Primal Challenge Journal (MamaGrok) page 70

[MamaGrok]

It's pulling together for me now. This is my 'aha' moment. Dr. Kruse: "time to correct is tied to inflammation and underlying cytokine levels. This is what leads to hormone dysfunction."

So my LR takes longer b/c I am chronically inflamed from the periodic gluten. Get rid of it, and the associated dairy intolerance, and LR should come much more quickly, and following that, thyroid restoration.

[MamaGrok]

This makes sense of why my leukocytes were elevated last year when I tested...


On another note, I like snauzoo's summary of the leptin reset: Two things are happening: lectins and other assorted substances cause leaky gut. Leaky gut increases cytokines that blocks leptin sensitivity at the arcuate nucleus.

Faulty leptin signaling coupled with vacillating blood glucose levels due to inappropriate carb consumption results in fat gain which in turn creates adipokines that also interfere with leptin sensitivity.

If these are true, then healing gut first will fix cytokines, and when that is done, leptin sensitivity will follow so long as the other components of restoring leptin sensitivity are addressed. The way I am understanding this is that leptin sensitivity can not be achieved in the presence of leaky gut caused inflammatory cytokines.

[MamaGrok]

More food for thought: CFS Patient Advocate: Gut treatment using the Metametrix GI Effects test

He says all the beneficial bacteria dots should be on the right, with bacteroides & bifidus the highest. All of mine are on the right *except* for those two, which are in the yellow-green range.

I should consider VSL#3, need a probiotic with >35billion, IIRC. That dude talks about some d-lactate problems for CFS and suggests other probies.

He says total SCFA & n-butyrate should be mid-to-high. Mine are mid-low & mid, respectively.

How can my lactofferrin (gut inflammation) be so low? Or maybe .7 isn't really low?

He says elastase should be over 500? Confusing, b/c the sheet has both >500 & >184. Mine is 321. Hmmm...

[MamaGrok]

Aha! I"ll be delving into this later. Now is time for a dinner out with hubby at the farm-to-table restaurant I love.

http://www.metametrix.com/files/test...Effects-IG.pdf Yes!

Today is my aha. 2012, here I come!

[MamaGrok]

Week 1, Day 4
BBT - thermometer's batteries are dead
145.5, but gut feels a lot better ... probably just from a big dinner last night.
69 days binge-free


Leptin Resistance goals:
- Breakfast w/ 50gm of protein yes
- Breakfast w/i 30m of risingclose ... but very late (10ish?) b/c of late rising
- 5+ hrs between Breakfast and Lunch yes, no lunch
- 5+ hrs between Lunch and Dinner yes, no lunch
- no snacking yes
- exposure to morning sun yes - sunny & frigid (23), no lenses, no socks!
- darkening the house at sunset yes
- 100% primal diet yes
- <50g carb per day, anti-candida (no sweeteners, starches, or fruit) yes, no (grapes)
- no PUFA's other than fCLO yes
- teaspoon of coconut oil if I start fading extra 2T at bkfst

Morning
D (5000IU) - 6000IU
HCl - forgot.
Dig Enz - Considering another brand and/or ox bile
Organs, broth, ferments: forgot my liver! broth w/ dinner

Midday
Mg (700mg) - 1/2tsp at lunch, no gi effects till late night, then rumbling only
Selenium (200mg) - yes
ACV -
OOO -
Green tea - 2C of black, need to start in on the green
Salt and/or potassium - 1tsp salt in 12oz water

Dairy- & gluten-free? yes

B - 4 eggs, 2?oz sausage, pot roast, 3T CO

D - bit of pork chop, lots of Mexican beef stew (garlic, tomatoes, broth), bite of artichoke, 6 freeze-dried grapes

Results
- energy 6-4/10
- bloating = 3.5mo morning, 5mo at night. ? Tomatoes (nightshades)?
- skin = more improved
- 8hrs, very, very sleepy when waking. Where is that natural-light restedness? Very sleepy at noon, but couldn't get to sleep. Stayed sleepy until about 8pm, then started getting more awake. :P
- big head cold, but 5gm C went out quickly. Odd. 4 cloves raw garlic seems to be fighting it well.

Health for life!!

[Aila]

Hi Mama Grok!

Wow, this is absolutely fascinating to me. I hadn't thought about doing any such testing, but you've got me intrigued. I wonder about whether it might make more sense for me to get further along before checking, though... Anyhow, I like that you've boiled it down to the essences: no periodic gluten cheats...! Heal the gut, the rest will follow. Probably makes sense to avoid dairy at least until the gut is healed. Fix the Omega balance (more fish?).

Have you ever tried the Bio-Kult recommended by GAPS? I've discovered it's available on Amazon...

Thanks so much for sharing all this detailed information with us!

[smarkley]

Kick start with 50 billion! Here is what I am taking:
Now Foods Probiotic-10 Amazon.com: NOW Foods Probiotic-10, 50 Billion, 50 Vcaps: Health & Personal Care

[MamaGrok]

Strangely, I had no reaction to Biokult whatsoever, no improvement, no die-off, nothing., even at therapeutic doses. I know others who have responded powerfully to it.

Interestingly, my bacteria are far better than I expected. Almost all the good bacteria are strong, but the two that should be strongest (according to one website) are not high enough. No pathogenic or opportunistic bacterial overgrowth. Very shocking! I don't know if the best approach is to look for those two in a probiotic, or to tak ea more general approach and hope for balance. There's also Dr. NCM saying at some point that it's very difficult, if not impossible, to colonize good bacteria once they're gone, and the best you can hope for is to keep replacing it over and over and over again.

This all definitely ties into my recent discovery that dairy seriously affects my bloating & energy. Most people who can't tolerate gluten also can't tolerate casein until they've been off gluten a long time and do some gut healing, apparently. Hello, reality check for me!

[smarkley]

Well at least you are finding out now... gluten is a BIG problem for lots of people, and a LOT of people do not even know they have a gluten problem.

[MamaGrok]

More notes from the Metametrix guide to GI Effects results:

- If F/B ratio is skewed (mine is way skewed), do standard gut dysbiosis therapy (esp. supping s. boulardii & bifidus sp.). Clostridia sp., which is very high, is probably contributing the most to my imbalance. Need to find out how that gets so high (it's not listed as a pathogenic bacteria). They recommend prebiotics like inulin, too. Also "Consider L-glutamine, essential fatty acids, zinc, pantothenic acid and vitamin C."

- If Elastane is low (mine is somewhat low), need Betaine HCl (BTDT, could be residual), and/or pancreatic enzymes, digestive herbs, and/or "bile salts, taurine, or cholagogues (like dandelion, wormwood, "a good tea," all bitter plants"; these are to stimulate bile flow) - the last three especially in the case of high trig's, which I have. "Relax while eating & chew thoroughly." (much easier now that BED is all but gone)

Wait - I just realized I misread the results. It looks like my elastane is actually in the ideal range - >500. NM on that! But the recs are the same as the next one, so ...

- Elevated veg fiber is from too little HCl, pancreatic insufficiency, bile salt insufficiency (if elevated trig's) , inadequate chewing, lol. Treatment: same as elastane.

- Malabsorption (mine is HIGH on all three counts - way beyond the 95% level, if I understand correctly) - potential causes include dysbiosis, gluten intolerance, EFA deficiency, bile salt or pancreatic insufficiency, "high dietary fat intake" ... um yeah?, increased cell turnover from inflammation, SIBO. Treatment = same as elastane + eliminate gluten, check vit/min/EFA status, more mucosal health supp tips (L-glutamine, Zn, EFAs, Vitamins A, E, and C, pantothenic acid, N-acetyl glucosamine, glycyrrhiza, aloe vera, slippery elm, etc.).

F/B ratio as indicator of metabolism/caloric extraction from food: Role of gut microflora in the developmen... [Pathol Biol (Paris). 2008] - PubMed - NCBI Is it causal (which way?) or correlation?

WAIT. I just saw a listing of healthy F/B ratios. Publications - Selected Bibliography table 1. It says for infants and elderly, it's about .6. For healthy, non-obese adults, it's 10. For an obese adult, it's around 100. Mine's 6.7! Why are the F's listed as high and the B's as low, then?? They're saying it should be no more than 4; I don't get that.

From the same: "On the basis of this trial in man, we cannot say if the modification of the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio is a cause or consequence of weight loss." Based on "The microbiota of obese mice appears to be more effective than that of lean mice in energy recuperation," I'm going to put forth a hypothesis: the obese are leptin resistant. Since their receptors can't hear leptin, they scream to the brain "INCREASE FAT STORES!" They say "EAT MORE MOVE LESS EAT MORE MOVE LESS" (sending these urges to the muscles & appetite) and also rearrange the microbiota so that more calories are gained from each bite. There ya go.

"A new lead would appear then to be breaking in research on obesity, which is no longer thought to be due to genetics and behaviour alone."
Praise God.

Well, I'm not gonna sweat the F/B ratio, then. It looks like mine really isn't all that off?