My Journey To Optimal Health

[ShotTrue]

Thanks man. Gotta keep the faith. I think I am very close now. Like legit.

Earlier today in my other thread I plotted this:

I have finally learned how to get 85 bpm waking pulse every morning. It's nearly a direct correlation to calories eaten. Pulse too low? Eat more. It's that simple.

The last key is now as follows: How can I get 98.6F waking temp every day? Enter the following plots:

Low protein and low fat. However, I no longer believe low protein is optimal, so I'd sooner believe that moderate protein + Low fat is the answer. I have almost no data of moderate protein plus very low fat, it's one experiment I don't yet have data for, so this week I'm starting to play with very very low fat, but still some protein and still very high carb as usual. Let's see what happens.

Here's the funny part/irony of all this: This is literally the same diet I did over 2 yrs ago when I was in the best health and also best shape of my life. Very high carb, moderate protein, and virtually zero fat. Lol. Silly how it took me 2 yrs and doing all this ridiculous experimentation.......... Only to literally discover what I already know. Go figure. LOL

Still, this time I have actual documentation on how to recover my metabolism, so that if there is ever a next time of having to fix my metabolism, I've now got a systematic documentation of how to do it.

Is there not a certain requirement of fats for the body to function? I’m not being critical, I just know fats help to creates cholesterol, test etc. what % of your calories is fat?

 

[Cirion]

Is there not a certain requirement of fats for the body to function? I’m not being critical, I just know fats help to creates cholesterol, test etc. what % of your calories is fat?

I have theories on both ends of the spectrum. I don't know which is correct. All I can do is look at the data which shows me lower fats may (Not yet proven, just speculation until I have more data) improve my metabolism. I don't know what that means for long term. It's confusing for sure because there are studies that show some fats improve androgens. But we must keep in mind that most of those studies are done on athletic, healthy males who are not fat like I am. My only guess is that maybe if you're fat, you don't need to eat fats. I have gone back and forth on this, and like I say, there are debates for either side of the camp, which is why while it's fun to think about, at the end of the day, I just care about what improves my metabolism, at least in this current point in time. I do know almost for a fact that healthy males can digest fats better than hypothyroid males. That may or may not mean its optimal though even in that case. I have literally flip-flopped on my opinion of fat at least 6 times. That's why I like data, because it's the only thing that is generally trustworthy.

 

[ShotTrue]

I have theories on both ends of the spectrum. I don't know which is correct. All I can do is look at the data which shows me lower fats may (Not yet proven, just speculation until I have more data) improve my metabolism. I don't know what that means for long term. It's confusing for sure because there are studies that show some fats improve androgens. But we must keep in mind that most of those studies are done on athletic, healthy males who are not fat like I am. My only guess is that maybe if you're fat, you don't need to eat fats. I have gone back and forth on this, and like I say, there are debates for either side of the camp, which is why while it's fun to think about, at the end of the day, I just care about what improves my metabolism, at least in this current point in time. I do know almost for a fact that healthy males can digest fats better than hypothyroid males. That may or may not mean its optimal though even in that case. I have literally flip-flopped on my opinion of fat at least 6 times. That's why I like data, because it's the only thing that is generally trustworthy.

Okay, thanks. I don’t thunk I ever noticed fat issues myself, can’t comment either way

 

[Cirion]

Okay, thanks. I don’t thunk I ever noticed fat issues myself, can’t comment either way

Yeah what I will say, is that even in the case that fats may be beneficial (probably mostly for people who are somewhat lean), the range of benefits probably falls off pretty quick, and I doubt anyone needs more than roughly 20%. Why? Well refer back to the anabolic men study that showed continued benefits from increasing carbs up to 4:1 carb to protein ratio, and it might have increased androgens going higher still, but they didn't experiment further like I have done.

Let's say you have 15% calories from protein (kinda a number I've thrown around). This means at least 60% of calories from carbs (for 4:1 ratio) and that leaves only 25% calories left for fats. And that's assuming that 4:1 is the optimal carb:protein ratio. In my experience, even that is too low for me. I seem to need 6:1 at the very least and maybe even 7+ which just doesn't leave much room for fats for me if I also want to have sufficient protein.

Some other thoughts... it's true that muscles and some organs probably preferentially burn fats at rest or other conditions. So if you have lots of body fat, you got plenty to spare already. However if you're lean, you might have only a little left, and burning body fat at this point might signal to the body you're in a starvation situation, and downregulate androgens. This could explain why eating fats when lean have a noticeable androgenic effect. Eating fats while lean would spare your androgens because if you're being supplied the fats needed, even though you're lean, your body knows you're being fed and thus doesn't downregulate the androgens. This is just all me thinking out loud though. Just what makes sense to me in my head lol.

All that said, the time when I was in my best health was when I was eating virtually zero fat, even when lean. For whatever that's worth. I had monstrous gains in the gym too. We're talking +50% to my bench in one month. I'm not lying, you can choose not to believe me, but legit from 60 lb DB chest press to 90 lb DB chest presses lol. Granted, some of those gains were likely "Regains" (I had been that strong prior to that but lost the gains due to calorie deficits etc). However, the argument for how this might be in the context of what I said in the previous paragraph is that maybe I was still fat enough that I didn't need to eat fat and if I had continued to lose fat eventually I'd reach a point to need it. (If you are wondering, this is where I was before everything went downhill -- many events transpired to cause it, but the main factor was ending up in a bad relationship. )

Anyway, you can see why it can be confusing and at the end of the day, personal experimentation trumps a single study that someone did on healthy athletic males.

 

[Shin]

High fat also never worked for me, always makes me more lethargic and lowers temps.
Only fat worth consuming for me is MCT oil since it gets burned quickly.

Are you taking thyroid meds? I could imagine at 4500+kcal a normal dose of thyroid meds might even lower metabolism.
As they give thyroid to hyperthyroid people too.

 

[Cirion]

High fat also never worked for me, always makes me more lethargic and lowers temps.
Only fat worth consuming for me is MCT oil since it gets burned quickly.

Are you taking thyroid meds? I could imagine at 4500+kcal a normal dose of thyroid meds might even lower metabolism.
As they give thyroid to hyperthyroid people too.

To be honest, not interested in thyroid meds or convinced they are needed for me or most people for that matter. I did briefly try T3 but didn't see any benefit.

However, I am now almost 100% convinced I have found the root cause of my problem, and not just one of the "trees" of the problem.

Acidity. I believe this describes the current state of my body.

I saw tremendous benefit doing Veganism briefly, and so I at first thought it was because of the protein. Well, that's only half of the story. Yes protein is acidic, but avoiding protein entirely is not a viable long term strategy. It turns out salt is one of the biggest forms of acidity in the diet (50%), and is very commonly recommended in Peat-land. So how to get sodium? Baking soda. I have now quit all salt intake and replaced it with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). I will still be limiting animal protein to no more than 8 oz a day. Peat has said 60-70% of protein can come from gelatin so hardly any (if any) animal protein is needed as long as gelatin intake is high. I wonder if potato protein can make up for the remaining 30%. In addition, phosphoric acid is another offender. So I've also quit drinking mexican colas which are high in it. The animal meat I do eat is restricted to 98% lean beef, so virtually no added fat (I'm aiming for less than 10 gram of fat a day).

The interesting thing is I started to lose benefit on veganism after a couple of weeks , not just from protein deficiency, but I traded one problem (excess protein) for another (excess salt) as my increase of starches necessarily increased and as such, increased salt. So, for a while I thought starch was the problem, but I think that was a false flag and the real problem is salt, but because for most people salt accompanies starch, it might unfairly blame starch. Until now I had no explanation why veganism stopped giving me benefits, but now I do.

I am thinking (to be verified with experimentation the next couple weeks) that salt may have been one of the big parts of my decline in health. We hear about how good salt is here, and so naturally, we should heavily salt everything right... right?? Well, it's looking like that's a big fat NO lol.

Turns out mainstream medicine may have got this right about salt. But where mainstream medicine gets it wrong is they equate salt to sodium and say you restrict sodium also, and that's where they fail. We need sodium, but not salt, so in other words, we don't need CHLORIDE part of the molecule. "Salt" cravings therefore are actually "Sodium" cravings and salt is the only way most people know how to get sodium.

 

[Bart1]

@Cirion are you doing sodium acetate as well for the salt ? How much baking soda do you take a day /?

 

[S-VV]

@Cirion have you considered steroids or testosterone?

 

[Vinny]

It turns out salt is one of the biggest forms of acidity in the diet (50%), and is very commonly recommended in Peat-land. So how to get sodium? Baking soda. I have now quit all salt intake and replaced it with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).

Mein Fuhrer,
I have recently, out of nowhere, started doing the same. Did not see any benefits from high salt and no cravings for it so far.

phosphoric acid

is another offender. So I've also quit drinking mexican colas which are high in it.

Can`t we beat the acid in the colas with..... baking soda?

 

[Cirion]

@Cirion are you doing sodium acetate as well for the salt ? How much baking soda do you take a day /?

Not doing sodium acetate but it might not be a bad idea.

Source: The Bicarbonate-Deficiency-Syndrome (BDS): Professor Dr. med. Klaus F. Kopp

As soon as no bicarbonate can be detected in the urine, bicarbonate should be ingested either orally or if necessary intravenously in order to relieve the bicarbonate-deficit. For the healthy 70 kg-BW human person and depending on age, a minimum of 6 to 10 Gramm NaHCO3 per 24 hours may be required to replenish the body’s bicarbonate stores and to reach the so called KOPP’s Optimum, i.e. when surplus bicarbonate appears in the urine.

This is for a healthy person. Therefore, since I'm still not well, I plan to start with a double dose (12-20 gram a day). A teaspoon of NaHCO3 is 6 gram, so that would mean around 3 teaspoons at least a day for me.

@Cirion have you considered steroids or testosterone?

I've considered it yes, but probably not going to. Saving that as an absolute last resort if I've exhausted all other options.

Mein Fuhrer,
I have recently, out of nowhere, started doing the same. Did not see any benefits from high salt and no cravings for it so far.

Can`t we beat the acid in the colas with..... baking soda?

Possibly, but in my experience it seems easier to avoid poisons entirely than to try to mitigate them. That's why veganism is powerfully effective... at least until you get protein deficiency & deficiency of other vitamins/minerals. A vegan diet is basically a very alkaline diet. Dr. Morse and Dr. McDougal both are on the right track as a result, but fail to realize that some protein is indeed needed.

 

[Jsaute21]

Indeed, my mood is influenced by temp and pulse. But if you are implying placebo effect. Nah. I have way too much experience under my belt to rule that out at this point and it's always the same foods causing me problems. My digestion is severely impaired though, which makes my ability to handle much of any foods a problem. Digestion is indeed strongly correlated to mood, given that 95% of serotonin is formed in the gut.

Sea said that starches, fats, and liquids all are problematic for someone like me, and all my experiences are starting to prove that.

I was actually thinking about this thread this weekend when I was a on a trip with my wife with her family. No pulse, no thermometer, drinking beer, eating some pufa's but taking t3, caffeine, gaba, vitamin e as needed to counter poor choices. Long story short, I felt great for almost the entirety of the trip. Granted it was in beautiful Halifax Nova Scotia, and the weather was pure as can be.

I played great golf and was active shooting basketball, and doing a lot of athletic things. Now according to my typical temp and pulse (usually 97.8 or so at rest with a pulse of 58-66) at rest if i haven't eaten in a while. When I eat well, temp gets up to 98.2-98.8 and pulse gets up to 85. I mention this because sometimes when I spend too much time on this thread I think man i need to get healthier, and improve myself. There is value in that but there is a lot of life to be enjoyed outside of this forum. This includes love, competitive and fun games, fulfilling intellectual challenges, reading, healthy working out etc. Healing is important and all the power to you for the hands on approach you are taking but i can't help but think it may be a bit counter productive at times. I have been on this journey for 2 and a half years and still have some ways to go but i do advise you to enjoy life and not stress about being perfect and the metrics too too much.

Please don't take this as a lecture as it is not, just a perspective check. I work 55-60 hours a week, drink 1-2x a week and live a busy life that i am far more capable of handling than i was two years ago. I guarantee you have made a lot more progress since starting this metabolic journey than you realize. It's important to realize that. One of the cool things about this forum is seeing people become less and less neurotic as they improve their metabolism. This 100% has occurred to me. I look at some of my old posts and i feel embarrassed but realize I just didn't feel very good or have the energy to use my brain effectively. This is certainly not the case for you as your posts are intelligent and well thought out but just interesting nonetheless.

 

[Cirion]

there is a lot of life to be enjoyed outside of this forum..

Overall I agree with that statement, but life can't be enjoyed properly when hypothyroid. This is a fact, I know this because of the times I've been healthy and craved life, and all it had to offer. When hypo though, none of that is interesting, and all you want to do is sleep. This is my life most days now. When I finally do normalize my temps and pulses though, I probably will disappear from the forums. Or at least not post much. Because my goals will finally be mostly accomplished then. Then I can finally live life when I have the energy lol.

I do hear what you're saying tho. And along those lines, its why I know if I could retire or at least take an extended multi-month trip to the beach with zero life responsibilities that I would probably heal significantly quicker.

This weekend for example. I got 98.4F waking temps 3 days in a row, even with sub-optimal food intakes (still figuring all this out). But this morning? 97.7F and feel like **** (Though, I messed up a lot of dietary parameters yesterday).

It's clear that I have to get out of my job to really get complete healing though. Clearly, I dislike my job enough that it tanks my metabolism. I'll be able to retire by age 40, but it seems soooo far away when I wanna retire today... sigh, 8 years to go... Maybe I'll get lucky and the $ I put into bitcoin takes off LOL.

I am not saying this really to sound bitter, but just saying, it does help to have a nice wife and whatnot (Presumably, it sounds like you like her anyway lol). Women aren't interested in dating fat people who are hypothyroid, and I can't blame them, since I have no energy to even date anyway. IN the past that would make me bitter, but I'm just acknowledging that as fact now. I don't even have interest in dating currently, as the idea of leaving the house to do something isn't something that interests me yet LOL.

I did however actually have a pretty good day last weekend, and I DID use it as a chance to actually leave the house, and in fact socialize with a friend. But most days, I don't feel this. However, I Just take this as further confirmation of the fact that when socializing is something your body actually will benefit from, it will let you know - like it let me know. Forcing socialization, however never has benefitted me so if I'm sleepy/hypo, I'm definitely not leaving the house lol.

Similarly, I only think hitting the gym is wise on days you actually crave it. I haven't craved the gym in a while haha.. But I know my body won't benefit from it and that's why. For example I tried riding my bike a month ago and after just 5 minutes of riding, it destroyed me for the whole day.

 

[TheBeard]

@Cirion as far as body acidity is concerned:

Have you considered that lactic acid is produced by gut bacteria, and what has been your experience with antibiotics if any?

Could they improve metabolism by reducing bacteria count and therefore toxins and lactic acid?

 

[Cirion]

@Cirion as far as body acidity is concerned:

Have you considered that lactic acid is produced by gut bacteria, and what has been your experience with antibiotics if any?

Could they improve metabolism by reducing bacteria count and therefore toxins and lactic acid?

A great point.

Lactic acid is a massive problem in hypothyroid and absolutely could be contributing to acid load, making any additional acid load (protein, salt, etc) "the last straw' on the camels' back so to speak.

Many people have indeed had luck with antibiotics. I haven't played w/ antibiotics personally.

This is also a big reason I can not tolerate any forced exercise currently. I produce too much lactic acid even at rest, let alone during physical exertion.

Thank you for this post, somehow I forgot that lactic acid no doubt is a major contributor, if not the main contributor to acid load in hypo. This would explain a lot.

 

[TheBeard]

A great point.

Lactic acid is a massive problem in hypothyroid and absolutely could be contributing to acid load, making any additional acid load (protein, salt, etc) "the last straw' on the camels' back so to speak.

Many people have indeed had luck with antibiotics. I haven't played w/ antibiotics personally.

My muscles burn right away when I exercise and I have no appetite, all pointing towards lactic acid overproduction.

My plan is to target SIBO with the safest antibiotic: Xifaxan, which doesn't get absorbed past the digestive tract.

Then if that doesn't alleviate symptoms:

Augmentin + Flagyl + Zythromax + Nystatin combo

I am waiting for the meds to arrive anytime now.


I am done trying all the natural antiparasites/antibiotics for the past 3 years now that didn't make a single change to my health. Make way for the pharmaceutical nuclear weapons.


I'll make sure to do a castor oil flush + enema after every course of antibiotic to make sure there is no dead bacteria left releasing acetaldehyde or lactic acid

 

[Cirion]

Let me know how that works out for you. I'm not ready to bring out the nukes just yet haha, but i'll reserve it as my trump card for sure.

 

[YourUniverse]

Augmentin

Why this one specifically? I had read others on the forum discussing how it was harsh, gave them a rash, etc.

 

[somuch4food]

One of the cool things about this forum is seeing people become less and less neurotic as they improve their metabolism. This 100% has occurred to me. I look at some of my old posts and i feel embarrassed but realize I just didn't feel very good or have the energy to use my brain effectively.

I totally relate to that. I was jumping at everything a few months back. Now, I think twice before posting useless comments.

 

[TheBeard]

Why this one specifically? I had read others on the forum discussing how it was harsh, gave them a rash, etc.

That was the default antibiotic I would take as a kid for a cold or a flu, never had an issue with it.
It’s broad spectrum and bactericid, that’s my main reasoning

 

[TheBeard]

I totally relate to that. I was jumping at everything a few months back. Now, I think twice before posting useless comments.

Sorry if you explained in other threads how you recovered, but can you let me know in a sentence or two what saved you and what was your issue?