Peatarian experiment update
In September I shifted my paleo ways towards some recommendations of Ray Peat’s, with the aim of sorting out my hormonal and digestive issues. I did a post of what I was eating.
Plus side:
I got my period back in mid October. My last one was January 2010, and despite being paleo and eating plenty of real food from early this year, there were no improvements until I started slamming the fruit, eggs and dairy. It probably didn’t help that I was still running up until April, working out a lot, and I did lose about half a stone in the first part of the year.
Negs/what I need to tweak:
I was eating plenty of starch in the last month or two, and unfortunately that has led to a few pounds of weight gain, and although I haven’t had any worsening of IBS, my constipation hasn’t improved a bit, but then, of all Peat’s suggestions, I’ve been the laziest about the one that’s supposed to help with bowel elimination/peristalsis, the raw carrot salad.
In general, I think Peat is working fairly well for me, although I need to be stricter with the carrot and go low on starches, eat more fruit and sugar instead. Fat content of my diet is higher than Peat would recommend, going to try to get that from 50% to 25% of calories. What can I say, I love fatty lamb and cheese. Instead I’m going to eat cottage cheese and skimmed milk more, and make more broths rather than eating as much gelatinuous joints, which have a lot of fat as well as gelatin.
My mood is overall better too. I still have bad days especially if it’s been very dark.
Another update to follow, hopefully before the end of the year…!
The Peat-itarian experiment
My version of Ray Peat’s recommendations:
Carbs- rice krispies, potatoes, white rice, fruit and fruit juice.
boiled potatoes and eggs, fried in coconut oil, buffalo cheese
I have the rice krispies most mornings, with fruit and a glass of OJ, lunch is either fruit and something or leftovers from dinner, and potatoes or rice for dinner. I have a dessert including fruit a few nights a week.
ground lamb with a packet of gelatin stirred in, spinach and mashed potatoes
Protein: milk, gelatinous bony lamb or beef, or added gelatin into ground lamb/beef, white fish and shellfish, eggs.
- frozen blueberries and homemade custard
I have full fat milk for breakfast and drink milky coffee a few times during the day. I’ve swapped out yogurt for making custard with cornstach, sugar and milk- I have that a few evenings a week. Most nights I eat either white fish or a bony, gelatinous lamb or beef stew. I eat some vegetables with it, and usually potatoes or rice and butter.
Fat: coconut oil (straight off the spoon and cooking), butter, tallow, cheese
I eat about a tablespoon of straight coconut oil a day and if I’m frying I use the coconut oil or occasionally tallow (more for roasting). I use butter for serving on hot rice or potatoes and I often eat a couple of ounces of cheese with fruit for lunch.
I’ve just started taking some supplements mostly based on what the Jaminets recommend, although this isn’t really recommended by Peat. I’m taking 2g Vitamin C with another 80mg along with the 10mg zinc, 200mcg selenium, 10mg vitamin B6 and 75mg vitamin K, 5mcg vitamin D and 800mg calcium. I take about 40 drops of an agnus castus tincture everyday. Probably about twice a week I take 2-3g of magnesium citrate. I’m adding about 5g a day of sea salt to my food and drinking about 2.5 cups of drip or pressed coffee a day.
So far, only changes to my symptoms- improved sleep and a slight increase in how warm I feel, but axillary temps, both on waking and throughout the day, are still fairly low (34.5-36 degrees Celsius). I also seem to be losing weight as my clothes are looser (I don’t know what I weighed either before or now so I can’t tell for definite) despite the fact I’m eating more calories. Hopefully this won’t continue much as I can’t imagine it’s going to improve the amenorrhea. I thought my carb percentage was higher but when I checked, I’m still getting quite a lot of calories from fat (no bad thing). Some days, 50% as fat, and other days that’s the carbs. Even at that much at, PUFA is usually around 4g/day (less than 2% of calories). Protein is about 20%, although it can be as low as 15% and as high as 35%, from what I’ve seen. I don’t have the time to track my intake every day, although it’s instructive especially from the micronutrient perspective.
Out of frustration, I went to my GP this morning, and she’s going to do a hormone profile including thyroid. She said if they came back in the normal range she would refer me to an endocrinologist or gynaecologist to find out why my amenorrhea is so persistent. For the constipation, she gave me a commercial form of psyllium husk. Pretty benign, so I’m giving it a shot. I should have long before now, as my girl Anney at Farty Girl has used it with success. The only problems with it are the quick gelling, and you need to drink plenty of fluids and probably make sure you get enough fat in the diet too (no prob for me there). The raw grated carrot didn’t make my constipation any better, although it’s not a bad thing to take anyway, so I should get back into it. It’s just a bit fiddley and time consuming when you can’t see the benefit.
Anyway, it’ll be three weeks before I have any blood results, and that’s another few weeks to see if the Peat-itarianism is helping me.
I should also note, that posts are going to be pretty infrequent:( I’ve just started a degree on top of my job, so blogging is a bit squeezed.
Reclaimed Health 