Unhealthy and Confused College Student, major bloating

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alicia_deflores

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Hi! I am a huge believer in the Ray Peat lifestyle. The only problem is that it seems like the Ray Peat way of living is very strict, and so I feel very lost and confused about what to do and get very discouraged when I feel like I'm getting off track. I really like Ray Peat's ideas, but I don't know how to follow it. I'm looking for ideas on how to move forward with this. :)

I am a college student living on campus, so there is not many healthy food options. I do buy food at Kroger every week, but don't have a lot of money to spend or time/resources to prepare meals.

My biggest problem is that I have very severe bloating. It seems that it gets the worst when I am stressed out, but it's always there especially after I eat. Sometimes it gets worse after I drink milk, but it seems like everything makes it worse. It used to get worse for the whole two weeks before starting my period, but I started on an anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication and now it seems like there is no pattern.

I also have a hard time turning off stress. It seems like no matter how many breathing exercises I do, it doesn't get better. I'm always tense or my jaw is clenched. Even when I notice this, I can't stop it.\

Is there anything I can do to help these two problems and not have to spend a lot of money and time?
 

FredSonoma

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I'm also a college student! I would say the basics are:

Avoid PUFA!!!! This makes eating out difficult, but it basically means avoiding ANYTHING cooked in vegetable oils - cook yourself with butter / coconut oil
~100 g protein / day
Calcium:phosphate ratio (getting more protein from dairy than meats)
Amino acid balance (getting plenty of gelatin from cooking down bones / pork feet / Great Lakes Gelatin)
Eating lots of sugar!!!! As much as you wants - in general eat till your full don't restrict!!!!!!

If you're craving something - eat it, unless it has PUFA (I also think iron-fortified wheat, which is most wheat in America, is particularly bad but idk if that is actually true)
 
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alicia_deflores

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Thank you!

I do avoid PUFA as much as possible. The only problem is in the cafeterias at college. I don't know what has PUFA and what doesn't.

I will get some gelatin and start eating that. Is there a specific amount needed each day?

My problem isn't cravings, it's lack of appetite. I'm taking Fluoxetine right now which might be causing the lack of appetite, but not sure.
 

michael94

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Exercise more, do what fred said, and try get off the SSRI if at all possible ( slowly if you must )
 
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alicia_deflores

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Could you explain why the SSRI is bad for me?
 

Demyze

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I don't think it would be a great idea to just drop the medications. There are other improvements you could make before you have that conversation with your doctor. Also don't stress about "health foods". You can do great with regular food from Kroger, convenience food shops and dining halls.

I'm in college too so I understand where your coming from.

What is your temperature and pulse rate looking like?

How many minutes of direct sunlight do you get a day?

Do you drink coffee or use caffeine?

Have you tried entering your daily food intake into a site like cronometer.com? It will give a MUCH clearer picture of what is going on and I would do this before buying any supplement.

It'd be helpful to get more information of your diet.

Also I would consider supplementing the amino acid glycine before buying gelatin but that my 2 cents.
 

answersfound

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Serotonin...you want the antidepressants that increase appetite like remeron or amitriptyline. If you do some research you will learn why, but if it is killing appetite that is not a good sign at all.
 

Lightbringer

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alicia_deflores

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Wow! You make it sound easy :)

I have not taken my temperature or pulse rates for about a year now, but I will do that for a few days and get back to you.

I probably only get 15 minutes of direct sunlight a day.

I do drink coffee! About one cup a day.

I started a cronometer account, but am not sure what I should be looking for.

I will look into the amino acid glycine.
 
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alicia_deflores

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answersfound said:
post 104140 Serotonin...you want the antidepressants that increase appetite like remeron or amitriptyline. If you do some research you will learn why, but if it is killing appetite that is not a good sign at all.

Good point! Thank you!
 
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Demyze

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rachel009900 said:
post 104314 I started a cronometer account, but am not sure what I should be looking for.

For myself I look for adequate vitamins and minerals, try to keep my PUFA at or under 2 grams daily, make sure I'm getting enough protein and carbs. Danny Roddy has some good videos on youtube where he talks about cronometer tracking. It's very helpful if something is off.

With your bloating issue I would consider reducing fluid intake. Instead of milk maybe look into low fat cheese sticks (Sargento makes some) and low fat strained greek yogurt as protein and calcium sources. These are both widely available.

For stress you could look at your magnesium and sodium intake. This is easy to overlook if your just drinking milk and Oj.
 
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tara

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:welcome Rachel009900

rachel009900 said:
post 104114 Hi! I am a huge believer in the Ray Peat lifestyle.
Have you had any improvements/successes using some of Peat's ideas so far?

rachel009900 said:
post 104114 The only problem is that it seems like the Ray Peat way of living is very strict, and so I feel very lost and confused about what to do and get very discouraged when I feel like I'm getting off track.

Peat has provided a lot of information and viewpoint about how physiology works, and how food, light, etc affect it, and he does give some recommendations. There are people here who think there is a strict ray peat diet protocol that he advises everyone to follow. I am not one of them.
We are all out of balance in somewhat different ways.
Peat has said that sometimes changing one or two things can make a big difference.
When we are seriously out of balance, it may help to use more tactics.
But his general protocol is more long the lines of 'Observe, think, act'.
There is lots of variation here in how we try to use his ideas.
If you haven't yet, you can read /listen to some of his articles and interviews, as well as reading here etc, and see which parts make sense to you to try to implement.

Having said that, he does suggest
- minimising PUFA consumption, since it functions against metabolism in several ways. This might be the one thing nearly everyone here tries to do.
- getting enough good quality protein (eg 80-100 g for low metabolism0, sugars (eg fruit, juice, milk, honey), minerals, vitamins, etc, preferably from food, but sometimes from temporary supplementation
- getting more calcium than phosphorus (pref. 1.5:1 Ca:P)
- getting protein from milk if it agrees with you, balancing the protein in muscle meats with collagen/gelatin
- avoiding personal allergens and foods that irritate your gut - generally he does not favour lots of pulses and grains, though well cooked oats and white rice are pretty benign unless you have trouble with starches
- drinking to thirst and salting to taste/craving (I think you can also tell a bit about whether you are drinking too much or too little by how often you are having to pee, and whether it is clear (probably too much liquid) or dark (probably too little).)
- getting regular sunlight on your skin

Kaspar_Hauser said:
post 104148 Cyproheptadine might be another thing to consider given your symptoms in addition to the usual Peat-y things.
Might well be good idea - better than the current SSRI, but it may directly oppose the SSRI?, and the transition might be a bit tricky. May make sense to wean of the current drug before trying it?

rachel009900 said:
post 104314 I started a cronometer account, but am not sure what I should be looking for.
If you enter a typical day's food and drink, for starters you could check and see if there are any minerals that cronometer says you are low in.
Don't believe it on calories - it generally underestimates needs.
Polyunsaturated fats as low as possible.
More calcium than phosphorus.
How much carbs etc varies a bit, but at least a third of your calories, and maybe better to be more, up to maybe two thirds or more.

"A craving for sugar usually indicates a need for sugar" - RP

rachel009900 said:
post 104114 I also have a hard time turning off stress. It seems like no matter how many breathing exercises I do, it doesn't get better. I'm always tense or my jaw is clenched. Even when I notice this, I can't stop it.\
Does it happen more when you are hungry, and does eating something sweet help? Does taking a gentle walk outside help?

I'm not sure how old you are, but some of us have had benefit from progest-e - a progesterone + vitE supplement - to help counter excess estrogen issues. Might help with PMS if you decide to back off the SSRI at some stage and it comes back. If you are still young, I'm not so sure about the implications.

Am I right in thinking you don't have access to cooking facilities? What about a fridge? Hot water?
If I were in that situation, I would keep stocks of some of these:
OJ, apple juice, other juice sometimes for variety.
Honey
Sugar (sucrose), salt, baking soda (to add to juice if it's too acidic)
Milk, cheese, greek yogurt, if they didn't mess with me (unfortunately they do if I eat too much)
Dried fruit - dates, raisins, apricots, what ever you like that doesn't bother your gut
Gelatine to make fruit juice jellies
Chocolate (some here avoid the ones with soy lecithin)
 
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alicia_deflores

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Demyze said:
post 104139

What is your temperature and pulse rate looking like?




It's looking like my temperature is pretty low, usually around 97.6 before and after I eat. Any ideas?
 
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Derek

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I think I can give some helpful advice here. First don't eat things that cause bloating. You said everything causes bloating but usually there is something you can tolerate well. When I was at my sickest I could only tolerate properly refined white flour products and white potatoes. I ate boiled/baked potatoes all day and made pancakes/angel food cake and also had pasta. I healed my metabolism doing this and got better. Also, coconut oil/palm kernel oil really helped with my bloating.

Some things you are eating are notorious for causing bloating like milk and gelatin. If you feel stressed maybe you should lay off the coffee?

Basically keep supplements to a minimum, eat foods that are easy to digest (which no one here can tell you what those foods are, you need to listen to your own body) and stop stressing about your diet. Stress will cause you to be bloated no matter what food you eat. I remember when I was in my gluten phobia days, every time I would eat gluten I would get bloated, then when I just said screw it and ate gluten and stopped caring the bloating went away!
 

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