RyanX
The Living Force
Hello all, I just wanted to post my diet progress. It’s now been about 5 months since I ditched gluten and started narrowing down my foods to find what I’m sensitive to, so I thought I’d share my results and hopefully get some feedback on certain persisting problems.
I had eliminated cow dairy products years ago when I discovered through a certain elimination diet (not the one mentioned on this forum) that I was highly sensitive to cow dairy. It was so bad that I noticed the difference immediately after eliminating it. My sluggish digestion at the time immediately turned around and became more “regular”.
It took me awhile to eliminate gluten. Part of this was my own disbelief in the fact that it could actually be causing me problems. The other part had to do with the fact that I was currently baking my own bread and had invested in a 6mo supply of flour that I didn’t want to see go to waste. I promised myself that when I was done with this flour that I would buy some buckwheat flour and start learning to cook with that.
Eliminating gluten was quite an adventure. I mean, I literally had eaten the stuff all my life! There’s not a single day that went by that I didn’t recall eating some sort of bread product. I didn’t experience any major withdrawal symptoms, but over a couple weeks I started seeing changes in the way I would feel during and after eating. First of all, I didn’t feel the need to overeat. Prior to eliminating gluten, I felt like I had to eat and eat and eat just to feel full. I would load up my plate at all meals and ever feel entirely satisfied. Without gluten in my diet, this behavior disappeared. I noticed that I started eating smaller portions and that these would make me feel “full”. I also noticed that I didn’t feel as tired after meals. I’m not sure if this was due to the lack of gluten or just the fact that my body didn’t have to digest so much food like it did before. In any case, the change was much welcome and this gave me some encouragement to continue to stay away from gluten.
I also noticed that after eliminating gluten, I found that my body was extremely sensitive to all sorts of foods that didn’t seem to have an affect on me before. Things like potatoes, pineapples, unsoaked legumes, and especially sugar. I slowly eliminated these things one at a time and found myself feeling even better during and after meals. My teeth didn’t feel as sensitive as they used to and they didn’t show stains either.
Prior to eliminating gluten, I had also started taking a high dose multivitamin. It’s actually the Thorne Basic Nutrients vitamin. I took this along with extra Ascorbic acid, B6, zinc, magnesium, calcium and melatonin all based on the ultra-mind solution quizzes. I think this was a big factor in not getting sick this past winter. I no longer feel like my health is on edge, my tank feels full when it comes to the basic vitamins and nutrients.
Around the time I started taking extra supplements, I also eliminated fluoride. I stopped using the city water to cook or drink with. Prior to this I had been using a carbon filter, but I didn’t feel like this was cutting it anymore. Besides, my experience with drinking distilled water made any other type of water just taste weird, even if it was filtered. So this was another change too.
I also take parasite cleansing herbs every month or so. This involves taking a high does of raw garlic, black walnut hull, wormwood and cloves. I gradually increase the dose on these herbs until I get to a maximum does of 8 pills wormwood, 8 pills of cloves, 2 pills of black walnut and 2 cloves of raw garlic. Sometimes I get a bit of a headache the first couple days of doing this, but afterwards this goes away. Usually I feel a surge of energy towards the end of taking these herbs.
I also started smoking during this time. I use a pipe with raw organic tobacco. I generally smoke once per day in the evenings; usually before I sit down to do any serious reading or writing. This tends to help me in these activities. I haven’t noticed any ill effects from the smoking. I was a little scared that it might have an affect on my lungs, but I haven’t noticed any. I can still run 4-6 miles every other day without feeling short of breath, so I don’t think smoking has any ill effects when it comes to health or exercise ;)
This whole regimen keeps me pretty healthy and mentally balanced for the most part. There are times when I do feel a bit depleted in serotonin and a little on edge. For this, I would like to start taking more 5-HTP and GABA. I had tried taking 5-HTP during specific times in the past when I felt most depressed, but I had to discontinue this due to financial constraints. I’d like to use this more often if my money situation ever gets better. So far just doing the basics I’ve described above helped keep most of the depression symptoms under control.
As far as health reading goes, I’ve only read The Ultra-Mind Solution and Detoxification and Healing from the recommended books list. Detoxify or Die is going to be one of my next books, I think.
The part in Baker’s Detoxification and Healing about Adrenal Fatigue really stood out for me. I think it was because that I have the classic symptoms of cold hands/feet, low blood pressure, hair loss. I suspect I might have some issues with either thyroid or adrenal hormones, but I’m not sure what exactly. From what I’ve read, both the adrenal and thyroid can be pretty sensitive to heavy metal toxicity, so at some point in the near future I’d like to try Baker’s DMSA detox regimen and see if that helps alleviate any of the symptoms. Otherwise, I’m going to have to find a doctor that specializes in orthomolecular or integrated medicine in my neck of the woods, which isn’t going to be easy. I might have to network around with some of the local holistic doctors/chiropractors and see if they know any doctors that will help with this.
Also, I have difficulties from time to time with bloating. This isn’t often, maybe once or twice a month. It seems to be triggered more from my emotional state rather than anything specific that I eat. Usually I notice it most in the evenings. I’ve found that if I take a couple pills of activated charcoal, this calms my tummy down enough to where I can sleep peacefully. I don’t know if there is something I’m not addressing in my diet to help with this, or maybe I just need to make sure I watch my stress level, which tends to bring on more of these episodes. Any feedback would be appreciated here.
Also, I noticed that when I’ve made treats with large amounts of Xylitol, I’ve had similar feelings of bloatedness. I’m wondering if this might be a sign of yeast die-off from the Xylitol since this stuff claims to be anti-microbial to some extent. It also got me thinking that the other times I’ve felt bloated might be a die-off symptom as well. I’m not sure if this is the case, however.
I had eliminated cow dairy products years ago when I discovered through a certain elimination diet (not the one mentioned on this forum) that I was highly sensitive to cow dairy. It was so bad that I noticed the difference immediately after eliminating it. My sluggish digestion at the time immediately turned around and became more “regular”.
It took me awhile to eliminate gluten. Part of this was my own disbelief in the fact that it could actually be causing me problems. The other part had to do with the fact that I was currently baking my own bread and had invested in a 6mo supply of flour that I didn’t want to see go to waste. I promised myself that when I was done with this flour that I would buy some buckwheat flour and start learning to cook with that.
Eliminating gluten was quite an adventure. I mean, I literally had eaten the stuff all my life! There’s not a single day that went by that I didn’t recall eating some sort of bread product. I didn’t experience any major withdrawal symptoms, but over a couple weeks I started seeing changes in the way I would feel during and after eating. First of all, I didn’t feel the need to overeat. Prior to eliminating gluten, I felt like I had to eat and eat and eat just to feel full. I would load up my plate at all meals and ever feel entirely satisfied. Without gluten in my diet, this behavior disappeared. I noticed that I started eating smaller portions and that these would make me feel “full”. I also noticed that I didn’t feel as tired after meals. I’m not sure if this was due to the lack of gluten or just the fact that my body didn’t have to digest so much food like it did before. In any case, the change was much welcome and this gave me some encouragement to continue to stay away from gluten.
I also noticed that after eliminating gluten, I found that my body was extremely sensitive to all sorts of foods that didn’t seem to have an affect on me before. Things like potatoes, pineapples, unsoaked legumes, and especially sugar. I slowly eliminated these things one at a time and found myself feeling even better during and after meals. My teeth didn’t feel as sensitive as they used to and they didn’t show stains either.
Prior to eliminating gluten, I had also started taking a high dose multivitamin. It’s actually the Thorne Basic Nutrients vitamin. I took this along with extra Ascorbic acid, B6, zinc, magnesium, calcium and melatonin all based on the ultra-mind solution quizzes. I think this was a big factor in not getting sick this past winter. I no longer feel like my health is on edge, my tank feels full when it comes to the basic vitamins and nutrients.
Around the time I started taking extra supplements, I also eliminated fluoride. I stopped using the city water to cook or drink with. Prior to this I had been using a carbon filter, but I didn’t feel like this was cutting it anymore. Besides, my experience with drinking distilled water made any other type of water just taste weird, even if it was filtered. So this was another change too.
I also take parasite cleansing herbs every month or so. This involves taking a high does of raw garlic, black walnut hull, wormwood and cloves. I gradually increase the dose on these herbs until I get to a maximum does of 8 pills wormwood, 8 pills of cloves, 2 pills of black walnut and 2 cloves of raw garlic. Sometimes I get a bit of a headache the first couple days of doing this, but afterwards this goes away. Usually I feel a surge of energy towards the end of taking these herbs.
I also started smoking during this time. I use a pipe with raw organic tobacco. I generally smoke once per day in the evenings; usually before I sit down to do any serious reading or writing. This tends to help me in these activities. I haven’t noticed any ill effects from the smoking. I was a little scared that it might have an affect on my lungs, but I haven’t noticed any. I can still run 4-6 miles every other day without feeling short of breath, so I don’t think smoking has any ill effects when it comes to health or exercise ;)
This whole regimen keeps me pretty healthy and mentally balanced for the most part. There are times when I do feel a bit depleted in serotonin and a little on edge. For this, I would like to start taking more 5-HTP and GABA. I had tried taking 5-HTP during specific times in the past when I felt most depressed, but I had to discontinue this due to financial constraints. I’d like to use this more often if my money situation ever gets better. So far just doing the basics I’ve described above helped keep most of the depression symptoms under control.
As far as health reading goes, I’ve only read The Ultra-Mind Solution and Detoxification and Healing from the recommended books list. Detoxify or Die is going to be one of my next books, I think.
The part in Baker’s Detoxification and Healing about Adrenal Fatigue really stood out for me. I think it was because that I have the classic symptoms of cold hands/feet, low blood pressure, hair loss. I suspect I might have some issues with either thyroid or adrenal hormones, but I’m not sure what exactly. From what I’ve read, both the adrenal and thyroid can be pretty sensitive to heavy metal toxicity, so at some point in the near future I’d like to try Baker’s DMSA detox regimen and see if that helps alleviate any of the symptoms. Otherwise, I’m going to have to find a doctor that specializes in orthomolecular or integrated medicine in my neck of the woods, which isn’t going to be easy. I might have to network around with some of the local holistic doctors/chiropractors and see if they know any doctors that will help with this.
Also, I have difficulties from time to time with bloating. This isn’t often, maybe once or twice a month. It seems to be triggered more from my emotional state rather than anything specific that I eat. Usually I notice it most in the evenings. I’ve found that if I take a couple pills of activated charcoal, this calms my tummy down enough to where I can sleep peacefully. I don’t know if there is something I’m not addressing in my diet to help with this, or maybe I just need to make sure I watch my stress level, which tends to bring on more of these episodes. Any feedback would be appreciated here.
Also, I noticed that when I’ve made treats with large amounts of Xylitol, I’ve had similar feelings of bloatedness. I’m wondering if this might be a sign of yeast die-off from the Xylitol since this stuff claims to be anti-microbial to some extent. It also got me thinking that the other times I’ve felt bloated might be a die-off symptom as well. I’m not sure if this is the case, however.
