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  • Three Weeks on my GAPS-Style Leptin Reset

    Three Weeks on my GAPS-Style Leptin Reset

    You might have come to my blog last week to find it missing in action… but everything should now be back to normal thanks to my newly hired blog maintenance guy. I decided one of the things I needed to do to decrease the stress in my life was to have someone else do the backend maintenance. Thank goodness because this problem was out of my league.

    I can’t believe I’ve been doing the leptin reset three weeks. It has always been a challenge to eat 50 grams of protein in the morning, but in the last few days it has become even more challenging. I love meat, but that’s a lot of meat to eat within thirty minutes of rising and to be honest I’ve never been much of a breakfast eater. My mouth feels dry in the morning. I have found that eating sauerkraut helps because it is cold and juicy. Sometimes the meat is dry, even when I’ve soaked it with butter. Here are some examples of what I’ve had for breakfast to make it to 50 grams protein:

    • 10 ounces 80% 20% hamburger  = 48 grams
    • 2 eggs [affiliate link], 3 slices Open Nature uncured Canadian Bacon, 10 Aidells Chicken & Apples smoked chicken mini sausages, 1 Open Nature beef hot dog = 54 grams
    • 5 ounces salmon, 1 Foster Farms Italian Chicken Sausage = 49 grams
    • 2 Jennie-O Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage, 2 Foster Farms Chicken Breakfast Sausage links (small), 1 slice Open Nature uncured Canadian Bacon = 51 grams
    • 3.5  links Open Nature Smoked Andouille Chicken Sausage = 52.5 grams
    •  5 eggs, 10 pieces bacon = 51 grams
    • 9 ounces raw swordfish, 1 cup homemade beef broth = 54 grams
    • 3 links Costco Casual Gourmet Sausage Roasted Red Pepper and Spinach, 1 cup homemade chicken broth = 50 grams
    • 8 ounces grilled pork loin chop, 1/2 link Open Nature Smoked Andouille Chicken Sausage = 52 grams
    • 7 ounces raw salmon = 42 grams
    • 4 links Open Nature Smoked Andouille Chicken Sausage = 60 grams
    • 8 ounces salmon, 1 egg = 52 grams
    • 1.5 link Casual Gourmet Costco, 4 large eggs = 51 grams
    • 4 ounce chicken breast, 5 ounce raw hamburger = 55 grams
    • 3 chicken thighs = 51 grams

    This morning I was caught without anything to eat… last night my hubby brought home Canadian Bacon and jalapeno sausages and I thought I’d have those. He’s been finding “legal” things like this on clearance, but when I started examining the ingredients I saw that the Canadian Bacon contained not only nitrates and nitrites, but corn syrup, and the sausages had Monterey Jack Cheese and I’m still not having dairy. I ended up having 5 ounces of boiled chicken breast (leftover from the pot of soup I made yesterday) with 2 cups of chicken broth, 2 eggs and some green chili peppers. I made it into a soup of sorts and ugh, it was just not very tasty at all. It was all I could do to choke it down – boiled chicken breast is so dry even in broth! Thankfully it’s not usually that bad. Tomorrow morning I will be having bacon and grilled chicken thighs and I will look forward to that.

    I do feel I have been making some progress with the leptin reset. In Dr. Kruse’s post My Leptin Prescription he says most people will notice a change in their hunger and cravings within four to six weeks. I noticed this by the second week. I had not thought I was having cravings, but it turns out I was since I no longer think about having something like this: Coconut Milk Chocolate Ice Cream Shake. They were not uncontrollable cravings, it was more like the thought would pop into my head of how yummy it would be to have a treat. Often, as long as I could figure out something GAPS legal, I would indulge. But I’m not supposed to snack on the leptin reset and with all the protein in the morning I am just not hungry for hours. It is refreshing. With no low blood sugar symptoms either! That’s important.

    Dr. Kruse says these are the signs that you are becoming Leptin Sensitive again:

    1. Men will notice quick weight loss.
    2. Women will notice mood changes first (calmer/sleepy) and their sleep will improve. Their clothes will fit differently but weight may not change drastically initially because of effects on the pituitary. This will change too if they continue moving forward.
    3. You will notice a change in your sweating pattern.
    4. You will notice you have better recovery from exercise and your energy levels seem to have risen.
    5. Your hunger is gone and so are your cravings.
    6. When you awaken you will feel very refreshed like you slept well.

    Generally when the signs are all present, I then really push HIIT exercise with heavy weights.

    Okay, so my hunger and cravings are gone. My sleep has improved! It got worse before it got better. I was up several times every night to urinate but in the last week it seems that this has calmed down. Last Monday night I got six hours sleep, then on Tuesday night I got seven. Wednesday night I was awake until 1am so not a good night, but every night since I have been sleeping well; however I was still waking up to pee. Last night I actually slept from 11:30 until 5:30am straight through without waking up even once. I was so delighted to see the time. I hope this continues. I know much of this improvement has to do with my husband being home and sleeping at now. I am no longer having to worry myself sick over him not sleeping. This takes a huge load off me.

    It does seem as if I am waking feeling refreshed, at least on the days that I don’t have to go to work.

    I’m not sure how I’ll notice a change in my sweating pattern… I think if I remember correctly if you are leptin sensitive you sweat a lot.

    My clothes seem to be a bit looser, as if I’ve lost four or five pounds. The fat on my stomach feels looser, more fluffy, less solid.

    I’ve also been noticing how food seems less important. Almost as if I am beginning to eat to live, instead of live to eat.

    —

    I’ve been thinking about Thanksgiving Dinner… how to do it and stay under 25 grams of carbohydrates for the day. Well, one thing I know, I’ll be eating meat! 🙂  Last year I had a feast, with none of the standard carbohydrate items like potatoes, sweet potatoes, bread, rolls, etc., but even so they were higher in carbohydrates than I’m doing now.

    Here is a picture of last year’s Thanksgiving Feast:

    GAPS Thanksgiving Dinner

    My hubby tells me Fry’s Grocery has Holiday New York Strip Roast on sale for $3.77 a pound. I think we will have one of those for our Thanksgiving dinner. I’m also thinking spinach, and mushrooms. And mashed faux-tatotes.

    Last year to help plan my Thanksgiving menu I bought Heart of Cooking’s Thanksgiving Limited Diet Menu Planner. It is only $5.95 and I was very pleased with the variety on the menu. I didn’t get to make everything, but I was really happy with the recipes I did use. In the photo above you can see the recipes I used from her planner: Coconut Bread Stuffing, Butternut Squash and Apple Puree, Coconut Whipped Cream, and Pumpkin [affiliate link] Bars with Cashew Date Frosting, Pumpkin Pie and Spice Cranberry Sauce (not shown). There are so many great recipes in this 24 page planner that it’s more like a mini cookbook than a planner. I bought it last year and Sarah has a special offer this year where you can get the Thanksgiving Menu Planner free if you subscribe to her membership site. Or you can just buy the menu planner. It’s very worth the $5.95.

    So how are you doing on your GAPS journey? 

     

     

     

    GAPS DIET JOURNEY is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON.COM. GAPS DIET JOURNEY is an affiliate for several companies and may be compensated through advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, this post may contain affiliate links.

  • Insomnia and Waking in the Middle of the Night – Why It Happens

    I’ve been experiencing bouts of insomnia for almost two decades. It first started happening when I was doing the low fat diet. Actually this is the only other diet I’ve done in my entire life until starting on GAPS.

    I remember that I eventually learned if I would just get up and eat something with protein I would be able to go back to bed and get back to sleep. At the time, I was drinking soy milk because my children didn’t like it and it was something quick and easy to have in the middle of the night. The thing is, when I wake in the middle of the night I don’t feel hungry. In fact, the thought of eating seems perverse even sickening. But what happens is if I would just get up and stay up then I would find within a couple hours that I was actually very hungry. My stomach would start to growl ferociously. After that happened a few times, I realized I must be hungry so I should eat. Over the years, every so often I would experience insomnia. Since I work outside the home, it is uncomfortable and stressful to me when this happens. Here are some snippets from websites which explain why this can happen. I have read some of them before, but with my newfound information about cortisol and its importance to our very survival it has a whole new meaning on why this happens. I also recall reading somewhere that female hormones can play a part, but cannot find that reference at the moment.

    From Dr. James Wilson’s site Adrenal Fatigue:

    When the adrenals fatigue, adrenal hormone levels may become low, leading to another possible source of nighttime sleep disruption – low blood sugar.* Cortisol plays an important role in maintaining blood sugar (glucose) levels around the clock. Although blood glucose is normally low by the early morning hours, during adrenal fatigue cortisol levels may not stay sufficient to adequately sustain blood glucose.* Low glucose signals an internal alarm (glucose is the main fuel for all cells, including brain cells) that disrupts sleep so the person can wake up and refuel.

    Low nighttime blood glucose can also result from inadequate glycogen reserves in the liver. Cortisol causes these reserves to be broken down into glucose that is then available to the cells. When low cortisol and low glycogen reserves coincide, blood glucose will most likely drop, disrupting sleep.*

    Waking between 1 AM and 3 AM may indicate low blood sugar resulting from inadequate glycogen reserves in the liver, low adrenal function and cortisol, or both. This is often the culprit when panic or anxiety attacks, nightmares, or fitful, restless sleep occur between 1:00 and 4:00 AM.

    From the Primal Body Primal Mind website:

    6. I fall asleep OK but then wake up during the night and find it difficult to get back to sleep.
    Those that rely on blood sugar as their primary source of fuel AND suffer some degree of glucose dysregulation and adrenal exhaustion may find themselves a member of the “3:00 AM Club”. As blood sugar levels drop during the night, normally it is cortisol that is gently released as a means of up-regulating it without disrupting sleep. Those prone to bigger blood sugar swings, or eat/drink a carbohydrate-rich substance near bedtime, and/or those who have exhausted adrenals and cannot produce adequate cortisol when needed may come to rely, instead, on adrenaline as their late-night blood sugar-stimulator. Adrenaline, you may recall, is our body’s primary “fight or flight” hormone and is designed to be used only in an emergency. Since low blood sugar is a form of “emergency” for those who are dependent upon sugar as their primary source of fuel, you may find yourself figuratively “outrunning a saber-toothed tiger” at 3:00 AM. (See pages 78, 84, 99, 119, 162 in Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life). Training your body to burn fat as its primary source of fuel and not sugar is key to ending this miserable nocturnal cycle, once and for all. Let Primal Body-Primal Mind show you how!

    From Adrenal Glands at Tuberose:

    Typically in our society in which physical survival is not usually a daily source of stress, people handle their low-adrenal related hypoglycemia symptoms with a double-edged sword; they eat something sweet with a cup of coffee [affiliate link] or cola. This is a short acting emergency remedy that temporarily increases blood sugar with nearly immediate impact. They can almost feel it hit the back of their brain as their blood sugar moves out of the basement and shoots for the stars, relieving their hypoglycemic symptoms for about 45-90 minutes. However, this is inevitably followed by a precipitous plunge back to even lower blood sugar levels than they started with. Many individuals do this day in and day out, not realizing that hypoglycemia itself is a significant stress on the entire body, and especially on the adrenals.

    To the body, hypoglycemia is a strong stressor, an emergency call to action that further drains already fatigued adrenals. People who treat their own hypoglycemia like the common example given above are on a constant roller-coaster ride throughout the day with their blood sugar erratically rising and then falling after each “sugar fix.” This throws not only cortisol and insulin levels into turmoil, but also the nervous system and the entire homeostasis of the body. Therefore, by the end of the day, the person may feel nearly exhausted without having done anything. It might take an entire evening or weekend to recover from this daily/weekly roller coaster ride. It has sometimes been characterized as driving with both the brakes and the accelerator pushed to the floor at the same time.

    From The Allergy and Nutrition Centre:

    The early morning cortisol level should be the highest of the day giving us a strong start and enabling us to meet the demands of the day. A healthy person’s output of cortisol always follows the same curve, which can be plotted on a graph. It drops throughout the day until it falls to its lowest level by 11 p.m. or midnight, thus enabling us to be ready for bed and to sleep restfully throughout the night. Whenever the patient’s curve departs from the normal there is a problem. High night time cortisol means that the patient is finding it difficult to relax from the stress of the day and will have trouble going to sleep. This results in reduced REM sleep, a kind of sleep that is neither restful nor restorative, and which can produce depression and reduced energy levels the next day. (Italics mine – this is what I experience!)

    Another kind of patient will have normal cortisol output in the afternoon and evening, but will have too high and too sudden a release of cortisol in the early morning. This will result in early morning wakening at around 5 or 6 a.m, or even 4 a.m. and an inability to go back to sleep. This, in my experience, is a major cause of insomnia in patients with ME.

    So… these are reasons for insomnia that I’ve read about. I find the one reference to the “reduced REM sleep” to be quite fascinating as I have experienced that on and off for years. It’s awful and other women I’ve spoken to also experience this weird kind of pretend sleep. Basically it feels like you are lying there for hours and hours, but it seems impossible to have truly lain there awake for such a long time, so you MUST have slept, but it doesn’t feel like you slept a bit. The next day you feel exhausted and worn out.

    I hope this helps you figure out what is going on with you if you have a sleep problem.

    I am going to add pertinent articles as I find them:

     

     

    GAPS DIET JOURNEY is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON.COM. GAPS DIET JOURNEY is an affiliate for several companies and may be compensated through advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, this post may contain affiliate links.

  • Quick Update – My PC Caught a Cold

    I had planned to blog this weekend but then my computer went and got sick. My son works as a computer technician and specializes in removing viruses but he was unable to conquer this particular beastie. Something about a root kit and Google redirector… he decided it would be best to replace my hard drive so I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me to get everything back to way I need it to be in order to function.

    My blog also had issues and I decided to hire someone who comes highly recommended to deal with the problems, instead of stressing out over it and trying to fix it myself, which is what I would usually do. I am trying to remove all the stress from my life that I can, basically hibernating to conserve energy. I rarely blog on the days I’m working, and almost always if you see a blog post come out during the week it’s because I wrote it in advance and scheduled it to publish at a later date. If you comment to my blog I may not get to it immediately so please don’t think I’ve decided to not let your comments go through. Also in case you don’t know, there is a tool called a spam catcher which sometimes mistakenly catches legitimate comments. If you ever think I have not let your comment go through, please send me a polite email and let me know you commented. You may have fallen into my spam catcher. I am bombarded with hundreds of spam comments each week and I cannot keep up with looking over every single one that lands in there. I know many of you are right here in this GAPS boat with me and you understand that regaining health is important and comes first over blogging.

    As for what’s going on with me… my doctor isn’t back from vacation, and I’m still trying out Dr. Jack Kruse’s Leptin Reset Protocol. I can’t seem to get it perfect, partly because I have questions with no answers. I still have not been able to ascertain if I’m supposed to be taking in less than 25 grams of net carbs (carbs minus fiber carbs), or just plain carbs. I also keep waking up hungry, but more on that in a bit.

    I can say that it has helped since several days each week I am able to eat only two meals a day because of the large protein breakfast, I am simply not hungry for hours and hours and hours. This is quite amazing to me. For years before GAPS I had to eat every 3-4 hours or suffer from symptoms of low blood sugar. After doing GAPS for a year I found I could manage to eat only three meals each day, that was great. It’s a pain to have to bring not only lunch to work, but a mid-morning snack and on the way home snack. I’ve had to do that for many years before GAPS. It has been nice in the last year on GAPS to only have to bring LUNCH with me.

    On the days I don’t have to go to work I am not getting up as early, and eating usually around 8am so can go through the day without hunger. On the days I work, I eat by around 6am so it is a longer day and find that I still need to eat at by noon or 1pm while at work.

    I had a chance to experiment with this hunger and food cravings. On Friday the 4th I had blood drawn and had to fast and could not have my big protein breakfast and spent the day feeling uncomfortably hungry, there was no way I could even begin to wait four hours, let alone 6 or 7! The lack of hunger and cravings is quite dramatic in contrast. I think that means something good is happening. I think. 🙂

    My mom is also trying out this leptin reset with a few tweaks. At the start she was having to eat every two hours, around the clock! Within two or three days she was able to eat every four hours and a couple of nights ago she was able to go through most of the night without eating. So she is pretty convinced there is something to this protocol.

    I continue to have trouble sleeping, and it seems to have gotten worse in the last week or two. Thankfully my husband has been home every night to sleep for the past couple of weeks. On the one night that he was not home, I woke several times in a panic and with adrenaline rushes. I really have no idea why this happens but it is uncomfortable – I mean,  I understand it is a cortisol problem, but why does it only happen on the night he was away from home?

    The trouble I’m having with my sleep now is mostly waking up to urinate many times, as often as once an hour. This could indicate an aldosterone problem, but I don’t have any of the other symptoms. Maybe it’s part of the leptin reset. I don’t know. I also am waking hungry after being asleep for a couple of hours, and tomorrow I have a post scheduled which will outline some of the reasons I’ve found for insomnia. I’ve experienced it over the years, not regularly, but enough to be an annoyance.

    I hope you are doing well and continuing on your GAPS Journey. I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

    GAPS DIET JOURNEY is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON.COM. GAPS DIET JOURNEY is an affiliate for several companies and may be compensated through advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, this post may contain affiliate links.

  • How to Treat a reverse T3 Problem

    Over the years I’ve suspected I had a thyroid problem, and I always thought it would be so simple. Find the right doctor to test appropriately and then go on natural thyroid replacement, namely Armour.

    But now I know that Armour is roughly 80% T4 and 20% T3 and since my T4 levels are high, taking Armour would not be the right solution. I might feel better for a little while, maybe because my body would be getting some T3, but eventually I would feel worse because my body would be getting too much T4.

    So… the course of treatment suggested at Stop the Thyroid Madness is to take a prescription drug called Cytomel. This page explains how this reverse T3 problem is treated with Cytomel. Cytomel is a name brand product… the generic is not recommended by patients at Stop the Thyroid Madness. Apparently the generic is less effective, some say they felt nothing different when taking it.

    In reading this page at Stop the Thyroid Madness, I learned some things that need to be in addressed before I even  even consider starting on Cytomel (T3). “You will also need to correct what is causing the excess T3 in the first place, whether ferritin/iron or adrenals. Without correcting these, you will be asking for trouble with the very powerful T3.”

    Correcting Adrenal Dysfunction

    I’ve been taking my temperature faithfully for the past week, and will continue to do so because it is an effective way to confirm what is happening on with adrenal and thyroid function. I believe I have stabilized my adrenals because my temperatures are steady from day to day. In the past seven days I’ve had mostly 98.3°F.

    Correcting Low Ferritin Levels

    You should also be looking at Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC), UIBC, Iron Serum and Iron Saturation percentage, and The Stop the Thyroid Madness site talks about low ferritin/iron levels.

    Here are my results from September 30:

    • Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC) 284  range 250-450
    • UIBC 130  range 150-375 (mine is lower than the range)
    • Iron, Serum 154  range 35-155
    • Iron Saturation 54%  range 15-55
    • Ferritin 195 range 130-150 (mine is higher than the range)

    In looking at these three sources, I have found that the numbers should look like this: Thyroid RT3: Iron, Adrenals Web Ferritin and Iron; Stop the Thyroid Madness Ferritin, Iron and Hypothyroidism.

    • Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC) 259 is good 250-450
    • UIBC 165 is a good number 150-375
    • Iron, Serum 154  should be at least 90 range 35-155
    • Iron Saturation should be between 35% and 45%
    • Ferritin should be 70-90

    My ferritin levels are high.

    Stop the Thyroid Madness says this about high ferritin:

    What if I find my ferritin is super high? High levels of ferritin can point to an iron overload, such as the inherited disorder called hemochromatosis, which you can read about here. Your doctor will usually direct you to give blood in order to lower these harmful higher levels. With hemochromatosis, you can have a low TIBC or UIBC.

    Are men different than women in their iron lab results? Yes. Men normally have higher levels of ferritin than women without having an infection. It’s common to see healthy men with a ferritin over 100.

    Well, I’m not a man, and my ferritin is 195, almost double what is seen in a “healthy” man, so I’m thinking my level is “super high”.

    And my UIBC is low, but I don’t think I have hemochromatosis. I went in to have more blood drawn this past Friday, and two tests we are running are to look for inflammation. One is CRP (C-Reactive Protein), the other is ESR (SED Rate).
     

    According to Dr. Kruse, the Leptin Reset will fix this reverse T3 problem. I am hoping it works for me. I would still like to get the Cytomel from my doctor in case I decide to try the protocol outlined here. I spoke with my doctor’s partner last week since she is on vacation, and he is reluctant to prescribe T3. He does not think I have thyroid problems, because I do not have two of the most common symptoms: cold hands and feet, and hair loss. I am a little frustrated by this because I believe I’ve had low thyroid issues for at least two decades, and when you don’t address thyroid problems your adrenals have to take up for them, which eventually exhausts them. So I believe it would be a mistake to continue to only address my adrenals, without looking into my thyroid.

    On the other hand, maybe the Leptin Reset will fix me right up. I found this very interesting explanation for what Leptin Resistance is, how to fix it and the signs of Leptin Resistance and Leptin Sensitivity in the comments at Dr. Kruse’s blog: Leptin for Dummies.

    GAPS DIET JOURNEY is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON.COM. GAPS DIET JOURNEY is an affiliate for several companies and may be compensated through advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, this post may contain affiliate links.

  • Thoughts So Far on the Leptin Reset

    So I decided to just go for it… I figured what have I got to lose by trying? I’m really glad that I’ve only been working six hours a day because the scheduling is somewhat daunting. 50 grams of protein is a LOT of meat. I mentioned the reset to a couple of friends and they were stunned at the thought of eating that much protein for breakfast. One commented that’s the RDA for the entire day! 🙂  My plan worked out pretty good. For dinner – when I need to work the next day – I always cook an extra portion so that I have leftovers for lunch. So I just cooked enough to have leftovers for breakfast and lunch. But I staggered the meals because the thought of eating one kind of meat three meals in a row was not appealing. On Sunday night I made steak, Monday night chicken thighs, Tuesday, hamburgers, Wednesday steak again. So my protein for my meals looked like this. I haven’t figured out the carbohydrate part yet, because I guess I secretly would like to lose at least 30 more pounds… Dr. Kruse says limit your carbs to 25 grams or less daily, but I don’t know if this is net carbs, or straight carbs. And I have never counted carbs, so I don’t have any inkling how much the various veggies are. I know beets, carrots, peas and winter squash are high so I know to avoid those unless I’m measuring… so I have been eating lettuce, broccoli and zucchini squash in sparing amounts because I haven’t had time to figure out how much I can have in one day. Basically it’s all meat and fat for breakfast, lunch has been meat, fats and veggies, and supper has been meat, veggies/ferments and fats.

    Sunday night – steak

    Monday breakfast: leftover roast chicken; lunch: don’t recall; dinner: grilled chicken thighs

    Tuesday breakfast:  leftover steak; lunch: leftover chicken thighs; dinner: grilled burgers

    Wednesday breakfast: leftover chicken thighs; lunch: leftover grilled burgers; dinner: steak

    Thursday breakfast: leftover grilled burger; lunch: leftover steak; dinner: roasted chicken

    I slept really wonderfully last weekend, getting to sleep by 10pm each night and staying in bed until 8:00 the next morning. Tuesday at work was pretty stressful – to the point I had to “stress dose”. Three incidents happened, a slight confrontation with my boss (always stressful no matter how small, a confrontation is a confrontation), a personal situation and then my doctor’s office called about 2pm and asked if I would be available to talk to the other doctor in the office between 4pm and 4:30pm. Yes, I told them I would be available, then I stressed out waiting for the call. I will tell you about that another time. Remind me if it seems I’ve forgotten! 🙂

    So I had four days of great sleep, and I started the Leptin Reset on Monday and I had this huge burst of energy on Monday early evening and I haven’t felt an energy burst like this in months! I swept the kitchen floor, washed three loads of dishes, wiped the counters and the stove, dried and put away all the dishes, vacuumed the living room floor – which was a disaster since no one else here knows how to run the vacuum… at any rate, I was pretty excited to feel that much ambition and energy and it really gave me a boost in wanting to continue on and try the reset.

    But then Tuesday was stressful at work and I got to sleep just after 10pm, but woke around 2am, hungry. I believe this to be a cortisol issue. I finally got up at 2:45 and had half a grilled burger with some butter and a glass of water with salt and apple cider vinegar. I was able to get back to sleep for a few more hours but had much difficulty getting out of bed to get ready for work. That caused Wednesday to be stressful, just because I was so tired. Even though my boss said to make my own hours, there’s a limit to how flexible I can be and arrived at work at 9am (that’s late enough!). And then I ended up staying at work until 5pm! But the last hour was spent talking with a coworker, catching up. I got home just after six, which left me only an hour to cook and eat!

    I got to sleep around 10:30 on Wednesday night, and awoke at 3:15 and could not sleep, woke up hungry. I’m not supposed to “snack” so I just laid there, not feeling very hungry anyway… and really not too excited about the fact that breakfast was a huge grilled burger. I’m supposed to eat within 30 minutes of rising and so I finally decided to throw in the towel and get the day started at 4:45. I went right into the kitchen, heated up the burger and sat down to eat it and took my vitamins, and ended up feeling nauseated. I really didn’t feel like eating, partly because I felt so exhausted, but I’m supposed to… so I did. Thankfully the nausea passed fairly quickly. I got to work at 7am, and I left at 3pm.

    I’m pretty sure I got just my 24 hours, maybe 25. I’ll have to figure it out later.

    After work on Thursday I went to Costco because I had to buy stamps for work, and also to upgrade my phone. Actually my son will get the upgrade phone, and I’ll take his “old” one. His is just a few weeks “old” so I will be pretty happy with it, I’m sure.

    While at Costco, I had to deal with some feelings coming up about this new eating plan. Costco’s bakery was making cinnamon [affiliate link] something or others… the smell was intoxicating. Now usually I’ll just tell myself that I can go right home and make almond flour [affiliate link] cookies with cinnamon, or cupcakes with cinnamon, or heck I can probably find a coconut flour [affiliate link] or almond flour cinnamon roll. But now that I’m keen on doing this leptin reset, I can’t assure myself with that. Well, I suppose I could go off the leptin reset, but it’s only a short period of time that I am asking myself to abstain and then I can go back to full GAPS. My plan is to try this leptin reset for the 6-8 weeks that Dr. Kruse suggests. I will reassess at that time and see how it’s going. If I’m making improvements, maybe I’ll continue. At any rate, 2 months is NOTHING if I can accomplish this feat and reset my body to acting normal about food again! Dr. Kruse says when you are leptin resistant calories count, when you are leptin sensitive they don’t. My body used to be “normal” about food before I had my children, so it would be awesome to get it normal about food again and I think it’s worth the commitment.

    So yeah, having some feelings to deal with… feeling sorry for myself that I can’t have GAPS legal “goodies”. I went through that in the first months of GAPS, not being able to have SAD goodies, so it’s kind of icky feeling this again. But I keep telling myself, maybe this will just be two months. And of course I feel sad about the holidays! Why am I doing this to myself again! I started GAPS December 6th two years ago. But this is going to be even rougher. At our staff Christmas party, if I’m still doing this leptin reset, I won’t even be able to bring GAPS legal baked goodies, and I won’t be able to eat fruit. Those are my “fun” treats that I get to have, but not this year, not if I follow through. Furthermore, since I can only eat within certain time frames… I guess I will have to find out what time the food eating will commence and then get up and eat breakfast four hours earlier… so much planning. At least they are all used to my weirdness by now. LOL.

    Aside from the food feelings… I have noticed that the 50 grams of protein for breakfast effectively kills any cravings whatsoever, so that is pretty great. On just plain full GAPS I didn’t have what I would call cravings, but more like thoughts of having things I know I should probably avoid. For example, it seems if I eat fruit for several days in a row I begin to start feeling like I’m sinking into depression.

    I’ve been able to go the four to five hours recommended between meals (I’ve actually been okay to do this for some time after starting on GAPS), and have also managed to eat dinner by 7pm each night. Dr. Kruse says you set yourself back some horrid amount of days, like 14 to 16 days, if you mess up. So wow. That’s a lot of time wasted. On Thursday since I’d eaten breakfast by 5:15, lunch could have been eaten at 10:15, but I knew I wanted to go to Costco afterwards, and dinner would have been 3:15, which would have been right when I was at Costco, so I opted to wait to eat until 12:15 and I was able to make it without eating for seven hours! And then I was late getting home and luckily my husband put two chickens in the oven to roast so dinner was pretty much ready to eat when I got home. I warmed up some leftover zucchini squash and I also had five slices of salami (cheat because it has nitrates) and two pieces of prosciutto (which I got for deep discount prices at a food clearance mart), and a pickle (also not really GAPS legal since it was commercially prepared). But I wanted something special with dinner, a couple of treats, hence the pickle and deli meats.

    Oh, and about Costco again and food feelings… three years ago a trip to Costco meant one of their huge gooey pieces of pizza, or the Berry Berry Yogurt Sundae, or something else from the fast food section. Lately when I go it’s after work, I’m hungry and so I rationalize that the salami is an okay treat. But I couldn’t have that today, because I’m not supposed to snack! So that was a bit disappointing, but I lived through to tell the story! 🙂

    The whole not snacking deal is not hard with the protein from breakfast, but there’s the habitual snacking that I find myself doing that has been a bit of a challenge to curb.

    Okay, I think I had better cut this short. Thank you so much for sticking around to the end. Hugs to you all. Starlene

     

     

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  • What is a reverse T3 problem?

    I mentioned I would tell you more about the Reverse T3 “problem”. I really don’t know all that much more about it, but I’ve learned enough that I can explain somewhat coherently what I understand to be happening. I don’t know why it’s happening, but my understanding is that my body is not converting my T4 into T3, but into Reverse T3. This gives me the symptoms of hypothyroid, even though my T4 is higher than the range, which should make me feel hyperthyroid.

    Here is an article from Wikipedia:

    Reverse triiodothyronine (3,3′,5′-Triiodothyronine, reverse T3, or rT3) is a molecule that is an isomer of triiodothyronine (T3). It is derived from thyroxine (T4) through the action of deiodinase.

    rT3, unlike T3, does not stimulate thyroid hormone receptors. However, rT3 binds to these receptors, thereby blocking the action of T3. Under stress conditions, the adrenal glands produce excess amounts of cortisol. Cortisol inhibits the conversion of T4 to T3, thus shunting T4 conversion from T3 towards rT3. As a consequence, there is a widespread shutdown in T3 binding across the body. This condition is termed Reverse T3 Dominance. It results in reduced body temperature, which slows the action of many enzymes, leading to a clinical syndrome, Multiple Enzyme Dysfunction, which produces the effects seen in hypothyroidism. Effects include fatigue, headache, migraine, PMS, irritability, fluid retention, anxiety and panic.

    Here are some links that you can study to learn more about this issue.

    Okay, in reading the article from Wikipedia, it says “under stress conditions, the adrenal glands produce excess amounts of cortisol”. When I had my saliva testing done in May, my cortisol levels were low. However, according to the Stop the Thyroid Madness site, high cortisol comes before low cortisol:

    When biological stress is excessive, such as being on the inadequate treatment of T4-only or being held hostage to the lousy TSH lab test (both which keep you underdosed or hypo), your adrenal glands produce high amounts of cortisol to help you cope with ongoing hypothyroidism and lingering symptoms and conditions. The excess cortisol inhibits the conversion of T4 to T3,  and instead produces even larger amounts of RT3, creating an RT3 problem.

    When biological stress is ongoing, your adrenals will eventually become fatigued, dropping from high cortisol to a mix of high and low, or all low,  and those low levels put you into the problematic state of adrenal fatigue, which causes chronic anxiety, poor coping skills, paranoia, easy nausea, sensitivity to light or sounds, psychological issues, etc. When you don’t make enough cortisol, thyroid hormones can pool high in your blood. So your body responds by converting the T4 to excess RT3.

    I have been through a great deal of stress this entire year. Apparently at some point in time (maybe for years?) my body was producing high cortisol to keep me going, but because the stress kept up my adrenals became even more fatigued and dropped to all low levels. It seems this is when I began to wake in the middle of the night with panic and anxiety. The practitioner who explained my saliva test results told me my adrenals were in a maladaptive state.

    This site shows a series of diagrams of The Physiological Effects of Stress on the Body. The diagrams show the stages of Adrenal Fatigue, which range from Stage 1 to Stage 7. I would say I’ve been at Stage 4 for a while, and beginning to veer into Stage 5; however, I am supporting my adrenals so I hope to not deteriorate any further. The problem is that my thyroid is not being supported, so I am essentially “underdosed” and my hypothyroid symptoms are worsening.

    With the mention of leptin resistance, I have been studying Dr. Jack Kruse’s website and blog, where he has a program for resetting leptin resistance to leptin sensitivity. I believe I am leptin resistant just by the description he offers, plus Dr. Kruse says, “A high reverse T3 is a biochemical marker for leptin resistance.” Also, regarding Vitamin D,  “Many current day leptin resistant folks find out their vitamin D levels are low when they finally test for it.” My blood tests came back showing I’m below the normal range. I would never have guessed living in sunshine blessed Arizona.

    Last but not least… how do you find if you have a reverse T3 problem? You must have these two tests done using blood from the same draw:

    • Reverse T3
    • Triiodothyronine, Free (or Free T3)

    When you have the results of those tests, go to this page to learn the mechanics behind and how to figure the ratio: WHAT IS MY REVERSE T3 RATIO (HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR FREE T3 : REVERSE T3 RATIO)

    Or, if you want to have the ratios calculated automatically, there is a calculator at the Stop the Thyroid Madness website here: reverse T3 ratio calculator.

    You’re looking for your ratio to come in less than 20, to indicate a reverse T3 problem.

    My Reverse T3 was 329, and my Free T3 was 4.4. Note that the reverse T3 is a whole number, while Free T3 has a decimal point. Because of this, we need to convert the Free T3 number into a whole number. The site I mentioned above explains more.

    We convert my Free T3 number into a whole number by multiplying it by 1000. Thus my ratio:

    4.4 x 1000 = 4400

    4400 / 329 = 13.37  (under 20, not good)

    This post feels to me to be a hodge-podge of information. It is hard to coherently put everything together that I’ve learned, and there is more that I want to document.

    Maybe just look at this as documentation of my research on this topic.

    In the end what does this mean for me? When I started writing this post, I thought there was no way to fix a reverse T3 problem with diet, but then I started learning more about the leptin reset program. The “diet” is definitely GAPS friendly, just a few tweaks from full GAPS.

    Any thoughts?

     

     

     

     

    GAPS DIET JOURNEY is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON.COM. GAPS DIET JOURNEY is an affiliate for several companies and may be compensated through advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, this post may contain affiliate links.