My Journey To Optimal Health

[InChristAlone]

What state are you from, I forget?

Any chance I could rent a room in your house until I get my own place in FL?? Lol, joking mostly.

The thing is that down there is the only way to reliably get sun and barefoot on the ground just about every day of the year. It's just dreadful trying to recover from hypo in the dead of winter in the midwest as you well know.

I am in Nebraska. Really cold winters.

Yeah we will be on the gulf coast and will have to deal with the ongoing red tide issue but it's worth it in my opinion. At least for now. I may not be saying that in 10 yrs if it's still really bad though. I just hate how much my health improves in the summer and then I lose ground every winter. Sucks.

 

[Cirion]

Ugh yeah. If I could just take a hiatus from work during the winter months that might help, lol. I just wanna sleep 12-14 hrs a day during the winter. Which makes sense when you consider we only get like 10 hours of sunlight during winter. Seems like the body wants as much sleep as there are dark hours in the day.

I dropped another couple pounds, I'm down 8 pounds in less than a week. Belly is still bloated but noticeably flatter. I was going to go nuclear and dose 25 grams of activated charcoal but now it looks like I may not have to. Unfortunately I am impatient and always make lots of changes at once so hard to nail it down... but it's probably a combo of increased fluid &/salt intake (no more dehydration), the earthing products I just started using (BTW two nights on earthing mattress and now my persistent back soreness has lessened dramatically), and the 1 gram of choline I take a day now plus I stopped taking stimulants (no more caffeine, no more aspirin).

Choline is definitely I have no doubt a major factor. It has been shown to alleviate fatty liver according to Chris Masterjohn and many anecdotal success stories. I wonder if the choline actually made me sick - may have instantly liberated a lot of PUFA and other crap from my liver.

https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2010/11/28/does-choline-deficiency-contribute-to/

If anyone cares to read. If you look at the comments too so many people had success stories that I just had to try it for myself too.

Does choline play the same role in fatty liver disease in humans? There are a few reasons to think it does. The most convincing of these is that it’s been demonstrated in folks getting fed intravenously. The most interesting of these is the wide prevalence of a defect in the gene that allows us to synthesize phosphatidylcholine from the amino acid methionine. Its prevalence is high in the general population but almost complete among those with fatty liver.

Makes me wonder if I have a gene defect.

 

[Cirion]

Stumbled upon a huge gem earlier today in this forum and I believe it is a major piece of the puzzle to obtaining health. Too excited to not share...

Earth Song - Angstrom Energy of Food
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0711/1839/files/Frequency-chart_140424.pdf

The only thing I wonder is that many of the suggested foods disagree with Ray Peat (whereas others agree). I note that Jack Kruse is a fan of fish though (I guess RP does like shellfish tho), and maybe he's on to something... (fish is the highest protein dense food that has any sort of energy.) Muscle meat is a "Dead" food which RP pretty much does agree with.

However fruit is the top food for health. And I think we can all agree on that here. I think Fruitarianism must have come about because of this. I think being a pescetarian may be among the healthiest "fad" diet you could follow because it also allows fish which is high energy and helps you to get protein that you may miss from fruit.

For what it's worth, the one time in my health where my health was the best (euphoria, strong motivation in my job, very productive, confident in dating life, socializing, nothing irritated me or stressed me out) was when I religiously had a fruit/veggie smoothie every day, lots of fish, coconut oil, and yes, even legumes (I'm not yet sold on this idea though of PUFA's....) and some nuts all of which are considered "High Energy" on this list. All of which are also considered high to "very high" on the Angstrom rating. I don't think it's all black magic given that you can seemingly actually measure angstroms so it is not entirely voodoo magic (they used Kirlian photography it seems). The "dousing" seems a little potentially on the "magic" side, so I'm not sure about that so much, but even then, I do tend to believe we have a "Sixth Sense" that we haven't fully tapped into or fully understand. My opinion is the "sixth sense" is the conscious mind speaking to the unconscious mind. Through some googling, interestingly enough, "holy water" from Lourdes apparently has an Angstrom rating of 14,000 (Higher than any foods) and has supposedly been using in miraculously curing people (alongside prayer as well of course). Maybe this is where the tradition of praying over food came into existence from Christian cultures?

The second link I give you shows how your mood corresponds to the energy of foods you have eaten. I find this to be true personally. If you eat dead foods (heavily processed) your mood goes into dark places (as suggested by the "low Energy moods") like depression, anger, lack of empathy. Conversely, high energy foods will put you into Gratitude, compassion, empathy, true love, high energy, etc. Again, I think there's truth to this. I have found this to be the case for me.

Maybe it is time to start doing the Veggie/fruit smoothies again...

Meanwhile this post was fueled by eating Grapes. Note at the end of the article this one guy says he can cure cancer in 45 days from a diet of grapes... Hmmmmm lol BTW the first time I did a RP inspired diet (way earlier in this thread) grapes were my go to fruit and now I believe grapes need to make a major comeback in my diet.. Mmhmm lol. BTW even as a kid grapes were my favorite food. I'd eat a whole bag of it easily. I think it was my bodys' way of self medicating without me even realizing it through my depression as a kid.

Dr. Morse's Clinics...... Fruit - the Naturopathic way to health! Our clients have a 90% or better “cure rate” in those that have all types of cancer who go on our health programs. We use a lot of fruits in our health programs, especially grapes. Our cancer clients who used a high amount of grapes eliminated their cancers in as little as 45 days, and most in as little as 2 to 3 months.

Dr. Morse would make Ray Peat proud. He talks about the benefits of fructose/sugar for diabetes and many ailments !

More food for thought: I bet we can transfer energy between people as well as other living things.

Note the picture of the vibrant full of life butterfly. You can probably literally increase your energy simply by touching / holding a high energy butterfly. This probably also helps to explain why hanging around positive people makes it impossible to not be positive yourself. Their energy will radiate to you. Conversely, this explains the importance of avoiding negative people.

I bet this is also one of the benefits of the earth itself, as the earth is full of positive energy and simply just walking barefoot on the beach or something will transfer some of this energy and increase your own Angstrom rating.

 

[Cirion]

I finally believe I may have had an epiphany about getting good sleep last night. I kept trying to make sleeping warm work but it kept backfiring, giving me insomnia, fatigued upon waking up. I have slept COLD the last two nights (still under covers, but not wearing anything beyond that, and keeping thermostat LOW (thermostat was 59F this morning when I woke up!!) but body temp was 98.3F paradoxically enough upon waking!!

Here's my theory now based upon what many others have told me, my own experience, and common sense.

During sleep your body WANTS to drop body temp (even if you're healthy) because this way you can conserve waking energy and glycogen stores in the body, while using energy for repairing other things that don't get repaired during waking hours like brain neurons and whatever else. Also ideally your body should not eat anything at night (So you need to have eaten PLENTY during the day to avoid hunger at night). Yesterday I had quite a lot of calories before going to bed so I didn't feel the need to get up and eat something.

Basically your body temp remains LOW while sleeping for reasons just stated, and then should RISE back up to or close to 98.6 when its time to wake up. If sleep is deranged / conditions of hypothyroid, this breaks down somewhere down the chain, you don't wake up at 98.6, and feel crappy waking up (most people). So your temperature looks like a sine wave, around 98.6 close to going to bed, reaching the bottom of the sine wave of maybe 97 something and then coming back up to 98.6 when waking up, signalling your body to wake up. Of course, waking up too early disrupts this sine wave and you may wake up before the body is ready, so its important to not use alarm clocks to wake up also.

 

[Blossom]

I love reading your log @Cirion!

 

[Cirion]

Thanks! I like to try to be pretty detailed because in the past I've historically "Forgotten" methods that have worked for me. Hopefully some of that is useful to others. As such I've started to put together very important lessons learned in a word document to be doubly sure I don't forget. Maybe once I consider myself healed / optimal health I have even considered writing a small e-book on everything I've learned as well. My journey to health has been so challenging for me that I hope that I could help others avoid some of my pain.

BTW I started using tribulus terrestris, a little early to say, but I do believe I feel the cortisol lowering effects. I have a flight to catch today and normally I feel stressed out and rushed to pack etc but I feel very relaxed actually and in no rush what soever.

I also think I've been using the grounding mat to sleep on long enough to say a couple of things... I think I do notice an effect on inflammation and cortisol using it. I have been having some back pain lately (unfortunately I suspect because I am fairly overweight from the weight I gained which is putting stress on my back, not much I can do about that for now) but woke up today with the pain drastically less in fact didn't even notice it at all until I started moving around a bit today. Unfortunately it's so relaxing that I want to sleep on it a lot lol.

I plan to try my activated charcoal mega-dose in the next day or two to try to rid myself of some of the bloat, which will help a lot of problems out.

I have a two week vacation to look forward to which means plenty of resting and lowering cortisol hopefully.

 

[Cirion]

Been trying to take it easy during my break but a couple updates.

I actually haven't really made the progress I've liked over break, sadly. I think a large part of it is my sleeping arrangement is not good (I am sleeping on the floor now because the mattress that my folks had for me was bad). Been sleeping like crazy and really struggling with restful sleep. I actually have slept up to 16 hrs some days, which is just crazy. Also think I gained a little more weight. I carry significantly more weight than I'd like now but I simply can not afford to cut calories, so I'm going to be pursuing other avenues to boost my hormones.

However, some good news, I've been reading Dr. Kruse's book now and learned some useful things, many which agree with RP like DHEA, progesterone, pregnenolone needed for healthy metabolism. In particular I was interested to read about "pregnenolone steal syndrome" which is where pregnenolone is wasted to make cortisol instead of the youthful hormones. In addition, I have sleep apnea, so when he talked about sleep apnea, my attention was also perked up - he says with people like us, DHEA is going to be VERY LOW. That following night (yesterday), I double dosed on Tribulus Terrestris (shown to increase DHEA and lower prolactin) and also dosed Pregnenolone. Certainly too early to say, but I did rest better last night. I've been rather anti-supplementing of hormones, but I think it's going to be necessary to break the cycle and get back to good health at which point perhaps I can wean off of them.

I would like to see a holistic Dr. when I get back in town, so I can start to work on where my deficiencies lie.

 

[Cirion]

Just realized I haven't posted in like over a month here. Guess I haven't updated much since I still have a lot of struggles with morning temps, overall energy levels, and body weight.

I am now getting serious about lowering PUFA, increasing red light via incandescent bulbs (300W bulbs), and also reducing total dietary fat a little. My hydrogenated coconut oil arrives tomorrow, which will allow me to be below 2g of pufa a day. My last vice to remove is cheese. I still find myself eating a few oz of cheese, which makes it hard to get below 3-4g pufa, after I remove that I should be set.

Drinking lots of skim milk for PUFA-free protein, lots of fruit, and coconut oil/MCT oil.

 

[Waremu]

A few things I'm going to try / some notes:

* I think I may very well be Choline deficient. Read a great article by Chris Masterjohn on Choline deficiency & fatty liver. I've noticed I have had intense cravings for haagen dazs ice cream lately, even more than usualy. I had like 2 pints of it yesterday. Well, guess what. Haagen dazs is made with egg yolks - Choline. Sometimes the body and what it craves is an excellent indicator as to what we need... sure ice cream is also nice because of its smooth sugary texture, but I think its more than that, because there is plenty of other things out there that are sweet that I don't like nearly as much as haagen dazs lol. Time to bring back eggs as a staple. On that note I also find myself desiring tons of maple syrup lately, which leads me to believe I also have manganese deficiencies. I am totally addicted to Tea plus maple syrup, so good.

* Nate says that I need dietary Sulfate (which can be manufactured via dietary sulfur plus sunlight (or red light)) - he says he uses organic onion powder for that

* I think I've been dehydrated. I took things too far to the extreme of "don't drink water ever". I tested this theory, and noticed that some of my fatigue went away immediately upon drinking some water. It might help explain why I'm super fatigued in the morning even after two coffees (could be dehydrating myself further, with no glass of water). As long as I dress warmly enough, the temperature drop from cold ish water doesn't seem to be a problem and I can bounce back up to 98.6+F just fine. Time to drink more water it seems like.

* I think I may actually be Iron deficient, I have various reasons for thinking so. Probably going to do a test sometime to check ferritin levels.

* Aspirin before bed, read a few posts here to suggest this may help quality of sleep

* High dose activated charcoal (up to 50G) to clear out the gut of bacteria

* Gonna do no caffeine over the weekend to try to clear up some adrenal fatigue (wasn't gonna try this during the workweek since I know tonight I'll need tons of sleep to combat the caffeine crash)

Don’t know if you knew this or not, but skim/low fat milk is a good source of quality choline if it is consumed in larger amounts. It hasn’t around 38-40mcg per cup. So around 13 cups will you around 500mcg or choline. I was worried if I’d get enough when I first decided to cut egg yolks out for my PUFA depletion diet but then found out that less than a gallon of skim milk per day would give me more than enough.

 

[Dino D]

Just realized I haven't posted in like over a month here. Guess I haven't updated much since I still have a lot of struggles with morning temps, overall energy levels, and body weight.

I am now getting serious about lowering PUFA, increasing red light via incandescent bulbs (300W bulbs), and also reducing total dietary fat a little. My hydrogenated coconut oil arrives tomorrow, which will allow me to be below 2g of pufa a day. My last vice to remove is cheese. I still find myself eating a few oz of cheese, which makes it hard to get below 3-4g pufa, after I remove that I should be set.

Drinking lots of skim milk for PUFA-free protein, lots of fruit, and coconut oil/MCT oil.

Have you ever tried supplementing iron? And eating a diet that favours iron absorbtion...

 

[Cirion]

I'm not playing with either supplementing or purposefully restricting iron unless I do a test to see my ferritin levels.

That said I have tons of maple syrup which has some iron in it, so not too worried about being too low, given that milk is low iron.

 

[Cirion]

Finally my hydrogenate coconut oil arrived. Wow, this stuff as hard as a rock, lol. It melts at a higher temp than regular coconut oil, so I guess that's to be expected.

Today I had 65.7 gram of saturated fat and only 1.3 gram of PUFA. Super low PUFA AND very high SFA/PUFA ratio. Let's keep this up and see what this does for me... 50:1 SFA/PUFA lol, over kill perhaps, but I'm tired of feeling bad.

the one plus side to gaining all this undesired weight... I think I also gained a lot of lean mass without even touching the gym also. I noticed my arms and legs are very thick, but in a muscular looking way, not much fat. Most the fat was deposited in my stomach, which is annoying, but oh well.

actually both my arms and legs are now thicker than even when I was at the height of powerlifting. Lol. I wonder what they'll look like when I start lifting again.... man... I'm gonna be popping out of shirts haha

 

[ilikecats]

@Cirion Ray mentioned iodine again in the radio one interview... I really think you're shooting yourself in the foot with your iodine intake. At the very least I think the precautionary principle should be embraced in this situation. Iodine intake should really be in the microgram range

 

[Runenight201]

Finally my hydrogenate coconut oil arrived. Wow, this stuff as hard as a rock, lol. It melts at a higher temp than regular coconut oil, so I guess that's to be expected.

Today I had 65.7 gram of saturated fat and only 1.3 gram of PUFA. Super low PUFA AND very high SFA/PUFA ratio. Let's keep this up and see what this does for me... 50:1 SFA/PUFA lol, over kill perhaps, but I'm tired of feeling bad.

the one plus side to gaining all this undesired weight... I think I also gained a lot of lean mass without even touching the gym also. I noticed my arms and legs are very thick, but in a muscular looking way, not much fat. Most the fat was deposited in my stomach, which is annoying, but oh well.

actually both my arms and legs are now thicker than even when I was at the height of powerlifting. Lol. I wonder what they'll look like when I start lifting again.... man... I'm gonna be popping out of shirts haha

I remember when I reached my all time high of 210 pounds my brother had remarked about how jacked my arms and legs looked. Too bad with my shirt off I had a gut that hung so far out lol. When chunky muscular dudes wear loose shirts they actually look pretty good.

One thing I’ve noticed about many “jacked” gym lifters is that they practically all have guts. Very rarely do you see an actual healthy looking lean person these days, with good muscle tone, hair, skin, eyes, etc... most people like this are young, but once the metabolism crashes it’s very hard to achieve...we’ll see if I’m able to do it lol.

 

[Cirion]

@Cirion Ray mentioned iodine again in the radio one interview... I really think you're shooting yourself in the foot with your iodine intake. At the very least I think the precautionary principle should be embraced in this situation. Iodine intake should really be in the microgram range

I keep experimenting with taking it VS. not taking it. To be honest, I don't seem to notice a difference either way. Right now I'm on a phase of not taking it, actually. I really wish I had the money/motivation/ability to do more blood tests to really see what is effective etc.

I still think the research points way more towards it being good to take VS. not though. This is one part I doubt I'll see eye to eye on RP on. RP probably thinks Iodine is only useful for the Thyroid (which its not) - so the small mcg range is hardly enough, since it nourishes most of the cells in the body, not just the thyroid.. And RP also seems to ignore the fact that toxic halides have to be eliminated, which Iodine is by far the best way to do so.

 

[Cirion]

One thing I’ve noticed about many “jacked” gym lifters is that they practically all have guts. Very rarely do you see an actual healthy looking lean person these days, with good muscle tone, hair, skin, eyes, etc... most people like this are young, but once the metabolism crashes it’s very hard to achieve...we’ll see if I’m able to do it lol.

Man, I'd settle for just feeling good, even at my current weight. If my sleep was perfect and I felt good 24/7, I almost wouldn't even care about being overweight.

 

[sunraiser]

I keep experimenting with taking it VS. not taking it. To be honest, I don't seem to notice a difference either way. Right now I'm on a phase of not taking it, actually. I really wish I had the money/motivation/ability to do more blood tests to really see what is effective etc.

I still think the research points way more towards it being good to take VS. not though. This is one part I doubt I'll see eye to eye on RP on. RP probably thinks Iodine is only useful for the Thyroid (which its not) - so the small mcg range is hardly enough, since it nourishes most of the cells in the body, not just the thyroid.. And RP also seems to ignore the fact that toxic halides have to be eliminated, which Iodine is by far the best way to do so.

Your body naturally eliminates flourides and bromides. It can only be a big deal if you have chronic intake of fluoridated water with poor iodine intake or the same with bromides.

It should be easy to find out if your water is fluoridated.

The people I've seen that have results with iodine tend to have them pretty quickly. Some see positives then crash.

I saw a person on this forum that took loads for a year just because of articles they'd read and then crashed after lowering the dose (I guess it downregulates iodine uptake massively).

Remember the research is mostly coming from people that have a vested interest in selling a product (lugols).

A good guide would probably be the fact the entirety of Europe are taking in between 50 and maybe 300 mcg iodine daily without issue.

Apparently the realistic Japanese intake these days is around 400 mcg average. Remember higher intakes are often accompanied by goitrogenic foods on a daily basis.

+1 on not playing with iodine!

 

[Runenight201]

Man, I'd settle for just feeling good, even at my current weight. If my sleep was perfect and I felt good 24/7, I almost wouldn't even care about being overweight.

Very fair point. I have noticed that there are two types of overweight people:

1) people with excess fat storage but no distended stomach

2) people with excess fat storage and an obvious distended stomach

1 is more likely to be overweight and feel good, while 2 is more likely to have problems.

I’ve noticed in myself that the more bloated and heavier I feel, usually the less energy and health I perceive. My best health states come when my body feels light and muscles strong, which usually corresponds with no bloat and a happy stomach!

 

[Cirion]

Your body naturally eliminates flourides and bromides. It can only be a big deal if you have chronic intake of fluoridated water with poor iodine intake or the same with bromides.

It should be easy to find out if your water is fluoridated.

The people I've seen that have results with iodine tend to have them pretty quickly. Some see positives then crash.

I saw a person on this forum that took loads for a year just because of articles they'd read and then crashed after lowering the dose (I guess it downregulates iodine uptake massively).

Remember the research is mostly coming from people that have a vested interest in selling a product (lugols).

A good guide would probably be the fact the entirety of Europe are taking in between 50 and maybe 300 mcg iodine daily without issue.

Apparently the realistic Japanese intake these days is around 400 mcg average. Remember higher intakes are often accompanied by goitrogenic foods on a daily basis.

+1 on not playing with iodine!

I can't agree that it's not ever needed but what we can agree on is that it's probably not needed for all people and that if one were to supplement it, one should at least do tests to get the dose right and ideally have a competent doctor to does you right etc, and that it could potentially be detrimental if you don't do tests and just blindly supplement.

Yes your body frequently eliminates it but most people these days intake either fluorine, bromine, and/or chlorine on a regular basis, many times without even realizing it while eating "healthy". For example - most pesticides are bromine laden, and in fact, the average "Healthy" person probably has more bromine than the average American due to pesticides in produce, which "healthy" people will consume at higher rates. The body can not eliminate bromine at a faster pace than it gets it, without help from iodine. Actually, the body has a way easier time eliminating excess iodine than it does bromine, chlorine, or fluorine, so it's far less dangerous to have too much iodine than it is too much of the other stuff. The body can flush out 50+mg of iodine in 24 hrs (hence the loading test), but the same is not true of the other halides.

And again, the fact remains that iodine is used in every cell in the body. 300 mcg is hardly enough to cover both the needs of the thyroid, elimination of halides, AND nourishment of all several trillion cells in the body.

BTW iodine is hardly a new product, so I can't agree that it's "just to sell a product". It's healing properties have been known since the 1800's. Sure, people are trying to make money, that's what happens in a capitalist society. I don't have a problem with it, unless it's like Big Pharma which wants money at the expense of others' health. That's the difference. In fact, if you really look at the history, the same types of people who demonized Iodine also demonized saturated fats, Vitamin C, "too much sunlight", Vitamin E, dietary cholesterol, CO2, sugar. I could go on. Once you take the red pill, you'll see that this is all connected. It all angers me really, but I'd rather know than stay ignorant. BTW, as one example - the claim that Iodine was harmful was the reason Bromine was put in place of Iodine in bread. You can't tell me that Bromine is safer than Iodine. Yet, the FDA would. And we all know how much to trust the FDA.

Also, the demonization of Iodine by vested interests also was the reason Chlorine was used instead of Iodine in swimming pools - which btw, out of around 100 competitive swimmers, it was unanimous - not one of them preferred chlorine. 100% of them either preferred iodine, or no preference.

 

[sunraiser]

I can't agree that it's not ever needed but what we can agree on is that it's probably not needed for all people and that if one were to supplement it, one should at least do tests to get the dose right and ideally have a competent doctor to does you right etc, and that it could potentially be detrimental if you don't do tests and just blindly supplement.

Yes your body frequently eliminates it but most people these days intake either fluorine, bromine, and/or chlorine on a regular basis, many times without even realizing it while eating "healthy". For example - most pesticides are bromine laden, and in fact, the average "Healthy" person probably has more bromine than the average American due to pesticides in produce, which "healthy" people will consume at higher rates. The body can not eliminate bromine at a faster pace than it gets it, without help from iodine. Actually, the body has a way easier time eliminating excess iodine than it does bromine, chlorine, or fluorine, so it's far less dangerous to have too much iodine than it is too much of the other stuff. The body can flush out 50+mg of iodine in 24 hrs (hence the loading test), but the same is not true of the other halides.

And again, the fact remains that iodine is used in every cell in the body. 300 mcg is hardly enough to cover both the needs of the thyroid, elimination of halides, AND nourishment of all several trillion cells in the body.

BTW iodine is hardly a new product, so I can't agree that it's "just to sell a product". It's healing properties have been known since the 1800's. Sure, people are trying to make money, that's what happens in a capitalist society. I don't have a problem with it, unless it's like Big Pharma which wants money at the expense of others' health. That's the difference. In fact, if you really look at the history, the same types of people who demonized Iodine also demonized saturated fats, Vitamin C, "too much sunlight", Vitamin E, dietary cholesterol, CO2, sugar. I could go on. Once you take the red pill, you'll see that this is all connected. It all angers me really, but I'd rather know than stay ignorant. BTW, as one example - the claim that Iodine was harmful was the reason Bromine was put in place of Iodine in bread. You can't tell me that Bromine is safer than Iodine. Yet, the FDA would. And we all know how much to trust the FDA.

Also, the demonization of Iodine by vested interests also was the reason Chlorine was used instead of Iodine in swimming pools - which btw, out of around 100 competitive swimmers, it was unanimous - not one of them preferred chlorine. 100% of them either preferred iodine, or no preference.

Well I just wanted to assert that you're quoting research from a person that sells iodine.

Even if they truly believe their claims and, even if it's beneficial for a small subset of people, all my peers are healthy and they're not intaking iodine to any large degree.

You mention 300 mcg being low but in real world circumstances it's unusually high, so real world experience would heavily challenge the theory!

(in the UK and Europe that is!)