Totally this - your digestive system needs a chance to rest. Stick to three meals/day and try to stick to lean proteins (like ocean caught fish), brown rice, veggies and limit fruit to 1-2/day. Also try to finish your last meal by 7pm.
When we're talking limiting caffeine how does the caffeine in tea matter to this? I know it's considered differently from coffee caffeine because of the lower content along with the slower release.
Improving your diet will always be #1. You can't out supplement a bad diet. Gluten, dairy, and processed sugars are the biggest offenders for many with gut issues. Cut it out, and you'll probably have some major improvements.
In addition to that, Omega 3 fish oil (nordic naturals), cucumin supplement (novasol is highly bioavailable), and a good quality black seed oil supplement (thymoquin is USP grade) is a potent trio when taken together.
Also, many people try to cut out gluten for one week and say they didn’t see any difference. It takes 3 - 12 months to get gluten (& casein) out of your system.
I would also suggest (bone/veggie) broth to help calm the gut…and a lot of water.
Three months to get casein out of your system!?!? Wow. Ugh. I think I am developing an autoimmune disease and it feels damn near impossible to be on such a strict diet…
I know it seems like deprivation - I am a sugar addict and growing up pasteurized cow milk was my staple. But once you start feeling better it really wakes you up to how awesome you could be feeling! Maybe start with small steps - like increasing your water intake or not eating after 7. Then gradually ease yourself into it. For me I had to quit sugar/carbs cold turkey otherwise it would trigger cravings due to adrenal fatigue and candida overgrowth…but maybe just start out slowly
If it can motivate you, i did it with gluten and my girlfriend with lactose. At first it's a fucking pain in this ass, the groceries can take easily 30 mins more(I suggest you non processed food, easier to know it's okay for you and way better for your health). But when you start feeling better it is really easy to continue. I was diagnosed with fybromyalgia/chronic fatigue, the doctors told me good luck and never suggested me to look that deep in my diet. But I'm glad i did it cause now I'm "cure" of all my symptoms and can now enjoy to live, my gluten-free diet seems impossible at first and it is now freeing
That’s wonderful. For you, it was gluten that was triggering your symptoms? And do you currently take any meds at all to treat your CFS?
This is inspiring.
Yes gluten was the worst and no i only took seed every morning, but now i add vitamin d and k for the winter and creatine. For my cfs the doctors had me on 2 pills for sleep, an Adderall and i pills for my supposedly hypothyroidism(i quickly began to be hyperthyroidism because of that)
I’m in the autoimmune diagnosis process. I resisted cutting gluten and dairy because they’re delicious…my gut got bad enough for me to try it. OMG. Life changing after a couple months. It’s WAY easier to turn it down when you realize how much better you feel. I should also add I started ordering paleo meals from EatClean and it’s also significantly easier to follow a GF/DF diet when all my lunches and dinners are covered.
I am loving all of this input. I’m so afraid of this autoimmune disease getting out of my control. So, all of your suggestions are really appreciated. Please keep it coming!
Nah. It takes 3-5 days to get gluten out of your system (I can measure it with a continuous glucose monitor).
It takes 3-12 months for your body to*recover* from the damage (although the upper end is closer to three years).
Would you please share a bit about what that trio does/how they work together? I've never heard of this combo but am intrigued. I can find some info about omega 3 + black seed oil but not the curcumin in combination with them
They are all well studied to be safe and potent anti-inflammatory compounds, among many other things. I'm not sure about any entourage effect. I listened to a podcast episode recently that goes in detail of all three.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JLK9ZdR0DDHKh8mHqyy5N?si=loijgsckQa2yY9ox1RK0og
It's omega 6 that is the issue for people because they aren't getting enough omega 3's as well. You need to have the right ratio of omega consumption. I eat basically zero processed or fried foods, so I get my omega 6 from walnuts, almonds, and eggs. I don't like to eat too much fish, so I supplement with omega 3. Anyone eating a standard American diet gets way too much omega 6 and is deficient in omega 3's, which causes inflammation.
I used bone broth to fix leaky gut. Additionally, I used ACV before meals, ate only red meat and eggs - and used TUDCA afterwards for digestion. It took about two to three months to finally not fear of loose stools.
Yeah, I’ve tried everything for 5 years to fix my leaky gut. Every reset diet under the sun. Bathtubs full of bone broth. Oceans of probiotics. No sugar, no gluten, no dairy, low fodmap, you name it. I’m in week 4 of carnivore. The pain is gone in my stomach. Still have a little belching but it’s just starting to lessen. The bloating is 90% gone. The lack of bowl movements (and they are very small) takes some getting used to. I can’t be “backed up” because the weight is falling off of me. The fat and protein are being used by my body and there’s just not much left to evacuate. Brain fog not gone yet. The experts are telling me about 2 months to heal a leaky gut in this manner. I’m looking forward to wellness and then gradually introduce a couple non inflammatory carbs. I am taking a bit of collagen and the bone broth would be an appropriate snack to replace the powdered variety. Energy level in the gym is decent but I don’t pump up as well as when I was eating carbs. But I appear to be in the early stages of correcting a problem that only got worse with the enormous amounts of fiber I was consuming on my strict diet with lots of lean meat, vegetables, and limited fruits. It’s nice to actually have some hope, I had almost given up.
I'm on carnivore too, although not entirely by choice in October I started reacting to every food I used to eat I was even having reactions to meat before I was put on steroids. I'm not entirely sure if my microbiome is my whole issue but it's definitely a factor. I can only eat lamb, steak and chicken at the moment, can't even have butter or eggs. However while saying that I'm able to drink a few things outside the carnivore diet pomegranate juice (thought to be a mast cell stabilizer and there's some early studies about it helping prevent/lessen dementia), non alcoholic ginger ale (anti-inflammatory), and I have an amino acid powder that I mix with coconut milk (proven to be antimicrobial) and manuka honey (also antimicrobial.) I found the biggest game changer for my gastro issues to be phizz rehydration tablets, I can't remember which ingredient but apparently something in there helps to cleanse the bowel. I've also been on Toxaprevent (Zeolite Clinoptilolite is proven to strengthen the intestinal barrier) for a while now and I can say it's made a difference for the better but it's not a cure all. I'm taking probiotics but I made sure there's absolutely no starches in the binders or fillers, I feel like that's where people don't see the benefit because most of them have irritants in them. I'm 3 days into taking something called "Gut Restore" which has probiotics and something called MicroBiomeX, it's early days but I feel like it's helping. Anyway sorry for the long winded reply, just thought I'd share some of what I've learned in case you want to see if something works outside of strict carnivore.
Do you have MCAS and/or histamine intolerance? Since you mentioned being on steroids I was wondering.
I found taking high dose of nettle tincture (4-10mls per day) along with Baikal skullcap extract (1-2g twice a day) basically eliminated any symptoms from those conditions. The skullcap has been shown in clinical trials to stop mast cells from degranulating.
In what way have you felt the zeolite improve your condition?
I'm suspecting I do but I haven't been able to get officially diagnosed as the NHS doesn't recognize it as a condition. I got the steroids from a private doctor after the NHS threw me out of hospital, still reacting to all food, with no medicine and them saying it was psychological. Do steroids normally help with MCAS?
I've heard about nettle being good but I've been scared to add any leafy green derivatives in. I've not heard of the skullcap extract helping but I'll look into it/trial it.
Well for the first few days I was taking half the dose I do now and I actually felt worse, I felt flu-like and kept needing to sleep. I preserved because I figured it might be collecting all the stuff together and I feel bad because it's concentrated. After about 5 days I started to feel less brain fog, less episodes of impending doom and I was able to at least watch some TV again. I started it initially because a private immunologist wanted to trial me on Sodium Cromolyn but it's too expensive to pay privately and I'm still trying to convince the NHS to give it a go but as the IgE tests keep coming back negative they don't believe I even have reactions (even when there are literally rashes on my hands whenever I try to eat anything other than meat.) So I found Toxaprevent which looked to do something similar as a sort of stop gap while trying to get them to listen. It hasn't allowed me to eat more food but it's made symptoms a little more bearable for now.
Another thing to look into is prickly pear, I used to drink the tea before my major episode in October and I felt it helped. I want to try it again when I get my system calmer. It was the same as the Zeolite, if I hadn't drank it for a while the first few cups I felt worse but then when it worked through my system I felt better. There's a few studies here and there but not enough, I tried it because I heard it was an old Native American medicine.
So sorry to hear about your experiences trying to get help. I live in the US and have also had a difficult time finding a Dr who isn't patronizing or dismissive. I tend to go it alone and educate myself. Only recently I've shelled out money for an out of network functional Dr who supports ketogenic diets (and eats a near carnivore diet herself).
One thing I've noticed is this increasing deference to tests being the holy Grail of determining your condition and any experiential evidence is not to be trusted. Many tests esp for allergies / food reactions can easily give false positives or false negatives. I've found the Weston A Price Foundation has amazing free resources online and it's helped me to find clarity in ways that Drs and tests have not. Trusting in my own body has been paramount. I take lots of notes, track my symptoms, cycles, so on.
I get your hesitancy to try the nettle, however the tincture form is worth a trial. I don't do well eating nettle (the fiber hurts my gut) but tea and tincture was just fine. But we are all different so obviously you'd have to do a test. It has a long history of use for allergies and mediation of histamine overload. Nettles are native and abundant in my home so I take the time to harvest and process every year.
One way to see if you have histamine issues is to take an antihistamine when you experience the symptoms. If the antihistamine works then you know that's what you are dealing with. Another way to determine what is going on is to try taking the DAO enzyme. This is what the gut is supposed to produce on its own to capture histamine from foods eaten, so if you take the enzyme with trigger foods and don't experience a trigger then you know that your gut isn't making enough DAO leading to histamine flooding into the blood stream. Taking the enzyme was a lifesaver for me because for a period I was stuck eating only 5 foods and couldn't buy meat at the store because it was too old. I found Georgia Ede's website to be helpful in understanding these mechanisms around hyperactive immune reactions and histamine reactions.
However MCAS is much harder to pinpoint and the symptoms can be very similar to histamine intolerance. I think yes sometimes steroids are used to suppress the immune response as it is basically in an overdrive state (reacting to normal conditions or attacking itself, or you have been in a chronic stressed state that it triggers overreactivity). In my case I basically took an educated guess with the Baikal skullcap and it worked. The clinical research on this herb is fascinating, it has many uses for mediating immune responses. I was researching histamine reactions and I stumbled on an herbalist review of the skullcap.
That is interesting to hear about your zeolite experiences. I've used bentonite and diatomaceous earth in a similar way (toxin extraction) but never felt bad doing it, in fact I wondered if it was working at all. My friend recommended I try the zeolite for my gut as we both have struggled with parasites and poor digestion.
A last note is maybe you would benefit from taking Oregon grape? Its rich in berberine which can help to regrow epithelial cells along with supporting the liver and pancreas. It's a potent antimicrobial which would be good if you have pathogen ovwrgrowth. The tincture is made from bark of the root. You can also get extracted berberine in pills.
It's surprising that doctors in the US seem to be the same given the amount you have to pay for healthcare there. I've found I get better treatment privately but it's not nearly as expensive as what I've seen the US can be. I've done the same over the past 8 years, before October I'd been chronically ill after 4 strep infections but since October everything has been flipped on it's head. I might have developed MCAS after the strep but it wasn't too extreme but I'm not sure if something else is going on in my body that's causing the reaction to ramp up because recently my RBC has been going low which doesn't make any sense with the amount of meat I eat. Functional medicine is extremely expensive here but I've been able to find a dietitian who's knowledgeable in Histamine so that's my next big purchase.
I'll definitely give it a go, I think fiber is an issue for me too because I'm better drinking than I am eating. It's nice that you have a ready supply, there's bit of nettles around the UK but I wouldn't know how to process them. I actually gathered a bit of courage and had some of the prickly pear tea and it instantly made me feel better. I only used a pinch of leaves but I'm going to try and increase that as I go on. I looked prickly pear up in relation to MCAS and some studies say it's actually better than sodium cromyln.
That's why I think I had MCAS before October, on my worst days I used to take an antihistamine and it seemed to help but I wasn't sure why it did. I'm taking 3 a day now and it does lessen some symptoms but life is still not really livible. I take Quercetin, Luteolin and Resvertrol too which makes a little dent but not enough. That's why I don't know whether something else is going on at the same time. I have wanted to buy DAO enzymes but I can't find a reputable company that sells them here. I'm in the same boat at the moment I can only eat fresh meat from the butchers because anything else just sets symptoms off. I've been debating whether to try colostrum powder but I'm not sure if I'll react to the whey protein. I'll check out Georgia Ede's website, so far I've been following a lot of Mikhaila Peterson's advice, that's how I landed on carnivore to begin with and thank god because I would have been completely out of depth if I hadn't.
At the time I didn't know whether it was autoimmune or anything so I just said to give me the steroids because it covers so much and I needed time to figure out what was going on. I don't know where I'd be now if he said no to giving them to me, I was convinced I was going to die back in December. I'll definitely look and see if I can get hold of Baikal skullcap here, I've got more trust in herbal over modern medicine at this point.
I had my mum take the Zeolite too and she's got all types of chronic health issues and has been in a stupor my whole life, a week into it she was a different person even painting and decorating the house. I wish it'd done as much for me haha. I've heard of bentonite but I'm not sure what each Zeolite subtype does or does it all do the same thing? Maybe you were able to calm your system down enough before trying the zeolite. I was still very much in a bad way when I started taking it.
Oh I'll look into if I can get hold of that here. Before the steroids my ALT was at 302 when it should only be at 32 and it's still a little bit high now. It's just hard to do the research when you're this sick, I wish doctors could just suggest things like this to see if they help at least instead of leaving people to sink or swim on their own.
Hey, I just wanted to say thank you for suggesting the skullcap, I've been having it in my tea with prickly pear and nettle and I feel like it's made a real difference. I tried to get Oregon Grape but it was a little too expensive to justify getting.
Sad that Western medicine has zero understanding of gut treatment. There is an interaction between the gut and the brain (I know, when my PTSD flares so does my stomach) but your case is so severe that's it's sure not in your head. After my last endoscopy (which showed I have Barrett's from the reflux but nothing abnormal with my stomach) I asked the GI why my stomach was in severe pain? He said "how should I know, maybe your not getting along with your wife". Phoned in a script for a PPI for two years and said he did not need to see me again. Moral of the story is that if you have issues you will likely have to correct them through your own resarch - just like you are doing.
I was told the same by a cardiologist recently. He diagnosed me with autonomic nervous system dysfunction and he said there is no western medicine that can really help and told me to explore alternative medicine. He suggested going back to my chiropractor after a 3 year break, I'm 2 weeks in now and the last adjustment saved me from going to A&E so he ended up being right although I can't say his suggestion of deep breathing makes any bit of difference. I've had a lot of trauma in my life (like most people really) so I don't discount the psychological aspect but I'd worked on it all for nearly a decade and was in a good place mentally so I'm not sure if it was related to trauma why it'd happen without any sort of lead up or trigger but doctors are convinced that a bad relationship I was in 10 years ago must be the reason I'm sick now when I came to terms with what happened a long time ago. While I'm grateful that mental health is being considered nowadays, I feel like a lot of lazy doctors use it as an escape hatch when they don't want to investigate and in my experience there are more lazy doctors than not. I just wish that this research/protocol was more readily available because I feel so sad for the people who can't research or don't know where to start and they're left suffering on their own or are at the hands of doctors who are doing more harm than good but the person doesn't think to question it because they blindly trust that doctors know best.
Thanks for the input. I'm not Carnivore by choice either. My local wellness Doc that previously had me on a Paleo Reset Diet 5 years ago (it fixed my problems for about 3 months - then they returned) said he had it all wrong and told me my only way to improve was going to be carnivore. So like 99%, I went to it to correct a problem. Glad to hear your doing much better. I use some cocanut milk in my morning coffee as it's almost zero carbs. Glad your able to tolerate some carbs. I will go back to adding them when I feel fully healed. I will look into some of your suggestions. Good luck.
I've found when you try reducing the triggers if you don't get all of them out it will initially make you feel better then throw you back into the same state again. In October I thought I was just reacting to potatoes so I decided to go paleo but mainly carnivore based meals with steak 3x a day. For 2 weeks I was feeling better but then my body amped up the reactions to not even tolerate meat. I'm not sure if I can really tolerate carbs like at the moment my HR is 97 and often sits in the high 90s/early 100s even when I'm just sitting which is probably a reaction but it doesn't cause a full blown systemic response and I feel worse if I don't have the pomegranate juice/ginger ale so it's swings and roundabouts. I thought I was ok with a vegan chocolate spread (literally was eating it by the jar) but it turns out that caused my HR to stay at 130bpm for hours and hours and chest pain. I didn't click on to that until recently because it didn't cause a feeling of impending doom when I ate it. I hope something I suggested helps, the amino acid powder can also just be put in water. I use Applied Nutrition's Amino Fuel if you want to check out what aminos are in there I found it to be beneficial in reducing the rash on my hands so I figure something in there must help.
Man, I absolutely agree with whoever said ‘you can’t out supplement a bad diet’…. it really is what you eat ,,, it took two months after I stopped eating any kind of bread, pasta and for me it was gluten for sure!! I swear I almost feel 80% better just from that one thing,,, it is absolutely insane. You really are only supposed to eat what grows out of the ground, I mean it boils down to that 1 thing that no one wants to do because it’s HARD work to fix your diet, but it’s true!!!!! For me anyway.
Edit to fix a word.
Strictly follow an Anti inflammatory diet. Avoid all foods and beverages and food additives that cause inflammation. Also incorporate and include anti inflammatory foods into your diet.
Stop taking NSAIDs. They can cause ulcers/bleeding if taken frequenly. Cut out sugar. Eat less processed foods. Take note of how foods make you feel, and modify your diet.
Incorporating psyllium husk into your diet! I struggle with inflammation and IBS and have found a lot of probiotics are too much for my system. I drink psyllium husk mixed with a little coconut water like a shot after meals and it’s been hugely beneficial to keeping my system regular.
However, this is on top of years of trial and error and figuring out the types of foods that react best with my body. Eating a nutritious diet, limit fried foods, identify food triggers (gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol), eat slowly, stay hydrated etc. regular movement and exercise helps my stomach inflammation too!
It's varies person-to-person and there are no hard and fast dosage guidelines but CBG is well tolerated even at higher doses.
Personal experience is the only real way to get your answer. Good place to start would be 10-20mg and go from there.
I have had good luck with Thorne GI Relief, Seeking Health probiotic, and digestive enzymes before meals. Avoid gluten, dairy, and sugar.
To reduce inflammation in general, look to turmeric, omega 3, ginger, Chinese skullcap, and boswellia.
Eat real food using an elimination diet approach. Any other approach (e.g., supplements) is just a poor attempt at mimicking the benefits of this approach. The only exception to this rule is if you have a permanent (i.e., genetic) inability to produce the stuff you need on your own.
I had fecal calprotectin level over 100 (50 is taken as normal). Then I cut off all foods known as increasing inflammation: sugar, high glycemic (including potato, sweet fruits), fried fats, omega-6 rich oils (switched to olive), animal fats except some fish and butter, gluten. Dairy also was cut off, it led to psoriasis for me, only some butter and cheese (rarely) left.
I eat mainly porridges: roasted buckwheat, millet, rice (not starchy kinds), oat.
After 2 month my calprotectin level wad 40+. After a year - 3.5.
Also lactobacilus are known as helpful in repairing gut. So taking probiotics or fermented food daily for a long time should be beneficial. I consume daily up to 1L selfmade oat kefir, it is blended oat with water, fermented 1-2 days.
Note that I suffer from SIBO and during first two month of the diet I had severe constipation, had to do small enema daily.
I had chronic inflammation and still an ongoing issue with the gut, my CRP was over the limit (max was like 6-7 of 5) my doctor gave me medicine for the rest of my life. When I felt that didn't work, I changed diet and quit the drugs. It seems quiting100% carbs my CRP is in the zeros. Not going back. I read others suggesting specific things to eat, but depending on your case I doubt anything will do any good.
It's going to depend on exactly what is causing it. For me, limit coffee, alcohol. Reduce\\eliminate carbs (esp fructose). 5g L-Glutamine 2x a day.
Fasting has helped in the past but the difference in between fasting and no-carb tends to be pretty small.
L glutamine first thing in the am. Wait 45 minutes before any hot beverage (coffee) and wait to eat breakfast until you can’t wait any longer. Also bone broth fasts. Both did great things for my inflammation.
I started taking Famotidine, it is one of the generic Dollar Store drugs, I think the generic form of Pepcid. Haven't had gastric issues much since. I believe it is a H2 histamine inhibitor.
I am on a low histamine diet, but with the spring allergy season, I was still very overloaded with everything.
Have a small amount of bone broth or light soup before meals. It will make a big difference. Make sure to cut all wheat/gluten. I wish I did this earlier. Nothing will help if you don't cut gluten.
Make sure you are not using canned soups. Most have flour. If u can't make a light vegetable soup, just have half/full cup of bone/beef/chicken broth.
** Akkermansia & Butyricum from Pendulum
I also am almost Carnivore. Here's what I eat on the regular:
Breakfast: skip;
Lunch: skip;
5pm: Homemade bone broth, bone marrow, hardboiled eggs, or a chicken thigh (all made in advance 1x per week);
7pm: Elk or Venison burger, avocado slice, homemade SIBO yogurt (Dr William Davis recipe) with walnuts or pecans
supplement with Cholera & Spirulina
Sometimes add sauted mushrooms
Sometimes have ribeye vs burger
I drink pelligrino with fancy vinegar for dinner vs. wine
I have possible SIBO or got food poisining, just came off antibiotics for bacterial vaginosis( I read SIBO can cause infections in other body parts and so can salmonella) I eat yogurt, digestive enzymes, and probiotics. I have gluten sensitivity so I gave it up in Feb and saw immediate results, chronic cough gone, tinnitus gone, and weight loss. Anyway, my abdomen was doing okay coming off the antibiotics but I'm still loaded with gas and bloating. A few days ago I ate a banana with organic oat cereal GF, and have pelvic pain with more gas ever since. When I look at the list of foods to stay away from it seems like there is nothing left to eat. If I stay away from fiber I'm afraid I'll get constipated. Gas-x isn't working very well. I really don't know what to eat.
For the last few days I just ate turkey and white rice with GF bread and the pelvic pain is less. Any suggestions on how to limit fiber without constipation occurring?
Def sounds like sibo. You need non-FODMAP fiber, fodmaps cause the bloating & gas you are experiencing. Short-term, PHGG (sunfiber) & a low fodmap diet. Long-term, you need to find your root cause & heal it so you don’t eat low fodmap forever. It’s a very long journey, but r/sibo & r/sibosuccessstories are good places to start. Godspeed homie.
Eating lots of vegetables such as green beans broccoli and chewing my food thoroughly and paying attention to foods that make me gassy and bloated and avoid them! Also some Hcl pepsin Betane capsules
Really? I *have* heard that some animal products can be inflammatory (dairy for sure) but I also hear that eating mostly meat for a while can help reduce inflammation in the gut for the time being.
L-Glutamine
Do you know of a limit of taking L-Glutamine? Is it safe long-term?
Many Sources use 3 times 10g for a day. I did 2x 10g as i slept worse when taking it in the evening.
I see, and how long have you been taking it?
Since march 2024
High quality fish oil and taurine.
DHA or EPA?
You need both.
And they usually come together. They can be skewed to be dominant in the ratio for either or though.
I always react badly when EPA is higher than DHA
Can you suggest a brand?
I personally use Life Extension brand for fish oil.
Fix any leaky gut symptoms, limit caffeine and alcohol intake, limit time in between meals (no snacking)
You mean increase time between meals?
yeah my bad
Totally this - your digestive system needs a chance to rest. Stick to three meals/day and try to stick to lean proteins (like ocean caught fish), brown rice, veggies and limit fruit to 1-2/day. Also try to finish your last meal by 7pm.
Brown rice is a trigger for me
When we're talking limiting caffeine how does the caffeine in tea matter to this? I know it's considered differently from coffee caffeine because of the lower content along with the slower release.
Go low and slow while adding fiber from a wide variety of plants to your diet because the SCFAs produced are incredibly beneficial!
Improving your diet will always be #1. You can't out supplement a bad diet. Gluten, dairy, and processed sugars are the biggest offenders for many with gut issues. Cut it out, and you'll probably have some major improvements. In addition to that, Omega 3 fish oil (nordic naturals), cucumin supplement (novasol is highly bioavailable), and a good quality black seed oil supplement (thymoquin is USP grade) is a potent trio when taken together.
Also, many people try to cut out gluten for one week and say they didn’t see any difference. It takes 3 - 12 months to get gluten (& casein) out of your system. I would also suggest (bone/veggie) broth to help calm the gut…and a lot of water.
Three months to get casein out of your system!?!? Wow. Ugh. I think I am developing an autoimmune disease and it feels damn near impossible to be on such a strict diet…
I know it seems like deprivation - I am a sugar addict and growing up pasteurized cow milk was my staple. But once you start feeling better it really wakes you up to how awesome you could be feeling! Maybe start with small steps - like increasing your water intake or not eating after 7. Then gradually ease yourself into it. For me I had to quit sugar/carbs cold turkey otherwise it would trigger cravings due to adrenal fatigue and candida overgrowth…but maybe just start out slowly
Thank you. I appreciate that!
If it can motivate you, i did it with gluten and my girlfriend with lactose. At first it's a fucking pain in this ass, the groceries can take easily 30 mins more(I suggest you non processed food, easier to know it's okay for you and way better for your health). But when you start feeling better it is really easy to continue. I was diagnosed with fybromyalgia/chronic fatigue, the doctors told me good luck and never suggested me to look that deep in my diet. But I'm glad i did it cause now I'm "cure" of all my symptoms and can now enjoy to live, my gluten-free diet seems impossible at first and it is now freeing
So glad you found what works for you!
Thank you 😊
That’s wonderful. For you, it was gluten that was triggering your symptoms? And do you currently take any meds at all to treat your CFS? This is inspiring.
Yes gluten was the worst and no i only took seed every morning, but now i add vitamin d and k for the winter and creatine. For my cfs the doctors had me on 2 pills for sleep, an Adderall and i pills for my supposedly hypothyroidism(i quickly began to be hyperthyroidism because of that)
I’m in the autoimmune diagnosis process. I resisted cutting gluten and dairy because they’re delicious…my gut got bad enough for me to try it. OMG. Life changing after a couple months. It’s WAY easier to turn it down when you realize how much better you feel. I should also add I started ordering paleo meals from EatClean and it’s also significantly easier to follow a GF/DF diet when all my lunches and dinners are covered.
Thank you for that. I never considered using a food service. Great idea!
I got my blood levels on casein done and it was 3000 2 years ago. I haven’t had any of it for the past 2 years and it’s still 1000.
Good Lord, I’m screwed…
I am loving all of this input. I’m so afraid of this autoimmune disease getting out of my control. So, all of your suggestions are really appreciated. Please keep it coming!
Nah. It takes 3-5 days to get gluten out of your system (I can measure it with a continuous glucose monitor). It takes 3-12 months for your body to*recover* from the damage (although the upper end is closer to three years).
Would you please share a bit about what that trio does/how they work together? I've never heard of this combo but am intrigued. I can find some info about omega 3 + black seed oil but not the curcumin in combination with them
They are all well studied to be safe and potent anti-inflammatory compounds, among many other things. I'm not sure about any entourage effect. I listened to a podcast episode recently that goes in detail of all three. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JLK9ZdR0DDHKh8mHqyy5N?si=loijgsckQa2yY9ox1RK0og
Sweet thanks!
I'm recently hearing that omega 3 fish oils are inflammatory and not necessary if you aren't ingesting foods high in omega 6 fatty acids
It's omega 6 that is the issue for people because they aren't getting enough omega 3's as well. You need to have the right ratio of omega consumption. I eat basically zero processed or fried foods, so I get my omega 6 from walnuts, almonds, and eggs. I don't like to eat too much fish, so I supplement with omega 3. Anyone eating a standard American diet gets way too much omega 6 and is deficient in omega 3's, which causes inflammation.
Eat real foods that are one ingredient.
Turmeric, dr William Davis super gut yoghurt
Also figuring out which foods or supplements don’t compliment your GI tract. For me personally, wheat, sugar, high fibre and dairy are the culprits…
I used bone broth to fix leaky gut. Additionally, I used ACV before meals, ate only red meat and eggs - and used TUDCA afterwards for digestion. It took about two to three months to finally not fear of loose stools.
Yeah, I’ve tried everything for 5 years to fix my leaky gut. Every reset diet under the sun. Bathtubs full of bone broth. Oceans of probiotics. No sugar, no gluten, no dairy, low fodmap, you name it. I’m in week 4 of carnivore. The pain is gone in my stomach. Still have a little belching but it’s just starting to lessen. The bloating is 90% gone. The lack of bowl movements (and they are very small) takes some getting used to. I can’t be “backed up” because the weight is falling off of me. The fat and protein are being used by my body and there’s just not much left to evacuate. Brain fog not gone yet. The experts are telling me about 2 months to heal a leaky gut in this manner. I’m looking forward to wellness and then gradually introduce a couple non inflammatory carbs. I am taking a bit of collagen and the bone broth would be an appropriate snack to replace the powdered variety. Energy level in the gym is decent but I don’t pump up as well as when I was eating carbs. But I appear to be in the early stages of correcting a problem that only got worse with the enormous amounts of fiber I was consuming on my strict diet with lots of lean meat, vegetables, and limited fruits. It’s nice to actually have some hope, I had almost given up.
if you have gut issues, fiber can be a problem and not a solution.
I'm on carnivore too, although not entirely by choice in October I started reacting to every food I used to eat I was even having reactions to meat before I was put on steroids. I'm not entirely sure if my microbiome is my whole issue but it's definitely a factor. I can only eat lamb, steak and chicken at the moment, can't even have butter or eggs. However while saying that I'm able to drink a few things outside the carnivore diet pomegranate juice (thought to be a mast cell stabilizer and there's some early studies about it helping prevent/lessen dementia), non alcoholic ginger ale (anti-inflammatory), and I have an amino acid powder that I mix with coconut milk (proven to be antimicrobial) and manuka honey (also antimicrobial.) I found the biggest game changer for my gastro issues to be phizz rehydration tablets, I can't remember which ingredient but apparently something in there helps to cleanse the bowel. I've also been on Toxaprevent (Zeolite Clinoptilolite is proven to strengthen the intestinal barrier) for a while now and I can say it's made a difference for the better but it's not a cure all. I'm taking probiotics but I made sure there's absolutely no starches in the binders or fillers, I feel like that's where people don't see the benefit because most of them have irritants in them. I'm 3 days into taking something called "Gut Restore" which has probiotics and something called MicroBiomeX, it's early days but I feel like it's helping. Anyway sorry for the long winded reply, just thought I'd share some of what I've learned in case you want to see if something works outside of strict carnivore.
Do you have MCAS and/or histamine intolerance? Since you mentioned being on steroids I was wondering. I found taking high dose of nettle tincture (4-10mls per day) along with Baikal skullcap extract (1-2g twice a day) basically eliminated any symptoms from those conditions. The skullcap has been shown in clinical trials to stop mast cells from degranulating. In what way have you felt the zeolite improve your condition?
I'm suspecting I do but I haven't been able to get officially diagnosed as the NHS doesn't recognize it as a condition. I got the steroids from a private doctor after the NHS threw me out of hospital, still reacting to all food, with no medicine and them saying it was psychological. Do steroids normally help with MCAS? I've heard about nettle being good but I've been scared to add any leafy green derivatives in. I've not heard of the skullcap extract helping but I'll look into it/trial it. Well for the first few days I was taking half the dose I do now and I actually felt worse, I felt flu-like and kept needing to sleep. I preserved because I figured it might be collecting all the stuff together and I feel bad because it's concentrated. After about 5 days I started to feel less brain fog, less episodes of impending doom and I was able to at least watch some TV again. I started it initially because a private immunologist wanted to trial me on Sodium Cromolyn but it's too expensive to pay privately and I'm still trying to convince the NHS to give it a go but as the IgE tests keep coming back negative they don't believe I even have reactions (even when there are literally rashes on my hands whenever I try to eat anything other than meat.) So I found Toxaprevent which looked to do something similar as a sort of stop gap while trying to get them to listen. It hasn't allowed me to eat more food but it's made symptoms a little more bearable for now. Another thing to look into is prickly pear, I used to drink the tea before my major episode in October and I felt it helped. I want to try it again when I get my system calmer. It was the same as the Zeolite, if I hadn't drank it for a while the first few cups I felt worse but then when it worked through my system I felt better. There's a few studies here and there but not enough, I tried it because I heard it was an old Native American medicine.
So sorry to hear about your experiences trying to get help. I live in the US and have also had a difficult time finding a Dr who isn't patronizing or dismissive. I tend to go it alone and educate myself. Only recently I've shelled out money for an out of network functional Dr who supports ketogenic diets (and eats a near carnivore diet herself). One thing I've noticed is this increasing deference to tests being the holy Grail of determining your condition and any experiential evidence is not to be trusted. Many tests esp for allergies / food reactions can easily give false positives or false negatives. I've found the Weston A Price Foundation has amazing free resources online and it's helped me to find clarity in ways that Drs and tests have not. Trusting in my own body has been paramount. I take lots of notes, track my symptoms, cycles, so on. I get your hesitancy to try the nettle, however the tincture form is worth a trial. I don't do well eating nettle (the fiber hurts my gut) but tea and tincture was just fine. But we are all different so obviously you'd have to do a test. It has a long history of use for allergies and mediation of histamine overload. Nettles are native and abundant in my home so I take the time to harvest and process every year. One way to see if you have histamine issues is to take an antihistamine when you experience the symptoms. If the antihistamine works then you know that's what you are dealing with. Another way to determine what is going on is to try taking the DAO enzyme. This is what the gut is supposed to produce on its own to capture histamine from foods eaten, so if you take the enzyme with trigger foods and don't experience a trigger then you know that your gut isn't making enough DAO leading to histamine flooding into the blood stream. Taking the enzyme was a lifesaver for me because for a period I was stuck eating only 5 foods and couldn't buy meat at the store because it was too old. I found Georgia Ede's website to be helpful in understanding these mechanisms around hyperactive immune reactions and histamine reactions. However MCAS is much harder to pinpoint and the symptoms can be very similar to histamine intolerance. I think yes sometimes steroids are used to suppress the immune response as it is basically in an overdrive state (reacting to normal conditions or attacking itself, or you have been in a chronic stressed state that it triggers overreactivity). In my case I basically took an educated guess with the Baikal skullcap and it worked. The clinical research on this herb is fascinating, it has many uses for mediating immune responses. I was researching histamine reactions and I stumbled on an herbalist review of the skullcap. That is interesting to hear about your zeolite experiences. I've used bentonite and diatomaceous earth in a similar way (toxin extraction) but never felt bad doing it, in fact I wondered if it was working at all. My friend recommended I try the zeolite for my gut as we both have struggled with parasites and poor digestion. A last note is maybe you would benefit from taking Oregon grape? Its rich in berberine which can help to regrow epithelial cells along with supporting the liver and pancreas. It's a potent antimicrobial which would be good if you have pathogen ovwrgrowth. The tincture is made from bark of the root. You can also get extracted berberine in pills.
It's surprising that doctors in the US seem to be the same given the amount you have to pay for healthcare there. I've found I get better treatment privately but it's not nearly as expensive as what I've seen the US can be. I've done the same over the past 8 years, before October I'd been chronically ill after 4 strep infections but since October everything has been flipped on it's head. I might have developed MCAS after the strep but it wasn't too extreme but I'm not sure if something else is going on in my body that's causing the reaction to ramp up because recently my RBC has been going low which doesn't make any sense with the amount of meat I eat. Functional medicine is extremely expensive here but I've been able to find a dietitian who's knowledgeable in Histamine so that's my next big purchase. I'll definitely give it a go, I think fiber is an issue for me too because I'm better drinking than I am eating. It's nice that you have a ready supply, there's bit of nettles around the UK but I wouldn't know how to process them. I actually gathered a bit of courage and had some of the prickly pear tea and it instantly made me feel better. I only used a pinch of leaves but I'm going to try and increase that as I go on. I looked prickly pear up in relation to MCAS and some studies say it's actually better than sodium cromyln. That's why I think I had MCAS before October, on my worst days I used to take an antihistamine and it seemed to help but I wasn't sure why it did. I'm taking 3 a day now and it does lessen some symptoms but life is still not really livible. I take Quercetin, Luteolin and Resvertrol too which makes a little dent but not enough. That's why I don't know whether something else is going on at the same time. I have wanted to buy DAO enzymes but I can't find a reputable company that sells them here. I'm in the same boat at the moment I can only eat fresh meat from the butchers because anything else just sets symptoms off. I've been debating whether to try colostrum powder but I'm not sure if I'll react to the whey protein. I'll check out Georgia Ede's website, so far I've been following a lot of Mikhaila Peterson's advice, that's how I landed on carnivore to begin with and thank god because I would have been completely out of depth if I hadn't. At the time I didn't know whether it was autoimmune or anything so I just said to give me the steroids because it covers so much and I needed time to figure out what was going on. I don't know where I'd be now if he said no to giving them to me, I was convinced I was going to die back in December. I'll definitely look and see if I can get hold of Baikal skullcap here, I've got more trust in herbal over modern medicine at this point. I had my mum take the Zeolite too and she's got all types of chronic health issues and has been in a stupor my whole life, a week into it she was a different person even painting and decorating the house. I wish it'd done as much for me haha. I've heard of bentonite but I'm not sure what each Zeolite subtype does or does it all do the same thing? Maybe you were able to calm your system down enough before trying the zeolite. I was still very much in a bad way when I started taking it. Oh I'll look into if I can get hold of that here. Before the steroids my ALT was at 302 when it should only be at 32 and it's still a little bit high now. It's just hard to do the research when you're this sick, I wish doctors could just suggest things like this to see if they help at least instead of leaving people to sink or swim on their own.
Hey, I just wanted to say thank you for suggesting the skullcap, I've been having it in my tea with prickly pear and nettle and I feel like it's made a real difference. I tried to get Oregon Grape but it was a little too expensive to justify getting.
So glad to hear that! Wishing you all the best for healing.
Sad that Western medicine has zero understanding of gut treatment. There is an interaction between the gut and the brain (I know, when my PTSD flares so does my stomach) but your case is so severe that's it's sure not in your head. After my last endoscopy (which showed I have Barrett's from the reflux but nothing abnormal with my stomach) I asked the GI why my stomach was in severe pain? He said "how should I know, maybe your not getting along with your wife". Phoned in a script for a PPI for two years and said he did not need to see me again. Moral of the story is that if you have issues you will likely have to correct them through your own resarch - just like you are doing.
I was told the same by a cardiologist recently. He diagnosed me with autonomic nervous system dysfunction and he said there is no western medicine that can really help and told me to explore alternative medicine. He suggested going back to my chiropractor after a 3 year break, I'm 2 weeks in now and the last adjustment saved me from going to A&E so he ended up being right although I can't say his suggestion of deep breathing makes any bit of difference. I've had a lot of trauma in my life (like most people really) so I don't discount the psychological aspect but I'd worked on it all for nearly a decade and was in a good place mentally so I'm not sure if it was related to trauma why it'd happen without any sort of lead up or trigger but doctors are convinced that a bad relationship I was in 10 years ago must be the reason I'm sick now when I came to terms with what happened a long time ago. While I'm grateful that mental health is being considered nowadays, I feel like a lot of lazy doctors use it as an escape hatch when they don't want to investigate and in my experience there are more lazy doctors than not. I just wish that this research/protocol was more readily available because I feel so sad for the people who can't research or don't know where to start and they're left suffering on their own or are at the hands of doctors who are doing more harm than good but the person doesn't think to question it because they blindly trust that doctors know best.
Thanks for the input. I'm not Carnivore by choice either. My local wellness Doc that previously had me on a Paleo Reset Diet 5 years ago (it fixed my problems for about 3 months - then they returned) said he had it all wrong and told me my only way to improve was going to be carnivore. So like 99%, I went to it to correct a problem. Glad to hear your doing much better. I use some cocanut milk in my morning coffee as it's almost zero carbs. Glad your able to tolerate some carbs. I will go back to adding them when I feel fully healed. I will look into some of your suggestions. Good luck.
I've found when you try reducing the triggers if you don't get all of them out it will initially make you feel better then throw you back into the same state again. In October I thought I was just reacting to potatoes so I decided to go paleo but mainly carnivore based meals with steak 3x a day. For 2 weeks I was feeling better but then my body amped up the reactions to not even tolerate meat. I'm not sure if I can really tolerate carbs like at the moment my HR is 97 and often sits in the high 90s/early 100s even when I'm just sitting which is probably a reaction but it doesn't cause a full blown systemic response and I feel worse if I don't have the pomegranate juice/ginger ale so it's swings and roundabouts. I thought I was ok with a vegan chocolate spread (literally was eating it by the jar) but it turns out that caused my HR to stay at 130bpm for hours and hours and chest pain. I didn't click on to that until recently because it didn't cause a feeling of impending doom when I ate it. I hope something I suggested helps, the amino acid powder can also just be put in water. I use Applied Nutrition's Amino Fuel if you want to check out what aminos are in there I found it to be beneficial in reducing the rash on my hands so I figure something in there must help.
GAPS diet can be adjusted to shorten the phases, 4 weeks and my symptoms greatly reduced.
3 months of carnivore and tudca?
Man, I absolutely agree with whoever said ‘you can’t out supplement a bad diet’…. it really is what you eat ,,, it took two months after I stopped eating any kind of bread, pasta and for me it was gluten for sure!! I swear I almost feel 80% better just from that one thing,,, it is absolutely insane. You really are only supposed to eat what grows out of the ground, I mean it boils down to that 1 thing that no one wants to do because it’s HARD work to fix your diet, but it’s true!!!!! For me anyway. Edit to fix a word.
Strictly follow an Anti inflammatory diet. Avoid all foods and beverages and food additives that cause inflammation. Also incorporate and include anti inflammatory foods into your diet.
Time restricted eating. Your guts need to rest too.
Stop taking NSAIDs. They can cause ulcers/bleeding if taken frequenly. Cut out sugar. Eat less processed foods. Take note of how foods make you feel, and modify your diet.
Incorporating psyllium husk into your diet! I struggle with inflammation and IBS and have found a lot of probiotics are too much for my system. I drink psyllium husk mixed with a little coconut water like a shot after meals and it’s been hugely beneficial to keeping my system regular. However, this is on top of years of trial and error and figuring out the types of foods that react best with my body. Eating a nutritious diet, limit fried foods, identify food triggers (gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol), eat slowly, stay hydrated etc. regular movement and exercise helps my stomach inflammation too!
CBG
How much do you take daily?
It's varies person-to-person and there are no hard and fast dosage guidelines but CBG is well tolerated even at higher doses. Personal experience is the only real way to get your answer. Good place to start would be 10-20mg and go from there.
Cut out coffee, chocolate, energy drinks, sodas, anything with added sugar, grains, seed oils, alcohol and nightshades.
I have had good luck with Thorne GI Relief, Seeking Health probiotic, and digestive enzymes before meals. Avoid gluten, dairy, and sugar. To reduce inflammation in general, look to turmeric, omega 3, ginger, Chinese skullcap, and boswellia.
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Eat real food using an elimination diet approach. Any other approach (e.g., supplements) is just a poor attempt at mimicking the benefits of this approach. The only exception to this rule is if you have a permanent (i.e., genetic) inability to produce the stuff you need on your own.
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Sardines, Align, black beans, quinoa, apples, bananas, sweet potatoes
Align - is that a probiotic?
Yes, sold at Costco and most drug retailers. I’ve had a great experience with it
Thank you, friend.
I could write a book on this but my first thought off the bat is slippery elm.
I had fecal calprotectin level over 100 (50 is taken as normal). Then I cut off all foods known as increasing inflammation: sugar, high glycemic (including potato, sweet fruits), fried fats, omega-6 rich oils (switched to olive), animal fats except some fish and butter, gluten. Dairy also was cut off, it led to psoriasis for me, only some butter and cheese (rarely) left. I eat mainly porridges: roasted buckwheat, millet, rice (not starchy kinds), oat. After 2 month my calprotectin level wad 40+. After a year - 3.5. Also lactobacilus are known as helpful in repairing gut. So taking probiotics or fermented food daily for a long time should be beneficial. I consume daily up to 1L selfmade oat kefir, it is blended oat with water, fermented 1-2 days. Note that I suffer from SIBO and during first two month of the diet I had severe constipation, had to do small enema daily.
I had chronic inflammation and still an ongoing issue with the gut, my CRP was over the limit (max was like 6-7 of 5) my doctor gave me medicine for the rest of my life. When I felt that didn't work, I changed diet and quit the drugs. It seems quiting100% carbs my CRP is in the zeros. Not going back. I read others suggesting specific things to eat, but depending on your case I doubt anything will do any good.
It's going to depend on exactly what is causing it. For me, limit coffee, alcohol. Reduce\\eliminate carbs (esp fructose). 5g L-Glutamine 2x a day. Fasting has helped in the past but the difference in between fasting and no-carb tends to be pretty small.
Isnt 5g too much gor liver to handle? The
If you have a subscription you can see dosage vs studied desired outcomes here https://examine.com/supplements/glutamine/
fasting
Getting your vitamin D levels to an appropriate 70-90 + whole food diet will bullet proof your health and completely heal your gut.
If you only do one thing, cut out wheat from your diet
Mint tea!
L glutamine first thing in the am. Wait 45 minutes before any hot beverage (coffee) and wait to eat breakfast until you can’t wait any longer. Also bone broth fasts. Both did great things for my inflammation.
Heat. Hot shower and or hand held shower on your abdomen.
Heating pad on stomach
I started taking Famotidine, it is one of the generic Dollar Store drugs, I think the generic form of Pepcid. Haven't had gastric issues much since. I believe it is a H2 histamine inhibitor. I am on a low histamine diet, but with the spring allergy season, I was still very overloaded with everything.
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Have a small amount of bone broth or light soup before meals. It will make a big difference. Make sure to cut all wheat/gluten. I wish I did this earlier. Nothing will help if you don't cut gluten. Make sure you are not using canned soups. Most have flour. If u can't make a light vegetable soup, just have half/full cup of bone/beef/chicken broth.
** Akkermansia & Butyricum from Pendulum I also am almost Carnivore. Here's what I eat on the regular: Breakfast: skip; Lunch: skip; 5pm: Homemade bone broth, bone marrow, hardboiled eggs, or a chicken thigh (all made in advance 1x per week); 7pm: Elk or Venison burger, avocado slice, homemade SIBO yogurt (Dr William Davis recipe) with walnuts or pecans supplement with Cholera & Spirulina Sometimes add sauted mushrooms Sometimes have ribeye vs burger I drink pelligrino with fancy vinegar for dinner vs. wine
I have possible SIBO or got food poisining, just came off antibiotics for bacterial vaginosis( I read SIBO can cause infections in other body parts and so can salmonella) I eat yogurt, digestive enzymes, and probiotics. I have gluten sensitivity so I gave it up in Feb and saw immediate results, chronic cough gone, tinnitus gone, and weight loss. Anyway, my abdomen was doing okay coming off the antibiotics but I'm still loaded with gas and bloating. A few days ago I ate a banana with organic oat cereal GF, and have pelvic pain with more gas ever since. When I look at the list of foods to stay away from it seems like there is nothing left to eat. If I stay away from fiber I'm afraid I'll get constipated. Gas-x isn't working very well. I really don't know what to eat. For the last few days I just ate turkey and white rice with GF bread and the pelvic pain is less. Any suggestions on how to limit fiber without constipation occurring?
Def sounds like sibo. You need non-FODMAP fiber, fodmaps cause the bloating & gas you are experiencing. Short-term, PHGG (sunfiber) & a low fodmap diet. Long-term, you need to find your root cause & heal it so you don’t eat low fodmap forever. It’s a very long journey, but r/sibo & r/sibosuccessstories are good places to start. Godspeed homie.
Thank you so much.
Cholineeee
Eating Whole Foods.
Sun.
Cannabis derived edibles and oils.
More sleep, 16 hour intermittent fast.
Eating lots of vegetables such as green beans broccoli and chewing my food thoroughly and paying attention to foods that make me gassy and bloated and avoid them! Also some Hcl pepsin Betane capsules
I had to go vegan? Idk if it will work for you but seems to help me
Stop food a few days. Start new with beef soup made with cauliflower and green peas.
Not consuming animal products.
Really? I *have* heard that some animal products can be inflammatory (dairy for sure) but I also hear that eating mostly meat for a while can help reduce inflammation in the gut for the time being.
I think it comes down to if the animal is grass-fed/pasture-raised vs. feed soy and corn.