Listening To Your Body

[DaveFoster]

It took me a long time to realize this, but our food supply is poisoned.

I used to fast for days at a time because I never felt good; I felt better simply because I wasn't putting things in my body that didn't harm its function.

This entire time I've been trying to consume commercial juices, along with various supplements, but my body rejects these, and I ignored the problem and tried to correct with other items.

To anyone struggling, I think a grown potato is better than a glass of commercial orange juice (in context of course.) Ray Peat emphasizes the importance of avoiding toxins and allergens, and I think just doing these things can get you a long way.

Be careful, respect your gut, respect your liver, and respect your mind. If your body doesn't like something, be in tuned to that and adjust to get back to homeostasis. This is what I've found out in my journey.

 

[keith]

Completely agree, but it is so weird how what works for one, doesn't for others. I seem to do fine on store brand, commercial OJ, but know many people here have a lot of trouble with it. Then I have trouble with things others swear by. I couldn't agree more on the state of our food supply, but I'm not sure that is all there is too it. Some people, for example, can't handle organic, grass fed, raw milk from healthy cows/goats/sheep, etc. It can vary so much person to person. No wonder Dr. Peat seems to try to stay away from a one size fits all approach.

 

[DaveFoster]

@keith

I think it also partly depends on your health; a healthy person can tolerate far more.

At this stage, I'm thinking of just taking cyproheptadine for the rest of my life and not having to worry about the details too much.

 

[keith]

@keith

I think it also partly depends on your health; a healthy person can tolerate far more.

At this stage, I'm thinking of just taking cyproheptadine for the rest of my life and not having to worry about the details too much.

Yes, you are right; as I get healthier, I find I'm able to tolerate more. Do you find cyproheptadine to be that beneficial? I haven't tried it. Benedryl makes me dopey beyond where the antihistamine effects where off, and although I sleep soundly when taking it, I don't feel rested in the AM. That's the main reason I haven't pursued cyproheptadine.

 

[DaveFoster]

Yes, you are right; as I get healthier, I find I'm able to tolerate more. Do you find cyproheptadine to be that beneficial? I haven't tried it. Benedryl makes me dopey beyond where the antihistamine effects where off, and although I sleep soundly when taking it, I don't feel rested in the AM. That's the main reason I haven't pursued cyproheptadine.

Cyproheptadine is the only thing that makes me feel normal. It's unbelievable. Some people have a sensitivity to the D3 antagonism, which makes you somewhat calm and sedated.

 

[keith]

Cyproheptadine is the only thing that makes me feel normal. It's unbelievable. Some people have a sensitivity to the D3 antagonism, which makes you somewhat calm and sedated.

Interesting; maybe I'll give it a go one of these days, and experience it first hand. I've just sort of assumed it would be mostly like other serotonin blockers, plus sedating, and possibly anti-cholinergic, which I'm assuming is my challenge with diphenhydramine, since it has undesired mental effects for me. I've had ok results with theanine, but too much gives me an awful headache if I take more than 150 mg at a time (I think; I seem to build up a reverse tolerance to it; that is what I'm working with at the moment, for surprisingly good seasonal allergy control), which I have taken to mean that maybe serotonin isn't my main challenge, so I assumed cyproheptadine wouldn't do much for me. Plus I'm trying not to take so many supplements, particularly the ones that require overseas purchasing.

 

[CarbAppreciator]

Agree, took me a long time to realize this too. Now i just go with whole foods, its worth the effort to do your own processing. I think the milk and OJ bottles could potentially be contributing to the problem by leaching plastic, especially with the acidic OJ. When good oranges aren't available, you have to be creative. It definitely makes it easier to get cals when you eat starch.

 

[InChristAlone]

Yeah I only drink a glass a day if that. I prefer other sources of sugar. It seems to cause sour stomach when overdone. Baking soda added to it helps. I can't imagine drinking a quart of commercial OJ.

 

[Ukall]

That's why I asked you if you ever tried to drink home made OJ.
I used to take more than an 1 hour to make my own OJ for a day.
Well, it's true that consumes you a little of time, but it is also true that sometimes you can't really trust what people put in a package.
Even fruits, sadly, sometimes are hard to trust too: they have pesticides, are genetic modified, etc.
There are days that I feel like I can't trust anything that I buy from an unknown origin.

 

[TheHound]

I see so many posts such as people having problems and the different affects of various foods. but does anybody have the opposite problem, as in not being sensitive or perhaps just not in tune to the way different foods make you feel? I feel I can eat anything, including going out to a restaurant and having a big pufa meal with beer and not feel any different

 

[keith]

I see so many posts such as people having problems and the different affects of various foods. but does anybody have the opposite problem, as in not being sensitive or perhaps just not in tune to the way different foods make you feel? I feel I can eat anything, including going out to a restaurant and having a big pufa meal with beer and not feel any different

Maybe that means you are healthy. Hold on to it! When I was younger, late teens, early to mid 20s, I could eat anything with no troubles with digestion, weight, or otherwise. I smoked, drank heavily, and otherwise never thought about trying to be healthy. Probably the only thing I did right from a Peat perspective was lots of coffee, but I always drank it black. Basically in terms of diet, though, I ate what I felt like, which is sort of another way of saying I was listening to my body (although I ignored it when it tried to guide me to drink and smoke less with hangovers and a constant cough). It wasn't until I decided I should take better care of myself, for no particular reason, other than I was getting older, and thought it was more responsible, that I started having real health trouble. In retrospect the "healthy choices" I made were probably all wrong - swapping out saturated fats for "healthy" oils, more and more raw vegetables, especially salads with PUFA loaded dressing, avoiding sugar and salt, then real low carb when that didn't work, etc.

It isn't very Peaty advice, but I would say if you aren't having health troubles don't make too many changes, especially not extreme ones. Your body will probably tell you when you are screwing something up, so listen when it tells you, but don't sweat it otherwise. The rest of us aspire to be like you.

 

[Ukall]

I see so many posts such as people having problems and the different affects of various foods. but does anybody have the opposite problem, as in not being sensitive or perhaps just not in tune to the way different foods make you feel? I feel I can eat anything, including going out to a restaurant and having a big pufa meal with beer and not feel any different

Well, to be honest with you, I always had problems like constipation, being sick, depression, etc, but since there are many people having the same problems, I would think that it is just normal. So, even though I had lots of pain in the toilet, for example, I would say to myself "It's genetic and I can't do anything about it". Also, when I tried to find some help, people would ignore me and said that I was simply obsessed.
In the end, I have been not healthy for a long time. Like @keith , I would also get drunk several times, eat a lot of fast foods, etc. But, on that time, I would say to myself and to others that I was very healthy.
Then, when I seriously started wondering why my belly hurts, why do I have always constipation, why do I have still acne, why do I want to suicide myself, etc, I started to paying more attention and respect what these body signals could mean.
It was there when my journey began. I still don't fully understand my body, but I do pay more attention to it. Before, I would completely ignored it and "bring me one more beer".

It may sound ridiculous, but since I am more aware of my body, it seem that I feel constantly 'sick' comparing to others. This is, let's imagine that my back hurts. Before, I would just ignore it, "it will cure by itself" or I would simple take a pill. Now, even these little symptoms make me thinking what I have done differently. The same way if I eat something that I am not used to anymore, I get diarrhea. Once again, it seems that I am sicker than everybody else, because the interpretation from others is something like "you're so fragile, such a little baby that can handle some different foods". And I simply say that I'm healthier and my body rejects some bad foods or it is not used to them anymore. But of course, diarrhea is not a sign of good health in that moment, so I do not sound credible at all (I find hard to deal with these type of comments though. I just hate how social pressure works. Here, yes, I may be a real baby since I don't handle with this very well sometimes lol).

Nevertheless, "The rest of us aspire to be like you.", exactly. I mean, I always had friends that don't have any conditional problem at all... and man, they just eat sh!t all the time. And yet, they seem pretty healthy (now, are they?).
Every person is different.

It wasn't until I decided I should take better care of myself, for no particular reason, other than I was getting older, and thought it was more responsible, that I started having real health trouble. In retrospect the "healthy choices" I made were probably all wrong - swapping out saturated fats for "healthy" oils, more and more raw vegetables, especially salads with PUFA loaded dressing, avoiding sugar and salt, then real low carb when that didn't work, etc.

You too? What was the main reason to leave the Low-carb diet?

 

[keith]

Well, to be honest with you, I always had problems like constipation, being sick, depression, etc, but since there are many people having the same problems, I would think that it is just normal. So, even though I had lots of pain in the toilet, for example, I would say to myself "It's genetic and I can't do anything about it". Also, when I tried to find some help, people would ignore me and said that I was simply obsessed.
In the end, I have been not healthy for a long time. Like @keith , I would also get drunk several times, eat a lot of fast foods, etc. But, on that time, I would say to myself and to others that I was very healthy.
Then, when I seriously started wondering why my belly hurts, why do I have always constipation, why do I have still acne, why do I want to suicide myself, etc, I started to paying more attention and respect what these body signals could mean.
It was there when my journey began. I still don't fully understand my body, but I do pay more attention to it. Before, I would completely ignored it and "bring me one more beer".

It may sound ridiculous, but since I am more aware of my body, it seem that I feel constantly 'sick' comparing to others. This is, let's imagine that my back hurts. Before, I would just ignore it, "it will cure by itself" or I would simple take a pill. Now, even these little symptoms make me thinking what I have done differently. The same way if I eat something that I am not used to anymore, I get diarrhea. Once again, it seems that I am sicker than everybody else, because the interpretation from others is something like "you're so fragile, such a little baby that can handle some different foods". And I simply say that I'm healthier and my body rejects some bad foods or it is not used to them anymore. But of course, diarrhea is not a sign of good health in that moment, so I do not sound credible at all (I find hard to deal with these type of comments though. I just hate how social pressure works. Here, yes, I may be a real baby since I don't handle with this very well sometimes lol).

Nevertheless, "The rest of us aspire to be like you.", exactly. I mean, I always had friends that don't have any conditional problem at all... and man, they just eat sh!t all the time. And yet, they seem pretty healthy (now, are they?).
Every person is different.
You too? What was the main reason to leave the Low-carb diet?

I left low carb because I was miserable on it. I craved sugar, but when I would cheat and eat it, it would make me feel awful because my blood sugars were all out of whack from the low carb diet. I was just coming to the conclusion that sugar wasn't the enemy it was painted to be when I discovered Ray Peat, and it just all made so much more sense, theoretically and in practice.

By the way, as I have gotten healthier eating a Ray Peat inspired diet, my body has become much better with dealing with many foods that used to give me problems. I'm not all that close to the point where I was when I was younger, but much improved. It hasn't been a quick transition, but it hasn't been much of a challenge either, since I much prefer eating this way, both because I'm able to eat things I like and because I'm eating food that helps me feel good. It gets easier as you go along, in my experience, so if something that other people are raving about doesn't work for me, I stop doing it, but try it again later.

I can definitely relate to your story; my father has Crohn's disease, and my mother's family had all sorts of health issues, so after a while of doing the wrong things trying to get healthy, I started to think it was all genetic, and I was just unlucky. I've seen a lot of improvement, though over the last two years +/-.