I think cortisol makes me feel great

[Luked89]

Over the last couple of years I've had this experience where I feel great out of nowhere. It usually lasts about 3 days to a week. Now I feel I can achieve this with keto but that comes with hangriness, bordem and potential negative health consequences down the line.

For example.. a few months back, life was no better or worse than it has been, yet out of nowhere I felt great. Just going about my usual business totally content, calm, clear minded. Just generally feeling good. I wondered why it was happening. 90% of my life I dont feel these things. Lasted about 4 days. This has happened maybe 2 or 3 times over the last two years.

More recently I jumped into keto and IF again for a couple of days. The second or third day I was feeling pretty hungry so I said, f it I'm getting dominos. I remember I got a pretty puffy face after this. The next day I got another. Just one pizza was all I ate that day. I also didn't drink much water. Just a bit of water or a glass of juice after walking my dog out in the Florida heat. So somewhere around that second pizza the feeling came back but not only did I feel great, I looked great. My skin looked great, my wrinkles diminished. It was like a was flushed and something was pushing out my skin and making it tighter. This wasn't like water retention puffiness. I looked like 5 years younger. Also I'm a pretty lean guy and for the last two or three months I'd been Peating and got a super bloated stomach. I'd been walking around like I'm pregnant. This also disappeared. I felt like I had been given a gift from god. I was eating nothing but pizza. I was even having a few drinks at night and my stomach was flat, skin was great, felt great. This one lasted a solid week. Then ended and felt shitty ever since. Wrinkles are back, huge bloated stomach is back.

I think I heard peat saying cortisol makes you feel good for a while but then makes you depressed. Which is exactly what I have been experiencing.

My question is, why does this only happen once in a blue moon for me? Like, I'm stressed often so shouldn't be getting cortisol and feeling this way regularly? I thought cortisol came in when you're run down or stressed. The more stress I get the worse I feel.

Any thoughts guys? I'd really like to get whatever happened to me to happen again lol.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

Over the last couple of years I've had this experience where I feel great out of nowhere. It usually lasts about 3 days to a week. Now I feel I can achieve this with keto but that comes with hangriness, bordem and potential negative health consequences down the line.

For example.. a few months back, life was no better or worse than it has been, yet out of nowhere I felt great. Just going about my usual business totally content, calm, clear minded. Just generally feeling good. I wondered why it was happening. 90% of my life I dont feel these things. Lasted about 4 days. This has happened maybe 2 or 3 times over the last two years.

More recently I jumped into keto and IF again for a couple of days. The second or third day I was feeling pretty hungry so I said, f it I'm getting dominos. I remember I got a pretty puffy face after this. The next day I got another. Just one pizza was all I ate that day. I also didn't drink much water. Just a bit of water or a glass of juice after walking my dog out in the Florida heat. So somewhere around that second pizza the feeling came back but not only did I feel great, I looked great. My skin looked great, my wrinkles diminished. It was like a was flushed and something was pushing out my skin and making it tighter. This wasn't like water retention puffiness. I looked like 5 years younger. Also I'm a pretty lean guy and for the last two or three months I'd been Peating and got a super bloated stomach. I'd been walking around like I'm pregnant. This also disappeared. I felt like I had been given a gift from god. I was eating nothing but pizza. I was even having a few drinks at night and my stomach was flat, skin was great, felt great. This one lasted a solid week. Then ended and felt shitty ever since. Wrinkles are back, huge bloated stomach is back.

I think I heard peat saying cortisol makes you feel good for a while but then makes you depressed. Which is exactly what I have been experiencing.

My question is, why does this only happen once in a blue moon for me? Like, I'm stressed often so shouldn't be getting cortisol and feeling this way regularly? I thought cortisol came in when you're run down or stressed. The more stress I get the worse I feel.

Any thoughts guys? I'd really like to get whatever happened to me to happen again lol.

It kind of sounds like “carb reloading” to me, from your keto and fasting. The bloating came from the inflammation from the wheat, but the carbs, which converts to sugar, made you feel good.

 

[Bluebell]

I was eating nothing but pizza. I was even having a few drinks at night and my stomach was flat, skin was great, felt great. This one lasted a solid week.

Interesting. You were doing keto/IF, then you had just one pizza as your only food for the day and very little liquid and felt really great, then carried on feeling great for a whole week. It would be useful to know what you were eating for that whole week of feeling great, what liquids and how much liquid, how many alcoholic drinks and tea/coffee per day, and were you off supplements if you take them. Did the feeling great end suddenly or gradually. What did you eat/drink/take differently just before the good phase ended.

It could be endotoxin related. You had starved out bad gut bugs and/or cleared out your gut through keto/IF, then when you reintroduced starch you had the benefits of energy from starch but not the downsides of feeding bugs. But then slowly the gut bugs woke up over the week. However I don't know how relevant the keto/IF is, if you had only done it for a couple of days prior to the feeling great phase.

I doubt whether high cortisol from keto/IF would last a whole week.

I think you not overeating might have had a lot to do with it - you were still undereating but eating starch. Like mini-fasting but with the starches you needed for health.

Alternatively drinking very little liquids can sometimes have a great effect.

Another possibility is the pizza could have very safe ingredients for you that you don't react to - wheat flour, tomato, cheese, meat toppings - I know there are additives in Domino's but maybe they don't bother you. Then when you go back to your normal, maybe 'healthier' foods and supplements, you could possibly getting histamine or intolerance reactions to one or more of them.

 

[Highserotonin90]

I believe that a stress response given by cortisol is a signal that something is wrong within the metabolism ... it usually makes you feel frantic as if you could not stop but then as you wrote the bill can arrive with anhedonia / apathy / depression. You fried your adrenals because you were using cortisol to get your stuff done/to do. This is not the law but my experience don't confuse the frenzy of wanting to do many things with an episode of acute mania...

 

[Luked89]

@Rinse & rePeat I'm not sure about this because I was super bloated from milk before starting keto. I only did keto for 2 days. I'd been eating sugar while Peating with no positive effects like this.

@Bluebell so I would wake up, walk my dog out in the sun. Get home and drink a regular sized glass of pomegranate juice, another day it would be a glass of water. I think one of the first days I had a sugary yuzu juice. I'd eat one large dominos pizza per day around 5pm. Not every night but I'd say 3 out of the 7 I'd have 2 gin and tonics at night. I was getting red eyes after drinking these like dehydrated feeling eyes. No supplements at all during this time or in the months prior.

Another thing I considered was that I'd being doing semen retention for maybe a week at the time of starting keto. Towards the end of the good mood week I got laid and when I woke up the next day I felt some digestive discomfort with nausea. I'd had maybe 4 gin and tonics, drank water and put myself through some physical exertion. The water was consumed soon before laying down. I think this may have irritated my esophageal area of my stomach. Physically I felt pretty lousy the next day. Pretty heavy nausea and stomach pain. I had my usual pizza and ate it pretty quick and felt sick to my stomach. I slept it off and had to cut the pizzas for a few days. During all this time I still felt good mentally. I had decided to go for a massage at the mall to help with the gastritis as I'd spoken to someone who had positive results with their gastritis by massaging the neck and shoulders daily. I can confirm this works. At least for me. Anyway I ate some food court Chinese food at the mall. It was soon after this I started feeling irritable and that old negative headspace came back. I checked the restaurant if they had egg in what I ate, which they did. I have a strong egg intolerance which always causes me to feel like this. I figured ok I'll wait this out as usual for a few days. Unfortunately the bloating and wrinkles returned, the good feeling didn't. I've tried to eat the pizza, low water and I just end up with migraines and major bloated stomach. Even after fasting for a few days stomach is huge. At the time of no bloating, I was putting it down to the decrease is water and also just one high calorie pizza not taking up tons of space in my digestive system.

Here's the thing about ingredients. Dairy and wheat definitely seem to cause bloating and brain fog for me. But during this time of course I was eating both and felt great. Also one of those times in the past when I felt great for no apparent reason, I would eat a milk shake every day and felt great. It was like my food intolerances were not effecting me. It makes me wonder if it's some hormonal reaction to these foods usually, and some arrangement of hormones that causes these periods of positive mood. That's what I always thought but this last time was crazy how I had a flat stomach, great skin also.

@Highserotonin90 definitely didn't feel frantic. I felt calm.

I just recalled another time this happened. Way in the last I was eating mostly raw vegan for about a year. I was having some pizza now and then. From the lack of calories the pizza would call to me. But mostly high fruit and greens. I started dating a girl and wanted to eat out a lot, which I did. I felt great despite eating tons of junk food. It lasted a week or two then I started not being able to consume the amount of food I had been consuming that last week or two. So like I had mentioned I had been Peating for 2 months prior to this recent positive mood period. One similarity between these two experiences is that I was focused on diet and not eating whatever tasty food I desired. I wonder if it's somehow letting go of the rules, restrictions and obsession with what to eat, coupled with the high calorie junk food. I know when the raw vegan I was lacking fat and calories. I know with Peating I was probably not getting enough calories from my food either. Way too much milk and probably not digesting it well.

 

[EustaceBagge]

Over the last couple of years I've had this experience where I feel great out of nowhere. It usually lasts about 3 days to a week. Now I feel I can achieve this with keto but that comes with hangriness, bordem and potential negative health consequences down the line.

For example.. a few months back, life was no better or worse than it has been, yet out of nowhere I felt great. Just going about my usual business totally content, calm, clear minded. Just generally feeling good. I wondered why it was happening. 90% of my life I dont feel these things. Lasted about 4 days. This has happened maybe 2 or 3 times over the last two years.

More recently I jumped into keto and IF again for a couple of days. The second or third day I was feeling pretty hungry so I said, f it I'm getting dominos. I remember I got a pretty puffy face after this. The next day I got another. Just one pizza was all I ate that day. I also didn't drink much water. Just a bit of water or a glass of juice after walking my dog out in the Florida heat. So somewhere around that second pizza the feeling came back but not only did I feel great, I looked great. My skin looked great, my wrinkles diminished. It was like a was flushed and something was pushing out my skin and making it tighter. This wasn't like water retention puffiness. I looked like 5 years younger. Also I'm a pretty lean guy and for the last two or three months I'd been Peating and got a super bloated stomach. I'd been walking around like I'm pregnant. This also disappeared. I felt like I had been given a gift from god. I was eating nothing but pizza. I was even having a few drinks at night and my stomach was flat, skin was great, felt great. This one lasted a solid week. Then ended and felt shitty ever since. Wrinkles are back, huge bloated stomach is back.

I think I heard peat saying cortisol makes you feel good for a while but then makes you depressed. Which is exactly what I have been experiencing.

My question is, why does this only happen once in a blue moon for me? Like, I'm stressed often so shouldn't be getting cortisol and feeling this way regularly? I thought cortisol came in when you're run down or stressed. The more stress I get the worse I feel.

Any thoughts guys? I'd really like to get whatever happened to me to happen again lol.

Why do you assume a pizza will spike up your cortisol? There is a lot of sodium and carbs, so in my opinion it would decrease cortisol if anything.

If you want to test whether you feel good on cortisol, do some 16/8 intermittent fasting, or 14/10, or drink strong coffees on an empty stomach.

But I am very interested in your results because I often have similar experiences, a random day where I feel very good even though I know it is "unclean" energy, because it is "undeserved" I assume its stress related but my cortisol is chronically spiked already so yeah. Maybe more mental than anything. Maybe we need a "challenge" in our lives. Anyway, keep us updated.

 

[Luked89]

@EustaceBagge I don't believe I said that I think pizza is spiking cortisol. I've eaten plenty of pizza in my life and this period of positive mood only happened a handful of times. The significance of the pizza is that it wasn't bloating me or making me feel like ***t, as you'd expect if all you are was pizza.

I've done all different types of intermittent and prolonged fasting and yes it usually leads to a clear mind but also makes me hangry. Strong coffee on an empty stomach makes me extremely anxious and jittery.

 

[purple pill]

Pizza is like a drug imo, fast for a while then eat a pizza youll feel like superman. But like all drugs it doesnt last.... keep eating and you end up in a metabolic hell

 

[Bluebell]

I wonder if it's somehow letting go of the rules, restrictions and obsession with what to eat, coupled with the high calorie junk food.

Could well be what you said about letting go of rules. Eating by instinct leading you to the nutrients you need, and the amount/timing you need. Sometimes simple junk food can even work short term, though whole foods without additives would work better. The walking and sunshine had to be good as well.

Sounds like the alcohol was something you tolerated for a while but you would have felt better overall without it, and then the combo of alcohol and chinese food and physical depletion was what stopped your great phase. Also chinese food is often cooked with MSG which might have upset your body balance and takes a while to recover from if you are sensitive to it. The bad oils used in Chinese restaurants wouldn't help. That could be why you can't replicate feeling good by going back to the pizza diet right now, because your system is still upset and needs time to recover. Also shows that the pizza diet was maybe quite good for you, but not optimal, as if you are weakened slightly you can't tolerate it. So maybe once you are recovered, instinctive eating with whole foods and good variety will work.

 

[L91]

Cortisol isn't all evil, its what makes us get up in the morning. You are meant to have a cortisol rise in the morning and then it should be lower by evening. There is no hormone that we are meant to totally eliminate. Just trying to have the appropriate amounts at the appropriate times.
Tbh maybe you just needed the extra salt, or easy to digest food. Or a break from the stress of thinking about your diet. But yeah, you can't live indefinitely on pizza and alcohol.
Maybe you could try making homemade pizzas with spelt flour and olive oil occasionally?
If I'm craving fast foods, I just try make a home healthier and less pufa version.

 

[cs3000]

Over the last couple of years I've had this experience where I feel great out of nowhere. It usually lasts about 3 days to a week. Now I feel I can achieve this with keto but that comes with hangriness, bordem and potential negative health consequences down the line.

For example.. a few months back, life was no better or worse than it has been, yet out of nowhere I felt great. Just going about my usual business totally content, calm, clear minded. Just generally feeling good. I wondered why it was happening. 90% of my life I dont feel these things. Lasted about 4 days. This has happened maybe 2 or 3 times over the last two years.

More recently I jumped into keto and IF again for a couple of days. The second or third day I was feeling pretty hungry so I said, f it I'm getting dominos. I remember I got a pretty puffy face after this. The next day I got another. Just one pizza was all I ate that day. I also didn't drink much water. Just a bit of water or a glass of juice after walking my dog out in the Florida heat. So somewhere around that second pizza the feeling came back but not only did I feel great, I looked great. My skin looked great, my wrinkles diminished. It was like a was flushed and something was pushing out my skin and making it tighter. This wasn't like water retention puffiness. I looked like 5 years younger. Also I'm a pretty lean guy and for the last two or three months I'd been Peating and got a super bloated stomach. I'd been walking around like I'm pregnant. This also disappeared. I felt like I had been given a gift from god. I was eating nothing but pizza. I was even having a few drinks at night and my stomach was flat, skin was great, felt great. This one lasted a solid week. Then ended and felt shitty ever since. Wrinkles are back, huge bloated stomach is back.

@Luked89 weirdly ive just been looking into this ,
im pretty sure this is the high sodium in the pizza combined with low water intake & sweatting in high heat lowered your CRH and reduced stress response. did u notice refreshing sleep on these days?

when u shift the hydration balance to sodium / dehydration , oxytocin releases to eliminate sodium. and a byproduct of that is the oxytocin lowers the CR stress hormone. it can take a couple days to tilt.

^ and btw i just wrote that before seeing your second post:

Not every night but I'd say 3 out of the 7 I'd have 2 gin and tonics at night. I was getting red eyes after drinking these like dehydrated feeling eyes

 

[Luked89]

@purple pill why'd you have to go and ruin the pizza party lol

@L91 I often think of that Italian jui jitsu kid that was on joe Rogan talking about his diet of only pizza and pasta. He has the best ingredients and I'd like to try it out. I've been thinking about and looking into making the dough.

@cs3000 I have always been a very deep sleeper regardless of what I eat. I try to gauge my sleep based on how I feel in the morning. If I recall correctly I was sleeping slightly longer than usual during that time and feeling quite hazy when woke up. Wasn't feeling bad, and wouldn't say groggy either but I wanted to enjoy my cozy bed a bit longer than usual.

 

[purple pill]

@purple pill why'd you have to go and ruin the pizza party lol

aint no party like a pizza party!!