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Hi All,
This is going to be a long post. As it is my first, I will try to be as graphic as possible ;)Over the past few months, I have gotten into Ray Peat’s stuff and this website. I have eaten low calorie, paleo, low carb, etc., for a few years now. The effects, in retrospect, have been less than stunning. I originally got into paleo because I had asthma, dry scalp, reflux, eczema, digestive issues (I can’t remember having regular bowel movements over a long period, I tend to be prone to diarrhea/burning stool, though not always) and chronic insomnia. Also, I’ve played sports most of my life and have recently become enamored by Olympic-style weightlifting. Again, the results from the paleo diet were less than stunning when it came to athletic performance. I decided to go low carb and see how I responded. I was already at about 100g carbs a day and decided to go lower. Again, colossal failure, I actually ended up ballooning up in weight and my health issues got worse.
These past few months I have started eating a lot more carbs. I started out with milk, fruit juice, etc. to the tune of about 300-400 gm sugar a day, and found that too much of any juice or sugar gives me bloating, burning stool, similar to spicy food. Milk also makes me need to go quickly. I have tried all kinds, including lactose free, which works best for me though I still get bloating/have to go. I have noticed that whenever I have digestive issues, my other problems crop up too.
So of late I have been eating foods that I can digest easily. Basically about 5 russett potatoes a day, shrimp, hard cheese, oysters, and lean ground beef to get enough nutrition while getting enough calories and digesting them. This is working well and all my issues are very improved. My training recovery is also world’s better, but it’s a pretty limiting diet. I’m not a nazi about it and I do go out with friends cut loose eating and drinking whatever once in a while. I always end up feeling shitty the next day if I eat sugary/spicy/acidic foods though. I would love to not have to worry about this shit anymore than the average person. IT’s also frustrating for me that foods that should be good/healthy according to this nutritional paradigm and taste good (fruit, sugar, milk, ice cream, etc.) cause me issues.
TLDR: My question is do you that issues like IBS and reflux from certain foods improve over time as they improve their metabolic rate, etc. My temperature usually runs high, especially at around 8pm, leveling off by about midnight, when I fall asleep. I’m betting this is due to high sympathetic activity and not due to parasympathetic/thyroid hormone based heat. Judging from testimonials, I am betting I’m not nearly as bad off as some of the people on this site, but I still want to improve.
Anyway, I’m glad to be slowly trying to reverse the shit-show that being healthy in the 21st century has become.
CheersHey there!
I’m a Peater too, so thought I’d chime in with some tips.First, if you’re making progress in just a couple months, I’d say you’re definitely on the right track. I Peated for a long time but didn’t make much progress at first because I wasn’t eating enough. Re-feeding with 180d principles started to move things along. And now I’m trying to do a Peaty-180 combo.
Don’t worry if foods that are “supposed” to make you feel good just don’t. Maybe those foods just don’t work for you (right now anyway… hopefully better in the future, but there are no guarantees with anything)– but over time, yes, IBS and reflux issues will get better it your metabolism increases.
Concerning dairy, I can still only tolerate certain kinds and only so much. If milk or ice cream doesn’t work for you right now, then leave them out- it’s pretty common to have issues with those. You can keep trying other kinds of dairy. Hard cheeses, as you noted. Also, a lot of Peaters do well with Greek yogurt, sometimes restraining it to get out more lactic acid, even though yogurt isn’t necessarily Peaty. To re-strain, just put a coffee filter into a colander and dump the container of yogurt into the filter- leave it to strain overnight- the liquid whey will drain out and you can discard it and eat the yogurt.
If fruit is bloating you right now… have you tried cooked fruit? Peaches, plums, apples, pears, etc. The cooking should make them easier to digest. You can also add some sugar while they cook if you want them sweeter.
If you were low carb for a long time, your body may just need a while to get used to processing sugar and fruit again. Think of it like a vegan trying to reintroduce meat. The enzymes to digest that food haven’t been used in a while so the body needs some time to remember what to do. It might be uncomfortable (bloating, reflux, etc) for a while, but it’s pretty common so don’t worry too much about it right now if you continue to feel better in other areas.
Another analogy that might be helpful: people with anorexia who go through a re-feed often have really bad stomach issues for a while (bloating, gas, reflux, slow stomach emptying, nausea, etc). Their bodies aren’t used to processing a lot of foods (and their metabolism are likely slow). Even though re-feeding is uncomfortable, it’s a necessary part of the recovery process for a lot of people. So, even though you have reflux and bloating right now, it could be a good sign that your body is slowly re-learning how to digest sugars, dairy, etc.If the diet feels limiting, a lot of Peaters incorporate starch and grains into their diets, even though starches aren’t strictly Peaty. But experiment and see what works for you- well cooked oatmeal, rice, etc. If eating grains makes the diet tolerable and makes your life easier, then no biggie to include them, especially if they don’t bother you.
You might already know a lot of this, but just thought I’d give some words of encouragement- it sounds like you’re going in the right direction.
One more thought I had- you mentioned sugar caused tummy trouble. Have you tried making a simple syrup instead if using sugar granules? Sometimes dissolving the sugar first helps with digestive problems. Also, you can always try honey, maple syrup, etc. Peat says these items might have allergens, but if you don’t have bad reactions from honey or syrup, then you could try using those.
Hey AnnaB, thanks for the tips. I thought I would give an update. A big improvement came when I cut out my multi-vitamin. I was taking MVP-365, it’s a good quality one with activated forms of the b-vitamins. For whatever reason it messed with my digestion, causing gas which was speeding up transit time and causing reflux. It’s funny because I’ve never taken other supplements (powders, stimulants etc.) because I was concerned about how they might affect my health issues. But while I was low carbing I took this multi-vitamin/mineral supplement because I couldn’t get enough vitamins through diets and I figured it was harmless. Guess not. With the amount of nutrient dense foods I am eating now, I dont need it anyway. Since cutting it out last week, my problems with sugar and milk (as long as it’s lactose free, haven’t retried normal milk yet) are gone. So now it’s just coffee and spicy foods that give me trouble. Though I’m expecting that to improve too.
So yeah, if you guys are having trouble with digestion, maybe try to cut out the multi-vitamin and mineral supps. It helped me tremendously. I only take vitamin k2, unique-e, some vitamin d once a week, and zinc now. All 4 I’ve reintroduced after cutting all supps out to ensure they don’t bother me.
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