Jennifer's Cellular Regeneration Log

[Jennifer]

Sally Norton mentions that oxalates often like to settle in weak spots in the body; thyroid and kidneys often being a favorite spot.:/
In my own case I wonder if they've (also) settled in my brain. I've heard MS patients suddenly having a clean scan with no leisures when they go in for a scan.

Sally recommends sticking to basically these low-ox plants:
Recommended vegetables: Winter squash, Green peas, Bok choy, Mustard greens,(romaine) lettuce,bok choy,cucumber
Recommended fruits: Blueberries, Lemons, Melons, Pineapple, Papaya, Mango, Gala apple, Grapes

Thanks, Joelle! :) While writing my update, I realized how many plants I either ingest or use on my body that I would likely have to give up. Here's a current list of my diet, supplements and hygiene products:

DIET

PROTEINS

• sea scallops (Downeast Dayboat and Trader Joe's)
• crab — tanner, dungeness and king (Vital Choice)
• clams (Downeast Dayboat)
• oysters — as a supplement (Downeast Dayboat)
• seafood broth — (Great Alaskan Seafood)
• marine collagen peptides (Amandean)
• marine gelatin (Custom Collagen)
• pastured eggs

CARBOHYDRATES

• melon — honeydew, canary and watermelon
• grapes — red, black and cotton candy
• dates — medjool, khadrawy, black crimson and sukkari (7 Hot Dates, Date People and Amazon)
• dragon fruit — red and white vacuum dried for a crunchy snack (Trader Joe's and nuts.com)
• mango freeze-dried for a crunchy snack (Trader Joe's)
• sweet tamarind pods — for their pulp
• tomato paste — for creamy tomato soup with crab
• corn on the cob — as flavoring in clam bakes
• sweet onions — as flavoring in clam bakes and broths
• white carrots — as flavoring in clam bakes and broths
• celery — as flavoring in broths
• mushrooms — for broths (shiitake, shimeiji, field and abalone mushrooms)
• raw Thai coconut water (Waterhill Naturals and Trader Joe's)
• coffee — low acid, shade grown Swiss water processed decaf
• maple syrup (from my uncle's maples)
• date syrup (D'vash)

FATS

• raw young Thai coconut meat (Copra)
• homemade coconut milk (Goya frozen shredded coconut)
• coconut oil mayonnaise — for seafood salad (Chosen Foods Keto mayo)
• raw olives (Good Faith Farms)

SEASONINGS

• culinary herbs and spices — dill, parsley, tarragon, chives, pandan, lemongrass, orange zest, paprika, peppercorns -- pink, white, green
• French Celtic sea salt — (Eden Foods)

SUPPLEMENTS

• NDT (WP Thyroid)
• vitamin D3 liquid (Now Foods)
• camu camu glycerite — for adrenals (Secrets Of The Tribe)
• eleuthero root glycerite — for adrenals (Nature's Answer)
• chamomile glycerite — for adrenals (Nature's Answer)
• passion flower glycerite — for adrenals (Swanson)
• echinacea glycerite — for immune system (Swanson)
• stinging nettle leaf glycerite — for calcium/bone health (Swanson)
• peppermint glycerite — for calming indigestion (Swanson)

ORAL CARE

• baking soda
• floss (Radius)
• homemade mouthwash — essential oils of peppermint and clove, baking soda and distilled water
• Heal All Tea — used as a rinse when needing to raise my saliva pH (Dr. Morse's Cellular Botanicals)

HAIR CARE

• soap nuts shampoo (Nature Sustained)
• apple cider vinegar — hair and scalp clarifier
• hibiscus rinse — conditioner
• floral waxes (tuberose, jasmine, rose etc.) applied to the ends of hair for conditioning

BODY CARE

• soap nuts body wash (Nature Sustained)
• sugar and vanilla bean scrub (Skinny & Co.)
• virgin coconut oil infused with vanilla bean and flowers — tiare, frangipani, rose etc.
• cocoa butter (Caribbean Cacao)

DEODORANT (not for odor but for preventing ingrown hairs from evil Epilady)

• witch hazel, orange oil and rosewater concentrate (Heritage Products)
• coconut oil and bergamot deodorant — for when I'm travelling (Skinny & Co.)

ESSENTIAL OILS/ABSOLUTES (organic and CO2 extracted whenever possible)

• rose — good for endocrine glands and depression
• sweet orange — good for spleen, adrenals, heart, liver, blood and its anti-microbial and laxative properties
• vanilla — good for anxiety, depression, insomnia, inflammation and its anti-bacterial properties
• jasmine — good for inflammation, adrenals, nervous system, liver and respiration
• tuberose — good for adrenals, relaxation, libido, circulation and its anti-microbial properties
• sandalwood — good for liver, pancreas, bladder, adrenals, thyroid, skin, vomiting and its anti-microbial properties
• chamomile — good for anxiety, digestion and smooth muscle relaxation

Thinking about how good I feel and how much variety of food I'm able to tolerate now, something I worked so hard to achieve, I'm thinking I probably shouldn't mess with a good thing. My thyroid and adrenals are improving and my kidneys are filtering well so I figure this is a good sign. I have replaced the gubinge with my camu tincture, though.

 

[Jennifer]

Update:

I have some things I'm working through but overall I'm feeling so healthy and can eat a variety of food again, though, my diet is still fruit-based. My hydrogen breath test came back positive for an overgrowth of both hydrogen and methane producing bacteria just like last time so I was put on Rifaximin and Neomycin, experienced no change in symptoms, and broke out in an itchy burning rash after the course was finished. My gut problems didn't resolve until I changed my diet and I suspect the NDT is what has allowed me to tolerate more foods again.

Prior to this, not only did my gut issues worsen, but everything seemed to. My breathing worsened, I lost my period and libido, my nails were splitting, my body was in so much pain, especially my spine, I had bloating even without fiber in my diet and chronic diarrhea that left me emaciated, and though I'm fair skinned, particularly in the winter, I'm normally very rosy — rosy cheeks, palms etc. — and one evening in December I had looked in the mirror and I was colorless. I looked down at my hands and they were blue.

This continued for another month and the shortness of breath only worsened until I was constantly on the verge of passing out and could officially pass as a smirf. My CO2 and oxygen saturation levels had fallen below normal. I was going on five months of this and was so worn out from gasping for air day in and day out, trying to stay conscious, the weightloss (I was down 10 lbs and swimming in my clothes), all the tests, and fighting the medical system, and constantly being passed off while in a vulnerable state had me feeling at a loss on what else to try.

My doctor kept referring me to specialists to run tests she said she couldn't order only to tell me after I waited months to get in to see them that she could have. Meanwhile, each time I called her office looking for help, I was told I needed to go to the hospital and at the hospital they'd tell me they couldn't help me and that I needed to see my doctor. When I could finally get an appointment with her, I'm told it was given to another patient, as well as my next one, and then tests I had taken were lost and she denied having ordered them despite her saying she had in my patient portal.

After doing all I could think of — taking thyroid, bag breathing, going out at night for car rides to get cold air in my lungs, spending hours juicing all my fruit to avoid fiber etc. — I started to think it was over and after 12 years of fighting, I finally stopped trying. I spent the day packing my things in boxes in case I passed away. Letting go served me well because by the end of the day, I finally got a deep breath. I was so focused on packing my things up that I hadn't consumed anything the entire day and realized I hadn't had a single attack.

I remembered that the shortness of breath was non-existent the hours I spent in the waiting room during ER visits consuming nothing but liquids and thought the fiber might be feeding the SIBO or irritating my gut and triggering the attacks so I removed it from my diet, but discovered it was animal protein triggering them. I decided to test out tofu to rule out hypoglycemia and was able to breathe fine for months since, however, I haven't been able to get the tofu because of lockdown so I had to rely on the proteins I had leftover.

Thankfully, after reacting well to some homemade black mulberry gummies, I attempted some scallops two days later and felt nothing but relaxed after having them. Since then, I've been consuming at least 4 oz of shellfish and gelatin (80 g of protein in total) daily. I tried muscle meat a few times without success. The rest of my calories (2500+ daily) are mainly from fruit (4+ liters of juice and whole fruit totaling no more than 20 g of fiber) and small amounts of fat — usually no more than 20-25 g so it doesn't mess with my circulation.

I was starting to fear I'd be stuck on a fruitarian diet for life, but I'm grateful that's not the case. Sticking with lighter proteins seems to make all the difference for me. I gained back my weight, and my chronically high alkaline phosphatase level is no longer elevated. Pasts tests confirmed that it was coming from my bones so I should hopefully see improvements in my spine and all other connective tissues. Unfortunately, I've had to fight to stay on thyroid. Despite it lowering my adrenaline, elevated alk. phos., thyroid peroxidase AB and reverse T3 levels, my doctor wanted me off it because of my low TSH, saying it will cause osteoporosis. I found a new doctor.

 

[Dutchie]

@Richiebogi ....I'm just a little out of my mind.
I have a couple of lesions on my brains, bc I've been dealing with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) since I was 18. (Stress is a huge trigger for me). Or did you meant something else?

That's the thing,there are so many low/high oxalate foodlists out there and some are very contradicting. It also depends on the amount you eat of a particular food.
The kicker of it all is that most organic produce is usually higher in oxalates than the average stated number, bc they're usually not doused in pesticides leaving the plant to produce more oxalate to defend itself. So,it's a matter of picking a poison.:/

Yeah,I've had some arugula throughout the week. I like it,bc it has a good (higher) ca:ph ratio.
However I do make sure to cook/sautee the arugula bc I don't want it interfering with my thyroid when eating it raw. The peppery aftertaste is gone when it's cooked/sauteed, it gets more of a spinach taste.

@Jennifer Yeah,if you have a framework now, that you feel good on, I wouldn't mess too much with it.
I saw maple syrup in your list.....the past couple of days I've all of a sudden been thinking about maple syrup, just like shrimp and mango. :P
I imagine you eat most fruits raw, but boiling and pressure cooking is supposed to lower oxalates in plants. Also in the book of the Bulletproof diet, Dave Asprey wrote that people can add some calcium to the boiling water when cooking high ox.veggies,so the oxalates out of it will bind with the calcium in the cooking water. Afterwards ofcourse you need to discard the water.

 

[Jennifer]

Dairy is a tricky food. If I eat too much I feel like I have concrete setting in my intestines! On the bright side, if I ever get cremated I may leave behind an intriguing museum exhibit!

Same here! Haha! It would be quite the fright for a mucusless dieter if they performed the autopsy. Thank you for linking me the oxalate content of Tofu. I'll be sticking with the seafood and gelatin as long as they continue to treat me well. :)

Black raspberries are delicious! They grow all around our property, as well as red raspberries and blackberries. They taste amazing, far superior to any store bought ones I've tried. Not a hint of tartness, just sugary sweet.

 

[Jennifer]

Oh no, @Dutchie! Mango, your kryptonite. Are you thinking of trying some to see how you do with it? And maple syrup?

Yeah, other than the syrups, I try to consume my sugars raw because I still typically get heartburn if they're cooked. It's happening less often, though, now that I'm taking the NDT and my adrenals are doing better, which is why I can tolerate tiny amounts of syrup now. And thank you for the suggestion. If I ever crave veggies high in oxalates, I'll cook them in baking soda. I did try that once with spinach and broke out in a rash, but that could have been due to the SIBO.

 

[Blossom]

@Richiebogie, I feel fine with cucumber, onions, summer and zucchini squash and mushrooms. Honey is fine too. I’ve been eating this selective way for about a year and have healed quite a bit. I was planning to start testing more foods when covid hit my community so I haven’t gotten around to trialing any new foods yet. Hopefully soon since things are slowing down.
Edit: I originally wrote restrictive but changed it to selective because I feel it describes the situation better and I don’t feel restricted in any way.

 

[Dutchie]

Oh no, @Dutchie! Mango, your kryptonite. Are you thinking of trying some to see how you do with it? And maple syrup?

Yeah, other than the syrups, I try to consume my sugars raw because I still typically get heartburn if they're cooked. It's happening less often, though, now that I'm taking the NDT and my adrenals are doing better, which is why I can tolerate tiny amounts of syrup now. And thank you for the suggestion. If I ever crave veggies high in oxalates, I'll cook them in baking soda. I did try that once with spinach and broke out in a rash, but that could have been due to the SIBO.

I know!....there's this salad (readymade) I frequently used to eat before my healthfood days,that I lately keep thinking about. It was some type of lettuce paired with arugula,a couple of pieces of fettucine,pieces of mango and smoked chickenbreast. It came with this orange dressing. Though I don't really miss the pasta.
Maybe I'll be brave enough to try some mango in the Summer. As for the maple syrup, it would mean I'd have to buy a new bottle which are quite pricey over here. So,I need to get myself straight before I'll invest in it and then have it withering away in my kitchen cabinet or fridge.

No,you don't need to add baking soda,you would need to add some calcium to the cooking water. :)

 

[Jennifer]

I know!....there's this salad (readymade) I frequently used to eat before my healthfood days,that I lately keep thinking about. It was some type of lettuce paired with arugula,a couple of pieces of fettucine,pieces of mango and smoked chickenbreast. It came with this orange dressing. Though I don't really miss the pasta.
Maybe I'll be brave enough to try some mango in the Summer. As for the maple syrup, it would mean I'd have to buy a new bottle which are quite pricey over here. So,I need to get myself straight before I'll invest in it and then have it withering away in my kitchen cabinet or fridge.

No,you don't need to add baking soda,you would need to add some calcium to the cooking water. :)

Oy! I swear they're gonna hall me away to the crazy house if I keep this up. Save you a bed? Just think how much the Pleasure Principals would spice up the joint.

Kidding aside, I did read calcium. I'm not sure why I responded with baking soda. Please say I haven't completely lost it and it's used for some purpose when cooking greens? I'm almost sure I had a conversation with Amazoniac that involved cooking spinach in baking soda or maybe I'm thinking of Ray. Did Ray mention using baking soda when cooking greens to neutralize oxalic acid or goitrogens or to soften them?

Oh, yeah! You've mentioned that salad before. It sounds yummy, though, I never really understood the inclusion of the fettuccini noodles, and just a couple of them at that. There's a similar salad we make for my dad that's a copycat from a chain restaurant here that he likes, I call it an orange bowl but I'm not even sure that's its actual name. Anyhow, the recipe calls for those crispy chow mein noodles used in Chinese food.

Gotcha. When the dust settles, do you think maple syrup would get through customs? If so, I'll send you some. You can always stick it in the freezer. Just think what a nice glaze it would make for your meat...or maybe it's the Canadian in me -- I sear my scallops in it, top my omelettes with it and use it in coconut milk.

 

[Markus]

Update:

I have some things I'm working through but overall I'm feeling so healthy and can eat a variety of food again, though, my diet is still fruit-based. My hydrogen breath test came back positive for an overgrowth of both hydrogen and methane producing bacteria just like last time so I was put on Rifaximin and Neomycin, experienced no change in symptoms, and broke out in an itchy burning rash after the course was finished. My gut problems didn't resolve until I changed my diet and I suspect the NDT is what has allowed me to tolerate more foods again.

Prior to this, not only did my gut issues worsen, but everything seemed to. My breathing worsened, I lost my period and libido, my nails were splitting, my body was in so much pain, especially my spine, I had bloating even without fiber in my diet and chronic diarrhea that left me emaciated, and though I'm fair skinned, particularly in the winter, I'm normally very rosy — rosy cheeks, palms etc. — and one evening in December I had looked in the mirror and I was colorless. I looked down at my hands and they were blue.

This continued for another month and the shortness of breath only worsened until I was constantly on the verge of passing out and could officially pass as a smirf. My CO2 and oxygen saturation levels had fallen below normal. I was going on five months of this and was so worn out from gasping for air day in and day out, trying to stay conscious, the weightloss (I was down 10 lbs and swimming in my clothes), all the tests, and fighting the medical system, and constantly being passed off while in a vulnerable state had me feeling at a loss on what else to try.

My doctor kept referring me to specialists to run tests she said she couldn't order only to tell me after I waited months to get in to see them that she could have. Meanwhile, each time I called her office looking for help, I was told I needed to go to the hospital and at the hospital they'd tell me they couldn't help me and that I needed to see my doctor. When I could finally get an appointment with her, I'm told it was given to another patient, as well as my next one, and then tests I had taken were lost and she denied having ordered them despite her saying she had in my patient portal.

After doing all I could think of — taking thyroid, bag breathing, going out at night for car rides to get cold air in my lungs, spending hours juicing all my fruit to avoid fiber etc. — I started to think it was over and after 12 years of fighting, I finally stopped trying. I spent the day packing my things in boxes in case I passed away. Letting go served me well because by the end of the day, I finally got a deep breath. I was so focused on packing my things up that I hadn't consumed anything the entire day and realized I hadn't had a single attack.

I remembered that the shortness of breath was non-existent the hours I spent in the waiting room during ER visits consuming nothing but liquids and thought the fiber might be feeding the SIBO or irritating my gut and triggering the attacks so I removed it from my diet, but discovered it was animal protein triggering them. I decided to test out tofu to rule out hypoglycemia and was able to breathe fine for months since, however, I haven't been able to get the tofu because of lockdown so I had to rely on the proteins I had leftover.

Thankfully, after reacting well to some homemade black mulberry gummies, I attempted some scallops two days later and felt nothing but relaxed after having them. Since then, I've been consuming at least 4 oz of shellfish and gelatin (80 g of protein in total) daily. I tried muscle meat a few times without success. The rest of my calories (2500+ daily) are mainly from fruit (4+ liters of juice and whole fruit totaling no more than 20 g of fiber) and small amounts of fat — usually no more than 20-25 g so it doesn't mess with my circulation.

I was starting to fear I'd be stuck on a fruitarian diet for life, but I'm grateful that's not the case. Sticking with lighter proteins seems to make all the difference for me. I gained back my weight, and my chronically high alkaline phosphatase level is no longer elevated. Pasts tests confirmed that it was coming from my bones so I should hopefully see improvements in my spine and all other connective tissues. Unfortunately, I've had to fight to stay on thyroid. Despite it lowering my adrenaline, elevated alk. phos., thyroid peroxidase AB and reverse T3 levels, my doctor wanted me off it because of my low TSH, saying it will cause osteoporosis. I found a new doctor.

Thank you for posting your story! From my personal experience, I've found that SIBO and many other gut issues are related to energy metabolism and nutritional imbalances. For instance, like in your case, I got relief from most of my symptoms by reducing the amount of animal protein and fat that I was consuming.

 

[Richiebogie]

Hi @Jennifer,

What a scary time for you, and amazing that fasting fixed your breathing issues. Great that you narrowed the problem down to animal proteins (except molluscs, crabs and eggs). And good that you switched doctors. It sounds like the last doctor didn’t appreciate your own experiences and findings. She probably resented that you were taking an active interest in your own health and requesting tests and treatments! Not everyone is equally generous, open-minded and considerate! Perhaps she is in the wrong field! She might be better suited programming robots at a hotdog cannery!

It is good you have documented your current diet which may be responsible for your current good health. That makes a good baseline.

I wonder what in the muscle meats you were reacting to? Over winter are the animals fed grains or were you eating meat from animals which were slaughtered back in Sept/Oct or sometime when they were 100% grass-fed?

I think you were tolerating meat better last August...

Maybe the cows need to be 100% pastured for a few weeks to get the troubling proteins out of their system.

If your muscle meat was from last autumn and was grass-fed at slaughter then maybe you had a problem with old meat and histamines?

It could be an excess of zinc or iron, or a cross reaction with something else in your diet...

Anyway, the seafood is probably more delicious and healing for you than the meat, so these questions don’t need to be answered!

In fact, it’s possible your diet is optimal for a lot of people, but only you are sensitive enough to reveal it!

I hope you keep feeling well!

That’s cool that your uncle makes maple syrup! I had some maple syrup the other day on some kefir yoghurt and it was delicious!

Those black raspberries sound great too! They may have 55mg of oxalate per 100g, but that is a lot less than gubinge, and cheaper too! (Kakadu Plum has about 50 times more oxalate by weight than black raspberries, going by the published tables).

1.5 grams of gubinge is 40mg of oxalate + the oxalates you make from any excess vitamin C! If the other constituents of the fruit are especially rare and useful then it could be worthwhile...

Hi @Dutchie, I don’t know much about MS. Can you tell if you have eaten something inflammatory recently by how your feel?

Eg. Some foods give me mouth ulcers, and some make me anxious. However the delay in reaction can make it difficult to pinpoint the cause.

I think some of my mouth ulcers came from high oxalates and low calcium. Some came from high arginine and low lysine. So adding dairy seemed to fix both issues!

Nuts seem to make me anxious. That could be PUFA, or phytates, or oxalates or something else! Beef fat, butter and cocoa butter don’t seem to cause the same issue.

Did you say you were taking vitamin C supplements or avoiding them? Perhaps excess C is converting to oxalates and causing inflammation!

Are you getting sufficient B6? I eat a lot of bananas but some people say that is not the same as animal sourced B6!

Did you say that some people with MS lesions had them disappear? Did they attribute that to cutting oxalates or something else?

Hi @Blossom,

That is a restrictive list, but if it is healing you then it is an invaluable list.

I am hoping my list has a bit less zucchini and a few more cherries!

All the best!

 

[Dutchie]

@Jennifer Who knows...maybe I'll get there first, then I'll save you a bed.

No clue,if Ray might've mentioned it. I do know they use baking soda to tenderize meat and chicken.

They probably add the pasta bc it's supposed to be a well rounded meal and not a side salad. Ofcourse you can't go overboard with the pasta,otherwise it wouldn't be a 'healthy salad' anymore.
I used to always save the couple of pieces of mango and chicken to the end....lol I still save the best for last when eating.
I see this dish 'Orange chicken' being copycatted on YT,going by the ingredients and imagining what it would taste like,I'd imagine it would somewhat resemble the salad dressing.
Funny that even though they're already Westernized versions of 'Chinese food', they differ....there's no such thing as Orange chicken over here. Our Westernized Chinese kitchen is blended with a lot of Indonesian dishes.

Thanks for the offer! Actually,I have no idea how it might work with customs. I know when purchasing online from a non-EU country,the total amount of the product(s) need to be below 22euro for it to pass without additional costs. However,since this is an edible product, I don't know if that might be problematic.
Glazing my meat with it,doesn't sound appetizing....I'd imagine it would taste better with white meat like chickenbreast,shrimp and whitefish. I also think it would make for a nice sweetener when making sauces or dressings. On YT I mostly see it being poured over pancakes.

For now,I'm not done yet with experimenting with dairy/cheese and different types of veggies. I thought what the heck,why not see what the Bloodtype diet has to say about it for my bloodtype. It says that O's should avoid dairy,some things were mentioned as neutral,one of them being mozarella so I thought why not give that a shot next...
Already got clear that I can only have some cheese 1 or maybe 2 times a week.
I found some mozarella from buffalo milk,bc cowdairy is completely out for me,then I thougth what am I gonna do with it....since I can't use it the way I use the goat creamcheese. Then I saw Quang's latest video in which he makes stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer...
Definitely going to try that with the mozzarella!....only he seasoned the mushrooms with garlic powder and I'm going to season them with basil instead.

I'm on a basil kick lately....it's supposed to be a low ox.herb and it has a higher ca:ph ratio.
It seems like that ratio has more importance to me than (higher) carbs in general. Whenever I eat something with a higher ca:ph ratio,I instantly feel my mood and emotions lift...I become a happier,confident and younger feeling person. (paired with keeping oxalate (production) as low as possible). I also notice a difference in my posterior,it feels like I'm standing straighter without even having to be conscious of it. When I've eaten lamb for instance (which is much higher ph than beef), I notice in the evening that my upper back hurts (more) and my shoulders and neck seem to be slouched forward and I must really consciously straigthen myself towards a better posterior.
No conventional specialist has ever even looked at or spoken about this ratio theory to me......same as them not knowing anything about oxalates..

 

[Jennifer]

Thank you for posting your story! From my personal experience, I've found that SIBO and many other gut issues are related to energy metabolism and nutritional imbalances. For instance, like in your case, I got relief from most of my symptoms by reducing the amount of animal protein and fat that I was consuming.

Thank you for reading it, Markus. :) Yeah, absolutely! Within the first day of taking NDT, I noticed major improvement with my digestion -- mainly less indigestion and bloating, faster elimination, and my foggy head was clear by the next day. I believe that's the main reason why I do so well on raw fruit -- it's extremely easy for me to digest and it eliminates quickly so bacteria has less of a chance to overgrow, especially when juiced.

 

[Dutchie]

@Richiebogie MS is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system,where the myelin sheath is being attacked.
From my last scan,in December, there fortunately weren't any new lesions. So,it seems the MS is laying low. However I have various other issues going on and I suspect at least part of it is due to oxalates and having an unfavorable ca:ph ratio.

I haven't eaten anything inflammatory lately as my diet is restricted anyway. Whenever I eat something that's very stressful to my body, my gut seems to freak out and I get constipated. Having and maintaining a daily BM is something I've been battling with for years...it's a science of itself.

Yep....looking back,I think some of my unexplainable issues (by specialists) were caused by oxalates and low calcium/high phosphorus; low thyroid,lots of tartar on teeth...teeth have worsened and eroded overall,lots of hairshedding (which seems to have decreased),hair also thinner especially in the front I can see through to my scalp
My menstruation has stopped and intrinsically I felt very old and also looked older imo.
My blood calcium was elevated (and ALT also mildly elevated for a couple of years),my vit.D was high despite not taking a supplement for 3 years. Whenever I was in the sun my legs would become very weak,I'd have problems balancing and difficulty walking and after a while I got an urge to pee and then whenever I peed,things seemed to stabillize and I felt normal again.
No doctor had anything to say about it.....I now think it was due to oxalates being mobillized by the sunlight. Oxalates are bound by calcium and carried out,so my theory is that at that moment calcium was being leached from my bones to bind the flow of oxalates being triggered by the sunlight. It *seems* that I'm now able to tolerate sunlight better again.

I've never been really big on eating nuts. However I do get in PUFAS daily,mainly O3,from eating fatty fish. In my genetic test from 23andme it said that O3 were recommended for me (in the diet), but that I should avoid )6 as much as possible. I have cooked with beef tallow (grassfed) for a while,but it seemed to contribute to my bellyfat. Now I only use CO for cooking and I sometimes put some olive oil over my veggies afterwards. The genetic test also indicated I had some genes that are related to sat.fat and that I should mainly take in mufas (ironically the bloodtype diet says olive oil is highly beneficial for my bloodtype).
The thought of mainly living off olive oil isn't appealing to me at all. I like coconut and sat.animal fats too much.

I was taking vit.C,quite a lot,mainly to help me to have a BM. I've now tapered it back very much. Another thing is that I normally take a tsp of collagen in the morning (for protein),but...that also contributes to oxalate production.
I've been taking a methylated B-Complex for about 2 years now. It also has B6 in it,on top of that I eat around 110grams (I probably could eat more if I got the chance,but that's out of my financial zone) of protein from beef/lamb and fish daily.

Some people had all their lesions disappear,totally clear scans. Mind you,these were people that said their MS diagnosis was actually Lyme disease and when they got treated and got cleared of Lyme,their scans were clear.
That got me thinking.....if Lyme invaded their brain and was being cleared from the body,which led to a clean scan. Maybe oxalates settled in the brain (when they go for weak spots) and being cleared from the body,might also result in a clean scan...
I know people with Lyme deal with all kinds of toxins,also oxalates. Anyway,I don't care if my lesions (scar tissue) would disappear...the only thing that matters to me is to not have it progress and cause damage.

 

[Jennifer]

Hi @Richiebogie,

Thank you for the words of support. I appreciate it. :) She (and her staff) definitely dropped the ball, but I can sympathise with the main reason it happened. She was reprimanded in the past by her employer for treating based on both blood work and symptoms and not just blood work alone so she was fearful of it happening again and this made her dangerously inconsistent.

Though I'm proactive in my care and will typically suggest possible causes and mechanisms at play, it's always done as a type of pow wow or brainstorming with my doctors. I try to never be pushy and to understand my limitations. The problem is, she would say one thing at my appointments, then something completely different when communicating with me through my patient portal.

It's all good, though. I had a major breakthrough because of this whole experience, something I very much needed to heal the most broken part of me.

I was never able to make beef (100% grass-fed) and poultry (pastured) work long-term. I kept having to go back to raw. After a week or so I would develop a brick feeling in my chest, heartburn, hiccups and burping for hours after eating them. Shellfish is the only meat that doesn't cause it and the only reason I could come up with is it's lighter and higher in glycine so it's easier to digest?

The easiest protein for me to digest is the marine collagen. That in some raw Thai coconut water has been so healing to my intestines and a million times easier to make than the potato protein, which was helpful when I was passing out all the time. It took me over two hours to juice my fruit. Lord help me if I had to juice pounds of potatoes, too. I would have had to juice them on the floor. lol

Thank you, Rich! I wish the same for you. :)

Maple syrup and dairy are like a match made in heaven! Raw honey and ricotta are a killer combo, too. Speaking of black raspberries, they also taste really good with dairy IMO. Black raspberry is a popular ice cream flavor here.

The gubinge should last a while before going bad so I don't mind experimenting with the camu camu first. I have both, but wanted to use them one at a time so I could separate any possible effects I experience from them, from each other.

 

[Jennifer]

@Jennifer Who knows...maybe I'll get there first, then I'll save you a bed.

No clue,if Ray might've mentioned it. I do know they use baking soda to tenderize meat and chicken.

They probably add the pasta bc it's supposed to be a well rounded meal and not a side salad. Ofcourse you can't go overboard with the pasta,otherwise it wouldn't be a 'healthy salad' anymore.
I used to always save the couple of pieces of mango and chicken to the end....lol I still save the best for last when eating.
I see this dish 'Orange chicken' being copycatted on YT,going by the ingredients and imagining what it would taste like,I'd imagine it would somewhat resemble the salad dressing.
Funny that even though they're already Westernized versions of 'Chinese food', they differ....there's no such thing as Orange chicken over here. Our Westernized Chinese kitchen is blended with a lot of Indonesian dishes.

Thanks for the offer! Actually,I have no idea how it might work with customs. I know when purchasing online from a non-EU country,the total amount of the product(s) need to be below 22euro for it to pass without additional costs. However,since this is an edible product, I don't know if that might be problematic.
Glazing my meat with it,doesn't sound appetizing....I'd imagine it would taste better with white meat like chickenbreast,shrimp and whitefish. I also think it would make for a nice sweetener when making sauces or dressings. On YT I mostly see it being poured over pancakes.

For now,I'm not done yet with experimenting with dairy/cheese and different types of veggies. I thought what the heck,why not see what the Bloodtype diet has to say about it for my bloodtype. It says that O's should avoid dairy,some things were mentioned as neutral,one of them being mozarella so I thought why not give that a shot next...
Already got clear that I can only have some cheese 1 or maybe 2 times a week.
I found some mozarella from buffalo milk,bc cowdairy is completely out for me,then I thougth what am I gonna do with it....since I can't use it the way I use the goat creamcheese. Then I saw Quang's latest video in which he makes stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer...
Definitely going to try that with the mozzarella!....only he seasoned the mushrooms with garlic powder and I'm going to season them with basil instead.

I'm on a basil kick lately....it's supposed to be a low ox.herb and it has a higher ca:ph ratio.
It seems like that ratio has more importance to me than (higher) carbs in general. Whenever I eat something with a higher ca:ph ratio,I instantly feel my mood and emotions lift...I become a happier,confident and younger feeling person. (paired with keeping oxalate (production) as low as possible). I also notice a difference in my posterior,it feels like I'm standing straighter without even having to be conscious of it. When I've eaten lamb for instance (which is much higher ph than beef), I notice in the evening that my upper back hurts (more) and my shoulders and neck seem to be slouched forward and I must really consciously straigthen myself towards a better posterior.
No conventional specialist has ever even looked at or spoken about this ratio theory to me......same as them not knowing anything about oxalates..

If you do, could you make it a full, please? I need it to fit my tent. Hehe!

My brother and mum save the best part of the meal (for them, the meat) for last, too. I eat the best part and leave the rest. I figure I could choke and die before getting to the best part so why risk it.

I can imagine orange chicken tasting similar because of the dressing. The one my dad likes has the chicken on top of salad greens. It gets put in a deep bowl so that's why I call it an orange bowl. lol

Oh, interesting! Did you try American Chinese food while you were here? The Chinese restaurant we ate at while I was growing up made Cantonese and Polynesian food. My favorite "dish" was the free pineapple and cherries they'd serve at the end of the meal. Go figure!

Whoops! I forgot you don't eat chicken. I meant to use the maple syrup as a glaze for that and not red meat, though, I would probably glaze red meat with it too since I'd even eat an old boot if it was covered in maple syrup. lol

The stuffed mushrooms with basil sounds yummy! I used to get tomatoes with basil and little mozzarella balls marinated in extra virgin olive oil from this little Italian shop in the next town over. So good!

That's great! Do you experience that same mood lifting effect with the cream cheese and mozzarella? That's exactly what I experience with fruit, I think because it digests so easily for me and stabilizes my blood sugar.

 

[Dutchie]

@Jennifer Haha.....will do! ...or maybe I could possibly save you a tent...you know one of those tipi's

That's a good point....I never thought of that possible threat

Yes,we did...not so much bc we wanted to eat Chinese food,but bc we wanted to have the experience of eating Chinese takeout out of these carton boxes with chopsticks like you see in the movies
That's when I learned that I'm chopstick challenged
The food was totally different (even the noodles!) then what I was used to eating here, maybe it was also bc of the dishes we ordered, but it wasn't as sweet as some of the typical stuff we would get here. Typically here some of the most common dishes are Cantonese and Indonesian inspired.
The only thing I can think of that we both have is Egg Foo Yong (Here it's called Foe Yong Hai...that's the version with egg,then there are also other versions with pork or shrimp)

It's not that I'm strict in not eating chicken, I just don't crave it that much anymore. I can buy organic chicken,but it's still fed with 'healthy organic' grains,corn and soy.
I would just eat maple syrup off the spoon....it's that good.
Never been much into honey, though I liked the taste of the Manuka honey I had. ....and I used to make simple syrup from cane sugar.

Yup....the tomato,mozarella,basil,olive oil is a classic appetizer here in most Italian restaurants.
Nightshades are out for me,but the combo with the mushrooms looks good too. Sprinkle it with some olive oil and basil stuff it with cheese and then put it in the oven for about 10 minutes (until cheese is properly melted).

The mozarella I'll get in the weekend, as for the cream cheese...I eat it together with other foods so I'm not sure if it's totally due to the cheese though it probably contributes to the happiness feeling. For me I don't think it's about digestion,bc it's probably more difficult, I think it's due to the calcium (and having been eating devoid of calcium for years,not having phosphorus opposed much)
I also noticed the past couple of days, that my short term memory and creative thinking abillity seem to function better. For a while it seemed like I had this wall up and just wasn't able to come up with things....possibly the well-known brain fog?
I think it's bc of a mix of things; eating low ox.,more calcium/the ca:ph ratio, having a leisurely walk in the morning sun, using taurine powder (a new supplement in the collection)...
I'm waiting for my K supplement to arrive,so I can try the calcium powder.

Maybe it's part bc of the weather, but feelings of not wanting a sedentary job (like the type I've been doing and chasing after the past months) start to hit me again.
*gasp* I even start missing the gym after not having been there for almost half a year (...besides the fact that they're closed bc of the lockdown)
It's confusing bc I don't know what else to do...realistically speaking.

 

[Jennifer]

@Dutchie -- Okay, deal!

Haha! There is something that seems fun about eating Chinese takeout out of the carton. Due to finances, we usually only had Chinese food on special occasions and dined in so there wasn't any cartons to eat out of, though, I enjoyed the whole experience of eating at the restaurant -- the beautiful carved dragons and murals on the walls, the tea before the meal, finding our Chinese zodiac animals on the placemats...huh, my disturbing love of fruit makes sense now -- mine's the monkey.

Ah, you need the training wheels of chopsticks then. They're essentially oversized tweezers so if you can tweeze a hair, you should have no problem picking up a noodle, or a chunk of meat for that matter. Soup is the hardest! I try and try but the broth always slips through my sticks.

Hmm, yeah, maybe it's the dishes you ordered or the restaurant didn't provide sweet sauce on the side? Our meals always came with sweet sauce or my parents asked for it. I used to smother my rice and lo mein with it. Do you like egg foo yung? That was my second favorite!

Yeah, I figured it was because you craved red meat more than chicken and you've mentioned that you need the iron so...

Me too! I disliked honey until I tried Manuka but before it, I had only ever had the honey in the bear bottle and have since tried many different raw honeys, ones that even have hints of fruit flavors like mango, that changed my mind.

That's true. It would be hard to decipher when the cheese is eaten in a mixed meal.

That's a good sign! Whatever the cause, I'm glad you're feeling improvements. How great it will be if you find you're definitely tolerating dairy again, huh?

 

[Dutchie]

Did you automatically got served tea before the meal? I never had that happen in the Chinese restaurant here. If you want tea,you need to order it.

Good idea....I probably can eat with tweezers. Too bad,I don't go to Chinese restaurants (...or any restaurant for that matter) anymore.

Yes, egg foo yung was one of my favorites. The egg with the sweet tomato sauce...yumm!

There definitely are lots of different types of honey. Still...I'd rather have maple syrup... or just mango,but not honey mango.
There's this channel on YT called Strong Sistas of 2 sisters who previously were carnivore,but they're now heading towards more of a Peat framework. They eat raw honey and mix it with tallow.

I think tolerating is a big word, bc I still need to take a lot of measurements for it not causing constipation and other unwanted symptoms. For instance,I instinctively crave wanting to take l-glutamine inbetween often. I took that to heal my gut, so that gives me the impression that it might still have damaging effects.

 

[Jennifer]

Yep, the table was already set with tea cups when we were seated and while looking over the menu, the server would bring the teapot and leave it at our table until our meal came. If we asked for more, they brought more. It was complimentary. To this day, it's the only tea that never made me nauseous.

Me neither, but I do use chopsticks at home. I like eating the seafood with them.

Huh, there it's a sweet tomato sauce? Here it's a soy sauce based gravy. I'd like to try the tomato sauce. I'll see if I can find a recipe.

What I like most about raw honey is how thick it is. Have you ever had whipped maple syrup? It's thick like raw honey.

Interesting. I'll check their channel out. Part of me wishes I liked all those animal foods because they're nutritious, but the ones that are considered healthiest like the fats, organ meats and cartilage, make me gag, and it's not like I wasn't exposed to them while growing up, given my heritage.

I even think part of me wants dairy to work so I can get a lot of those same nutrients without having to eat what makes me gag, but I tried some ricotta today and came to the conclusion that I don't like it like I once did. I'd much rather have seafood and eggs and God forbid, tofu and muscle meat. lol

I see, and empathize. Well, hopefully the calcium powder works out well for you and helps with healing so that you no longer have to take a lot of measures to eat dairy or any other foods you enjoy.

 

[Dutchie]

That's nice that they offer free tea. I guess the restaurant here is too cheap to even offer warm water with a couple of leafs for free.
Well,it would fit with our culture since most typical Dutch people are seen as cheap.
Yes, the egg foo yung is in a tomato sauce over here. I think the basics for the sauce are: sieved tomatos,sugar,ginger syrup,some vinegar,salt&pepper

Yeah,whenever I watch Quang's videos he eats almost all his food with chopsticks and for some reason it looks so fun. However it probably wouldn't feel like fun anymore if I start trying it myself.

Eating is the only experience I have with maple syrup.

Their channel now seems to be heading towards a farming direction,since they both want to start a small farm together.
Why do you think meat is more nutritious?....every diet scene has their own set of foods which they perceive as being highly nutritious, yet they all differ depending on what diet you look at. Imo all unprocessed foods are nutritious, some might contain a larger amount of nutrients according to testing measurements, but when the body doesn't know how to process that food, the nutrients in it aren't of much use either.
You've went the meat route and it didn't serve you, add the fact that it makes you gag and that you're feeling better on your current diet.....I'd say they're pretty good indicators that meat is not a nutritious food to you, while you have found foods which are beneficial and thus nutritious for you.

Having to eat something which makes you gag....are you referring to organ meats and tallow? I don't think eggs and seafood don't contain these nutrients as well...and plant foods depending on the nutrient. If you don't like it anymore,it's probably an indication that you don't need it anymore...that whatever's in it,you're also getting from other sources.
I keep on trying dairy not bc I believe it's highly nutritious, but bc I (still) like it.

Thanks! Yesterday I'd put my 23andme file into codegen and it gave me some nutrients that are supposedly of importance according to my genes. I only don't get what it indicates (and I can't get the info out of the graph either.....this is where my bad math skills excell again)
It said: B6, B9 (folic acid),B12,Vit.K,calcium,beta-carotene (higher beta-carotene levels),Tocopherol and choline.