Peat Diet - Blood Sugar Regulation

[halken]

First clip right there says it all. Cortisol.

Stress (possibly trauma) are the underlying factors.

I would stress not to worry on your food intake here. Most people are relying too heavily on such things. The fundamental energy is disrupted. I would dare say that it's a combination of cortisol and serotonin.

The psoas muscle may be severely inactive. It is important to remember that the psaos is placed at equal distance along the spine vertically to the thyroid gland. If the psaos is not "open" and active (both major and minor) then the other precursor organs are gonna go (first thyroid, then liver etc) in a cascade of disharmony.

Food is part of the problem. The environment is the other.

The rhythmical environment should be handled first.

interesting! do you know of any resources on learning more about the psoas that you would recommend? this kind of supports my hunch of neurogenic tremoring being a significant physical therapy as it "opens" the psoas muscle.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1583944583/?tag=rapefo-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0615647995/?tag=rapefo-20

These are the two books I would recommend.

I think the most powerful way to "activate" this muscle is to do meditation in full-lotus as it directly opens up the "energy channel" that makes up your energy signature.

 

[artemis]

The first one is what Peat hints at in his glucose article, you promote glucose oxidation and reduce FFA. So, the glucose oxidation cofactors like B-vitamins, various drugs or vitamins like niacinamide that suppress FFA or stimulate insulin. And you shift towards more fructose as it has less immediate effect on blood glucose than pure glucose.

Thanks, jyb. I guess this is the approach I'm using now, while I wait for more information.

First clip right there says it all. Cortisol.

Hi, halken. Yes, I'm beginning to suspect that cortisol is at the root of all this. I've been wanting to start meditating, too...I think now's the time! Thanks for that info.

I asked Ray for help and, of course, he always answers promptly. Each time I email him he answers within a few hours. (I LOVE THIS MAN!) We're kind of going back and forth right now, I'm getting together a list of things to check when I go in for bloodwork, which I will do next week.

I guess I'll just post his answers to me in their entirety, even though some stuff is about other unrelated things. Here's his first reply:

" Very high cortisol can cause high blood glucose, and that could be tested in saliva as well as serum. If you take your temperature before you get out of bed, and then after breakfast and in the afternoon, that will help to interpret the other things. If your thyroid gland was enlarged, taking the large amount of thyroid supplement might have started it working, and that can lead to a hyperthyroid state for a few months, as the stored hormone is released into the blood stream. If that’s the case, your temperature will be a little above normal all day. If the problem is high cortisol and other stress hormones, your temperature might decrease a little after breakfast. If it’s hyperthyroidism, raw cabbage juice will inhibit the thyroid activity temporarily.
Taking vitamin B1 (about 50 mg) might help to lower blood glucose, regardless of the specific hormone problem; if it’s excess cortisol, then taking aspirin with food will help to lower it. Aspirin lowers cortisol, and increases the ability to oxidize glucose. Do you drink milk regularly? Calcium and other things in the milk have antistress effects. Since the symptoms started in the late winter, a deficiency of vitamin D could be involved. It’s important to test that, but if you haven’t been getting more than 1500 mg/day of calcium you may see some improvement just from increasing calcium. Vitamin K helps to regulate calcium too."

Here's his second reply:

" I think it would be good to get some urine test strips for glucose, maybe ketones too. If you see that a certain amount of niacinamide or aspirin lowers the blood sugar, that will help to judge the doses. Some people find that having some baking soda two or three times a day helps to lower blood glucose. Do you over-heat or get out of breath from moderate activity?
Anemia can cause a fast pulse without a high temperature or over-heating. Oysters and liver have nutrients that help with anemia. Cholesterol (total or LDL) helps to distinguish high thyroid (lower cholesterol) from high cortisol (higher cholesterol). The most useful test for iron is the transferrin saturation. Were your ovaries removed with the hysterectomy? One possibility is that your progesterone production decreased suddenly last winter, leaving your cortisol unopposed. Estrogen stimulates several stress hormones, and tends to cause alkalosis, which could disturb your calcium balance, so it’s important to check your calcium, especially the ionized fraction. "

I first suspected anemia when these crazy symptoms started. Been taking huge doses of B12, folate, and all the other B's though, and no change so far. Blood work will tell. Guess I need to get B12 and folate tested too. Maybe I'm not absorbing the oral B12, and should do injections...

 

[halken]

The first one is what Peat hints at in his glucose article, you promote glucose oxidation and reduce FFA. So, the glucose oxidation cofactors like B-vitamins, various drugs or vitamins like niacinamide that suppress FFA or stimulate insulin. And you shift towards more fructose as it has less immediate effect on blood glucose than pure glucose.

Thanks, jyb. I guess this is the approach I'm using now, while I wait for more information.

First clip right there says it all. Cortisol.

Hi, halken. Yes, I'm beginning to suspect that cortisol is at the root of all this.

...and serotonin.

Yin yang.

 

[Peata]

Estrogen and stress are both known to create some of the conditions of diabetes, while increasing fat oxidation and inhibiting glucose oxidation. Emotional stress, overwork, trauma, and infections have been known to initiate diabetes. [glow=red]Estrogen[/glow]increases free fatty acids and [glow=red]decreases glycogen storage[/glow], and when birth control pills were becoming popular, some researchers warned that they might cause diabetes. But the food oil industry and the estrogen industry were satisfied with the medical doctrine that diabetes was caused by eating too much sugar. - Ray Peat[/b]

I was just searching for the connection of estrogen with low sugar. So thanks for that quote.

Sorry if this is tmi (but when has that ever stopped me, ha), but I am a week out from period and this is the time pms stuff goes into gear. Yesterday I was having one of my symptoms of negative thought about certain people, only it wasn't as strong or long-lasting as usual and I was able to keep my poor attitude to myself. More allergy symptoms. But I've also had increased appetite. Food cravings (hamburgers, potato chips)...

But the thing that shook me up was when I had a low blood sugar episode while out yesterday. I'd had a mild but annoying tension headache in the middle of my forehead all day and nothing was making it go away. I tried all the stuff, like minerals including salt. Aspirin, caffeine, Benadryl, Progest E, vitamins, ginger, etc. I feel I was hitting it from all the angles.

The only thing I didn't do was give in to my excessive appetite and go ahead and eat as much as I wanted and the things I wanted. I just felt like a bottomless pit all day and was trying to fight it. Even though I know that's always been my MO pre period -to have big appetite for "the wrong foods". And giving in makes it go away and all returns to normal in a couple days. But I was trying to stick to my guns and avoid the pufa stuff that was around.

And then I get out and feel awful, like has happened in the past when I get that blood sugar dropping effect. Sweating, feel like I'll pass out, muscle weakness, sense of unreal, etc. It was relieved finally when I was able to drink something sugary and eat what I'd been craving all day - potato chips made with only coconut oil and salt. But I'd eaten coconut oil and salt already, so I wonder why it had to be that combination along with the starch?

This was all unsettling though because for two months I've had no problem since taking Famotidine. So I can only assume the estrogen was bad enough it surpassed the normally positive effects of the medication.

Things seem back to normal today.

 

[tara]

Hi Peata,
I get the munchies pre-menstrually, too. Mostly for carbs, maybe for salt and fat too. Strong enough that I have trouble overriding it even if I intend to.

 

[InChristAlone]

Potassium is a big one for blood sugar regulation.

 

[GorillaHead]

For thin people have they found sugar or fats and proteins to be better ?

one thing i noticed every time i eat baked potatoes my body stays super warm for 4-5 hours after and i feel drowsy but its really enjoyable.

 

[GreekDemiGod]

For thin people have they found sugar or fats and proteins to be better ?

one thing i noticed every time i eat baked potatoes my body stays super warm for 4-5 hours after and i feel drowsy but its really enjoyable.

I think naturally thin people do better on higher carbs and keeping fat intake in check.
I do have phases where I crave more protein and fats for a couple of days, but I always salivate more at the thought of meals based around fruits, honey, bananas...
Restricting fats makes me lean out quickly. I would drop to 10% BF if I would eat under 50g of fat for 3 months.

 

[VitoScaletta]

I'm pretty sure I've developed diabetes since starting this "diet." I've been in denial about it, but all the classic symptoms are there -- started about 6 weeks ago. The first symptom was tachycardia -- actually this started a couple months before any of the other symptoms. Maybe this was a "pre-diabetic" stage?

Then came an insatiable thirst which gets much worse at night time, and severe leg and foot cramps EVERY night/early morning. I haven't slept through the night for 6 weeks. I get up every hour or so in the first half of the night to pee, then I am awoken every hour or so in the second half of the night/early morning hours with the leg cramps.

I have had unintentional weight loss of about 12 pounds over this past 6 weeks, despite eating more and more. My tongue was covered in sore red spots at first, though this has thankfully gone away. I've had miscellaneous other infections come and go: a weird sinus infection that caused my nose between my eyes to swell up and be really tender to touch, to the point of not being able to wear glasses (gone now), an infection on my finger where a hangnail would be, though there was never any hangnail or anything unusual there. Angular chelitis (cracks in the corners of my mouth), probably other misc. things.

I feel like I'm down in the rabbit hole! Never had any of this before. I thought at first it must be anemia, so I started taking large doses of B12 and some other B vitamins. I don't know how long these things take to start seeing an effect, but I've noticed no changes yet, after about a month.

I bought a blood glucose monitor but couldn't get the damn thing to work. And, I really don't want to prick my finger or do any of that! Threw it against the wall. So for now I'm doing the same thing as you, cantstoppeating, I've been reading all those same threads and gonna try to manage it with those supplements and diet. Never have taken biotin, I have it on order. I refuse to identify as someone with diabetes! I'm sure this is a temporary thing that I will overcome.

I've read that diabetes can be triggered by things such as trauma, shock, overwork -- physiological things that
can throw the body out of balance. I think there's really something to this, as my leg cramps started when I was working way too hard on a job where I was standing on a high ladder all day. I thought the cramps would go away when the job was over, as they always have, but they didn't go away. Then I went straight from that job into another where I had a deadline, and worked pretty much around the clock for a couple of weeks, late into the night, only stopping to sleep and eat. That's when all this started. Of course my diet must have played a part, too -- I think it was a combination of factors.

So far I haven't really talked with my family about this, as they've always thought I was crazy to be following this "diet," and I'm gonna have to go through a bunch of "told you so's." I don't have a regular doctor, and I wouldn't see one about this anyway... I'm not about to start taking insulin. I've started an email to Ray. I wonder if he'll accept my case and help me out of this (for pay, of course). I'm thinking I'll ask him to tell me what bloodwork to get, etc., and go from there.

Any updates from.this point man?