My Starch Paradox - Feel Really Good But Terrible Sleep

[ljihkugft7]

How are you getting on with this, Cleo?

Yes! But nothing solid yet.

Increasing calories seems to have the biggest impact, as well as keeping my blood sugar regulated (Eating protein before sugar etc).

I still haven't had any starch.
But yes, the increase in calories has helped me the most, to sleep through the night most of the time, with the occasional bad day once or twice a week.

It’s still not as strong as potatoes affect but I think I need more time to adjust and fine tune.

I also upped my melon/pawpaw intake. For some odd reason these two fruits work really well for me. I’m not sure why yet. Maybe the anti estrogen affects? I heard haidut mention that they have “phyto progesterones” ?

I recently had a Weird Candida flare up caused by heavy metals or too much pregnelone, which made everything hay wire, so, I can’t really take the last week into account.

I also started taking Oxbile for fat digestion, which has overall been amazing (My stools would always float and were pale in colour - suggesting some malabsorption?).

I also am slightly prone to blood sugar dysfunction (diabetic symptoms) : peeing clear, thirst, peeing 11x day ect, peeing at night, and when those Symptoms go away my sleep is good.
So, I have a good feeling that it is the low calories(2000-2300) or bad eating habits (sugar without protein, big gaps between food) that I’m most sensitive to which trips my sleep up (haidut posted a new post on fasting and diabetes on his blog).

——
I think I need another month though, then I’ll hopefully have a more thorough idea of what works.

 

[Sefton10]

Yes! But nothing solid yet.

Increasing calories seems to have the biggest impact, as well as keeping my blood sugar regulated (Eating protein before sugar etc).

I still haven't had any starch.
But yes, the increase in calories has helped me the most, to sleep through the night most of the time, with the occasional bad day once or twice a week.

It’s still not as strong as potatoes affect but I think I need more time to adjust and fine tune.

I also upped my melon/pawpaw intake. For some odd reason these two fruits work really well for me. I’m not sure why yet. Maybe the anti estrogen affects? I heard haidut mention that they have “phyto progesterones” ?

I recently had a Weird Candida flare up caused by heavy metals or too much pregnelone, which made everything hay wire, so, I can’t really take the last week into account.

I also started taking Oxbile for fat digestion, which has overall been amazing (My stools would always float and were pale in colour - suggesting some malabsorption?).

I also am slightly prone to blood sugar dysfunction (diabetic symptoms) : peeing clear, thirst, peeing 11x day ect, peeing at night, and when those Symptoms go away my sleep is good.
So, I have a good feeling that it is the low calories(2000-2300) or bad eating habits (sugar without protein, big gaps between food) that I’m most sensitive to which trips my sleep up (haidut posted a new post on fasting and diabetes on his blog).

——
I think I need another month though, then I’ll hopefully have a more thorough idea of what works.

Good to read about your experimentation/progress. I tried starch free for a good bit of time but I'm finding a little bit of starch helps in the form of white jasmine rice. Maybe 300g (cooked) max a day spread over different meals and combined with fruit or juice and a source of protein and fat. As you allude to, enough calories is key and I was finding it hard to get calories up to where they need to be without a little bit of starch - too much fat (over 100g a day) makes me a bit nauseous and I was finding calorie dense fruits like dates etc. bring issues in terms of too much fibre while a lot of juice/milk was too much liquid. I feel like I'm finding a sweet spot of moderation between the macros and composition of foods for best digestion.

 

[ljihkugft7]

UPDATE - Roughly 2 months

I think I've figured it out.

I've come to the conclusion that my gut was still compromised from almost a decade of veganism, even though I've been peating/healing for roughly 1 or 2 years. I believe that my body hasn't been able to fully utilize all the food I've been eating, because of years of protein deficiency which definitely caused a leaky gut and low stomach acid.

3 most impactful changes

1. Retinyl acetate
Everything changed when I started using Idealabs Retinyl acetate (and to a lesser degree Energin - B complex) roughly a month ago.
I think I've been malabsorbing vitamin A due to my healing gut. So, applying it topically has been an absolute game-changer.
Even though I still eat liver, the topical Retinil makes a world of a difference.

2. Oxbile
Oxbile - veganism messed with my bile & stomach acid. So, this has also been massively impactful.
I also believe that it killed off SIBO.
I did an unintentional GI cleanse when I had a candida reaction a month ago ( which might of actually been bacterial), but ever since then my gut has been amazing.

3. Blood sugar regulation
I've been prone to blood sugar dysregulation - probably also from veganism.
Eating protein before sugar, eating frequently, and walking after eating has helped.


Less significant but still important changes

1. Pawpaw - I've been eating a whole pawpaw every day. I think maybe the proteolytic enzymes help my gut with the digestion of protein. Personally, Paw Paw also seems to have the same bowel bulking function as mushrooms ( I still eat mushrooms).

2. +2800 calories is my ideal - 200-300g carbs, +100g protein, 60-100g fat (if I recall the averages correctly).
I feel terrible the next day if I eat under 2800



Minor changes

1. Not overdoing magnesium. I don't know why, but it causes my gut distress( even mag bicarb). I think its more important to focus on thyroid so that I retain my magnesium. If I feel magnesium symptoms coming on I will take some but I don't religiously dose it every day.


Other notes:
Progesterone
I started taking progesterone instead of pregnenolone.
I don't really feel anything from progesterone, but I might not be sensitive to noticing the effect it has on me yet.
It doesn't do anything negative though, maybe makes me calmer?
And definitely no negative reaction like I had towards pregnenolone (supposedly).

Feelings now:
I feel really good. Sleeping great and throughout the night. I'm still mostly starch free (I've had a starch maybe twice this month) and I'm sleeping great without it, so its more so for taste/variety than self-medicating for sleep reasons.
My next goal is to be able to eat starch without 'puffing up' - still happens slightly.
But , Im happy to be 90% starch-free and sleeping great


Input welcome :) just trying my best to "perceive, think, act".

 

[not_James_Bond]

@Cleo Great post. Perhaps the PawPaw is very beneficial being a natural laxative and is minimizing endotoxin in the gut.

 

[jet9]

UPDATE - Roughly 2 months

I think I've figured it out.

I've come to the conclusion that my gut was still compromised from almost a decade of veganism, even though I've been peating/healing for roughly 1 or 2 years. I believe that my body hasn't been able to fully utilize all the food I've been eating, because of years of protein deficiency which definitely caused a leaky gut and low stomach acid.

3 most impactful changes

1. Retinyl acetate
Everything changed when I started using Idealabs Retinyl acetate (and to a lesser degree Energin - B complex) roughly a month ago.
I think I've been malabsorbing vitamin A due to my healing gut. So, applying it topically has been an absolute game-changer.
Even though I still eat liver, the topical Retinil makes a world of a difference.

2. Oxbile
Oxbile - veganism messed with my bile & stomach acid. So, this has also been massively impactful.
I also believe that it killed off SIBO.
I did an unintentional GI cleanse when I had a candida reaction a month ago ( which might of actually been bacterial), but ever since then my gut has been amazing.

3. Blood sugar regulation
I've been prone to blood sugar dysregulation - probably also from veganism.
Eating protein before sugar, eating frequently, and walking after eating has helped.


Less significant but still important changes

1. Pawpaw - I've been eating a whole pawpaw every day. I think maybe the proteolytic enzymes help my gut with the digestion of protein. Personally, Paw Paw also seems to have the same bowel bulking function as mushrooms ( I still eat mushrooms).

2. +2800 calories is my ideal - 200-300g carbs, +100g protein, 60-100g fat (if I recall the averages correctly).
I feel terrible the next day if I eat under 2800



Minor changes

1. Not overdoing magnesium. I don't know why, but it causes my gut distress( even mag bicarb). I think its more important to focus on thyroid so that I retain my magnesium. If I feel magnesium symptoms coming on I will take some but I don't religiously dose it every day.


Other notes:
Progesterone
I started taking progesterone instead of pregnenolone.
I don't really feel anything from progesterone, but I might not be sensitive to noticing the effect it has on me yet.
It doesn't do anything negative though, maybe makes me calmer?
And definitely no negative reaction like I had towards pregnenolone (supposedly).

Feelings now:
I feel really good. Sleeping great and throughout the night. I'm still mostly starch free (I've had a starch maybe twice this month) and I'm sleeping great without it, so its more so for taste/variety than self-medicating for sleep reasons.
My next goal is to be able to eat starch without 'puffing up' - still happens slightly.
But , Im happy to be 90% starch-free and sleeping great


Input welcome :) just trying my best to "perceive, think, act".

ljihkugft7, how it's going? are you still starch free?