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Just a Quick Update

Written by

Starlene

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I haven’t put together a “daily” report in some time, for that matter, no weekly or monthly reports.

I guess not much to report… I’m still eating GAPS with the Leptin Reset twist.

I am maintaining my weight loss, and the scale told me 168.4 pounds a few days ago. I would like to get serious and lose a few more pounds because I am 5’4″ so this weight is still heavy for my frame. Obviously I’ve been eating a few too many coconut cookies. 😉

I was realizing I am feeling better. I am becoming more able to withstand working while tired. For awhile there I was having a really hard time coping with my job. I was remembering that I used to have to force myself to wake up by 8am and then lay in bed with my phone checking my email, trying to wake up, trying to get going. Now I can get up at 7am but this still gets me to work later than I’d like. I’d really like to be waking routinely at 6am, leaving by 7am and getting to work by 8am.

I have been thinking about my MTHFR genetic mutation. I have the worst status, according to Dr. Lynch and current studies. I have two copies of C677T.

I wonder how come I’m not worse off?

My main lifelong problem has been a lack of energy, and that continues to be an issue for me. But I could be much worse off. I feel lucky to be as well and functioning as I am.

I was realizing that I have made a conscious effort in the last two decades to decrease the toxin load from my environment. I live in a rural area so I am not constantly barraged with pollution from automobiles, although I am in the big city three days a week.

I have not been on birth control except for about one or two years before my firstborn son was conceived. In fact I was on the pill when I got pregnant with him. Birth control is bad news for any woman, to begin with, but worse if you have MTHFR. I asked Sterling Hill on her Facebook page MTHFR support and she responded:

“http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1862844/ Folate is reduced by up to 40% and if you already are deficient you are in trouble. It also depletes methylcobalamin which are both needed to turn the toxic amino acid homocyesteine into methionine synthase. High homocysteine causes clotting.”

I stopped getting my hair “done” when I learned I was pregnant with my first born, so 26 years ago. Before I got pregnant with him I used to get my hair permed every three months. Wow. I must have been super toxic. I do not color my hair and I use “safe” shampoo. I actually stopped using shampoo from 2007 until 2011 and used only baking soda [affiliate link] and apple cider vinegar. But after the Jalapeno Incident I was just so weary that I couldn’t even take the time to do that, and have not gotten back into the habit yet. Since then I’ve been using this shampoo: Desert Essence Coconut Shampoo.

Oddly enough I have almost no grey hairs, and I will not be coloring my hair. EVER. Over the weekend I spoke with Sterling Hill and she told me brown hair color contains lead. Just what a person needs. Heavy metal poisoning.

I stopped using harsh chemicals to clean my home about two decades ago, only using baking soda and vinegar.

I stopped using non-stick skillets about 15 years ago.

We moved into a home that was about a decade old, so no new carpeting to deal with off gassing.

I have made a point to get enough sleep for most of my adult life.

Our water here does not contain fluoride or chlorine. I haven’t been in swimming pools hardly at all in 12 years.

I’ve avoided MSG for years.

And I’ve been off gluten, grains, sugar, soda, and processed food for 2.5 years.

How sick would I have been had I not started on GAPS?

—

I do have some problems that I need to rectify. I need to have eleven amalgams removed. I want to be able to eat better food. Soon our well water will be filtered and the arsenic will be removed to acceptable levels so I won’t be detox bathing in that water.

I told my husband I don’t know if I will ever have much more energy than I do now, since I cannot get the amalgams removed any time soon, and we can’t afford to eat “pure” food.

I am grateful that I can manage to get up in the morning and get myself to my job. That is important.

I am feeling better.

 

 

 

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Comments

10 responses to “Just a Quick Update”

  1. Mrs. Mom of 6 Avatar
    Mrs. Mom of 6

    I am battling massive energy issues. Would you have any idea why GAPS might have started or exacerbated this issue? Last fall I started GAPS in September with my kids, primarily for my Autism Spectrum daughter. For her it is working wonders, for me, I developed massive issues with fatigue and even though I stopped eating GAPS in December, I still haven’t regained my energy. Thoughts??

  2. Olga Avatar
    Olga

    I am so glad you are feeling better. I know that has been one of your struggles. I am also enjoying all the recipes you are posting. I can’t wait till I am at a place where I can cook more.

  3. Starlene Avatar
    Starlene

    Hi Meg, ohhhhh I don’t have a good answer for you right off the top of my head. Have you had any kind of testing done like thyroid? Or adrenals? I will ask on my Facebook page and see if I can get some feedback. Okay? Sorry I’m a little brain dead tonight.

  4. Starlene Avatar
    Starlene

    Meg, I’m starting to get some responses over at Facebook. Do you do Facebook? If not just email back and let me know and I can forward the responses to you. You should be able to view the post here: http://www.facebook.com/gapsdietjourney/posts/439121936117187

  5. Starlene Avatar
    Starlene

    Thank you, Olga. Yes, I am glad I am feeling better, too. I think this MTHFR genetic mutation might be a big piece of my personal health journey. I’m glad you are liking my recipes, I am trying to come up with more. I really enjoy spending time in the kitchen. 🙂 How are you doing?

  6. Mrs. Mom of 6 Avatar
    Mrs. Mom of 6

    We don’t do Facebook sorry. I have had the thyroid tested, but medical doctors don’t seem to be willing to test all 4 ways for thyroid issues, they mostly just run the TSH. Which comes back fine. No tests on adrenals yet. Not sure how to do that. Thanks for looking into it. I am going to try Matt Stone’s RRARFing protocol. http://www.180degreehealth.com/uploads/eBooks/Rrarf.pdf we’ll see how that goes.

  7. Starlene Avatar
    Starlene

    Hi Meg, you’ll have to let me know how that goes. I have heard some have great success initially but then things go downhill again. I did ask on Facebook and you don’t need to sign in at all if you just click on this link you can see the comments from others there – I think 15 people have commented: http://www.facebook.com/gapsdietjourney/posts/439121936117187 I would suggest checking http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com for information about adrenal and thyroid testing. The TSH does come back normal for most of us. Also, Dr. Kharrazian’s book is a good one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600376703?tag=gapsdietjourney-20

  8. Mrs. Mom of 6 Avatar
    Mrs. Mom of 6

    THanks for the facebook link. I read them all. I think it must be an adrenal or thyroid problem, it must have been there already. I also discovered that I had issues with getting enough magnesium. Taking a magnesium supplement really helped me, I still take it off and on when I feel the symptoms come back.

    My temps run low most of the time. about 97.2 That’s what leads me to think that it might be adrenals as someone suggested. People were asking if we eat enough fat, and I definitely think so, yes. I once counted out the percentages, and I had 60% of my calories from healthy fats.

    I am going to look into the RRARFing thing more. Wonder why some people lose the results later?? Got any idea? I’ll look into the book too, thanks.

  9. Starlene Avatar
    Starlene

    Hi Meg, I can’t remember where I read or heard that some people are finding it doesn’t work. I will see if I can remember where that came from. I know for myself personally I find I need to really stay low on carbohydrates and in the Adrenal Fatigue book by James Wilson he says too many carbohydrates can be hard on the adrenals. I don’t know how many he says is too many, but I find if I eat too many in a day for too many days in a row my sleep is affected negatively and I also start to feel depressed. I *think* what is happening is the carbohydrates are a stressor on my already flagging adrenals and then my sleep is affected and when I don’t get enough sleep I start to feel depressed. I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but over the last 2.5 years on GAPS again and again I keep forgetting that I need to stay low on my carbs and end up sinking into depression. I hope I’ve learned my lesson finally though. But of course this is how it works in my body. There is no telling if this would be the same for you or anyone else. Starlene

  10. Starlene Avatar
    Starlene

    Hi again, I just reread your comment again and from my understanding, low temps are usually an indicator of low thyroid. According to the Stop the Thyroid Madness site if you take your temps 3 hours after waking, then 6 hours, then 9 hours and get an average for the day, your temps should stay within 2 points (i.e. 97.2°F to 97.4°F) from day to day and this indicates your adrenals are stable. Typically a person with bad adrenal function will see the day to day temps all over the place. (i.e. 97.2°F one day, 98.1°F the next day, 96.9°F The next day, etc.) And then the “normal” body temp should be 98.6°F when taking those three temps and averaging. Lower temps than that indicates low thyroid function. But then Dr. Datis Kharrazian says most thyroid problems are caused by autoimmune disorders and eating gluten and sometimes dairy products. So much to learn about this stuff and of course all the theories don’t match with the others. At least we can be certain the GAPS Protocol is good for us as a starting place. ~Starlene

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