Hey amigos. Just wanted to let the 180 faithful know that a lengthy article of mine on the topic of addiction was recently posted at another blog. Please check it out. There are some valuable lessons for everyone there, as addiction is something that effects us all in some way or another.
http://adventuresinrecovery.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/addiction-lack-of-nourishment/
Also, I’ve got some bad news. I spent yesterday in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, looking for my personal hero – Big Mac eating champion Don Gorske. I came up empty handed. Sorry to let you guys down. It’s probably best though. I might’ve screamed and then fainted shortly thereafter if I had seen him – like a 12-year old Japanese girl in the 80’s upon seeing the King of Pop.
Talking about addiction… to starvation, what do you think about malnutrition as a possible cause of anorexia and other eating disorders?
The mainstream literature is pretty focused on psychosocial factors and genetic differences in brain chemistry, but it seems to me that the neurotransmitter imbalances thought to make one susceptible to eating disorders, like serotonin and dopamine, could just as well be due to pre- and postnatal malnutrition, sugar, stimulants, etc, a la Schwarzbein.
interesting thought, my mother was addicted to cigarettes, alcohol and food throughout and beyond her pregnancy and i always thought i became anorexic because I was terrified of being an "addict" like her but in the ened developed my own addiction "anorexia".
J
Matt,
Good job on the addiction article.
I couldn't find Don Gorske on twitter. You think someone would have at least faked a "Gorske" account, but surprisingly no. I looked around 20 minutes and failed to find anyway one could go about contacting him.
GROSKE it's the 21st century come on man, the big-mac champion of the universe should have a twitter account.
-Mike
Mike C –
Agreed. Step up Mac Daddy.
As for the other comments, it appears that nutrition has a direct bearing on neurotransmitter profiles. Anorexia is also an addictive lifestyle, as hunger and the resultant stress hormones lift beta endorphin levels. Low beta-endorphin levels, or low levels of receptor sites for beta endorphin, is the typical root cause for addictions to anything overstimulating. This could be starvation, drugs, alcohol, refined sugar and other 'sweets,' overexercising, and so on.
Nice article Matt. My cravings for sweets gradually disappeared on a non-calorie-restricted whole foods diet as well. I don't take or crave any kind of drug either, although I'll indulge sometimes for pleasure.
I used to be incapable of being in the same room as sweets without stuffing my face. Now my roommates will leave chocolate, cookies etc. on the table for days and I won't have the slightest desire to eat them. They think it's willpower, but it isn't. Willpower is overrated.
Thanks Stephan. Amazing isn't it? "Willpower is overrated" is a great phrase. You better hold on to that one.
I don't even know what willpower is. To be healthy you have to want to eat healthy foods at the exclusion of all else. That is the trick. That's why I think the formulaic approaches of Schwarzbein and DesMaisons is so powerful. They work.
I relate so much to your story, although I was never a really big sweets craver. I did try a lot of ridiculous cleanses, fasts, and veggie lifestyles before figuring out that I was a skinny, unhealthy dude and started to eat well again.
Still, I wonder what I've done to my metabolism with the years of undereating. I still feel unusually cold at times and have sluggish digestion. Ideally I'd be able to eat lots of food to rev my metabolism back up, but with the sluggish digestion, it's uncomfortable to do so.
I've been thinking about trying metabolism-boosting herbs to get everything back in order so I can eat adequately. What do you think about using herbs as a jump-starter to overcoming years of metabolic destruction?
Or, in other words, what is one to do when digestion is too screwed to try and HED things up and there's NO WAY to get glandular support… And even if you manage to get your digestion moving, is this enough to fix any damaged metabolism? I mean, can one, being in a severely fucked state, skip the use of glandular supp by any means? (plz say yes)
Hey Mattie,
Thanks for the post. It bumped my blog stats up quite a bit. Of course I will be covering other issues on there that are related to addiction other than food but for sure it is a major piece of the puzzle..
Pipxx
Hi Matt,
Just want to say a quick hello and mention a couple things/questions.
I feel like I am getting MORE confused the more I read your blog lately. As I mentioned elsewhere, I managed to get pregnant in August after my posts in June about infertility and diet.
My digestion is crap now. I haven't really been able to drink water w/o immediately getting gas. I constantly have indigestion. Food soothes it – but it can't be too much food. I just got back into raw milk (had been having whole grassfed, but homogenized and pasteurized). Everything tastes different to me. I know i need protein but it doesn't appeal to me, and though I loved veggies right now they don't appeal either except in soup. I am much more into refined carbs. I have been enjoying (sorry Sally Fallon) (eek) Cereal with Milk. Yes, super processed and refined – actually craved CORN POPS. I've switched to Barbara's Bakery version of Life cereal. I eat every 2-4 hours and I feel like my life revolves around food. I'm 13 wks pregnant.
Do you, or anyone out there who has been pregnant, have any suggestions about foods or food combos I might tolerate and be healthy for me and the baby?
Thanks, Amanda – not to be confused with the lovely "team" Amanda who already has a second child.
I would personally suggest that you stay away from anything that tastes sweet. So if you want refined carbs, then try to stick to refined un-sweet carbs, like bread and pasta, rather than sugar. If you're really craving something sweet, then have honey or fruit, but have it in moderation. What you eat now will have a profound effect on what your child craves and eats.
I would personally suggest that you stay away from anything that tastes sweet. So if you want refined carbs, then try to stick to refined un-sweet carbs, like bread and pasta, rather than sugar. If you're really craving something sweet, then have honey or fruit, but have it in moderation. What you eat now will have a profound effect on what your child craves and eats.
to the other amanda :)…when i was pregnant with this second child not too long ago i had hopes of having the perfect diet with no junky or non nutrient dense foods. didn't happen that way. pregnancy does crazy things to us. i would stay away from cereal. if you like oatmeal you can actually cook it in milk or cream and butter, which i recently discovered, and then the butter doesn't sit on top in pools which makes me gag even when i am not preg. haha. have you tried fruit smoothies? that is what i lived on. try to get heavy cream (not UHT if possible) and use coconut milk and/or coconut oil if you like them and add raw egg yolks if you have a good source.
do you like potatoes or sweet potatoes? loaded baked potatoes with as much cheese, sour cream, butter and bacon as you can stand, or sweet potato gratins, which i have been making lately with lots of cream and gruyere cheese. awesome! i couldn't stand red meat when i was pregnant unless it was ground beef in spagetti sauce or lasagna.
oh, i was gonna say that coconut oil is fabulous for taking away sweet cravings. after my first baby was born (semi-nutritious SAD) i discovered WAPF and started downing coconut oil up to about 1/2cup a day or more and man was that great for making me not want anything sweet. probably all the fat that i wasn't getting before.
oh, and you gotta try the chicken and broccoli cream soup in matt's 180kitchen book! it is soooo delish! and full of nutrients and fat. i am hoping matt posts info about how to make pumpkin pie without the sugar, if he even makes such a thing, b/c then you could make that and pile it with cream or creme fraiche. i made one the other day, had sugar unfortunately, but it had cream cheese, butter and cream in it and i piled my small pieces with fresh creme fraiche. amazing breakfast food. :)
anway, if you need more suggestions let me know.
…the amanda from TeamSmith
oh, amanda, i forgot about eggs. i couldn't stand cooked eggs, but i could eat raw yolks in smoothies. but you could also make egg salad or deviled eggs or quiche.
Amanda,
Pregnancy is a major hormonal upheaval. Changes in digestion, cravings, etc. are often quite violent.
Do what you can to take charge of your cravings instead of being victimized by them. The other Amanda gave some good advice.
Sorry for the confusion, but I don't like residing under umbrellas of dogma such as low-carb. I'm definitely no vegan, just wanted to show that low-carb science was oversimplified, which it is.
When it comes to your pregnancy, keeping your health in its best condition is all you can do. Doing so is more complex than just eating "x" healthy diet.
But most of your symptoms sound like a jump in insulin resistance and hyperglycemia to me. Pregnancy puts quite a strain on your overall metabolism and your neurotransmitter network.
When you're pregnant, your life SHOULD revolve around food though. That's nothing to view negatively. But it sounds like the only thing you can bear eating are addictive, sugary, beta-endorphin-spiking sweets.
I think you'll find strict avoidance of refined carbohydrates as well as anything that tastes overly sweet to be a big help. That will most likely shift your food preferences back to more wholesome things – otherwise you're going to continue to want cereal, white bread, pizza, cookies, candy, and fruit at the exlusion of all else.
Don't stress about it too much though. Just hang in there and try to be consistent. Follow the advice of Kathleen DesMaisons and/or Schwarzbein, and or me in 180Metabolism (minus the carb-restriction) to get those cravings under control.
Ryan –
I don't know if you've had time to review the last issue of my eZine, but it was on this very topic. My own digestion was improved more by eating in a way that stressed my digestion than anything I've ever done. You must raise the metabolism to improve the digestion, not improve the digestion to improve the metabolism.
Digestion works in strange ways. For example, eating vegan my digestion was great – because vegan fare is so simple to digest and passes through so quickly. Upon returning to mixed meals, I got constipated. Things were very sluggish. Instead of returning to that which was easy to digest, I challenged my digestion even further by going overboard with meal size and complexity. This made constipation really bad, and my digestion was the worst it's been in 6 months. After 2 weeks, everything became totally flawless though. It just took persistence.
I liken digestion to exercise, and this isn't a totally outrageous parallel. If you have a slow, sluggish, and weak body – do more exercise, longer and harder, to improve physical fitness. Take the same mindset towards digestion and see what happens. I think you, like many others who've tried it, will be pleasantly surprised.
Read that eZine.
Anonymous,
Yes, you can make dramatic improvements to your health and metabolism without glandular support from supplements or dessicated glands.
Pregnant Amanda,
If it's any consolation, you'll probably feel much, much better during the second half of your pregnancy. All I could eat during the beginning of mine was spaghetti-o's and croissants — I couldn't even gag down anything hearty, like brown rice, oatmeal, or broccoli. My digestion was a disaster. But I got over it and was soon eating like a champ.
Best of luck to you!
It is certainly interesting for me to read that article. Thank you for it. I like such topics and anything that is connected to them. I definitely want to read a bit more on that blog soon.
Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I feel supported and less alone. I had more energy today so I am hoping I'm getting the 2nd trimester 2nd wind. I did have sugar (Thai Iced Tea) today, and I could tell it made me feel not great.
Today I ate: oatmeal with lots of butter and a tiny bit of maple syrup and some chopped pear, mint tea with milk and a little sugar, 2 eggs, cheese and butter on a hero 1/2 as snack & 1/2 as early lunch. 1/2 Thai cashew nut chicken, salad, spring roll for late lunch. then the tea :(. PM snack – finished the Thai chicken and white rice. Dinner was homemade lentil soup, whole wheat sourdough with lots of butter and brie. I've eaten 6 times today.
Team Smith –
I like the smoothie idea. Could you tell me what fruit combos you used that you liked? Did you use raw milk at all or just coconut milk? I do love quiche, and cheese, and potatoes and sweet potatoes.
You can make a pumpkin custard using the same ingredients as for a pie, but leave out the sugar or just put in a little dark maple.
I like egg salad, but I feel weird about using Hellman's, which is the only mayo I like. Do you make you own? I've done it, but not the WAPF cultured version from NT, just a regular french kind of aioli.
Matt – Thanks for your comments. You've got me worried with the insulin resistance idea, but maybe that's what I need to get my butt in gear. Do you think I should start eating coconut oil? I think I'd need to hide it b/c oils make me gag right now. I can hardly brush my teeth. Ideas for hiding it? And what about the guar gum – I missed your discussion of what is bad about it and I think Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk has it. Should I eat all the cheese I want?
I do need to say in my own defense, I am really not into candy, cookies, or pizza, but bland white things do appeal. Veggies I can eat if someone puts in front of me but I can't stand the idea of them for some reason.
Anonymous – I'm really going to try to avoid the sweet foods
Thanks again guys, I'm off to nibble on some brie…
Matt,
I just saw your comment on my blog from about a month ago. Thanks for checking it out, and I responded. I'm up to signs part X now. Was going to escape when I hit 100 SIGNS mandatory, but I'm STILL HERE!! Keep up the good work.
Matt,
I know this is not the right thread for it but when i woke up this mornin i suddenly had to think of Bruce (almighty) K.
You know what has become of him?
I have been watchin the news all the time…you know he said he and his HED would be in every TV show by now…
unfortunately I wasn't following your blog from like march to october and have just started following you again.
So Matt what is your current recommendation for fat loss, I've been doing the Schwarzbein thing (as best I can) and I've yet to see an amazing transformation. I went from a very sickly 115 to about 175 on her program, my gain was much needed. Luckily I carry my extra weight pretty well, but I'm ready for the magical whoosh to happen.
Anonymous,
Don't even think about losing weight right now. Keep nourishing yourself well. You need to spend years recovering from a "sickly 115," assuming that this was a very emaciated 115.
Jannis,
Bruce is pretty quiet these days. He does have a blog now, to which I contribute, called Forget About Diets on blogger. Nothing too crazy coming from it yet, but his HED guidelines are there and in tip-top shape.
Pregnant Amanda –
I can see that you're trying to squeeze in sugars in any way you can. I doubt you'll succeed eating just a little maple syrup or pounding some big smoothies in the morning. That will keep other foods looking more undesirable and make sweets look increasingly desirable. With sweets out of the diet, tastes change. There's nothing wrong with fruit of course, but if eating it makes everything else unappealing due to the addictive allure of the sweetness, then you better watch your back.
Keep us posted as to how everything is going. Sounds tough. We're pulling for ya.
Matt,
can you give me a URL? I googled it but couldn't find it.
Good to hear that he'got to facts again. I really appreciated his work before he decided to do whatever it was he did.
Do you actually know what this show was all about? As I said unforatunately I wasn't able to follow your blog-due to a work&travel so thatI don't know the circumstances
Bruce's blog is:
http://forget-about-diets.blogspot.com/
Bruce has some psychological problems, but when he"s on he's on. There's no doubt about it.
Thanks, Matt! Looks like pretty interesting stuff. I wil definitely follow his blog.
I didn't know that he really had some psychological problems. Thought he just wanted to annoy some people.
Makes me feel sorry for the comment above.
Hey Matt,
So I went to the Crossfit sponsored Barry Sears Zone Seminar over the weekend. I had been doing HED for a couple of weeks and was feeling ok. I probably wasn't eating tons of calories but I was basically avoiding most sugars and fruits. My weight has been the same since the beginning of November, around 208. Anyways, on to my question. The underlying theme of a lot of approaches (Zone/Paleo/etc) is to minimize inflammation. I think you would agree that that is a nobel goal. My question is in regards to saturated fat. I had never heard this before but Sears says to favor monounsaturated fats over saturated because saturated fats activate the inflammatory NF-kB pathway. I'm no chemist so I can't validate or refute his statement. Have you ever heard anything in regards to this?
Updating on my own metabolism, I cut down the fat a lot while eating some protein and moderate carbs. This saturated fat thing has me a little spooked. My weight has stayed stable even though I'm sure I've cut the calories some since Monday. My morning temperature (oral) has been consistently in the upper 97 area. I really wanted to come out of the seminar without changing my diet but I was unsuccessful. I'm now Zoning…it must be all the success he has had with elite level athletes. Thanks for your help Matt, always appreciated.
P.S. Barry Sears is a good guy. I was able to talk to him on the side and he has a very level-headed approach on things.
Beta-endorphins are not the only endogenous opioid peptides… a great deal of what you're eating now is loaded with compounds that stimulate endogenous opioids. Dairy, grains… even sunlight does it.
It's not necessarily a bad thing – it depends on how your body handles it. Some people are naturally low producers of endorphins and other endogenous feel-good peptides and those are the people who reach for things like dairy, grains, chocolate, caffeine, etc. to pick up their mood. They're also the ones who often suffer from seasonal affective disorder from lack of sunlight.
This is not to say that it's good to have caffeine or sugar – it isn't – but just that you're not necessarily eliminating opioids from your life by eliminating those things from your diet.
About digestion: It really puzzles me as well because one day i eat my meals containing fat, starches, protein and sugars and have perfect digestion. Next day i get terrible indigestion, maybe a little diarrhea… Another day perfect again! I started to take Lugol's now, maybe this changes something…
and when Lugol's does not help… I must jump on the low carb wagon again, because i have perfect digestion on just beef, butter, cooked carrots, salt and bananas…
I'm in week 3 of HED. First two weeks were brilliant, with temp rising, incredibly good mood, no weight gain despite massive eating of butter and starch. But this week I went off coffee all the way….and oh I am mourning it. MUCH harder than giving up sugar.
And digestion? What digestion? Not. moving.
The object is not to remove beta-endorhpin stimulating activities. Humans need endorphin-generating things in their lives. DesMaisons is all about beta-endorphin producing activities such as reasonable exercise, or going to the park, etc.
It's more a matter of removing that which creates huge spikes and withdrawal symptoms. Drugs do that to a degree greater than what can be achieved by sitting by a warm fire, sunbathing, or going on a leisurely walk.
Nell –
Did your digestion stop moving once you took out caffeine, or was it already stalled? For me, it took 2-3 weeks to get the bowels moving eating big.
Mark –
I hope to meet Barry someday. I don't think any of his athletes beat out HED poster boy Michael Phelps in the pool lately though. Give the Zone a shot. I think many will do well on it. But eliminating saturated fat doesn't really fix anything. The body still manufactures it at will from other substances. Plus, the primary source of truly troublesome inflammation comes from damage done by glycation (from high blood sugars), free radical damage done by oxidized PUFA's, and chronic low-grade infection caused by low-body temperature. Saturated fat's supposed inflammatory role is insignificant in comparison. Cutting out saturated fat to lower inflammation is like flying on a private jet and recycling to help the environment.
"Did your digestion stop moving once you took out caffeine, or was it already stalled? For me, it took 2-3 weeks to get the bowels moving eating big."
Are you getting your rest? Maybe you are mourning caffeine because you aren't getting enough Zs. I've found a strong link between sleep and digestion. Poor digestion=trouble sleeping, sleepless nights =worse digestion. Etc. Do what you have to do to get some rest and it might fix both your problems.
"But this week I went off coffee all the way….and oh I am mourning it. MUCH harder than giving up sugar."
Instead of going cold turkey it *might* help to follow Schwarzbein's suggestion and go to green tea for a while and then wean yourself off that. She also suggests trying to steadily reduce your dosage instead of going cold turkey, going from a 2 cups a day to 2 cup a day this week, half a cup a day in a week or two and so on.
Hey, Matt, what's your take on probiotics and hcl supplementation. Can they help one raise the metabolism? Specially if they allow you to eat more and assimilate better. I doubt eating as best and as much as posible is enough for everyone. You may make symptoms of your SIBO, etc. worse. Maybe one should try to control that aspect (pylori-low hcl-severe and chronic indigestion) before trying to raise the metabolism by gorging. I mean, can't the inflamation and stress from starting such a measure be more than what your body can handle and cause more damage than what eating freely can fix? I'm not saying eating ins't pivotal to getting out of the shit hole many of us are in, I'm just want you to consider ways of getting out the horrible, but HORRIBLE, state that is needing to eat but having a body that won't let you.
I did wean myself from coffee, adding more and more decaf every day, so no headache or anything when I quit. But wow can I feel the lack of endorphins. Digestion was super slow before stopping caffeine, but now it's ground to a dead halt.
Although my digestion was crummy before HED. Anonymous, I'm taking hCl and enzymes, they definitely help. I think skipping some high fiber stuff like beans and salad has got to help too. Eventually. lol.
I'm on a strict light out at 10 pm, and that's gotta be a good thing. Hair and skin looking much better, undereye circle have diminished about 75%.
Thanks for the suggestions, peeps. I guess I can always try a day-long fruit and veg smoothie if I have to.
Sorry I've got an unrelated question. Well, it's related to your recent blood sugar experiment, which I followed very closely.
Your experiment inspired me to buy a blood sugar meter. Here's the strange part: my fasting glucose is always 120, whereas my post-meal glucose is between 97 and 105.
For instance, I just ate a baked potato with butter. Before my meal, my glucose was 120, and about ten minutes after the meal, by glucose was 105.
Is this normal? What's going on? Thanks.
Hi Nell,
You can try the suppliment Triphala, Which is an Indian fruit that helps to tone the bowel and get it all moving again and they are not habit forming. One bottle should do the trick and keep it all flowing. It's a nice gentle suppliment and will not irritated the bowel like laxatives
Damn Nell. Don't keep "plugging" along unless you do notice some softening going on. Sounds like other indicators are looking good. It can't be too long before those bowels start to loosen. A fruit day would probably be a nice break, and may even rev you a little. Just don't do it everyday! 2 weeks after my 2 week vegan thing was the most constipated I've ever been since I was a kid.
Anonymous –
That is the question isn't it? That's a hard one to answer. In the past I've suggested to people that it may be more prudent to bring the metabolism back up closer to normal with glandulars before trying to eat like a P-I-G hog.
SIBO is most likely caused by a low metabolism though, and raising that body temp might really start to bring it under control. I don't think just going for it and giving it hell is too "sketchy," but that's up to you to decide. If it helps, I once thought I had poor digestion and tried to tiptoe around it too. 2 weeks of forcing myself into submission and being pretty aggressive changed everything. Everything.
D –
That is odd indeed d-meister. Sounds like your adrenals keep the blood sugar elevated when no food is in the pipe. Do you eat very little? Are you under a lot of stress? Do you suspect some kind of chronic infection? Are you ill or coming down with something? Do you go a long time in between meals? Are you sleeping poorly or do you have odd and irregular sleep patterns?
Let us know what works to bring it down.
Yes I do go a long time between meals, although I eat a lot. (I'm trying to gain weight). With a lot of experimentation, I've found that the only way I can wake up without that 'hangover' feeling in the morning is if I do a sort of leangains.com approach to my eating. If I don't do some fasting things like amines affect me a terribly.
For dinner tonight I had half a large cheese pizza, and one hour later my blood sugar was 166. I've run out of the damn testing strips, so that's all the data I have for now, but isn't that really high? I don't feel any different, but the numbers are starting to worry me. I'm underweight, and I'm confused with my numbers.
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Love the text on addiction. It sounds exactly like my experience, going from severe sugar addiction (cravings every hour) to no cravings after only a few days on RRARF. It was the biggest surprise of my life!
In addition to sweets and primarily dark chocolate, I also used to be super addicted to tea, and I thought it was a healthy thing…lol…..All this from early childhood….and now I wonder why I'm sick as a dog with chronic disease, not able to function or hold a job…..I'm living the nightmare….
It's definitely a super powerless feeling to have sugar cravings. I am sure it's as strong as any other addiction. As a kid I never got cavities, and I never got overweight and I never got diabetes, so I figured I could get away with eating sweets….oh what a mistake….but also, I told myself that cause I was so deeply addicted, life without sweets just didn't seem worth living. A child addict….terrible. Oh well that's behind me now. Thank you RRARF for this most unexpected health improvement!!!!