How I killed my hunger in days !!!

I used to be hungry all the time, since I remember. I thought it’s only in my head, because I used to starve myself for long periods of time and than eat everything I could put my hand on in my teens and twenties. I never really felt satisfied after a meal or maybe for a couple of hours but not more than 3. Even when I was on a healthy diet and got hungry used to walk into a store and walk out, couldn’t get anything that didn’t had something I can’t eat, like sugar, soy or artificial stuff, so I just get more hungry after seeing all the food I can’t eat :-)).  I used to get really irritable and shaky when my blood sugar went down, felt like could kill for food, the hunger completely toke me over, wasn’t myself, had to apologize for whatever I said when I was hungry :-)). It wasn’t a good feeling, but my biggest problem was, what am I going to eat if I can’t make it home in time?

After about 2-3 days on the Ketogenic diet, by the recommendation of my doctor, I started to notice that my hunger is getting better, I woke up in the morning and wasn’t hungry, can’t remember when I felt that before, used to wake up starving 5 in the morning. If I had 3-4 eggs with a piece of real bacon from Transylvania, which is pure fat, no meat in it whatsoever :-))) I could go for 5-6 hours without even thinking about food or what am I going to eat next time.  After cutting out carbs almost all, only 10% of my daily intake is carb, mostly green leafy vegetables, very small amounts of berries and adding a lot more good, healthy fats to my diet, like avocados, coconut oil, butter, lard, fatty meats, avocado oil and nuts my hunger vanished from one day to the other.

First to week was adaptation week, even though I was on a pretty low carb diet lately I still had more than my body could handle, so cutting even more back lowered my blood sugar and my hunger was gone. Because I have inflammation in my body for six week I have to cut out dairy, nightshades, fermented foods, sugar of course, all grains, pseudo grains, beans, peas, lentils. Basically I live on fats, small amount of protein, meat, eggs, fish and green leafy vegetables for the next 6-week to reset my stomach and get rid of the inflammation in my body.

It amazes me how easy my body adapted to the high fat diet, I literally eat bacon with bacon or bacon with mayo :-))), take down coconut oil by the spoon and cooking everything in lard. Have no stomach issues, no discomfort or anything. When I decided that I am going to eat meat again, after 3 years and 3 months my first meal was lamb on Easter with lots of fat from the lamb meat, I thought that is going to kill me, but nothing happened, didn’t get sick, not even discomfort in my stomach and felt really good after, so I was back on meat from there every day, never had any problems.  So one thing is fore sure, actually two :-))) can’t handle sugar or too much starchy carbs or refined carbs but fat is really good to me ( bacon is good for me :-))) ), almost can eat the lard with a spoon, out of the jar :-)).

3 weeks into the ketogenic diet and 1 week without dairy, too I have to say I am not hungry any more, have no cravings and I didn’t eat dark chocolate in almost 2 weeks, that used to be my weakness. Food and what am I going to eat is not a problem any more, don’t get irritated and emotional so easy, I used to get depressed if I had to much sweets, like a piece of cake on a birthday. Didn’t even realized how much of my behavior, emotions and mood depended on food, I only see it now after making these changes. The only down side of the adaptation to the high fat diet is that I feel some slight pressure in my forehead, usually in the night, but I wouldn’t call that a head ache, it’s not bad at all and actually I can hardly feel it after 3 weeks, so it looks like my body is adapting running on fats instead of sugar, and once that happens I will be unbeatable :-)), nothing and no one can stop me, won’t depend on sugar any more. Weight is going down slowly, have no retained water since I wasn’t on a high sodium diet, so the weight lose is slow and steady but I can see the change in my body composition.

Working out is hard, since I don’t have much sugar in my muscles or liver any more, until my body adapts to using fat for energy, working out will be hard. First two weeks had sore muscles after every work out, which I don’t mind.

Because of the adrenal fatigue I shouldn’t even work out for -6 weeks, only Thai chi or Qigong, so I did my best to  slow myself down , first two weeks took it easy, but I can’t stop myself, I really miss working out, that is my stress relief and substitute for everything else :-)).

If I work out muscles feel really tired, especially legs, hardly can walk up on the stairs, practicing the violin got harder, too but 3 weeks in I can feel that is getting better.

Here is some picture about the meals I eat right now, all home made by me.

Pork belly from the Farmers Market.

More pork belly and pork heart with spinach.

Bone broth and bone marrow.

Eggs and pork sausages from the Farmers Market.

Pork chops with boo choy and cilantro pesto.

Transylvanian real bacon :-))because Bacon is good for me :-))).

Thi is my to go breakfast, 3 eggs, cilantro pesto and wild alaskan salmon.

This will keep me full for 5-6 hours and as you can see its not a big portion.

I thought I was healthy!!

I thought I was the healthiest person in the World, I had no aches and pains, don’t know what is a headache or upset stomach. I had some symptoms, that were bothering me, like not being able to lose the extra weight, what I put on while I was a vegetarian, I was cold all the time, yawning all the time, feeling tired or sleepy most of the time, even if I had a good night sleep. I never catch a flu or any kind of infectious diseases, so I tough I am healthy. In the last 9-10 years I really made sure to eat good food and exercised regularly.

 I had weight problems for most of my life, been over weight since I was 3 years old. Yo-yo dieting with not much success for about 20 years, when I was 30 years old lost about 50 lb, really easy, almost effortless, with a diet and lifestyle change. Cut out refined   sugar, salt and flour basically and worked out 3 times per week, doing weight training, no cardio.

Kept my weight about 3 years and than I went vegetarian, just to see how it feels, to have an opinion about it and didn’t wanted to take part in the Factory farming, feel very bad about those animals, so I figured won’t contribute to it. At the same time decided to run New York City Marathon, too, so I started training for it, not doing much running or any kind of cardio before. I thought I am on a healthy vegetarian diet, still not eating any refined sugar or carbs, not much salt, actually very small amount of salt, no junk at all, no pizzas and doughnuts or any sugary drinks at all.

Been eating lots of fruits, dried fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, tofu, tempe and all the good stuff, no meat and fish at all for 3 years and 3 months. Doing a lot of cardio and weight training, too and my weight still went up about 25 lb slowly during this time. I was bloated all the time, felt tired often, was hungry constantly, no mater how much I eat I was always hungry. Toward the end craved Kombucha very bad and protein, too. Started to eat those fake, vegetarian sausages, then I knew I have to stop, this is not working for me. I gave myself  3 month more  watching what I eat, I knew I was eating to much fruits and dried fruits, so I cut back on it and see if my weight goes down but nothing happened, the I decided to go back on meat.

Switched back from one day to the other and had no issues of adapting slowly back to meat and animal fat, actually felt really good, bloating started to go away, had more energy. If I cut really back on carbs my weight goes down 5-10 lb, but once I eat a little more it is all back, so my weight issue didn’t got much better going back on meat.

After almost 2 years of struggling again with my weight, I knew something was going on with me, I went down to a pretty low carb diet and still wasn’t able to lose any weight. I talked with a doctor and he suggested me to do some blood work to see what is going on.

Boy I got surprised when I got the result and showed them to the Doc. I really thought I was healthy because I never was sick but that doesn’t means that everything is all right. So after talking with my Doctor I found out I have a lot of things going one in my body, the biggest shock to me was my high blood sugar/ pre diabetes. Here is a list of the ailments I have:

Pre diabetes

Thyroid problem

Metabolic syndrome

Low red blood cells/anemic

Low sodium

Low calcium

Low zinc

Low iodine

Low stomach acid

Low magnesium

High white blood cells/ inflammation in the body

Heavy metal poisoning

Mold

Adrenal fatigue

The only thing was perfect that was my cholesterol J.

Looking back to the last 5-6 years it all makes sense. Talking with my Doctor, putting all the puzzle pieces together it all makes sense. 

Looking back to 5-6 years I had my wisdom teeth removed and 3 root canal done and 2 amalgam feelings removed from my mouth, not the safe way, just busted in my mouth basically. Have the heavy metal poisoning from the amalgam feeling and possibly eating to much cacao powder from Trader Joe, 100% dark but full of heavy metals from the grinding.

Inflammation can come from the root canals and wisdom teeth, because it turns out can’t be cleaned completely and bacteria still lives in, gets in the blood stream and causes inflammation in the body.

Low stomach acid from being a vegetarian and since I wasn’t eating any meat my stomach wasn’t making any hydrochloric acid for about 3 years and that is causing all the absorption problems and all the deficiencies in my body, despite the fact that I always made sure that got high quality foods and eat my fruits and veggies.

Didn’t eat salt for years, thinking that salt is bad for me, turns out that we need salt, not much and good quality but we need it, and I am not talking about white, refined table salt, that we don’t need, good quality Himalayan or Celtic sea salt, with lots of minerals in it.

Thyroid problem is probably from my low iodine levels and the inflammation in my body.

I had mold in my bathroom for months and in my bedroom closet, too and didn’t even know about it for months, so that is where mold is coming.

Adrenal fatigue is from having a very crazy schedule and a very bad sleeping pattern, going to sleep late and getting up really early some days some days are not and over training possibly, too. Not losing weight I was pushing myself in the gym really hard to see some changes, but the harder I pushed the more harm I did probably.

My high blood sugar can be because of the heavy metals in my body, mold, inflammation and possibly from my body not being able to handle sugar well, I have high blood sugar since I was 9 years old, that I know, but possibly before because I was over weight before just didn’t checked my blood sugar. So a combination of all of these issues in my body is the root cause of my weight problem, feeling cold and tired all the time.

So what is the solution for all these ailments before it gets really bad?

First thing is cleaning out the heavy metals from my body, for that I use Heavy Metal Detox, to help the absorption of minerals I am taking hydrochloric acid to help digestion and absorption. For the low red blood cells I am taking Ferritin, not a big fan of supplements, try to get everything from food, so only until it gets better will use these supplements.

Diet wise I am doing the Ketogenic diet with some restriction for 6 weeks to get all the bad bacteria and inflammation out of my body.

Ketogenic diet is a very low carb, moderate protein and high fat diet, 10% carbs, 20% protein and 70-80 % fat        ( good fats).

Won’t eat any diary, sugar, grains, nightshades and fermented food for 6 weeks to reset my stomach.

Two weeks in Keto so far, feeling good, hunger is lot better, almost not hungry at all, can go for 5-6 hours without being hungry, less yawning, not a big weight change but bloating is gone and body composition looks different, too. 
I am in my second big diet and lifestyle changes and hopefully this time for good. I want to get to the bottom of my blood sugar problem and solve it for good. 

My lowest weight and body fat, about 150 lb, around 20% body fat, before becoming a vegetarian.

 

New York City Marathon 2013, vegetarian, about 160 lb, 25% body fat.

Back on meat again, but still not back on my ideal weight. about 170 lb here and 28% body fat.