"Life Without Bread"

[Laura]

Lately I've been having a period of feeling very sleepy after lunch/breakfast. On the on hand I think that I need to try to figure out what is going on, on the other hand it reminds me of the old tradition of having a nap after eating so common amongst certain cultures. Although who's to say that the popular nap doesn't follow a heavily loaded carbohydrate meal?...

Is anyone else experiencing this?

The simple answer to that question is yes! :)

The quotes that Laura has provided explain the fatigue during the transition (currently on day 26 (at 20g or just lower), with potentially two more weeks to go!). Increasing fat via ghee/butter is helping the process (fat is the only thing that I've not really measured to see if I'm at the recommended level).

Yeah, I'm struggling along with the sleepies half the day too! I'll be taking L-glutamine tomorrow morning before breakfast and then again, before my second meal of the day to see how that does. Also added back fish-oil.

I am really noticing all kinds of things going on with the body while I persist in moving it through these changes and I do wonder if some of it is incipient DNA changes? That's one thing that stands out for me in all the reading we've been doing: what you eat determines DNA activation or suppression. Who knows what we will discover in the course of this experiment?

 

[Laura]

It's possible that I got some kind of bug, or maybe it's something else, but since yesterday's evening have strong muscle pains, especially in the right side. It comes and goes, and in the morning it improved a bit (but then had diarrhea), but now the pain, general dizziness and headache have returned (body temperature at 38.2) . I have a sore place in the location of right kidney, and at the beginning thought that maybe hurt this place somehow, but can't remember anything like this. Maybe I am passing a stone, who knows (and do remember pains like this in the past). Maybe that's why the uric acid was so high. But then, I don't experience the agonizing pain as described on various sites about kidney stones (hehe, and hopefully won't). It is very unpleasant and painful, but not agonizing. So could be a bug or infection.

Actually, that sounds sorta like the pancreatitis attack I had a week or so ago after having too many carbs in nuts. Psyche gave me digestive enzymes, boswellia and milk thistle capsules. It cleared right up in a few hours. I won't be doing that again!

The thing is, that just before it happened I ate a meal with pork and sweet potatoes. It was at 19:00 and my first meal for that day because was out of meat and didn't have the chance to buy it earlier.

Are you saying that you went a whole day without eating and then did that? Ummmm.... didn't you have any eggs in the house? A can of sardines? Anything like that? If not, make sure to have some emergency rations on hand at all times. It is VERY important to eat in the morning!

 

[RedFox]

Yeah, I'm struggling along with the sleepies half the day too! I'll be taking L-glutamine tomorrow morning before breakfast and then again, before my second meal of the day to see how that does. Also added back fish-oil.

I am really noticing all kinds of things going on with the body while I persist in moving it through these changes and I do wonder if some of it is incipient DNA changes? That's one thing that stands out for me in all the reading we've been doing: what you eat determines DNA activation or suppression. Who knows what we will discover in the course of this experiment?

I had some L-glutamine before bed last night (on an empty stomach). This morning I nearly had an attack of cramp in my legs (it seems taking it at night dehydrates me - so watch out for that).
However, despite going to bed late and being sluggish in the morning I've yet to experience the tiredness I've been having the last week or so.

As to DNA changes, you may be on to something. My body really is changing a lot (heck I feel like I can breath/get oxygen in more easily). But specifically the DNA changes, I had noticed pain in my right shoulder (and today my left). I'm sure the C's once mentioned pain in the right should as (potentially) being DNA changes.
I've also noticed a few 'shifts' in myself the last few days, almost as if reality has changed (I presume its my perception of it that's changed). Everything seems......easier?

Another thing to note (especially if some people are feeling 'stuck') is gentle exercise like a long walk (or carrying heavy object to the post office ) seems to make a difference. Exercise has always resulted in fatigue and feeling worse for days for me, and initially I get the fatigue/feeling worse/lack of muscle strength.....but then things shift and I have an apparent abundance of energy/heat in my body.
Perhaps doing warriors breath would be another way to get this going.

 

[anart]

I am really noticing all kinds of things going on with the body while I persist in moving it through these changes and I do wonder if some of it is incipient DNA changes? That's one thing that stands out for me in all the reading we've been doing: what you eat determines DNA activation or suppression. Who knows what we will discover in the course of this experiment?

I've been having a very similar experience. I think you're onto something.

 

[SolarMother]

the presence of "love handles"

This brings up something I've thought about ALL my years. ALL my life there has been this done lopped thing with my belly. Were my belly done lopped over my belt. I've always kinda wondered if this was because diapers were wrapped too tight around my waist. This was 25 years before HFCS came out and all food was cooked from scratch.

EXCEPT, jars of baby food in the late 1950's ! And if I'm correct, some baby formula ? Hmmm...

Could be the baby formula, since you have had this belly thing ALL your life.
Although, babies and toddlers do have bellies! Hard to say.
I have love handles on my thighs which began to appear in my 30's. Cellulite too. Haven't figured out why I (some women) have cellulite either.

Shelly Cheval

Laura THANK YOU for these excerpts from "Primal Body, Primal Mind." What a find. They really pull together all your research on diet--especially gluten and dairy free diets, the importance of saturated fat, and make clear the positive effects of a low carb diet.

I heartily second that! Been reading 3 of the food books the last few days along with In An Unspoken Voice, and this added information from Primal Body, Primal Mind really blows me away and seems very important because she speaks of the emotions/adrenals/hormones (emotional body and 'sex center' or instinctual body is what comes to mind for me.) I am thinking this way of eating high fat and low carb is definitely assisting me to release trauma more easily through the intelligence of the body. All the dots being connected as we go along. Great fun-- WOW! :O

Angela

This is day 4 for me on the low carb diet, and I feel really good today. Tuesday and wednesday I felt like I had been hit by a truck, extremely lethargic. I am amazed at how satisfied I feel when just eating meat and fat. I am sooo not hungry between meals, and for me that is amazing. I will keep up with this thread and post my progress also.

Bravo, Angela! Good work.

RedFox

Another thing to note (especially if some people are feeling 'stuck') is gentle exercise like a long walk (or carrying heavy object to the post office ) seems to make a difference.

The fatigue in the afternoon (or all day sometimes) is still with me too. It could be emotionally related for me as well, since trauma is being released and I feel my body needs a lot of rest and recovery right now.
Definitely, walking daily really helps with the stagnation or stuck-ness, as well as a little stretching.

This is quite a transformation/metamorphosis we are all going through.

 

[Keit]

Actually, that sounds sorta like the pancreatitis attack I had a week or so ago after having too many carbs in nuts. Psyche gave me digestive enzymes, boswellia and milk thistle capsules. It cleared right up in a few hours. I won't be doing that again!

Hmm...maybe. Luckily I received a shipment of supplements several days ago, so have all this including L-glutamine. I already started taking them after they came, but guess that the shock for the system was greater.

Btw, could Vit C powder contribute to it too? I've been taking time release tablets until started drinking water with Vit C powder. And it seems like it makes my stomach very sensitive.

The thing is, that just before it happened I ate a meal with pork and sweet potatoes. It was at 19:00 and my first meal for that day because was out of meat and didn't have the chance to buy it earlier.

Are you saying that you went a whole day without eating and then did that? Ummmm.... didn't you have any eggs in the house? A can of sardines? Anything like that? If not, make sure to have some emergency rations on hand at all times. It is VERY important to eat in the morning!

I will. Thank you!

That's one of the things that noticed, that my system became more sensitive and reacts more strongly if I "digest" something "out of order". Either as food or as thoughts!

 

[anart]

I heartily second that! Been reading 3 of the food books the last few days along with In An Unspoken Voice, and this added information from Primal Body, Primal Mind really blows me away and seems very important because she speaks of the emotions/adrenals/hormones (emotional body and 'sex center' or instinctual body is what comes to mind for me.)

Since 'emotional body', 'sex center' and 'instinctual body' are three different things, could you explain your understanding of them? You seem to be using them synonymously.

 

[Keit]

Try drinking more water, and water with salt/electrolytes in - also try useing transdermal magnesium and takeing fish oil. But mostly more water.

Unfortunately, don't have fish oils or transdermal magnesium, but do have both citrate and malate in tablets. With water, I try to drink a lot, but maybe should ease on the salty one because it does irritates my stomach. Maybe I just put too much. Will try less. Thanks, RedFox!

What's for sure, this food experiment has been a good lesson in learning how to maintain proper balance. ;)

 

[Ellipse]

A friend of mine has the same problem with cramps. Magnesium alone does not help, but a combination of calcium and magnesium does. Try this!

I have had leg cramps during sleep for much of my life, and magnesium alone or magnesium+calcium didn't appear to make any difference. The cramps worsened when I went on a low carb diet, but no worse than earlier when I took a diuretic for a couple of years. Drinking broth seems to help, but recently I have also been taking potassium glycinate and I have only had major cramps the one night I forgot to take it. It's not proof, but it might be a clue. I used to eat bananas for potassium, but they're out now and I don't think they helped anyway.

If drinking broth help, perhaps you're in the same situation as 2839:

2839-1

(Q) What causes trouble with the right leg?
(A) Lack of proper eliminations. Thus the necessity for the eliminating of those accumulations and poisons that produce pressures through the alimentary canal and the abdominal area. Hence the necessity for the corrections, or relaxing of the lumbar areas, when the adjustments are given.

BACKGROUND
10/28/42 Letter: "I have pains in back of head, also with stomach, burning in stomach, and also have a lot of pain and cramps. Also I have a lot of trouble with my nerves; don't seem to be able to control my mind - it seems as if things just come to me that I am not even thinking of; try so hard to control with no success. I also have female trouble. Lack of strength. I have trouble with my right leg."

 

[Ollie]

I am really noticing all kinds of things going on with the body while I persist in moving it through these changes and I do wonder if some of it is incipient DNA changes? That's one thing that stands out for me in all the reading we've been doing: what you eat determines DNA activation or suppression. Who knows what we will discover in the course of this experiment?

Fish oil and Evening Primrose oil still being taken though, still with these symptoms. L-glutamine is to be ordered. Re: things going on in the body, things that I've noticed are hypertension, inability to concentrate on anything for any length of time, and skin/scalp itching, specifically.

Something else that occurred, today, whilst writing notes from Levine's three books, my legs tensed up, forcing me to stop writing and to lock them out, to force the tension, and then walk it off round the room (possible fear of releasing trauma energy, of sorting out a process for people to follow (including me)?). Also, the pressure tank on my RO system produced a leak - after replacing the filters - at the tap on top of the cylinder. The engineer suggested that the problem may be resolved by replacing the tap or more likely that the problem was caused by too much pressure in the tank! An allegory for what is happening during this transition?

But specifically the DNA changes, I had noticed pain in my right shoulder (and today my left). I'm sure the C's once mentioned pain in the right should as (potentially) being DNA changes.

During PotS last night both my shoulders were twitching.

Re walking, I walk for half an hour to an hour plus each day - some days it is fast, easy and energising, other days it is the reverse - slow, deliberate (mechanical) and debilitating!

 

[Joe]

Bad news for the coffee addicts...

Drinking coffee with a high-fat meal 'can raise blood sugar to harmful levels'

Drinking coffee after a high-fat meal can raise your blood sugar to potentially harmful levels, a study has found.

Not only are blood sugar levels increased after a fatty meal, but the rise doubles if the meal is followed by caffeinated coffee, researchers discovered.The study used a specially prepared drink containing molecules of fat, known as lipids, enabling researchers to mimic what happens to the body when fat is ingested.

Healthy men drank about one gram of the fat beverage for every kilo of body weight. Six hours later they were given a sugar drink. Typically when sugar is ingested, the body produces insulin, which takes the sugar out of the blood and distributes it to muscles.

But the researchers, from the University of Guelph in Canada, found fat affected the body’s ability to do this. Blood sugar levels were 32 per cent higher than they were when the men had not ingested the fat cocktail.

In further tests, participants received the equivalent of two cups of caffeinated coffee five hours after ingesting the fat beverage. An hour later, they were then given the sugar drink.

The results, published in the Journal of Nutrition, showed blood sugar levels increased by 65 per cent compared to what they were when participants had not ingested the fat and caffeinated coffee.

Study author Marie-Soleil Beaudoin, said: 'Ultimately we have found that fat and caffeinated coffee are impairing the communication between the gut and the pancreas, which could be playing a role in why participants couldn't clear the sugar from their blood as easily.'

She added: 'We have known for many years that people with or at risk of Type 2 diabetes should limit their caffeine intake.

'Drinking decaffeinated coffee instead of caffeinated is one way to improve one's glucose tolerance.

'Limiting the intake of saturated fatty acids found in red meat, processed foods and fast food meals is also beneficial. This study has shown that the effects of these foods can be severe and long-lasting.'

 

[Laura]

Bad news for the coffee addicts...

Drinking coffee with a high-fat meal 'can raise blood sugar to harmful levels'

Drinking coffee after a high-fat meal can raise your blood sugar to potentially harmful levels, a study has found.

Not only are blood sugar levels increased after a fatty meal, but the rise doubles if the meal is followed by caffeinated coffee, researchers discovered.'

This is EXTREMELY dubious. Obviously, they are including fat along with high levels of carbohydrates and calling it a "high fat meal." Somebody should find the original study and find out exactly what they are calling a "high fat meal."

 

[Laura]

I'm having trouble finding the study, but here is additional info from another article.

The bad news about fatty fast food just got worse. Researchers have found that a cup of coffee doubles the adverse health impacts of a greasy meal.

University of Guelph PhD candidate Marie-Soleil Beaudoin, who conducted the study with professors Lindsay Robinson and Terry Graham, found that blood sugar levels spike in healthy people after a high-fat meal followed by caffeinated coffee to levels similar to those of people at risk for diabetes.

The study, published April 1 in the Journal of Nutrition, examined the results of 11 active, healthy men, between 20 and 30 years of age, given one meal consisting of a special lipid concoction that had the saturated fat content of a cheeseburger, large fries and a shake, and six hours later, a second meal of a sugar-laden drink.

When sugar is consumed the body normally produces insulin, which takes sugar from the blood and distributes it to the muscles. But the fat meal apparently interfered with this process leaving blood sugar levels 32-per-cent higher than when the men had not ingested the fat beverage.

In the second part of the study, test subjects were given two mugs of coffee five hours after the fat beverage. An hour later, they were given the sugar drink. The results showed blood sugar levels were 65-per-cent higher than when the subjects had not ingested the fat and coffee. Beaudoin said the severity of the outcome -blood sugar spiking to pre-diabetic levels -was unexpected.

The study also looked at the levels of incretin hormones, which are released in the gastro-intestinal tract to signal the pancreas to release insulin to dissipate sugar in the blood. Ingesting the fat beverage seemed to blunt the hormones' responses to carbohydrates. In short, fat and caffeine impaired communication between the pancreas and gut, making it more difficult for the body to remove sugar from the blood.

One of the more troubling aspects of the study's findings is that the effects of a high-fat meal can last for hours. What you ate for breakfast can affect how your body responds to food for the rest of the day.

The take-away from all this is that if you start your morning with a coffee and a doughnut -Tim Hortons oldfashioned dipped or glazed delivers 19 grams of fat, of which nine grams are saturated fat -Beaudoin suggests you might consider skipping the doughnut. And if you are already at risk of diabetes, cutting down on caffeine is probably a good idea.

Not to leave the subject on a note of denial and deprivation, there is some good news in research on blood sugar as well. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts have found that red wine and tea help prevent the spike in blood sugar immediately after a meal. Results published recently in the Journal of Food Biochemistry show red wine was able to inhibit the activity of the enzyme alpha-glucosidase, which triggers the absorption of glucose by the small intestine, by nearly 100 per cent. A specific type of antioxidants, polyphenolics, are thought to play an important role in slowing the passage of sugar into the blood stream. Red wine was found to contain about 10 times more polyphenolics than white wine. Black tea was also effective in inhibiting the activity of alpha-glucosidase.

The antioxidants in wine and tea have received much positive press for their health benefits -from managing heart disease, lowering high blood pressure and even preventing cancer. Perhaps we can add to that list controlling type 2 diabetes and its complications.

If we're reading the research properly, it seems that replacing coffee with black tea and enjoying a glass of red wine with a meal will help mitigate some of the damage we do to ourselves with our eating habits.

We'd do ourselves a favour by simply avoiding high-fat fast food and refined sugar. For most of us, that's all it would take to control blood sugar levels.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Fatty+fast+food+coffee+make+damaging+combination/4559338/story.html#ixzz1UBjkgMeh

 

[Laura]

Found it: An Oral Lipid Challenge and Acute Intake of Caffeinated Coffee Additively Decrease Glucose Tolerance in Healthy Men

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/141/4/574

 

[Gaby]

Found it: An Oral Lipid Challenge and Acute Intake of Caffeinated Coffee Additively Decrease Glucose Tolerance in Healthy Men

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/141/4/574

It is by no means a real fat. It is basically microwaved soybean oil with palm stearine, with aspartame added, plus a few toxic stuff. Yikes!!.

This is suicide: vegetable oil followed by sugar drink. Obviously this doesn't concern people on a true low carb diet.

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/141/4/574

Lipid test beverage preparation.

The lipid test beverage was prepared as previously described (49). Briefly, blends of palm stearine and soybean oil (generously provided by Bunge Canada) were chemically interesterified to achieve a random distribution of fatty acids and a ratio of PUFA:SFA of 0.2. The final product was stored at −20°C until use. The FFA composition of the final product was analyzed by GC (Shimadzu) (Supplemental Table 2). On the day of the experiment, the interesterified product was warmed in a microwave oven (General Electric Canada) to reach a liquid state. Warm water (73%) and 2 emulsifiers (Acatris), Myverol (2%), and Tween 80 (0.15%), were added to the liquid fat. To ensure palatability, the drink was artificially flavored with Aspartame, a non-nutritive sweetener, and a commercially available toffee flavoring. The mixture was homogenized with an electric latte whip and served warm (~60°C).