Ultra Simple Diet

[aragorn]

Endymion, that sounds like a interesting book. Hope you don't mind me asking, but what is meant by 'a second wind'?
---
I just recently got a hellish reminder of how eating the wrong kind of food can make you really sick. I've been following the diet that is recommended on our forum since February, which as you guys know excludes dairy, gluten, sugar, coffee, additives, etc. The day before yesterday my wife made a wonderful salad that had Feta cheese in it. I made the decision to taste a little bit of that cheese, just to see what would happen, if anything. I took only two small pieces of Feta cheese, the size of a finger nail.

Immediately I noticed this burning sensation in my mouth, the cheese felt like acid in my mouth! Well, I didn't think much more about it until later that evening I started to have this high pitch whistling noise in my ears. About midnight I woke up with a terrible pain in my colon and this kept me awake the whole night! The pain in my stomach was accompanied by a strange tension in the whole body and I felt really nervous and distressed. So the whole next day was of course ruined since I hadn't slept at all and the symptoms went away only this afternoon. The dairy in the cheese caused also a nasty blister in my mouth which still hurts. It was also interesting to notice how the dairy effected my mood: yesterday and today I've been feeling depressed and lazy, fortunately the things are improving as we speak. :)

Needless to say, I won't be touching any dairy products from now on!

 

[Gaby]

I'm taking 50mg of 5HTP before going to bed (gives me time to do the POTS before it kicks in). My sleeps not been too bad.....what does seem to be a problem for me at the moment is staying up late.....the time just seems to disappear and I find myself at 12am/1am :/
This is another really old program I've still not managed to get to the bottom of.....but it results in me not getting enough sleep and feeling tired/run down (and 'poor me') the next day. It could be related to taking a break as I described above.....

As Endymion pointed out, sleep is very important to recover one's health. Wrap up everything you are doing at 10pm and go to bed, you will feel much better if you allow yourself to have good sleep at the appropriate times :)

Also, 50 mg of 5 HTP is still low. It will help your intestines if you have in average 300mg per day. You can add 50mg at lunch time and dinner time, and then add 50mg every 2 days until you reach a total dose of 300mg per day. You need also around 700mg of magnesium and B6 vitamins so the 5 HTP can convert to serotonin. If you can't tolerate that much magnesium, you can cut the dose.

At the moment I'm having about 4g of L-glutamine first thing in water (with D-ribose and buffered vitimin C), and 4g of L-glutamine in water before bed with the 5HTP. The L-glutamine makes my intestines tingle (in a good way)...it feels like its helping a lot.

6g of L-glutamine per day is the average recommended dose. You can take 4 grams and then 2 grams before going to bed. That will hopefully save you some supplementation ;)

Sweet potatoes is something I've not been eating enough of so will have more of those. Been having the home made apple sauce before meals, and that feels like its helping. Would brown rice pasta be ok?? Or should I look for white rice pasta?

Do try the sweet potatoes, they are very friendly. For IBS purposes, it should be white rice pasta.

Ok, so to add some things to this.....it could simply be the learned behaviour around eating that is the problem, and I simply need to eat more.

It is understandable when you have had so many digestive problems. But as you solve problems, you can definitely and should allow yourself to eat much more :)

I live a pretty sedentary life at the moment. Exercise in the past has at best done nothing, and more often than not made me feel worse for days on end....so perhaps now my diet is changed I should try exercise again? Learnt behaviour getting in the way again.

People with IBS/fibromyalgia type problems often have this problem with vigorous exercise. It can make you feel worse. It is then recommended to do non-strenuous exercise, like walking, a bike ride. Nothing that puts too much stress in your body.

My dreams have been quite emotional recently and I've been confronting some past nightmares (ones I had for half my life) it seems....this time I defeated the protagonist, which unleashed a torrent (it felt like a massive ball encompassing nearly my entire house [self] in the dream) or emotional energy in the for of primal/survival fear.
On waking and re-exploring the dream landscape and the spot left by the protagonist, I can still feel the fear...and had some extremely unpleasant images flash before my eyes involving things being done to me for a split second.....I am unsure if these are perhaps memories related to my high strangeness from childhood or false images?
If I have a almost completely buried emotional trauma of some magnitude (and it feels pretty intense), then I'm thinking that this could be related to weight loss......

It may well be, often one thing is related to another. It sounds like you are doing some detoxification of the body, mind AND soul.

Along the emotional aspect of this, times in the past where I have lost a lot of weight include worrying about loved ones family members (and over committing energetically) or feeling worthless/that life was pointless/had no meaning. Times when I have gained the most weight have been when I have been emotionally accepted 'as I am' and felt like I've had purpose and meaning (even if external).
Trying to grasp purpose at the moment feels blocked from me. Again it seems related to taking a break I mentioned above......lack of joy in my life/self??

Perhaps it will help to journal about it as well. Also:

Sorry for the long reply and potentially going a mile off topic, but these are the the things I'm starting to wonder may be related or even more of a cause than diet itself. Any observations/input on this are welcome....perhaps I should start a new topic related to these things?

I think that is a good idea. Networking works :)

 

[Gaby]

Endymion, that sounds like a interesting book. Hope you don't mind me asking, but what is meant by 'a second wind'?

There is also more info about this book and related material here: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=488.0

 

[mada85]

Endymion, that sounds like a interesting book. Hope you don't mind me asking, but what is meant by 'a second wind'?

Second wind is a phenomenon in distance running, such as marathons or road running (as well as other sports), whereby an athlete who is too out of breath and tired to continue suddenly finds the strength to press on at top performance with less exertion. The feeling may be similar to that of a "runner's high", the most obvious difference being that the runner's high occurs after the race is over.[1] Some scientists believe the second wind to be a result of the body finding the proper balance of oxygen to counteract the build up of lactic acid in the muscles.[2] Others claim second winds are due to endorphin production, while still others believe it to be purely psychological.

Documented experiences of the second wind go back at least 100 years, when it was taken to be a commonly held fact of exercise.[3] The phenomenon has come to be used as a metaphor for continuing on with renewed energy past the point thought to be one's prime, whether in other sports, careers, or life in general.

From _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_wind

:)

 

[3DStudent]

Gurdjieff would call second wind the switching to of another accumulator :P :

”A very important role in the human machine is played by a certain kind of accumulator. There are two small accumulators near each center filled with the particular substance necessary for the work of the given center.

“In addition, there is in the organism a large accumulator which feeds the small ones. The small accumulators are connected together, and further, each of them is connected with the center next to which it stands, as well as with the large accumulator.”

[…]

“Accumulators work in the following way,” he said. “Let us suppose that a man is working or is reading a difficult book and trying to understand it, in which case several ‘tolls’ revolve in the thinking apparatus in his head. …

In the first instance the intellectual center, … draw the energy necessary for their work from the small accumulators. When an accumulator is nearly empty a man feels tired. He would like to stop, … to think of something else if he is solving a difficult problem. But quite unexpectedly he feels an inflow of strength, and he is once more able to … work. This means that the center has become connected to with the second accumulator and is taking energy from it. Meanwhile the first accumulator is refilling with energy from the large accumulator. The work of the center goes on. … Sometimes a short rest is required to insure this connection. Sometimes a shock, sometimes an effort. Anyway the work goes on. After a certain time the store of energy in the second accumulator also becomes exhauster. The man again feels tired.

“Again an external shock, or a short rest, or a cigarette, or an effort, and he is connected with the first accumulator. But it may easily happen that the center has drawn energy from the second accumulator so quickly that the first one has had no time to refill itself from the large accumulator, and has take only half the energy it can hold; it is only half full.

“Having become connected with the first accumulator the centre begins to draw energy from it, whie the second accumulator becomes connected with and draws energy from the large accumulator. But this time the first accumulator was only half full. The centre quickly exhausts its energy, and in the meantime the second accumulator has succeeded in getting only a quarter full. The centre becomes connected with it, swiftly exhausts all its energy, and connects once more with the first accumulator, and so on. After a certain time the organism is brought to such a state that neither of the smaller accumulators has a drop of energy left. This time the man feels really tired. He almost falls down, he almost drops asleep, or else his organism becomes affected, he starts a headache, palpitations begin, or he feels sick.

“Then suddenly, again a short rest, or an external shock, or an effort, begins a new flow of energy and the man is once again able to think, …

“This means that the center has become connected directly to the large accumulator. The large accumulator contains an enormous amount of energy. Connected to the large accumulator a man is literally able to perform miracles. But, of course, if the ‘tolls’ continue to turn and energy which is made from air, food, and impressions continues to pour out of the large accumulator faster than it pours in, then there comes a moment when the large accumulator is drained of all energy and the organism dies. But this happens very seldom. Usually the organism automatically stops working long before this. …

[…]

Our aim … is to learn to connect the necessary center with the large accumulator. So long as we are unable to do this, all our work will be wasted, because we shall fall asleep before our efforts can give any kind of results.

“Small accumulators suffice for the ordinary, everyday work of life. But for work on oneself, for inner growth, and for the efforts which are required for a man who enters the way, the energy from these small accumulators is not enough.

“We must learn how to draw energy straight from the large accumulator.

“This however is possible only with the help of the emotional center. It is essential that this be understood. The connection with the large accumulator can be effected only through the emotional center. The instinctive, moving, and the intellectual centers, by themselves, can feed only on the small accumulators.

“This is precisely what people do not understand. Therefore their aim must be the development of the emotional center. The emotional center is an apparatus much more subtle than the intellectual center, particularly if we take into consideration the fact that in the whole of the intellectual center the only part that works is the formatory apparatus and that many things are quite inaccessible to the intellectual center. If anyone desires to know and understand more than he actually knows and understands, he must remember that this new knowledge and this new understanding will come through the emotional center and not through the intellectual center.”

 

[mcb]

I have identified what I was reacting to in the "shakes," or at least the main thing: flaxseed. I don't think I will be having any more of anything with that in it. I now have a strong reaction (nausea, vomiting) in just a half an hour or so (it used to be much longer), which has allowed me to pinpoint the source. I am hoping that with flaxseed out of the picture I will be able to test for other food sensitivities.

I have not had the same severity of reaction with flaxseed oil, but I have had peculiar sensations that I couldn't connect with a cause, so flaxseed oil is the first thing I will eliminate, along with anything else that contains any form of flaxseed.

It seems ironic that in my efforts so far with elimination diets, I have found no sensitivity to wheat, dairy, or anything except the shakes!

 

[Laura]

Brown rice is generally not too good for IBS sufferers. They do better on white rice.

 

[Nienna]

It seems ironic that in my efforts so far with elimination diets, I have found no sensitivity to wheat, dairy, or anything except the shakes!

Hi Megan,

From this post by Psyche in answer to a question of Mrs. Tigersoap, it says this:

Even worse, the immune response to gluten can last up to 6 months each time you eat it.

So maybe you just haven't given yourself enough time to notice any differences?

 

[Laura]

Yes. I've noticed that people who say they have no sensitivity to wheat and dairy simply haven't found out what it is like to be really gluten and dairy free. Keep in mind that gluten and casein are binding with opiate receptors and the effect is very much like a drug addiction. You may actually feel worse when you stop for a period of time. And then, as you begin to get the drug out of your system, you once again recover your sensitivity to it so that if you take it again, it acts on you more strongly with just a small amount. Unfortunately, as the study found by Psyche shows, it can take months to get completely clear.

 

[Gertrudes]

I was going to start the candida diet (already bought Nystatin), but decided to do the ultra simple diet first. I' ve done it before but it was without having excluded rice or legumes, so I want to give it another try, starting tomorrow. The ultra broth is already boiling in my stove :D

Just a quick question, can I continue drinking herbal tea, or should I just stop it for the time being?

Many thanks!

 

[Gaby]

I was going to start the candida diet (already bought Nystatin), but decided to do the ultra simple diet first. I' ve done it before but it was without having excluded rice or legumes, so I want to give it another try, starting tomorrow. The ultra broth is already boiling in my stove :D

Just a quick question, can I continue drinking herbal tea, or should I just stop it for the time being?

Many thanks!

You can continue with herbal teas

 

[Gertrudes]

You can continue with herbal teas

Oh good. Thank you as always Psyche!

 

[Mrs.Tigersoap]

Insert Quote
Yes. I've noticed that people who say they have no sensitivity to wheat and dairy simply haven't found out what it is like to be really gluten and dairy free. Keep in mind that gluten and casein are binding with opiate receptors and the effect is very much like a drug addiction. You may actually feel worse when you stop for a period of time. And then, as you begin to get the drug out of your system, you once again recover your sensitivity to it so that if you take it again, it acts on you more strongly with just a small amount. Unfortunately, as the study found by Psyche shows, it can take months to get completely clear.

That's true. Last year I had gone gluten free and had not noticed any real positive changes. Thing is, I was still eating gluten because I thought spelt was OK! But several months, when I quit properly, oh my, did I feel it! It was really like shaking an addiction.
And as Psyche was saying in the Estrogen dominance thread, you are sometimes not aware of illnesses or diseases until you stop W&D. I don't know if that can be considered like an illness, but my sense of smell has just gotten really sharper. Suddenly I can smell the mushroomy aroma in a tea, or the 'soapy/flowery' smell of a particular Italian boloney.
My tastebuds are sharper as well. And I had not even noticed that these senses were dulled in the first place until I stopped W&D.

 

[LQB]

In my case, I noticed positive improvement with gluten-free pretty quick (many months ago) and have stayed that way (for good). Dairy was another matter - after about 2 months off, I went back on raw milk grass-fed dairy (mostly cream) and didn't notice any difference. I'm cutting it out again for much longer. I will probably make it permanent after making about a gallon and a half of ghee from raw grass-fed butter. I skimmed of 4 big bowls of white goop that looked like foamy Elmer's Glue. The thought occurred to me that this stuff is downright dangerous to consume. Might even work like Elmer's in a pinch.

BTW, adding some good coconut oil to the warm ghee makes a tasty mixture.

 

[mcb]

So maybe you just haven't given yourself enough time to notice any differences?

I haven't given up, but it is a bit ironic. It is not unheard of to react this way to flaxseed, but it is rare from what I have read. I had trouble even finding information about this type of reaction, but I finally came across this.

When I first had this reaction last winter I returned to what I had previously been eating and I very quickly started to feel much better. There may very well have been an improvement from the elimination diet but, if so, it was masked by the adverse reaction to the flaxseed (and possibly other "shake" ingredients).

Since then I have been gradually replacing suspect foods with better choices, but avoiding supplements while I was on medication because I was constantly having interactions (and having to have frequent blood tests) until I stopped the supplements. The only thing that has been keeping me from starting an elimination diet, apart from needing time to recover from the latest flaxseed reaction, is allowing a few weeks to start to recover from the medication (warfarin sodium), which is also happens to be marketed as a rat poison. I have started taking supplements to hopefully speed up that recovery and I am ready to proceed. The first thing I did, though, was re-test for sensitivity to shake ingredients and sure enough, I have found something to eliminate already!