Seeking Thoughts On Developing A Diet W/ Lots Of Restrictions

Cirion

Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
Messages
3,731
Location
St. Louis, Missouri
Like many here I'm still a recovering hypo, and as such, I have a lot of restrictions to my food intakes, but as such, it's making developing a food plan challenging, to say the least. First let me provide the criteria I'm trying my best to adhere to. I should add that I'm not adding these restrictions "just because", but because I do have a lot of health problems when it comes to reacting negatively to high iron, high pufa, high tryptophan intakes, performing best on high fat etc...

- I seem to do best on very high fat diet (upwards of 50%+ calories from fat - in the spirit of Peating, I try to get most of this from saturated, a few from mono-unsaturated, and as low as possible PUFA) so this is pretty much a requirement, with something like 15% protein and 30% carb (mostly/all from sugar)
- Minimize Iron intake (so try to cut back on beef, high iron content shellfish like oysters, etc)
- Minimize Phosphorus intake (or at least keep calcium intake high)
- Minimize Tryptophan intake
- Maximize dietary cholesterol intake (somewhat related to the high fat intake, I do well with high cholesterol intake)
- Minimize PUFA
- Maximize magnesium
- Minimize starches

I think those are the main restrictions I can think of I'm trying to work with. I have literally been pondering and pondering and can not seem to come up with anything, which is the reason for my post.

Here are my concerns:

Getting 50% fat is quite difficult, if you want to avoid some of the other restrictions. I've been having beef every day, but I just think it doesn't agree with me well, because I always tend to have at least some fatigue after wards. Additionally, even with 20% fat content beef (I'm having grass fed btw, I respond even worse to commercial fed), the fat content isn't high enough to reach my 50% target. I suspect I have some issues with beef because of the high Iron content and also the phosphorus. Egg is a pretty good fat source, and also very high cholesterol, but high PUFA and also fairly high Iron. I also think the phosphorus from beef is getting to me negatively, as I have unexplainable pain in my left hip even with magnesium supplementation though going crazy with magnesium supplementation does help slightly.

The only proteins that aren't high in Iron seem to be Dairy, Gelatin, Casein, and Shrimp. I don't like fatty dairy because it tends to bloat me, and I also dislike the high tryptophan. Shrimp is also a little higher on the tryptophan side, and it lacks fat, so it makes getting my fat target challenging. But shrimp is good because it is high in dietary cholesterol without getting as much PUFA per unit of cholesterol as you would get in eggs. All in all shrimp is a pretty solid food overall, except that it lacks the dietary fat I need. Lean meats in general make reaching 50% fat calories essentially impossible for me so I tend to avoid them.

If you take out beef (because of iron), and oysters (because of iron as well), then you're left with a zinc deficiency, so you replace one problem with another. Liver is also disturbingly high in iron, and if you cut all these out, you will probably be low in copper as well. So you deplete iron, at the expense of both copper and zinc.

Putting this information together, it basically says the only protein I can have is Gelatin and Casein, if I want to avoid Iron, and Tryptophan. Unfortunately, this also leaves me low in Zinc, Copper, and Dietary Fat / Cholesterol. This is also not to mention that a Gelatin/Casein diet would be sooo boring hahaha. I mean, I'd do it if I had to though...

One carb source I like these days is blackstrap molasses, and with it comes a little iron, though not a massive amount. I pretty much need molasses for the magnesium content (and manganese/copper). I don't know how else to get magnesium except chocolate. Buckwheat is high in magnesium, and I've toyed with the idea of bringing it back into my diet, except I don't really want to introduce any starch in my diet... does anyone have any experience with buckwheat? Is it worth it to eat even though it's starch? Other than that, I seem to do OK on orange juice which is one of my main staples. I don't seem to do that well with grapes these days, I'm guessing due to the somewhat high iron content. OJ has some magnesium, but not enough to meet my needs. I react well to maple syrup I have found, so I try to get a good amount per day.

That leaves fats - it seems next to impossible to meet my high fat needs without resorting to drastic measures (downing ice cream by the pint, eating cheese by the block (hello, hobbits from LOTR lol), taking a spoon to a jar of coconut oil and having at it, eating dozen+ eggs a day, or stuffing a whole stick of butter in my mouth. Haagan dazs (chocolate) seems to be good for my mood and libido, so there could be worse fates in life than downing a pint of ice cream a day though lol.

The calcium to phosphorus ratio thing is about the only thing that I've found fairly easy to reach a 1:1 ratio with, especially with calcium fortified OJ and the occasional cheese intake.

What's a man to do, argh! I understand this is a complex/involved question I'm asking, but I'm so stuck trying to come up with a solution. I know that some (well-meaning) folk will answer this and say I'm overthinking the problem, but I don't think I am, because I have chronic problems that will not go away by "just doing the basics" unfortunately.

I really don't care if the answer is simply thus: Eat only casein/gelatin for protein, eat a straight stick of butter a day, and pound maple syrup all day. (Just an example, not considering that per-se). Lol, I mean I really don't care. As an engineer who loves optimization (as well as someone who wants to feel good) I don't care what the foods are at the end of the day.
 
Last edited:

Arnold Grape

Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2017
Messages
601
Location
Upstate
You're getting way too in your head about this, which seems bad to me. Use common sense measures to reduce iron and eat a sensible diet and move on from this. Enjoy the things you eat and go outside bub.

-If you want to reduce your iron try ramping vitamin c and get on a solid b vitamin regimen. You can read about this elsewhere on this forum.
 
OP
Cirion

Cirion

Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
Messages
3,731
Location
St. Louis, Missouri
I hear you, but as I said before...

I know that some (well-meaning) folk will answer this and say I'm overthinking the problem, but I don't think I am, because I have chronic problems that will not go away by "just doing the basics" unfortunately.

Because my metabolism is damaged, it is mandatory for me to go to extremes to heal myself. Just going through the motions has not been working for me, at least not to the extent that I'd like... Specifically chronic bloat, still spotty moods/energy (especially in the morning)/libido/sleep etc. I have already started from a baseline of "basic" Peat foods, and am currently in the refinement stages.

In regards to your suggestions though, I thought vitamin C increased iron intake, and that's why you don't want to, for example, drink OJ with an iron heavy meal?
 

Arnold Grape

Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2017
Messages
601
Location
Upstate
Yea, I read what you wrote, but it seems extreme and my experience has lead me to believe that obsessive thought process is in line with stress reactions, which is not good. Check here for what I was talking about with C and iron:

Vitamin C Therapy
 
OP
Cirion

Cirion

Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
Messages
3,731
Location
St. Louis, Missouri
Fair enough, though I'd argue that stress is the cause of the obsessive thought processes, rather than the other way around. The obsessive thought processes are a symptom for me. For example, for me obsessive thoughts tend to be prominent at night, when stress is highest, and without fail when I bring the stress response down via salt/sugar/saturated fat, the thought patterns also go away (also helping me get back to sleep).

I recognize we shouldn't be slaves to our thoughts, and you can "hack" your thoughts to some degree (and sometimes it's totally 100% necessary in a high stress situation), but since begining my pursuit of health - I've come to realize - a truly healthy body also means a healthy mind, one that does not require any sort of "hacking" to feel right.

Vitamin C is something that has indeed been on my radar but I haven't yet started consistently dosing it in large amounts. What do you think of Acerola fruit/juice. It seems to be exceptionally high in Vitamin C (and also exceptionally hard to find in stores... never seen it). 1 cup of acerola juice has 4000 mg of Vitamin C (way higher than any thing else available, even most supplements). I may just order some off amazon. I tend to prefer food approaches to supplementing pills where possible, so this would be a great way to get a lot.
 
Last edited:

raypeatclips

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
2,555
The more restrictions I placed upon myself, the worse I felt. The more extreme and controlled my diet was, the worst I felt. Unless a food is obviously bothering you and reacting negatively, then don't eat it. The less stress and obsession you attribute with diet and eating the better.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom