Katharina Dalton: The Dietary "musts" For Improving Progesterone (Hint: No Low Carb, No Starvation)

[Xisca]

Funny, I too have been adding more honey. I can't do white sugar though. Honey makes me feel even and white sugar makes me tired and immediately feel my acne acting up.

Absolute same.
They are very different, you have to digest sugar, whereas honey is already fructose + glucose, the job is done, so people who have problem with sugar can handle honey.

I thiink I eat 200gr of honey per day at the moment!! And no gut issue. Gut issue with sugar, yes. I am ok with bananas, like six kilos per week.

I have added rice again, think it is ok.

Had to stop oranges ofr a while, then now ok with well filtered juice. I really wanted to eat MY oranges! I was ok a while with them whole, but no, I really need to juice them carefully.

My oranges are so sweet you cannot imagine!

 

[Xisca]

Honey works better for me during the "stress intervals" because IMO eating a teaspoon of white sugar is pretty gross. Plus, it's got no nutritive value at all. Honey's still almost too sweet, but I can do it, and has lots of vitamins and minerals.

I guess it might be because glucose is available quicker with honey, as you do not have to digest it.
I agree about nutritive value!
Also, I feel it is great to get it in a drink, as it is not so sweet.

 

[Xisca]

Best advice on offer then was 'exercise will give you energy'. And I tried. And it didn't. What a surprise.

It can work at first, because it did for me!
But only if I was putting a stress, usually with time, so that I really HAD to.
So, conclusion.... Adrenaline!

Also, I suppose it gives the normal problemm of feeling great only in the evening, and then bad the next morning and need allllll day to go up, just to feel great instead of going to bed, and the circle goes on!

And when it does not work, then it means that adrenaline power is exhausted... Now it does not work for me anymore of course... I guess it has to do with cortisol.

 

[Xisca]

I thought I was watching the threat, and I did not, so thanks for quoting me Milena!
So I wrote a lot in a row....

Now MY RESULTS!
It Works.
I know it because of when it does not work....

I had a gut crash, and I have been bad since end of january.
So I could not eat much.
sigh.... most problems were with sugars.... What is the solution? HONEY and BANANAS.
For me, a mix with egg yolks is great, and some avocado, as I was not so good with coconut oil for a while.

And hot flashes came back....

At first I was not even sure it was it, because it was slight and happened after an effort I did. So I could notice also that it is not always "all or nothing". 1 hypoglycemia is not always going to result in a big syndrom and suffer 1 week before getting back to progesteron production. But it does take a few days to regulate itself again.

And a spoonful of honey is great, to the point that I have also noticed several time that when I had the idea to take some honey, I had a hot flash a few minutes later, or shorter!

The other conclusión is also that our body does feel the hot flash before it comes. You can know that it comes if you listen to your body.

In my case, the symptoms before the heat up are a want for sugar and some negative thoughts. I am sure that the negative thinking is not the cause but a co-sign of something going wrong inside. So I use it as an indicator. like, hoho, lets see if some heat is coming!

 

[Milena]

I got my Progest-e on Sunday and have been re-reading this thread. Now I know about the adrenaline connection!

So many balls to juggle - poor thyroid function - very poor liver storage (~2hrs) - adrenaline affecting progesterone - Peaty weight gain - Aspirin and B3 help avoid arachidonic headaches from burning PUFA and stop FFAs but don't help lose fat - coffee better than caffeine for healing liver... red light (I have a 4 leds mini Redlightman now)


Never sure whether my warm periods are adrenaline flushes or just improved metabolism and not being used to the heat.

Currently, my hands and lower leg are well swollen; pitting in my legs and feet - and it was all going so well :)

I'm trying extra salt which has slowed the decline but I'm not on the up yet. Due to the swelling (all over really) I up a couple of tons (well about 10lbs - not good on an already fat bod)

Last night I was testing a small amount of Haagen Daaz for sleep. It help and I slept for 5 hours. Unfortunately, only one of the 500ml tuns survived past 7pm Still, it did help sleep although I don't seem to be tired waking every 2 hours and drinking some juice & gelatin/milk & sugar.

This does totally remind me of doing the Zone diet (sans PUFA so I am not yet sorted about portioning my meals; I tend to graze). Then, pre-menopause, I lost about 56lbs at a lb a week eating 3 meals and snacks a day P/C/F ratios by calories of 2:2:1 - pretty Peaty. Then I ate grilled chicken breast (small amount of OO) broccoli, oatmeal and egg, tinned mackerel (now all sources are disgustingly rancid) and halves of apples (and shock horror, some Herbalife soy protein - tasty though and 2lbs/week weight-loss)

I am going to try to rationalize my food intake to a more Peat Zone with Progest-E and coffee (not a complete fan of coffee) PUFA release be damned. Wish me luck!

 

[Xisca]

Now MY RESULTS!
It Works.
I had a gut crash, and I have been bad since end of january.
So I could not eat much.
sigh.... most problems were with sugars.... What is the solution? HONEY and BANANAS.
For me, a mix with egg yolks is great, and some avocado, as I was not so good with coconut oil for a while.
And hot flashes came back....

Yes I remember when it worked 1 week away from home and there was mainly rice I could eat. Then it did not work anymore, and tried so hard to eat often that it was a nightmare to go away from home. Dried fruits and chocolate always with me... I was trying to make it better and better. But...
If a method does not work, then do the reverse!
Result: NO MORE HOT FLUSHES.
How is it possible that only eating often enough works? The reverse did it FINE for me.
What did I do?
A fast.
Stop eating, yeah.
Then some veg juice, then the juice and all, grated. Then introduced some raw eggs. Total was 2 weeks.
My hot flushes went away the 1st days of fasting.

I got the hair test and they advise me 40% of calories from proteins. I am slow oxidizer with both slow thyroid AND adrenals. They told me to nto eat sugar nor dairies. Actually I had stopped even before receiving the results. I have not enough K and P compared to calcium.

I waited quite some time before reintroducing fruits, and the day I tried to eat more (temptation from the garden....), I had some very light heat coming up! Of course I went down in sugars, and that was all.

Conclusions: sugar does not work for all people and is not a cure all and cannot be advised before knowing your metabolism. Hair analysis is good and gives what is in your cells, not in your blood. What is in your blood will not tell you if it is high there because it does not enter the cell! I have not so low thyroid in blood, but does it tell be that it can go into the cell? No.

Another conclusion: why does it work for some women? (I still believe Dalton had results!). If you live in England and already have habits with eating starches, then you'd better adapt and eat your starches with the schedule she advises.

If you do this with fruits/sugar/honey, then the problem might be with cortisol! If you have to eat more often to maintain your blood sugar, and do not store glycogen properly, then you will have to eat all the time! And cortisol will be less sensitive... So, I had ended up eating fruits and cheese often, which felt great and tasty BTW.... so I loved it... But I had to go to bed late and eat late, (as you know the tip, eat sweet fat and salt, or icecream) and did not sleep deep and often had to pee at night, and needed coffee to fully awake. And for the 1st time in my life I had some uggly fat, with my skin looking "like an orange skin", I guess some cellulitis.

Now, I eat less and have much more energy, and get good feedback from my relatives, I can sleep all night, I do not crave coffee AT ALL, I eat more veggies and animal products except dairies (a very tiny bit to keep the habit), and I eat a lot raw, as I digest it much better. I believe raw is why I need less food. It is mostly my former diet, but more raw and more meat. I am off starches and get very reasonable fruits intake. Less coconut and more olive oil (my liver was so happy and gall bladder pain went away).

Also, my hair analysis showed I had too much CO2 in blood, and that buteyko breathing was bad for me as a general rule. It still helps in occasional needs, but certainly not as a daily practise. This is the reverse, I need to breathe MORE and lower CO2.

Balance is key, but the practise goes this way:
1st know on what side is your imbalance!

 

[InChristAlone]

Yes I remember when it worked 1 week away from home and there was mainly rice I could eat. Then it did not work anymore, and tried so hard to eat often that it was a nightmare to go away from home. Dried fruits and chocolate always with me... I was trying to make it better and better. But...
If a method does not work, then do the reverse!
Result: NO MORE HOT FLUSHES.
How is it possible that only eating often enough works? The reverse did it FINE for me.
What did I do?
A fast.
Stop eating, yeah.
Then some veg juice, then the juice and all, grated. Then introduced some raw eggs. Total was 2 weeks.
My hot flushes went away the 1st days of fasting.

I got the hair test and they advise me 40% of calories from proteins. I am slow oxidizer with both slow thyroid AND adrenals. They told me to nto eat sugar nor dairies. Actually I had stopped even before receiving the results. I have not enough K and P compared to calcium.

I waited quite some time before reintroducing fruits, and the day I tried to eat more (temptation from the garden....), I had some very light heat coming up! Of course I went down in sugars, and that was all.

Conclusions: sugar does not work for all people and is not a cure all and cannot be advised before knowing your metabolism. Hair analysis is good and gives what is in your cells, not in your blood. What is in your blood will not tell you if it is high there because it does not enter the cell! I have not so low thyroid in blood, but does it tell be that it can go into the cell? No.

Another conclusion: why does it work for some women? (I still believe Dalton had results!). If you live in England and already have habits with eating starches, then you'd better adapt and eat your starches with the schedule she advises.

If you do this with fruits/sugar/honey, then the problem might be with cortisol! If you have to eat more often to maintain your blood sugar, and do not store glycogen properly, then you will have to eat all the time! And cortisol will be less sensitive... So, I had ended up eating fruits and cheese often, which felt great and tasty BTW.... so I loved it... But I had to go to bed late and eat late, (as you know the tip, eat sweet fat and salt, or icecream) and did not sleep deep and often had to pee at night, and needed coffee to fully awake. And for the 1st time in my life I had some uggly fat, with my skin looking "like an orange skin", I guess some cellulitis.

Now, I eat less and have much more energy, and get good feedback from my relatives, I can sleep all night, I do not crave coffee AT ALL, I eat more veggies and animal products except dairies (a very tiny bit to keep the habit), and I eat a lot raw, as I digest it much better. I believe raw is why I need less food. It is mostly my former diet, but more raw and more meat. I am off starches and get very reasonable fruits intake. Less coconut and more olive oil (my liver was so happy and gall bladder pain went away).

Also, my hair analysis showed I had too much CO2 in blood, and that buteyko breathing was bad for me as a general rule. It still helps in occasional needs, but certainly not as a daily practise. This is the reverse, I need to breathe MORE and lower CO2.

Balance is key, but the practise goes this way:
1st know on what side is your imbalance!

Yeah eating ice cream before bed gave me cellulite too. That's so great you figured out what was best for you. I agree eating very frequently can be a nightmare for cortisol as your body will never learn to go without. It did get me through the hardest days though.

 

[Xisca]

I wanted to state this just because eating high sugar should not be seen as the only way to sustain blood sugar efficiently.

What was best for me is what is best for show oxidizers = slow metabolism with sluggish thyroid and adrenals AT THE SAME TIME. If one of the 2 is either high or low, then it will be different.

I did not have icecream commonly ever, except during a stay away from home. I got cellulitis only from fruits and coconut oil!

 

[charlie]

Bump for a great thread. :)

 

[InChristAlone]

Another bump for this great thread :)

@Callmestar this is for women but men with high adrenaline can benefit as well :)
@CosmicDancer444 this thread is so helpful!

It's been back to basics for me after a few weeks of high adrenaline I've had to relearn how to eat more carbs and balance my blood sugar. I'm trying not to rely on ice cream as a calorie filler at the end of the day and get in the snacks during the day. It's already having a big impact.

 

[Jela]

Yes I remember when it worked 1 week away from home and there was mainly rice I could eat. Then it did not work anymore, and tried so hard to eat often that it was a nightmare to go away from home. Dried fruits and chocolate always with me... I was trying to make it better and better. But...
If a method does not work, then do the reverse!
Result: NO MORE HOT FLUSHES.
How is it possible that only eating often enough works? The reverse did it FINE for me.
What did I do?
A fast.
Stop eating, yeah.
Then some veg juice, then the juice and all, grated. Then introduced some raw eggs. Total was 2 weeks.
My hot flushes went away the 1st days of fasting.

I got the hair test and they advise me 40% of calories from proteins. I am slow oxidizer with both slow thyroid AND adrenals. They told me to nto eat sugar nor dairies. Actually I had stopped even before receiving the results. I have not enough K and P compared to calcium.

I waited quite some time before reintroducing fruits, and the day I tried to eat more (temptation from the garden....), I had some very light heat coming up! Of course I went down in sugars, and that was all.

Conclusions: sugar does not work for all people and is not a cure all and cannot be advised before knowing your metabolism. Hair analysis is good and gives what is in your cells, not in your blood. What is in your blood will not tell you if it is high there because it does not enter the cell! I have not so low thyroid in blood, but does it tell be that it can go into the cell? No.

Another conclusion: why does it work for some women? (I still believe Dalton had results!). If you live in England and already have habits with eating starches, then you'd better adapt and eat your starches with the schedule she advises.

If you do this with fruits/sugar/honey, then the problem might be with cortisol! If you have to eat more often to maintain your blood sugar, and do not store glycogen properly, then you will have to eat all the time! And cortisol will be less sensitive... So, I had ended up eating fruits and cheese often, which felt great and tasty BTW.... so I loved it... But I had to go to bed late and eat late, (as you know the tip, eat sweet fat and salt, or icecream) and did not sleep deep and often had to pee at night, and needed coffee to fully awake. And for the 1st time in my life I had some uggly fat, with my skin looking "like an orange skin", I guess some cellulitis.

Now, I eat less and have much more energy, and get good feedback from my relatives, I can sleep all night, I do not crave coffee AT ALL, I eat more veggies and animal products except dairies (a very tiny bit to keep the habit), and I eat a lot raw, as I digest it much better. I believe raw is why I need less food. It is mostly my former diet, but more raw and more meat. I am off starches and get very reasonable fruits intake. Less coconut and more olive oil (my liver was so happy and gall bladder pain went away).

Also, my hair analysis showed I had too much CO2 in blood, and that buteyko breathing was bad for me as a general rule. It still helps in occasional needs, but certainly not as a daily practise. This is the reverse, I need to breathe MORE and lower CO2.

Balance is key, but the practise goes this way:
1st know on what side is your imbalance!

thank you for your inputs!
I tried Kathatina Dalton advice but it seems not working for me. In fact when I was on low carb diet for about 6 months, the cysts in my breasts shrinked by 1,5 and 2 cm. Unfortunatelly my fertility markers were bad that time and I thought its from low carb so I went back to carb diet ( carbs every 3 hours). I am 40, insulin resistant, PCOS, with hormonal acne, with cellulite, slim, TSH around 1,2, but feel very tired and I have zero motivation. I am on Ray Peat diet for more than 10 years, but... the sugar, orange juice, icecream is probably making my health worse :/ I found a blog by Jason Fung with happy stories of women getting pregnant and with PCOS disapearing. I might follow low carb diet from now on, it can not be worse than this. here it is Samantha – Polycystic Ovary Patient Profile | The Fasting Method
I would be happy to hear your opinion

 

[mamakitty]

thank you for your inputs!
I tried Kathatina Dalton advice but it seems not working for me. In fact when I was on low carb diet for about 6 months, the cysts in my breasts shrinked by 1,5 and 2 cm. Unfortunatelly my fertility markers were bad that time and I thought its from low carb so I went back to carb diet ( carbs every 3 hours). I am 40, insulin resistant, PCOS, with hormonal acne, with cellulite, slim, TSH around 1,2, but feel very tired and I have zero motivation. I am on Ray Peat diet for more than 10 years, but... the sugar, orange juice, icecream is probably making my health worse :/ I found a blog by Jason Fung with happy stories of women getting pregnant and with PCOS disapearing. I might follow low carb diet from now on, it can not be worse than this. here it is Samantha – Polycystic Ovary Patient Profile | The Fasting Method
I would be happy to hear your opinion

Hey, how did low carb go for you? Did you get your fertility back, and resolved pcos?