My Journey To Optimal Health

[Runenight201]

Followed the first and last page. Saddened to see you leave the peatarian approach, and taking a keto approach (albeit AIP, so at least you won’t be taking in PUFAs). Keep track of your sleep, energy, temps, pulse, mental clarity, and stress resiliency, if they all improve then who is anyone here to say AIP is not the move.

I know you were concerned about weight gain, and peat has said that those concerned about weight should cut out starches + muscle meats, and consume a lot of gelatin, + calcium + salt to boost metabolism. Also, with all the oj you were consuming, did you ever have water retention/bloating problems? That happened to me, and I noted that switching to fruit concentrate drastically lowered my water intake while still keeping the sugar and minerals. Combo that with salt and it really made me feel better. Literally on the second day of doing this and I can see my stomach bloat shrinking and water retention going away. I can also handle more milk without bloat because of the decreased water from the fruit concentrate, and I think the salt helps a ton with the digestion too.

 

[Cirion]

Honestly, nothing seems to work, in the way I want it to at least.

So the one positive of following RP thinking - I got more energy, better moods. However, I also got fat. Not to be cliché, but eating carbs just made me hungry and crave more carbs which made me over-eat (that's why I got fat). Carbs were just not satiating for me. In a normal human being you should be sated with something like a 100g protein, 400g carbs, 50g fat (give or take some depending on activity level), but that didn't work for me while trying the RP style eating, I ended up only sated with 600-800g+ carb, sometimes even 1000. There's a reason why demonizing carbs is popular in todays' culture. I do realize now that carbs aren't the devil directly, but they are if your metabolism is damaged.

The thinking here is to just keep eating even if you get fat, I now believe that way of thinking is a fail because when you get fat, all sorts of other health problems will crop up that come with being obese. Just look at followers of Matt Stone, they all got fat and didn't fix their problems.

The answer is to meet somewhere in the middle, and I'm not sure what that looks like. Should you just force yourself to stop after like 400g carbs, despite constant feeling of hunger? To avoid getting fat?

Now I've lost around 25 lbs, but the bad moods are back.

Not sure what to do to be honest. My thyroid is all messed up, but at least I'm not over 200 lbs anymore.

I am suspecting I have some nutrient deficiencies, but have a hard time identifying them because the hormone tests I had done don't point those out, and apparently doing a vitamin + mineral test is difficult to impossible to do (supposedly a hair analysis test can do so? Can anyone recommend I do one?)

I'd like to hire Chris Masterjohn, or someone anyway, to help me, because I apparently cannot do it myself - but at a loss because people like Chris cost $300/hr and currently I just don't have that kinda money to throw away.

 

[raypeatclips]

Honestly, nothing seems to work, in the way I want it to at least.

So the one positive of following RP thinking - I got more energy, better moods. However, I also got fat. Not to be cliché, but eating carbs just made me hungry and crave more carbs which made me over-eat (that's why I got fat). Carbs were just not satiating for me. In a normal human being you should be sated with something like a 100g protein, 400g carbs, 50g fat (give or take some depending on activity level), but that didn't work for me while trying the RP style eating, I ended up only sated with 600-800g+ carb, sometimes even 1000. There's a reason why demonizing carbs is popular in todays' culture. I do realize now that carbs aren't the devil directly, but they are if your metabolism is damaged.

The thinking here is to just keep eating even if you get fat, I now believe that way of thinking is a fail because when you get fat, all sorts of other health problems will crop up that come with being obese. Just look at followers of Matt Stone, they all got fat and didn't fix their problems.

The answer is to meet somewhere in the middle, and I'm not sure what that looks like. Should you just force yourself to stop after like 400g carbs, despite constant feeling of hunger? To avoid getting fat?

Now I've lost around 25 lbs, but the bad moods are back.

Not sure what to do to be honest. My thyroid is all messed up, but at least I'm not over 200 lbs anymore.

I'd like to hire Chris Masterjohn, or someone anyway, to help me, because I apparently cannot do it myself - but at a loss because people like Chris cost $300/hr and currently I just don't have that kinda money to throw away.

How much protein and fat are you getting? What are your carb sources?

 

[Cirion]

These days my carb sources are mostly from veggies. However my energy levels have been so bad I've resorted to downing carb shakes sometimes to get a little extra energy.

For protein / fats because I was losing weight I brought my fats down to a minimum (just from the beef I have, and some coconut oil here and there). Beef, chicken, bacon, turkey. Many of which RP has an issue with no doubt. I have been needing to avoid FODMAP and such as much as I can though.

I really do appreciate all the help here but again, I think I need to hire someone. I don't like all the guesswork. Every time I try that ends in failure. There is so many things it could be (I have about 100 ideas on that), but the engineer in me wants to actually know the problem, which can only be determined through expertise / testing. I like the idea of hair analysis testing, but I asked someone knowledgeable about that and she said that those are likely to be inconclusive...

All I want to be is healthy, feel good, and not be fat... I hate that it's not for lack of trying, but rather lack of anything actually working despite trying everything almost

 

[raypeatclips]

These days my carb sources are mostly from veggies. However my energy levels have been so bad I've resorted to downing carb shakes sometimes to get a little extra energy.

For protein / fats because I was losing weight I brought my fats down to a minimum (just from the beef I have, and some coconut oil here and there). Beef, chicken, bacon, turkey. Many of which RP has an issue with no doubt. I have been needing to avoid FODMAP and such as much as I can though.

I really do appreciate all the help here but again, I think I need to hire someone. I don't like all the guesswork. Every time I try that ends in failure. There is so many things it could be (I have about 100 ideas on that), but the engineer in me wants to actually know the problem, which can only be determined through expertise / testing. I like the idea of hair analysis testing, but I asked someone knowledgeable about that and she said that those are likely to be inconclusive...

All I want to be is healthy, feel good, and not be fat... I hate that it's not for lack of trying, but rather lack of anything actually working despite trying everything almost

How do you manage to get 400-1000 grams of carbs from vegetables?

Eating lower fats made me want to eat mass amounts of carbs. I feel satiated with a balance of each.

 

[Cirion]

Actually, with the FODMAP style eating I'm not hungry even after only like 1000 calories. The problem is that I have horrible energy and moods. So it was a cakewalk to lose 25 lbs, other than the fact I wanna sleep 12+ hrs a day.

I don't usually get 400g carbs from veggies, I was just throwing that number out there as example. But some higher carb veggies I have are like parsnips, squash to name a couple.

When I was giving RP a serious try I did try a balance of fats and carbs but I was still always hungry. Sugar just makes me always hungry whether or not its accompanied by fats in my experience. This is in fact why sugar gets demonized. I just can't buy onto RP's philosophy on sugar because of what it does to me.

If you look through my log you'll see I was eating 4000-5000 calories a day even when I mixed fats and carbs together. Which, by the way, is the quickest way to get fat if your calorie intake is high because most of that fat goes straight to your belly and is indeed what happened to me.

Eating carbs, especially sugar, stimulates my appetite immediately, and does indeed force me to eat more (despite RP's claims on the contrary in his sugar issues report). Slightly lesser so if accompanied by fats/proteins, but it still does either way. RP seems to be a smart man, but I just don't feel like his ideas work for people with already damaged metabolisms.

 

[Jsaute21]

Actually, with the FODMAP style eating I'm not hungry even after only like 1000 calories. The problem is that I have horrible energy and moods. So it was a cakewalk to lose 25 lbs, other than the fact I wanna sleep 12+ hrs a day.

I don't usually get 400g carbs from veggies, I was just throwing that number out there as example. But some higher carb veggies I have are like parsnips, squash to name a couple.

When I was giving RP a serious try I did try a balance of fats and carbs but I was still always hungry. Sugar just makes me always hungry whether or not its accompanied by fats in my experience. This is in fact why sugar gets demonized. I just can't buy onto RP's philosophy on sugar because of what it does to me.

If you look through my log you'll see I was eating 4000-5000 calories a day even when I mixed fats and carbs together. Which, by the way, is the quickest way to get fat if your calorie intake is high because most of that fat goes straight to your belly and is indeed what happened to me.

Eating carbs, especially sugar, stimulates my appetite immediately, and does indeed force me to eat more (despite RP's claims on the contrary in his sugar issues report). Slightly lesser so if accompanied by fats/proteins, but it still does either way. RP seems to be a smart man, but I just don't feel like his ideas work for people with already damaged metabolisms.

I would disagree. You are just afraid of getting fat (understandably. Nobody wants to be fat.) If you research the forum, you will see that countless folks on here gained weight before substantially improving their health. It is almost automatic that it happens. The goal is once you improve your liver health, that you start shedding that extra fat and maintain a level of homeostasis. This involves letting your body tell you what to do, opposed to your conscience telling your body what to do. There is a big difference. There are useful tools for staying lean such as caffeine, nicotine, t3, methylene blue etc. as well. I don't mean to sound like a know it all as i certainly do not know that much, i just can look at your posts and tell that you are giving up on his methods far too soon. Gaining body fat should not derail you from Peat unless you feel like crap altogether. However, from what your posts indicate, it seems as if your libido, focus & dopamine were improving. To me, those factors outweigh temporary weight gain.

 

[Cirion]

Nah dude, some gain is acceptable but gaining bodyfat comes with its own health issues once you start to exceed 20-25%. I'm not afraid of getting fat, I actually did get fat. Substantially so, heaviest in my life, with no end in sight. Again, look at Matt Stone and his followers. They have tried the "eat everything in sight until no longer hungry" approach and look where it has gotten them... there are posters there that gained to like 300 lb and still feel bad, and in fact in many cases even worse, due to getting so overweight.

I have researched the forum, and there are very few success stories honestly. Most people are stuck on a huge stack of vitamins / thyroid / etc and even these are only helping a handful of people. And many others, like myself, who tried the whole sugar approach and crashed and burned... some trying it for over a year or two, it should not take that long.

Getting fat adds incredible amounts of estrogen to your system, which in turn destroys your thyroid. Fat is not the answer...

From what I recall from your posts, you've always been pretty lean (you're a competitive bodybuilder if I recall correctly?). You have to be lean to have a healthy metabolism. The only people I know with healthy metabolisms are all lean. I don't know any fat people with healthy metabolisms. If I recall, RP himself said the goal is not to get fat and the people who are getting fat are following the diet protocols incorrectly.

Anyway, not looking to spark up an argument, just posting my observations. I don't know the solution, or I'd be pursuing it.

 

[Jsaute21]

Nah dude, some gain is acceptable but gaining bodyfat comes with its own health issues. I'm not afraid of getting fat, I actually did get fat. Substantially so, heaviest in my life, with no end in sight. Again, look at Matt Stone and his followers. They have tried the "eat everything in sight until no longer hungry" approach and look where it has gotten them... there are posters there that gained to like 300 lb and still feel bad, and in fact in many cases even worse, due to getting so overweight.

I have researched the forum, and there are very few success stories honestly. Most people are stuck on a huge stack of vitamins / thyroid / etc and even these are only helping a handful of people. And many others, like myself, who tried the whole sugar approach and crashed and burned... some trying it for over a year or two, it should not take that long.

Getting fat adds incredible amounts of estrogen to your system, which in turn destroys your thyroid. Fat is not the answer...

From what I recall from your posts, you've always been pretty lean. You have to be lean to have a healthy metabolism. The only people I know with healthy metabolisms are all lean. I don't know any fat people with healthy metabolisms. If I recall, RP himself said the goal is not to get fat and the people who are getting fat are following the diet protocols incorrectly.

Anyway, not looking to spark up an argument, just posting my observations. I don't know the solution, or I'd be pursuing it.

Good post. I respect your point of view and you pursuing better health elsewhere. You are correct that I have always been lean. However, I stopped working out and starting eating more (due to being very ortharexic and restrictive for years) and did gain 10/12 LBS initially and lost my six pack for the first time in my life. It sucked. I went on a trip with my girlfriend and was embarrassed about how i looked. I get your frustration. However, i started to eat lower fat, factor in some strategic thyroid supplementation and have felt better since. The truth is however, i started feeling better the minute i started eating more. We are all here for different reasons, and it sounds like yours are different than mine. I will also acknowledge that raising the metabolism has some ups and downs, as if i take T3 or too much caffeine, sometimes i find myself easily agitated, which is not my natural personality.

However, there are several people on here that considerably have improved their health. @haidut, @lisaferraro, @tyler, @tca200, @Stryker, @Koveras, i could go on and on. Most folks who improve their health don't come on here anymore because they feel too good to frequent forums. I don't come on nearly as much as i used to for instance (when i was very low metabolism.) Last point that i will mention is that Ray's concepts have completely reinvigorated my career, as my work performance is 10X what it was. Managers/supervisors etc. have said man "we have seen a huge change." All that change is a boost in metabolism. Sure, i take t3 sometimes but i would rather that than adderall, which a countless amount of my buddies take. Its easy to see folks around you and think that everyone is healthy, when in fact the majority of those people are taking adderall or antidepressants. You get the rare breeds who are very healthy, and have never encountered metabolism fluctuation.

I wish you the best.

 

[Cirion]

10-12 lbs is not bad. If I only gained 10-12 lbs I wouldn't be complaining. I gained 25-30 lbs and the scale kept rising though.

Is it basically just necessary to take thyroid then? I think even RP takes thyroid, though in fairness he's a lot older and maybe has to as such. Is it not possible to gain good health without additional supplementation?

I know a few people have indeed gotten better, but Haidut and the others take so many supplements and follow so many protocols that its hard to keep track. Not to mention that everybody is different, so that even if I follow his protocols it may or may not work.

Again, what I think I need is an actual coach. I'm not good at fixing myself lol. Wouldn't mind someone like Haidut to potentially coach me. I looked into Chris masterjohn and he's like $300/hr to hire though.

Again, as an engineer, I need a *roadmap*. I don't even necessarily mind that it might take a while, IF there's a guarantee I'm following the right approach, and I have indicators that indeed I'm getting better and doing the right thing. As an engineer, I guess I'm asking for a detailed path to follow rather than just flailing around trying this, that, the other, with limited success. A coach would help me do just this. I get that with this stuff there will be some experimentation involved, with some success here some failures here, but with a structure developed and testing, you can bring some order to the madness (I've not been able to bring order to the madness on my own). Difficult to do this without access to 24/7 blood tests, hair tests, genome tests etc... To do this fully properly you'd need to do tests on the regular I'd think.

I get too distracted trying to fix myself, and end up missing the "big picture view" probably a lot of the time. I'm like oh I need to take Vitamin C, or wait maybe I need to bring my fat intake, oh wait my iodine is too low, wait that wasn't the problem... ya get my drift? I need direction lol

Also maybe the author of "fuckportioncontrol" who posts here. I've thought about hiring him, dunno his rates tho.

 

[Jsaute21]

10-12 lbs is not bad. If I only gained 10-12 lbs I wouldn't be complaining. I gained 25-30 lbs and the scale kept rising though.

Is it basically just necessary to take thyroid then? I think even RP takes thyroid, though in fairness he's a lot older and maybe has to as such. Is it not possible to gain good health without additional supplementation?

I know a few people have indeed gotten better, but Haidut and the others take so many supplements and follow so many protocols that its hard to keep track. Not to mention that everybody is different, so that even if I follow his protocols it may or may not work.

Again, what I think I need is an actual coach. I'm not good at fixing myself lol. Wouldn't mind someone like Haidut to potentially coach me. I looked into Chris masterjohn and he's like $300/hr to hire though.

Again, as an engineer, I need a *roadmap*. I don't even necessarily mind that it might take a while, IF there's a guarantee I'm following the right approach, and I have indicators that indeed I'm getting better and doing the right thing. As an engineer, I guess I'm asking for a detailed path to follow rather than just flailing around trying this, that, the other, with limited success. A coach would help me do just this. I get that with this stuff there will be some experimentation involved, with some success here some failures here, but with a structure developed and testing, you can bring some order to the madness (I've not been able to bring order to the madness on my own). Difficult to do this without access to 24/7 blood tests, hair tests, genome tests etc... To do this fully properly you'd need to do tests on the regular I'd think.

I get too distracted trying to fix myself, and end up missing the "big picture view" probably a lot of the time. I'm like oh I need to take Vitamin C, or wait maybe I need to bring my fat intake, oh wait my iodine is too low, wait that wasn't the problem... ya get my drift? I need direction lol

Also maybe the author of "fuckportioncontrol" who posts here. I've thought about hiring him, dunno his rates tho.

I hear you. It can be overwhelming. I forgot to mention that i lost those 10/12 lbs quickly once i eat better and dropped the very high fat i was eating. Fruits like cherries and grapes are very thermogenic. Nate (author of fuckportioncontrol) is intelligent and his viewpoints almost firmly align with RP's. He had thyroid cancer, was obese, an alcoholic, suicidal etc. and now feels like a million bucks.

My advice for you would be to lower your fat intake to a reasonable amount, while upping your good protein. (Dairy, eat shellfish, liver, oysters, good milk etc.)
Obviously eat good sugars/carbs. Start there. If your pulse & temps do not rise at all with that ideal nutrition, then i would say it maybe time to take a good hard look at healthy supplementation of thyroid or other surragates. I am not an expert, but i can easily say that RP has by far the most intelligent and logical views on nutrition that i have come across. Everyone's body is different but i felt so terrible on low carb that i just can't recommend that as a viable option to someone.

 

[Cirion]

Yeah I think I'll hire Nate then. His basic coaching plan is only $100 a month. far more affordable than the $300/hr quote I gave earlier from Chris masterjohn. Sounds like from what you said he can probably give me some great advice and also some structured plan to follow which would help me have focus plus accountability.

What does your diet look like now roughly in terms of macros / food types / # of meals / timing of meals / workouts you do now? I get everyone is different just trying to get an idea.

One of the problems I had on RP and is why I quit is that I kept getting more and more bloated. That is in fact why I went FODMAP. I was never able to fix my bloating problem from the carbs except from cutting them out... This is something that'll need to be resolved, or it's just going to happen again. Dairy and fruit were the biggest bloat offenders for me. Unfortunately, these are the most popular food groups from RP...

Makes sense that dropping your fats though. raypeatclips makes a good point that fats help satiety, but they also have the unfortunate side effect of going straight to your midsection lol... so not to be cliché but fat does tend to make you fat, at least when calories are high

With that, how do you stay sated without much fat?

I'd tend to agree with the sentiment that carbs are needed for a robust metabolism, unfortunately I'm broken though... lol

The fact is that indeed in many ways I felt better on higher carb for sure. The challenge for me is how to fix my broken body and also feel better without getting fat.

 

[Sobieski]

Cirion, sorry to hear you are still struggling with finding your way. Most people who come to this forum are already f*cked up and rather than play the long game using natural diet and healthy environments, they sit at the computer desperately taking hormones and mega dosing vitamins and end up creating more imbalance and stress, hence why the success stories are fewer than expected.

My advice would be to keep your money in your wallet; experiment within a Peat prism and see what works for you. The caveat really is low PUFA. If you believe in the Pareto principle then low pufa is the 80. Everything else is the 20.

It's easier said than done, I'm always experimenting myself but my health has improved so much over the past year that I know I'm on the right path. If you could see how messed up I was 18 months ago you would understand where I'm coming from.

You obviously do well on higher fat; if it works in the long run stick at it. Not everyone is meant for low fat. I'm not either. Keep your protein high for satiety and eat enough carbs to keep thyroid and metabolism up. That's very vague and general but dogmatism damages health. Peat's work gives the framework, from there on it's up to you. Don't give up mate.

If you feel lost in any way feel free to drop me a PM. My advice might not be ground breaking, but you'll save yourself $300... lol.

 

[Jsaute21]

Yeah I think I'll hire Nate then. His basic coaching plan is only $100 a month. far more affordable than the $300/hr quote I gave earlier from Chris masterjohn. Sounds like from what you said he can probably give me some great advice and also some structured plan to follow which would help me have focus plus accountability.

What does your diet look like now roughly in terms of macros / food types / # of meals / timing of meals / workouts you do now? I get everyone is different just trying to get an idea.

One of the problems I had on RP and is why I quit is that I kept getting more and more bloated. That is in fact why I went FODMAP. I was never able to fix my bloating problem from the carbs except from cutting them out... This is something that'll need to be resolved, or it's just going to happen again. Dairy and fruit were the biggest bloat offenders for me. Unfortunately, these are the most popular food groups from RP...

Makes sense that dropping your fats though. raypeatclips makes a good point that fats help satiety, but they also have the unfortunate side effect of going straight to your midsection lol... so not to be cliché but fat does tend to make you fat, at least when calories are high

With that, how do you stay sated without much fat?

I'd tend to agree with the sentiment that carbs are needed for a robust metabolism, unfortunately I'm broken though... lol

The fact is that indeed in many ways I felt better on higher carb for sure. The challenge for me is how to fix my broken body and also feel better without getting fat.

I do eat fat, just have lowered it quite a bit from where it was when I first found Peat/Matt Stone and was over consuming calories just to "eat for heat." I eat probably 60-85 G a fat a day depending on how hungry I am. I don't track macros/calories at all. I just monitor that I eat quality foods with exception of 1/2x a week. The foods I eat are fruits, casein protein, cheese, red meat, occasionally chicken without skin, scallops, shrimp, cod, white rice, potatoes without skin, pasta 1x a week at least, kale, well cooked mushrooms, well cooked onions, honey, sugar, coffee, chocolate, haagan daaz ice cream, milk, OJ, corn tortillas, sourdough bread. I probably forgot a couple of things but this is how i try and eat.

 

[Runenight201]

@Cirion I’m not sure if you read gbolduev’s tbreads on here, but honestly his thread was just what I needed to break out of this whole dieting thing and follow what only ultimately each individual can answer for themselves, and that is how different foods make them feel. No diet guru can answer that for you because he/she can’t experience life for you.

I water fasted for 26 hours, and while I’m sure that’s not enough to do much healing, what it did do was make me much more introspective and aware over my body’s hunger signals and how different foods affect me.

I agree that refined sugar is not the move, and in fact, I can even tell when I eat too much fruit how overly energetic it can make me. Most religions incorporate fasting, because it really does provide useful insights into your body, mind, and life. Eating a ton of sugar, I became a slave to food and my body, letting it control me. After incorporating only that one fast, and meditating, I have much better control and also awareness into what foods my body needs and how much to eat and when enough food is sufficient. I’m busy getting into good physical shape right now, but when I reach a satisfactory level of fitness I want to complete a longer 7 day water fast.

It’s not perfect and Im still adjusting what foods are good and bad, but I’ve completely broken away from any food is good or bad, as long as it’s natural and comes from this earth. Instead, I pay acute awareness to how the food affects me during and post-digestion, and judge it’s effectiveness solely based on that. I honestly could care less now about PUFAs, saturated fats, micronutrients, carbs, or protein. I think the mind-body is incredibly insightful, and pairing cravings with experience proves to be the ultimate arbiter for dietary choice.

(I’m overweight so I have about 15 lbs to lose to be lean at 5’9”, 165 lbs)

Breakfast: 2 slices of toast + butter with plain yogurt and black coffee

5 mile run @ 8min/mile

Lunch: spinach + tomato + sliced peaches + carrot + bell pepper + ham + cheese + red wine vinagarette dressing with a glass of milk (felt amazing after this)

Snack: banana + peanut butter + apple + orange (all this fruit made me pretty energetic, had to go workout as a result)

60 push ups, pull ups, dips, then planks and side planks

Dinner will be rice + avocado + cooked onions and broccoli + salsa + ham (maybe) + glass of milk

Good luck dude, as long as you keep trying, you’ll succeed.

 

[Cirion]

Lately been trying to eat fruit (mostly apple and raisin for their boron content), OJ. A2 dairy (I react better to A2), goat cheese primarily. Goat milk also. Dark chocolate, coffee, whole milk, kale, salt, baking soda + apple cider vinegar, some eggs and beef.

The only way I've been able to keep my pulse and temperatures at a high level was to eat obscene amounts of both saturated fats and sugar. I was easily doing 200-300g fat a day on top of 500g+ carb a day.

Now that I'm trying a more moderate approach, it doesn't seem to be working at all for me. I can not get my resting pulse to stay in the 80+ range. It'll sometimes temporarily spike at 80-85 and then quickly tank down to 60s again after eating something. My temps are not awful, I guess, since those are usually 98+. It's the pulse that is my problem. Oftentimes I'm in the 60s, and sometimes in the 50s on waking, and I have noticed with enough measurements that for me pulse is the primary driver for my mood and energy.

50s - feel almost like death
60s - brain fog, irritable/moody, fatigued
70s - feel "average". not great but not awful
80s - feel pretty good
90s and up - feel amazing
100s and up - feel like superman (I did achieve this a few times when eating 6000+ cal a day)

So you can see I'd definitely like to live in the 80-90+ range, but can not seem to achieve it anymore.

 

[Jsaute21]

Lately been trying to eat fruit (mostly apple and raisin for their boron content), OJ. A2 dairy (I react better to A2), goat cheese primarily. Goat milk also. Dark chocolate, coffee, whole milk, kale, salt, baking soda + apple cider vinegar, some eggs and beef.

The only way I've been able to keep my pulse and temperatures at a high level was to eat obscene amounts of both saturated fats and sugar. I was easily doing 200-300g fat a day on top of 500g+ carb a day.

Now that I'm trying a more moderate approach, it doesn't seem to be working at all for me. I can not get my resting pulse to stay in the 80+ range. It'll sometimes temporarily spike at 80-85 and then quickly tank down to 60s again after eating something. My temps are not awful, I guess, since those are usually 98+. It's the pulse that is my problem. Oftentimes I'm in the 60s, and sometimes in the 50s on waking, and I have noticed with enough measurements that for me pulse is the primary driver for my mood and energy.

50s - feel almost like death
60s - brain fog, irritable/moody, fatigued
70s - feel "average". not great but not awful
80s - feel pretty good
90s and up - feel amazing
100s and up - feel like superman (I did achieve this a few times when eating 6000+ cal a day)

So you can see I'd definitely like to live in the 80-90+ range, but can not seem to achieve it anymore.

From what I’ve been told, pulse takes much more time to raise than temps do. The fact that you have raised your temps to be above 98 is a very good sign. I am in a similar boat. My pulse does not stay above 70 at rest yet but I think it will come with time. The metrics are important but pay attention to how you feel. Ray has often said that it is the combination of pulse/temps, not one alone. I assume your pulse will raise eventually but be encouraged by your temps is my point.

 

[Cirion]

Weird, apparently I can not tolerate coffee AT ALL. Either that, or the combination of chocolate AND coffee in the morning is a big no-no for me. I skipped coffee this morning after Nathan sent me an email saying cocoa can inhibit calcium absorption and thus tank your metabolism, and today I feel WAY better. I did still have chocolate and seemed to do OK, so maybe I just overloaded on the cocoa between the coffee beans as well as the chocolate.

Also, sleep seems to be HUGE. If my day starts off bad the whole day is gonna be kinda bad generally. Sleeping long enough to achieve a nice morning wood seems to make all the difference as well for a good day energy wise.

Also, I think I don't tolerate raisins. I'm sticking strictly to apples basically for now since he told me Apples support digestion well. Also, apples seem to give me superior energy compared to most other fruits. Probably because of its Boron content. I've started lightly salting them in addition to the sodium + ACV combo in the morning + evenings as well.

 

[Runenight201]

No starch? You're able to get enough calories without it? I felt bipolar without the consistent energy that starch gave me.

 

[Cirion]

I did have some sweet potatoes yesterday. And I am trying to incorporate more starches that Nathan recommended to me (sweet potatoes being one of them)