Introduction and a short version of my story & how I got here.

[Can]

Hey there,

I've been lurking on this forum for a few weeks now, reading a bunch of different posts and saving ones I found interesting. I figured it's time to introduce myself.

I am a 21 year old guy living in Germany. Heard of Ray Peat a few years ago but didn't really pay attention until recently. Started having mild health problems (skin issues) about three years ago, that I pretty much ignored for the most part until they became worse and unignorable since October of the last year (started having severe panic attacks, noticeable bloating after meals, and more). I've come to think that the solution to my health issues is to heal my gut because my symptoms point there as far as I am concerned.

I have been getting more into Ray Peats work in the last couple of months, trying to recover my health. I don't just blindly accept everything Ray says and am not sold on following some dogmatic prescriptions, which Ray is not about in any shape or form anyway. I have come to acknowledge Ray for what I think he is - a very deep, nuanced and sophisticated thinker who takes the complexity of the world into account. The most important thing for me that I take from his work is that nothing is ever black or white, no food or health practice is 'good' or 'bad', everything has up- and downsides, everything depends on the individual physiology and state. In the end, one has to listen to his/her own body and realize what foods they tolerate well and what feels the most nourishing.

Compared to my past behavior, I have unusually often visited this forum over the past few weeks (I was never an active member of any online forum prior), always coming here if I want to read people's health experiences or what they think about certain lifestyles or foods. I have come to distrust pretty much all the major 'health' sites, even the ones that claim to be scientific, because I have trusted them in the past and have been burned. Maybe my current health problems even stem from trusting these mainstream health outlets to begin with (not sure, still trying to get to the root cause of my issues). I bought the propaganda of pufas being good and necessary - that lead me to take fish oil and intentionally eat nuts and seeds in relatively large amounts (plus eat upwards of three eggs a day and massive amounts of olive oil) every day for YEARS and so on. I never bought their propaganda that safas are bad though, I was aware of the discrepancies of view points and still included a bunch of dairy, so that maybe mitigated some of the pufa damage, but I still ate a lot of pufas because I was unsure what viewpoint was correct. Probably damaged myself but hey, at least I noticed it now and not later - I have the hope that I can still fully recover and heal!

I started tracking what I eat in a day very diligently using cronometer for one month now, and being very mindful of what I consume and put into my body in general, and it has made a big difference - I had no panic attack or severe anxiety for several weeks now, which is a big win to me. Also, since reducing pufas drastically and being mindful of what I eat, the skin issues on my hands have already majorly improved - my hands looked like they were from a zombie before (they looked filthy) and now they almost look normal. This is unbelievable considering I am only a few weeks, not more than two months, into 'peating'. I still suffer symptoms like bloating and what subjectively feels like mild hyperglycemia and/or cases of low stomach acid after some meals here and there and can't eat high energy foods on mass like I could a few years ago without having symptoms, so everything hasn't been fully resolved yet, but I feel like I am definitely on the right track.

Anyways, I'll leave it at that. I'll keep you updated and might ask for help here or there, or post about other topics.

I have never been an active member of any forum in the past so I might not know all the functions or the ways things are conducted here, so keep that in mind if I mess something up at first .

 

[Dolomite]

Hi Can,
Welcome to the forum. There are a lot of good threads about gut health on the forum. Lots of us have eaten too many PUFAs, too, so just starting to avoid them is a great first step. I am a clod when it comes to the forum so just read and watch and contribute when you want to. See you around.

 

[Can]

Hi Can,
Welcome to the forum. There are a lot of good threads about gut health on the forum. Lots of us have eaten too many PUFAs, too, so just starting to avoid them is a great first step. I am a clod when it comes to the forum so just read and watch and contribute when you want to. See you around.

Thanks @Dolomite,

I will look into those threads! The fact that just reducing pufas drastically and being mindful of what I eat has already reduced my skin problems and other issues substantially after a few weeks, really makes me hopeful that my health issues are entirely reversible, and that I am definitely right on going with Ray Peat principles.

I am glad I found this community and hope I can contribute something good to it in the future!

 

[Healthseeker]

U said anxiety. Could be B1. Idk what you know already. The lining of your gut won't absorb vitamins when its bad. Won't you post your diet? How's your teeth? Cause you u don't get bone vitamins either

 

[Can]

U said anxiety. Could be B1. Idk what you know already. The lining of your gut won't absorb vitamins when its bad. Won't you post your diet? How's your teeth? Cause you u don't get bone vitamins either

Hey @Healthseeker,

I don't think my gut is that impaired, that it has problems absorbing nutrients tbh. I mean I can't know for sure, but based on how I feel most of the time (normal & healthy), I would not start from the worst possibility. My teeth, bones feel normal, no problems there.

Made some blood tests but they were pretty good, according to my doctor. Don't know what exactly to look for with all the different parameters myself though tbh.

My diet mostly consists of whole fruits, oj, dairy, some meat, grains, vegetables and a few eggs every other day. Here is my cronometer nutrition report taking the average from when I started documenting what I eat about a month ago:

For your information, I am about 1,76 m (5.7 feet) tall and weigh about 61 kgs (134 pounds) at the current time.

My vitamin B1 intake is in fact slightly lower than what is recommended, but not dramatically so. I don't know if that could already lead to deficiencies.

The thing is, I am not usually an anxious person. The anxiety mostly always crept up on me when I had other physical symptoms that made me feel really uncomfortable and that were intense.

I was diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency btw. But atm there is a lot of sun where I live, and so I just make sure to spend 20 to 30 minutes in the noon hours in the sun, on sunny days. So nothing I feel like I need to worry about, no need for a supplement either.

I might start another thread at some point, specifically aimed at fixing my gut / health issues. But for the time being, I feel like I am doing okay and on the right track. Just being mindful of what I eat and documenting it, while also reducing pufas, has already made a big difference. I will see how things develop from here!

 

[Healthseeker]

I mean going by your chronometer isn't going to be that useful other than initial learning. I mean your kinda vague about whats wrong and what kind of health level you want. About the B1 there's mega dose threads about it. It does help.

 

[Can]

I mean going by your chronometer isn't going to be that useful other than initial learning. I mean your kinda vague about whats wrong and what kind of health level you want. About the B1 there's mega dose threads about it. It does help.

Yea, I guess I am being vague. The thing is, this thread originally wasn't supposed to be about fixing my health issues, but moreso just introducing myself and vaguely pointing out how conscious eating and following basic Ray Peat principles of lowering pufa intake and implementing his advice in general in my diet choices (in concordance to my observations on how I react to those choices), have already improved my situation noticeably.

Health is a really complex, multi-dimensional subject and if I were to write about it in more detail, I would prefer to do it by dedicating an entire thread solely to it.

 

[Healthseeker]

Yeah that's me too. I just talk to people here cause Im studying the information on the forum everyday. I'm in to fitness and know some stuff though