March 22, 2007

Success Stories

The following are related to the No Starch Diet

The following are not diet related (I will stick them here anyway)
Posted by zarkme at 08:51:48 | Permanent Link | Comments (7) |

March 03, 2007

Summary of diet

A short list of the foods I tolerate best:
leafy greens, meat, eggs, fruit (especially pears, grapes, apples), tofu, tomato, white rice, coconut cream, dried fruits, almonds

The foods I can not tolerate are:
grains (except rice), legumes / beans, roots, Inulin / FOS, Dairy (except butter)

For more info on how to follow such a diet please follow this link:
http://zarkme.blog.com/
Posted by zarkme at 01:12:02 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

April 28, 2006

The Skinny on Fats -- Is cholesterol good or bad?

posted by kiwi here: http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=230801

The Skinny on Fats,

Quoted from : http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/skinny.html

And what about cholesterol? Here, too, the public has been misinformed. Our blood vessels can become damaged in a number of ways-through irritations caused by free radicals or viruses, or because they are structurally weak-and when this happens, the body's natural healing substance steps in to repair the damage. That substance is cholesterol. Cholesterol is a high-molecular-weight alcohol that is manufactured in the liver and in most human cells. Like saturated fats, the cholesterol we make and consume plays many vital roles:

Along with saturated fats, cholesterol in the cell membrane gives our cells necessary stiffness and stability. When the diet contains an excess of polyunsaturated fatty acids, these replace saturated fatty acids in the cell membrane, so that the cell walls actually become flabby. When this happens, cholesterol from the blood is "driven" into the tissues to give them structural integrity. This is why serum cholesterol levels may go down temporarily when we replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated oils in the diet.

Cholesterol acts as a precursor to vital corticosteroids, hormones that help us deal with stress and protect the body against heart disease and cancer; and to the sex hormones like androgen, testosterone, estrogen and progesterone.

Cholesterol is a precursor to vitamin D, a very important fat-soluble vitamin needed for healthy bones and nervous system, proper growth, mineral metabolism, muscle tone, insulin production, reproduction and immune system function.

The bile salts are made from cholesterol. Bile is vital for digestion and assimilation of fats in the diet.

Recent research shows that cholesterol acts as an antioxidant. This is the likely explanation for the fact that cholesterol levels go up with age. As an antioxidant, cholesterol protects us against free radical damage that leads to heart disease and cancer.

Cholesterol is needed for proper function of serotonin receptors in the brain. Serotonin is the body's natural "feel-good" chemical. Low cholesterol levels have been linked to aggressive and violent behavior, depression and suicidal tendencies.

Mother's milk is especially rich in cholesterol and contains a special enzyme that helps the baby utilize this nutrient. Babies and children need cholesterol-rich foods throughout their growing years to ensure proper development of the brain and nervous system.

Dietary cholesterol plays an important role in maintaining the health of the intestinal wall. This is why low-cholesterol vegetarian diets can lead to leaky gut syndrome and other intestinal disorders.
Cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease but rather a potent antioxidant weapon against free radicals in the blood, and a repair substance that helps heal arterial damage (although the arterial plaques themselves contain very little cholesterol.) However, like fats, cholesterol may be damaged by exposure to heat and oxygen. This damaged or oxidized cholesterol seems to promote both injury to the arterial cells as well as a pathological buildup of plaque in the arteries. Damaged cholesterol is found in powdered eggs, in powdered milk (added to reduced-fat milks to give them body) and in meats and fats that have been heated to high temperatures in frying and other high-temperature processes.

High serum cholesterol levels often indicate that the body needs cholesterol to protect itself from high levels of altered, free-radical-containing fats. Just as a large police force is needed in a locality where crime occurs frequently, so cholesterol is needed in a poorly nourished body to protect the individual from a tendency to heart disease and cancer. Blaming coronary heart disease on cholesterol is like blaming the police for murder and theft in a high crime area.

Poor thyroid function (hypothyroidism) will often result in high cholesterol levels. When thyroid function is poor, usually due to a diet high in sugar and low in usable iodine, fat-soluble vitamins and other nutrients, the body floods the blood with cholesterol as an adaptive and protective mechanism, providing a superabundance of materials needed to heal tissues and produce protective steroids. Hypothyroid individuals are particularly susceptible to infections, heart disease and cancer.

The cause of heart disease is not animal fats and cholesterol but rather a number of factors inherent in modern diets, including excess consumption of vegetables oils and hydrogenated fats; excess consumption of refined carbohydrates in the form of sugar and white flour; mineral deficiencies, particularly low levels of protective magnesium and iodine; deficiencies of vitamins, particularly of vitamin C, needed for the integrity of the blood vessel walls, and of antioxidants like selenium and vitamin E, which protect us from free radicals; and, finally, the disappearance of antimicrobial fats from the food supply, namely, animal fats and tropical oils. These once protected us against the kinds of viruses and bacteria that have been associated with the onset of pathogenic plaque leading to heart disease.

While serum cholesterol levels provide an inaccurate indication of future heart disease, a high level of a substance called homocysteine in the blood has been positively correlated with pathological buildup of plaque in the arteries and the tendency to form clots-a deadly combination. Folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and choline are nutrients that lower serum homocysteine levels.53 These nutrients are found mostly in animal foods.

The best way to treat heart disease, then, is not to focus on lowering cholesterol-either by drugs or diet-but to consume a diet that provides animal foods rich in vitamins B6 and B12; to bolster thyroid function by daily use of natural sea salt, a good source of usable iodine; to avoid vitamin and mineral deficiencies that make the artery walls more prone to ruptures and the buildup of plaque; to include the antimicrobial fats in the diet; and to eliminate processed foods containing refined carbohydrates, oxidized cholesterol and free-radical-containing vegetable oils that cause the body to need constant repair.

 

Posted by zarkme at 02:28:13 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

November 02, 2005

Vegan diet gives relief

(thanks go to zdog for finding this)
source url:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11574747&dopt=Abstract

    [Clinical remission of an HLA B27-positive sacroiliitis on vegan diet]

    Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd. 2001 Aug;8(4):228-31
    [Article in German]
    Huber R, Herdrich A, Rostock M, Vogel T.
    Ambulanz fur Naturheilverfahren und Umweltmedizin, Abteilung Innere Medizin II, Universitatsklinik Freiburg. rhuber@med1.ukl.uni-freiburg.de

    BACKGROUND: Positive effects of fasting and vegan diet in patients with rheumatic diseases are reported in the literature. MEDICAL HISTORY: We present a 33-year-old patient with double-sided HLA B27-positive sacroiliitis, which was diagnosed by magnetic resonance tomography. Since about 10 years he therefore had pain in the iliosacral region. Numerous sessions of physiotherapy, a cure treatment, and treatment with sulfasalazine and doxycycline were not effective. The patient was dependent on the daily intake of the nonsteroidal antirheumatics meloxicam 2 x 7.5 mg and ibuprofen 400-800 mg and the analgetic tramadol 50-150 mg, but evening and night pain and morning stiffness persisted under this treatment. TREATMENT: We recommended a temporary vegan diet, i.e. to completely avoid animal fats and proteins. COURSE: 3-4 days after changing on vegan diet the complaints improved distinctly and persistently. After consumption of meat 6 weeks later, complaints worsened. Consequent vegan diet again resulted in significant improvement of the pain and morning stiffness. At follow-up 3 months after the initial contact, tramadol and ibuprofen intakes had been stopped, meloxicam had been reduced to 1 x 7.5 mg. The patient was almost completely free of complaints. CONCLUSIONS: It was demonstrated that in a single case of sacroiliitis which was refractory to other treatment, vegan diet resulted in a convincingly improvement of complaints. Copyright 2001 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg

    Publication Types:
        * Case Reports

    PMID: 11574747 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Posted by zarkme at 14:16:09 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

September 25, 2005

Oranges and Grapes

I have a similar reaction to grapes as I do with oranges

2005.09.25
Ate 3 or 4 oranges.
Effects: itchy skin, feeling hot and perhaps mildly feverish, mild depression and malaise, headache
Conclusions: sensitive or allergic to oranges (salicylates?), possible effects of raised liver enzymes
Posted by zarkme at 01:04:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

May 03, 2005

Cheese

cheese - NSD test
2005.05.03   4pm
testing:
* hard vintage cheese 130gram (a well aged cheese with a strong taste)
* a few grapes (always safe for me)

start: (before eating cheese)
* tender points:
in right rib. Very slight tenderness when pressing hard on left rib and centre of chest. hip has almost zero tenderness
* pain and stiffness:
back and neck have no pain but are slightly stiff. Very slight pain when getting up from chair.
observations:
* at 30 mins felt increased warmth (similar to noni juice)
* at 4 to 5 hours I still had no change in pain or inflammation
* at about 6 hours I had some mild pain in my heel (enthesitis) and a tiny bit of eczema.  There was no enthesitis before I ate the cheese.
* next day the eczema calmed down and the enthesitis had cleared altogether.
* after 24 hours had a fair bit of pain in my hips. Pretty sure it was the cheese but could have been the soto ayam paste that was used to spice up a meal (it contains onion) .

conclusions:
* so far this confirms john's (dragonslayer) observation that old hard cheeses are tolerated better than other dairy products. We find that other dairy products cause a modest amount of inflammation and well aged cheeses are an exception to this rule.
* I will be glad if I can add this to my diet as cheese is a good source of much needed calories and Vitamin B12.
Posted by zarkme at 11:49:17 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

March 15, 2005

Weight Gain

I am very keen to put on weight as I am terribly skinny thanks to many years of suffering this darn autoimmune disorder. There is something about immune disorders and inflammation that causes one to lose weight. Probably due to TNF-alpha..

Thoughts on what might help:
  • eat heaps of fat: coconut cream, mayonaise, coconut jelly, nuts, coconut macaroons, coconut soups, butter, oils, ...
  • lots of dried fruit: figs, dates, currants, raisins, ..
    (I avoid the dried fruits with preservatives)

Quoted from http://www.thepaleodiet.com/faq.htm
However, this being said there are some important exceptions. Dried fruits are not only concentrated calorie sources, they also represent high glycemic loads and have a high potential to cause weight gain, particularly when eaten in unlimited quantities. In addition, high-fat foods such as nuts, seeds, or fatty meats, if consumed in excessive quantity along with fruits, can also promote weight gain.


Posted by zarkme at 23:57:15 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

March 12, 2005

Paleolithic Diet

Related Links:

Quoted from : http://www.thepaleodiet.com/faq.htm

1. Describe how The Paleo Diet works.

With readily available modern foods, The Paleo Diet mimics the types of foods every single person on the planet ate prior to the Agricultural Revolution (a mere 500 generations ago). These foods (fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and seafood) are high in the beneficial nutrients (soluble fiber, antioxidant vitamins, phytochemicals, omega-3 and monounsaturated fats, and low-glycemic carbohydrates) that promote good health and are low in the foods and nutrients (refined sugars and grains, saturated and trans fats, salt, high-glycemic carbohydrates, and processed foods) that frequently may cause weight gain, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and numerous other health problems. The Paleo Diet encourages dieters to replace dairy and grain products with fresh fruits and vegetables -- foods that are more nutritious than whole grains or dairy products.


Posted by zarkme at 20:51:12 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Fasting and pain relief

Originally posted here by Tacitus:
I have taken down many flares using the Cayce 3 day apple diet; fasting seems to take longer, in fact.

My reply:
Yes, from my experience I believe this to be the case too. The sooner the offending food is out the other end, the sooner I get relief from the inflammation. And fasting just slows down the bowel movements far too much.

For instance I got really sick once and could not keep any food down.. so I decided that I may as well go and fast. Well pretty soon the tummy bug had cleared my bowels out completely (diarrhoea) and I was in no pain ! Not only that but I felt awesome and my mind was super sharp and clear..

Posted by zarkme at 07:07:50 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

March 06, 2005

crazy theory : simple diet

Spent the day walking in the park... Perhaps I got to much sunshine :-). For what it's worth, here is what I said to Jan (twisks) :

~~~ crazy theory : simple diet ~~~
Observation:
After fasting on fruit for a few days my gut flora improved a great deal and certainly my ability to tolerate fruit improved. Candida is gone. Inflammation is gone. Fatigue is gone.

Wild speculation / Conclusion:
so hey my newest cooky theory is that if I eat nothing but lentils or some other unprocessed     grain / bean for about three days straight maybe my immune system will be able to stabilise a healthy gut flora .. hehehe ..  ya never know, could happen!  My argument is that by eating such a basic diet the gut flora will be more stable and will give the immune system a good chance to get its act together.. it's hard to put into words exactly why I think it would work.  So if I am right, the theory that a varied diet ==> brings good health is false.

Posted by zarkme at 09:44:53 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |
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