How Do You Experiment? What Do You Guys Look For When "listening To Your Body"?

itsALLgood

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May 2, 2015
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I'm having trouble discerning how certain foods make me feel. I generally don't feel great on a day to day basis and other than knowing that I need to eat/drink SOMETHING I have trouble figuring out what foods specifically my body doesn't respond well to.

My digestion always seems pretty good, and I get migraines pretty frequently (~twice a week) but I can't attribute them to a specific food I ate. I've tried elimination diets unsuccessfully.

For the past couple weeks I've been consuming almost exclusively milk with sugar, OJ, cheese, eggs and coffee. I'm definitely feeling worse than I was before -presumably because I'm not eating enough. Still, i never feel 100%.

I feel like if you feel good it's pretty easy to tell when something is making you feel bad - but when you feel like crap to start with, how can you know what's going to making you feel worse or better especially when the effects are only felt in the long run?

Should I try huge amounts of something to see what reaction it has? Like try a ton of sugar for a week? Joey Lott told me he consumed like a pound of sugar a day when he started recovering and felt way better. I also avoided sugar my whole life and just started reintroducing it.

I remember when I ate pizza for the first time in 3 months after being totally gluten-free - I felt instantaneously way better than before. But maybe that was just because it tasted so great. How can you tell if food makes you feel good because it tastes great or because of what's in it? Most people feel good when they eat McDonald's, at least temporarily...

So what signs do you look for to know if your body is reacting well or not? Temperature? Pulse? Tongue? Energy level? Should I start tracking everything in cronometer? What methods do you use to experiment?

I know the best way to learn is by trial and error - so how do you efficiently accomplish that?
 

sele

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Aug 9, 2014
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238
I think temp and pulse are very good indicators of good metabolism.
Trouble foods/supplements will always disturb the correlation between temp and pulse.
It is a good sign if your temp and pulse are high and you have a feeling of 'relaxed calmness'.
 

jyb

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I feel like temp and pulse is useful information but ultimately the following is what I've come to use over the years. These are personal, we all come here with different symptoms and metabolic problems. It's not obvious why some are diet related, but from my experience they actually all are (which is a good thing because this means it can be fixed if one knows what to do). By diet I mean food only, possibly with gelatin as supplement.

Mood: able to be positive at least part of the day even if it's a tough one, but never aggressive, angry or anxious episodes against someone, conversation is smooth and not too shaky even in pressure work situations, I don't know about migraines (I didn't have any) but lightheadedness should never ever occur

Sleep: not too difficult to fall asleep (at least not a constant delayed sleep onset), never wake up in the middle of the night in sweat, wake up in okay mood feeling rested even if it wasn't a long long night, enjoy stretching yourself in bed and not feeling totally urged to fall back asleep, go to restroom nor feed yourself for survival

Hunger and stress: no sudden or stressful hunger (e.g., rush to the kitchen for survival upon wake up or between meals), just gradual and slowly increasing sense of hunger if going many hours without food while remaining in good control, paying attention to whether a diet is effective not just after eating (that's easy) but also over the whole day and night, digesting a meal shouldn't feel "heavy"

I think those were the most important as it probably determines the rest. But to some extent I also take note of the following:

Exercise: ability to do moderate exercise like walk 30-60 minutes daily without feeling tired nor breathless, no lightheadedness when walking, doing a few push-ups should not result in delayed muscle soreness
Temperature: can still feel cold when not wearing enough clothes in cold weather, but shaking becomes extremely rare
Skin: not always perfect skin but minimal acne even if forgot to eat liver (or retinol) in a while
Digestion: shouldn't notice anything special, going to the restroom once or twice a day and don't bloat
Libido: like a teenager if doing a few days without any sexual activity nor consuming estrogenic foods (for me, that's no to green tea sadly), in terms of orgasm intensity at least
Weight: not much to say as I never been prone to weight gain, just stable weight and ability to keep some biceps and a defined torso even when hardly exercising those muscles specifically nor going to the gym
 

Nicholas

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Joined
Apr 25, 2015
Messages
666
itsALLgood said:
https://raypeatforum.com/forums/posts/97897/ I'm having trouble discerning how certain foods make me feel. I generally don't feel great on a day to day basis and other than knowing that I need to eat/drink SOMETHING I have trouble figuring out what foods specifically my body doesn't respond well to.

My digestion always seems pretty good, and I get migraines pretty frequently (~twice a week) but I can't attribute them to a specific food I ate. I've tried elimination diets unsuccessfully.

For the past couple weeks I've been consuming almost exclusively milk with sugar, OJ, cheese, eggs and coffee. I'm definitely feeling worse than I was before -presumably because I'm not eating enough. Still, i never feel 100%.

I feel like if you feel good it's pretty easy to tell when something is making you feel bad - but when you feel like crap to start with, how can you know what's going to making you feel worse or better especially when the effects are only felt in the long run?

Should I try huge amounts of something to see what reaction it has? Like try a ton of sugar for a week? Joey Lott told me he consumed like a pound of sugar a day when he started recovering and felt way better. I also avoided sugar my whole life and just started reintroducing it.

I remember when I ate pizza for the first time in 3 months after being totally gluten-free - I felt instantaneously way better than before. But maybe that was just because it tasted so great. How can you tell if food makes you feel good because it tastes great or because of what's in it? Most people feel good when they eat McDonald's, at least temporarily...

So what signs do you look for to know if your body is reacting well or not? Temperature? Pulse? Tongue? Energy level? Should I start tracking everything in cronometer? What methods do you use to experiment?

I know the best way to learn is by trial and error - so how do you efficiently accomplish that?

i would urge you to not just start trying to make all kinds of sudden changes. in your state, you will have to document everything on paper to make sense of it. it makes a huge difference to be actively engaging with how you feel through the day and keeping notes in great detail of what you're eating (how much you ate of it, when you ate it, etc.) - and your environment - like how much sleep you got, activity level, bowel movements, everything, etc. i really believe this will help you tremendously - but you won't know until you actually start doing it. gradually, you will begin to put together through-lines....you will start noticing bodily function better (like bowel movements) and mood - and it will take away a lot of the chaos and confusion because you will be able to draw conclusions much better. the drive cannot be: how can i fix everything....the drive must be, how can i become more aware. because you can't begin to heal until you first become aware. do this kind of documentation 4 days in a row (if you decide) and get back with me and i can help if you'd like for where to take it from there. most important, keep your diet the way it has been and don't try to do anything differently. i guarantee that you will start to see things you never saw before. [temp/pulse together upoin waking, 20min. after breakfast sitting, and 20min. after lunch sitting should also be part of the documentation]
 
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treelady

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Oct 31, 2014
Messages
123
Age
80
Location
Florida
Yes documenting helps make relationships more obvious. I made an excel spread sheet where I track times, what I eat and do and supplements I take, estimate of protein of what I eat, blood sugar, blood pressure, etc. I've been using it for years. It's also good to remind me to take pills, or give me a kick in the butt to do something I know would be good for me because I can write it down and give myself credit for the accomplishment.

I am also into muscle testing. It is not perfect, but it is very helpful. Before I eat something or take a supplement, I put it on my solarplex and ask my body if it wants it. Then I change my selections based on the results. If I lean forward, that is a Yes, backward is a No. ...Good way to get stains on your shirt too :lol:
 

SQu

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Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Messages
1,308
The things that lift you up then let you down, like starch and McDonald's, alcohol etc - the proof is does it last? If not, I avoid.
The things that always go down well at certain times of day like eggs for breakfast in my case - I keep doing and gradually expand ( in my case adding a second high quality egg , Vietnamese coffee, gelatin, aspirin) to become the cornerstone for a good day.
All these food examples are individual - but they principles I think can be generalized. It takes time to establish a pattern and longer to see the pattern but once early chaotic low blood sugar days have settled, it starts to become clearer.
 

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