Self Healing

[TheArtofHealth]

As a newbie to all this, I was happy to discover the log forum. All of my posts are mostly focused on my own experience and questions as they arise, and until I understand the science and mechanics of it all, I'm hesitant to comment on larger discussions. I wrote a novel of an intro in the meet and greet section, so I'll spare that and jump into my experience of the past two weeks. I've been logging into Cronometer on most days, making sure my calcium to phosphorous ratio is 1:1, carbs are 2x protein, and protein is at least 100g. As I weight train, I'm trying to keep it more towards 145-150g (my bodyweight in pounds) I'm also trying to maintain calories at least at 3000, preferably more.

Week 1: Made sure to cut out PUFAs as much as possible, had to finish off some groceries of vegetables and fish (can't bring myself to just toss food) and allowed myself to start eating dairy again. This week was more of a "Matt Stone" style referee week of just eating as much I wanted and just about anything I wanted, while making sure to avoid PUFAs as much as possible. I found I had the energy for some exciting sex as well as getting back to 3 weight lifting sessions a week. That's pretty rewarding!

Week 2: Got some of the Peat staples: OJ, whole milk, liver, lamb, watermelon, butter, coconut oil, coffee and beef. This week uncovered some deificiencies in Vitamin D, E, and K as well as low fiber. I also experience a massive increase in dandruff and shedding while brushing my hair. Since that's what brought me to all of this in the first place, I'm highly sensitive to it as an indicator of what's going on. My scalp also was itchy and hair felt dry. Also, I felt my energy really bottoming out later in the day and libido was a bit lower. However, on the positive side temperatures were in the mid 96 range in the mornings and not low to mid 95s as they had been. I even got up to mid 98s in the late afternoons and also had much less trouble falling asleep.

Week 3: I'm going to try no dairy this week to see if it makes a difference with the dandruff/shedding and lower libido. Estrogen in cows and milk make me wary of it, and adding it in was the largest shift I had from previous diet attempts. However, I did get some seafood for this week (oysters, shrimp, and sole) which I'm very excited about. Had 12 raw oysters for lunch and they were DELICIOUS! Hoping to find some Great Lakes Gellatin as I can already tell protein content is going to be hard to maintain without dairy. I also got a lot more fruit as I'm not keen on doing white sugar and would rather keep fructose intake high.

I'll try and make more specific check ins every other day or so and per usual, welcome any comments or recommendations. For now I'm focusing on diet and lifestyle and avoiding supplements as not to over complicate or tinker with things too much. Incidentally, I'm keeping track of pulse too, but my BPM rarely exceeds 65 except after weight training. I attribute that to an intense past year of cycling and high school history of cross country. It's always been low... Any reason for concern?

Thanks all! Glad to be on this journey here.

 

[Giraffe]

It's always been low... Any reason for concern?

Several of us here had a low resting pulse when we were exercising a lot. It seems to take care of itself once you stop overdoing on "aerobic" exercise.

Good luck on your journey!

 

[TheArtofHealth]

Thanks @Giraffe! I haven't done cardio except for maybe two bike rides in many months. Woke up this morning at 56 BPM, so that's already an improvement. Even had 97 degree temp! Woohoo! Also interestingly enough, a couple of days into this week of no dairy and I'm having little to no dandruff and much less shedding while brushing my hair... Perhaps American cows really are just screwed up? Shame, cause I was really enjoying the taste of that milk! Ah well. The experiment continues!

 

[TheArtofHealth]

An update at the end of week 3 here... I'd say pardon the length, but this is my own log, so a bit of rambling is ok, I figure!

This was a week of seriously high fructose intake (watermelon, prunes, dates, blueberries, oranges) . Without dairy (mostly. I did have a pint of Coffee Haagen Daz yesterday after a camping trip) it was very hard for me to maintain adequate caloric intake. Forget protein without dairy! Only two eggs in the morning (to keep PUFA low) and then whatever animal meat for that day (oysters, liver, sole, or lamb) for lunch (and usually dinner) still left me under the 150g I would like to be consuming. I weight 148 and am lifting 3x a week to add mass, hence the higher intake goal. Also, I found it VERY hard to remain satiated with fructose as my main (really, only) source of carbs. Most days I was getting adequate calories, but still came to the end of the day more than able to eat more.

In other news: dandruff went down to almost none and shedding really decreased on most days. However, my skin is not looking hot (and I haven't had issues with skin really ever. Maybe a couple of pimples in my teens?) I have a bit of acne going on now, as well as large open pores with white granules. Gross. Maybe it's the large consumption of sugar? Lack of fats outside of coconut oil? I used to eat salmon 3x a week and always felt that helped with skin alongside the larger vegetable intake I had...

As for temps and pulse, we're still moving up, so SOMETHING is going in the right direction. I even woke up in the mid 97s two mornings. Mostly it's in the upper 96s, which is still much stronger than the low-mid 95s I was waking up to only three weeks ago. Pulse doesn't budge too much, but years of athletic conditioning might have something to do with that. Loving getting back into lifting though. Feeling strong and energized during and after workouts!

Mood has been pretty up and down this week. Mostly landing in down. Social avoidance, lack of motivation and focus, and it got really bad Friday... I was heading out for a camping trip and in my planning totally had a melt down over what to eat. My go to's of vegetarian chili at night, s'mores over the fire, and then oatmeal in the morning were all essentially wiped out. This led to an orthorexic freak out where everything in the world feels confusing and out to rip me apart, but after hashing it out with my roommate, bought a couple of cans of soup, hard boiled some eggs, and went off into the woods. It was an intense over nighter with awful sleep (usually sleep like a baby under the stars) and some seriously high stress thoughts. The philly cheese steak sandwich I got before I hit the trail maybe didn't help, but I was already so hungry, I knew it would be unwise to wonder out alone and so underfed.

What else to report...? Had sex this week and it felt/ went great. Some pleasant morning wood a few mornings. Finally got some gelatin in the mail from Great Lakes! Stuff tasted kind of gross in just plain water, but I ran out of OJ by the time it got here (by the way... My grocery bill right now? Nearly $150/ week! And I'm still hungry!) This morning I did it in my coffee with the coconut oil. I had a second cup of coffee after that with another two tbsp of coconut oil, and now my stomach is all kinds of upset with me all day. So, maybe space out the coconut oil or only do two/ day? To add onto the TMI train, BM's are mainly just once a day after breakfast. Incidentally, I was following a very non Peat diet before this (lots of fish, little to no red meat, beans, lots of veggies, good amount of nuts and seeds, only berries for fruit, and green tea instead of coffee) and while doing this I was back to like 3 solid BMs a day, post meals! And people commented on how "healthy" I looked (whatever that means to them)

Anyways, going forward, I'm going to try and incorporate some dairy products again, mainly yogurt for the good probiotics in it. I'm also going to make some calcium powder from the eggshells I've saved up this past week. I'm also adding in potatoes again. They never bothered me before and I need some more solid sources of carbs. Tempted to toss back in rolled oats and quinoa.... But will hold off for now.

A real issue that I'm having is not stressing about food. This all started because of my hair and is perpetuated by my hair. I do agree that hair is simply an external cue for internal health and internally (mentally and emotionally, thereby physically) I wasn't doing great. However, I never had any obvious problems with food. It wasn't like I'd eat something and feel ill and I generally enjoy the taste of just about anything (with some preferences of course). Yet, I feel like I've so read, researched, and absorbed information about the benefits and dangers of EVERYTHING that it makes it hard to trust my gut. My gut actually says that any sort of health issues I was having (hair fall, lack of the healthy "glow", general loss of joi d' vivre, and increasing anxiety and depression) were linked more to the energetic properties I endowed food with and the extreme behavioral reactions towards these feelings (restrictive dieting and over exercising mainly) what I really need is to CHILL, but it's difficult to do when I have the BPA content of receipts flashing in my head as it's pummeled by water in a shower that isn't filtered and I stare into the drain wondering wtf I'm going to eat that will keep my hair from winding up in said drain, and when did simply being alive get so complicated? ...pardon the existentialism, but I hope you catch my drift.

Anywho. What led me to this all was my hair. And I then discvored my low pulse and temp. And so much matched up with issues of hormones and thyroids including my own mother's battle with a dying thyroid. Yet, I have a feeling the answer will not be conventional, clinical, or perhaps even "make sense". But that's my magical thinking talking... regardless, I feel hopeful and appreciate any one who read this diatribe and whatever feed back you might give. If anything, coming at this from a report and gather objective data with subjective experience approach is making me feel much more grounded.

Finding the flow,
Art of Health