. A better fed Irish population began to grow rapidly...

I just read this. The Irish did not have a good time! I have to wonder, what thyroid, protein imbalance, or other long term dietary issues the poorer Irish must have suffered along the efforts to just get enough calories and protein down?

It's interesting that the article points out that the less nutritious whey was left over for the poors.

 

[GTW]

I just read this. The Irish did not have a good time! I have to wonder, what thyroid, protein imbalance, or other long term dietary issues the poorer Irish must have suffered along the efforts to just get enough calories and protein down?

It's interesting that the article points out that the less nutritious whey was left over for the poors.

And they didn't have toilet paper!
Potatoes are well balanced and healthy nutrition. They contain more water so a larger volume must be eaten. As if you compared to a stew vs the ingredients before adding water and cooking.
The population of Ireland grew from 1 to 8 million subsisting primarily on potatoes! Sounds like positive evidence to me.
And during that period the Irish population was the healthiest in Europe

 

[proteome]

The population of Ireland grew from 1 to 8 million subsisting primarily on potatoes! Sounds like positive evidence to me.

You might be seeing an implicit connection between high population and health that I don't.
For example, I think of the current high population growth in sub-Saharan African countries, but I don't see that as automatically meaning they must have healthy diets. The Philippines, too, are another contemporary example of a high population growth country where I don't think their diet is especially great.

I've read elsewhere on this forum, I don't recall where, that potatoes should be boiled some minimum amount of time before eating. Are there any potential metabolic concerns with potatoes that can be avoided with proper preparation?

 

[proteome]

@Hans or @haidut , do you have any comments on this? Or any ideas for blood tests or other tests I could take to see if I can combat the remaining digestion issues and remaining malaise/chronic fatigue?