MidBicep's journey

[MidBicep]

Let's start with what my situation looks like. 178cm, 85-90kg,muscular, 22 year old male. Had acne since I was 13, used Accutane and just gave me depression instead of cleaner skin. Current health problems are scalp and back acne, digestion issues, dandruff, white coated tongue, low temperature and cold extremities, can't remember anything else right now.
One year ago I had some thyroid tests that showed a very low TSH, cholesterol and vitamin D. My retarded doctor said I was hyperthyroid and gave me meds to increase my TSH and along with it, my suffering. Digestion was getting worse by the day until I decided on my own to stop the meds. After that I tried a lot of diets. I grew up eating lots of PUFAs. Ages 15-19 I was vegetarian and the bulk of my calories came from peanut butter. Then I tried fasting, up to 84 hours of dry fasting, yet it didn't fix anything. Then I tried carnivore and I couldn't stick to it, and even the couple weeks I did, I felt like absolute garbage. So I had basically lost all hope and just continued eating starches and PUFAs, without even knowing what a PUFA is.
Then some threads about Ray Peat started popping up on the fitness image board I use to lurk. I started searching about him and tried to adopt his dietary suggestions but it just wouldn't work. I decided then to buy some NDT. Aside from the first use that gave me 120 pulse rate and anxiety, I only saw change in my acne.
I was never a big coffee drinker. Peat suggested coffee, but every time I would try to include it I would get diarrhea, because I was drinking too much at once without having enough sugar with it. I had heard haidut saying there are 2 reasons thyroid might not work. Fatty liver and infection, and if aspirin raises the temperature it means there's an infection, which I was suspecting all along, because why would a 22 year old possibly have fatty liver disease right? Then I saw a thread saying that caffeine, glycine, taurine and vitamin K all clean the liver, along with the uncoupling thread suggesting that I should be constantly drinking coffee in low doses instead of 1 big dose. So yesterday I did exactly that. 2 liters of 1.5% fat milk along with 18 tbsp of sugar and 250mg of caffeine were consumed. I reached a peak temperature of 36.5C,w hich is a very good temp for me that I rarely reach since I wake up at 35,4C. Today I did the same, but also drank some chicken stock I made from chicken feet, with some salt and coconut oil. My temp reached 36.8C for the first time in probably years. Then I took 1 scoop of LGS NDT and that's when magic happened. I was feeling so great that I can only describe it as the feeling I get when things go perfectly in my day. And it lasted like 3 hours!
Then I got some aspirin, because I wanted to test out the theory of infection. I was expecting it to raise my temp. It didn't. Then I realized it. Liver disfunction, that I was not only correcting with caffeine, but also with the glycine from the stock. And when I took the NDT, it finally worked like it should.
The blog post seems to be getting too long so I'll just stop right about here for now. The future of my health seems brighter than ever. I'm excited.

 

[i_nomad]

Glad to read that things are looking up for you!

 

[charlie]

Today I did the same, but also drank some chicken stock I made from chicken feet, with some salt and coconut oil. My temp reached 36.8C for the first time in probably years. Then I took 1 scoop of LGS NDT and that's when magic happened. I was feeling so great that I can only describe it as the feeling I get when things go perfectly in my day. And it lasted like 3 hours!

Nice! I am gonna try and get a hold of some chicken feet.

 

[MidBicep]

Nice! I am gonna try and get a hold of some chicken feet.

They seem to be a catalyst. Yesterday was the last chicken stock I had in fridge and the butcher didn't have any more feet. Today I ate 0 glycine, just milk, coffee sugar, salt mushrooms and rice. I took some NDT and K2 MK4. I didn't reach yesterday's temperatures or the overall feeling. I speculate two things. Either the first two days I got drastic changes because I'm not used at all to caffeine and I got some stress hormone spike (which doesn't make much sense to me, if it was stress hormones I don't think I would have that great confidence behind my voice along with a very positive attitude and humorous mood) Or the glycine has a huge impact on me, possibly because it balances out the tryptophan from the milk (because if it were for glycine's liver healing properties then the caffeine and the K2 would probably have the same effect today).

 

[MidBicep]

Day 4 of basically drinking sugar milk with coffee and eating mushrooms, salt, rice, beef liver and cod filet (and possibly 500ml of lager beer yesterday).
I woke up with 35.7~ C. Started drinking milk asap, and then I sat in front of the room heater for about half an hour. I am sweating balls right now. Armpit temperature reached an all time high of 37.0 C, even though I'm in a cold room right now away from the heater for the last 1 hour ! I feel the same energy as in my first post, same mood.
Every time I drank milk with coffee I would get that disgusting white coating on my tongue. Today I barely feel the taste of it. It's there, but it seems like it's getting "weaker". The acne and dandruff that increased in the first couple days also seem to get better (possibly the doubled NDT dose along with yesterday's liver)

 

[MidBicep]

Time for an update. Lately I've been monitoring closely each and every food I eat with every combination possibly really.
Milk, regardless of fat %, temperature, pausterisation level, quantity and basically any parameter, will not digest well for me and will no matter what bring my temperature down and ruin my BMs.
Potatoes, this one I've tried really hard to make work because of the micros. It seems that no matter what it will give me bad BMs and lower my temperature. Even with lots of fat, even with 0 milk, it still doesn't work.
Feta cheese, high fat Greek yogurt (6% and 10%) and Cola are my staple foods. This evening before I ate potatoes and brought my temp down to 36.3C, the only thing I had eaten all day was 10% fat Greek yogurt with sugar that I added and my temperature had reached 36.9C, with many improvements regarding skin health and BMs.
Liver is something that I eat every day is small quantities (50g~). More than that and my temperature drops.
It seems that no matter what I cannot make a low fat high sugar diet work. If I don't eat enough fat I cannot sleep. I think my macros usually are around 100p/300-350c/100-120f. This way I also don't have to eat very often because I feel full for longer.
One conclusion that I'm reaching as of late is that it's not about hitting all the micros on cronometer and being psychotic about it, but about finding the foods that raise your temperature and make you feel good that you can eat in high quantities. It's not about the foods Ray Peat recommends, but his general rules that will improve your health.

 

[MidBicep]

Lately I've been trying to make low fat (60ish grams) higher carb (up to 500g) work again, this time without cutting back on my calories. I find that aside from the sugar and the fruit whatever else I'm eating has to be eaten with full liver glycogen, otherwise things start going downhill. Milk is still a food that doesn't like me at all. I find that even Greek yogurt still needs lots of sucrose to be digested well.

 

[OccamzRazer]

Have you tried the carrot salad? Or homemade bone broth? Both things can powerfully reset digestive abilities in my experience.

Also, raw milk seems to be easier to digest and less inflammatory than conventional milk, if you can get it!

 

[OccamzRazer]

Potatoes, this one I've tried really hard to make work because of the micros. It seems that no matter what it will give me bad BMs and lower my temperature. Even with lots of fat, even with 0 milk, it still doesn't work.
Feta cheese, high fat Greek yogurt (6% and 10%) and Cola are my staple foods. This evening before I ate potatoes and brought my temp down to 36.3C, the only thing I had eaten all day was 10% fat Greek yogurt with sugar that I added and my temperature had reached 36.9C, with many improvements regarding skin health and BMs.
Liver is something that I eat every day is small quantities (50g~). More than that and my temperature drops.

I hear ya, starches/potatoes don't work for me either. Wish they did, they're cheap!

Seems like most ancient cultures viewed these things as a fallback food - probably for good reason.

 

[MidBicep]

Have you tried the carrot salad? Or homemade bone broth? Both things can powerfully reset digestive abilities in my experience.

Also, raw milk seems to be easier to digest and less inflammatory than conventional milk, if you can get it!

I eat a raw carrot daily split in my egg/beef meals. I also add coconut oil. I find whenever I forget about the coconut oil my acne comes back, it's that potent of an antibiotic!
Raw milk is not a choice, both logistically and economically. I don't even find milk appetizing anymore.

 

[OccamzRazer]

I eat a raw carrot daily split in my egg/beef meals. I also add coconut oil. I find whenever I forget about the coconut oil my acne comes back, it's that potent of an antibiotic!
Raw milk is not a choice, both logistically and economically. I don't even find milk appetizing anymore.

Gotcha. Well glad the coconut oil + carrot is working at least!

 

[MidBicep]

Lately I've been trying to make low fat (60ish grams) higher carb (up to 500g) work again, this time without cutting back on my calories. I find that aside from the sugar and the fruit whatever else I'm eating has to be eaten with full liver glycogen, otherwise things start going downhill. Milk is still a food that doesn't like me at all. I find that even Greek yogurt still needs lots of sucrose to be digested well.

The results of the low fat are the same as with the last time I tried it. Less energy, hungrier way more often, couldn't sleep despite eating more than 3000 calories, skin was starting to get worse every day (acne, was getting cut way too easily, feeling fragile overall).
After ditching the low fat Greek yogurt for full fat again I've felt and saw immediate difference in half a day. I feel asleep and felt refreshed, skin started getting cleaner and healthier, mood is elevated and I don't have the need to eat every 2 hours.
Next experiment will probably be trying to incorporate whole milk this time, since I see such big difference with low fat VS full fat Greek yogurt, I might actually be able to digest full fat milk this time (even though it hasn't worked at all in the past).

 

[MidBicep]

6th and final day of Azithromycin. Yesterday I slept from 1:30am to 10:30am for the first time in a while with 0 issues. No bloating, no itching, no anxiousness, no rolling around in bed until 4am, no stuffed nose. Just a relaxing sleep. At this point I have to partly thank @TheBeard for shilling azithromycin that much lol.
Aside from that I've been noticing something with dairy. My body can't handle low fat stuff. Not Greek yogurt, not milk. It can handle high fat Greek yogurt with enough sugar in it. In the past I've made low fat milk work by adding not only lots of sugar but also coconut oil. It was more digestible but still not optimal. I read the label on the high fat Greek yogurt and it's made from skim milk + cream + protein + cultures. So at this point it hit me, if low fat dairy with added fat and sugar works OK, could full fat milk with sugar work good since feta cheese which is really high fat works good for me and it has its own fat instead of added fat? I haven't tried full fat milk + sugar so I will drink a glass tomorrow and see how I react.

 

[OccamzRazer]

So at this point it hit me, if low fat dairy with added fat and sugar works OK, could full fat milk with sugar work good since feta cheese which is really high fat works good for me and it has its own fat instead of added fat? I haven't tried full fat milk + sugar so I will drink a glass tomorrow and see how I react.

Glad you figured this out!

As an added benefit, full fat dairy + sugar is also the most delicious combo

 

[MidBicep]

The past few months my digestion had been quite good with 2 litres of whole milk daily. The "secret" was to add 60g of sugar and 0.5tsp of salt for every glass of milk. The calories were quite high but my body did not store fat in an ugly way, I just looked like I had fuller muscles. We're talking close to 600g of sugar just from the sugared milk and many times I'd go over that with some cola.
Keep in mind that my mood and energy levels were through the roof. I felt like dancing to whatever I was listening in my headphones all the time, regardless of who was watching. I have watched videos people on anabolic steroids describe their mental situation while on them and I'd say it was quite similar (I obviously didn't get the same body as someone on testosterone)
Then I got a job, I started sweating a lot and I was losing tons of salt and was replenishing it with water. My mood was slowly declining, appetite was getting smaller, thighs were started to chaf, health was getting worse by the day.
The 250ml milk + 60g sugar now was giving me bloat, diarrhea and an impossible to satisfy craving for water that even after drinking 1.5L would leave me bloated to the point I could just lie down and sleep it off. The sugared milk wasn't even sweet enough anymore. Up to yesterday I had the need to eat starch and order junk food to keep my mood up.
Yesterday by mistake I added 80g of sugar in my milk. The sweetness came back, the craving for it came back, the mood instantly came back. It always amazes me what my body needs to run optimally and almost scares me because I don't know if and when it will say "okay, we can chill with the sugar and calories a bit now" lol.