"hormones are not supplements"

I tend to agree with this.

I ended up doing a cortisol stress profile test some weeks ago. The results were interesting in that the 8am, 4pm, and 8pm samples sat ideally within the "normal" range, per this chart at  http://www.chronicfatigue.org/ASI%20Normal.html  My samples were virtually identical to the normal example in this chart, save for the 12pm sample which was a fair bit lower than it should be (though sitting just inside the "normal" range). The path lab did say this was suggestive of adrenal insufficiency. But I thought it was an odd pattern, as it doesn't match any of the adrenal fatigue patterns shown in the samples linked at the bottom of the chronicfatigue.org page. I did wonder if the low midday result was because I was doing morning fasting at the time. But then I found out that fasting actually causes extra cortisol to be released. It was all a bit mysterious.

Then today I got the results back of a comprehensive thyroid test. Turns out I have Hashimoto's, which is what I suspected due to swings from hyper to hypo. I also suspect it is caused by fungus from living in a very old, moldy house for 18 months many years ago. Post nasal drip started the first morning I awoke in that house, and I have had it ever since.

Anyway, to bring this all to a point, I will need to start treating with Dr Ron's desiccated thyroid until such time I can get rid of the cause of the high auto-antibodies, i.e. Hashi's (per recommendations at http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/hashimotos/ ). I don't want to be on thyroid supplements long term. I am concerned about doing zero carb, although I think it would get rid of any toxins causing the antibody attack.

Also, I suspect the pain I was getting from the adrenal caps was either connected to the Hashi's high-low swings, or, because there is no lab to regulate the dose of the actual hormones in the Dr Rons caps, some caps could have extra high levels of cortisol to other caps in the same bottle. Given my adrenals are for the most part producing normally, maybe the extra cortisol was too much for my adrenals. 

Can anyone comment on the taste and texture of grain v's grass fed? Within my short experience with grassfed I am finding that the organic meat I get from the supermarket and one organic butcher both have a 'rubbery' texture and a slightly sour taste. But my preferred organic butcher who says his meat is grassfed definitely has more appetising meat. It has a nice dark burgandy colour, is not sour, and has a better texture (not 'rubbery' at all). Has anyone else noticed a difference? The only other thing I can suspect as making the difference is that the meat from the supermarket and the first butcher has been frozen. I am going to do an experiment this weekend and freeze some of the meat from my preferred butcher and do a taste test.

Actually, all the evidence from palaeoanthropologists re human bones shows that palaeo humans indulged in intense physical activity every day so could have beaten any modern human on a functional level.

I'm wondering, is this from marks on their bones from wounds? Or the fact that their bones were so strong?

...***but I bet*** they had plenty of three day weekends!

SkinnyDevil, I wouldn't classify it exactly as Paleo, but the "closest" match compared to what we have in modern weight regimes. I think this because an Omega Set / Max Contraction workout only lasts a few minutes. In Paleo times, people were not doing sets of reps every second day, or whatever, for 30 - 60 minutes. Their experience with "weight lifting" would have been things like lifting fallen logs, carrying a hurt friend, moving small boulders, and other activities involving short bursts of strength.  There are certainly holes in the comparison (e.g., with Max Contraction you don't carry the weight until at the point of fullest contraction), but I'm just suggesting it would be a closer representation to paleo than other weight techniques. At the end of the day, homo sapien is in the process of evolutionary flux, and our physical bodies are not what they were in Paleo times, so I don't see the point in trying to match exactly that lifestyle. (I'm very happy to have a car, thanks!)

Has anyone tried the Max Contraction or Omega Set style of weight lifting? I wanted to but it requires at least one, preferably two, partners to spot you. I was thinking the other day that it is probably the closest to paleo-style weights that modern techniques will ever come to.

There have been proper clinical studies and a lot of science in the methodology of proving this technique. At first glance a lot of body builders write it off possibly because they assume incorrectly that it only involves one group of muscles. But it does involve the full use of both slow and fast twitch muscles. If you want to read about the studies and science behind it, read "Advanced Max Contraction Training" by John Little.

About the time I went RAF (approx 4 months ago) I also started on the Dr Rons freeze dried Adrenal with cortex, as I am sure I had adrenal fatigue from years of sugar abuse, mostly chocolate. I was taking the adrenal caps fairly regularly and slowly increased from 1 cap a day to 3, taking them with my morning meat and egg nog (2 eggs, honey, coconut cream or raw milk). If I took them out of the cap and sprinkled them into my egg nog I would experience slight nausea about half an hour after taking the caps, so stopped taking them out of the cap.

But then a few times when I took them I would get quite a severe reaction where I felt like the sides of my diaphragm had been punched or were cramping or something and were on fire. I would feel a sudden onset of pain about 30 - 60 mins after taking the caps, and within a couple of minutes it would really set in, and would take about 30 minutes to subside. The severe pain also resulted in a low blood pressure attack, as well as the need to evacuate my bowels. It took me two or three times of this experience before I worked out it was the adrenal caps, as I realised the pain was originating from about where my adrenals sit. 

It was odd that it was intermittent, but I thought maybe it was dose related, so after abstaining a week or two, tapered it down to 2 caps. This caused a reaction also. I decided to give up on them, but then last weekend I tried 1 cap. All went well, so I tried 1 cap again yesterday with meat and a sizeable amount of suet (no egg nog). Again, all ok. Today I took the cap with meat and a little suet, and half an hour later I got the pain. It's left me feeling wiped out most of the day, and not feeling like eating much, save for a little bit of fruit (even though there was no nausea accompanying the pain).

I realise now that the pain probably depends on either the amount of fat I consume with the caps (maybe the fat buffers its release), or the cortex has a build up effect over a few days and my body can only take so much.  I need to research this, but I suspect it is the cortex that is causing the pain. I have found virtually no reference to side effects associated with freeze dried adrenal supplements, but I think that is because most of them do not contain the cortex.

Another thing I experienced with the caps when I was taking them regularly was, upon waking, I would feel a sense that something bad was going to happen. I later discovered Dr Lam's website which described exactly this. He put it more succinctly as a feeling of "impending doom". At the time I thought I was feeling that way because of all the noise in the news about the economy. But I went off the caps and the feeling stopped. This article from his site describes it:

http://www.drlam.com/adrenalfatiguecenter/7mistakesofadrenalfatigue.asp

One other symptom of the caps I had was that a few times I would break out in little, itchy lumps on my body that would appear within 5 minutes, but then were gone within the hour. The first time it happened I thought a flea was running rampant under my shirt. The lumps were circular and about the size of a flea bite. But then they disappeared without a trace so quickly, and there was not even a hint of itchiness or marking after an hour. It happened today after the pain subsided, only it was only a couple of lumps as opposed to the first time where there were at least two dozen on my neck and torso. V weird. Maybe an allergic reaction, but then why was it far less severe today.

I know that adrenal fatigue is one of the reasons some people are turning to RAF. I figured that these caps would be a close cousin to eating raw, but there's no way I am taking them again, even to experiment with the fat ratio mix. The pain is not worth it.

I read somewhere that low carbs can also put the adrenals under stress, which I can believe. I've done occasional half day fasts and that was really stressful on my system. I don't think it is worth trying to dive straight into a 100% carnivore style diet until my adrenals and other glands are back on track. The saying "slowly but surely" seems to be apt, at least for me. I would be interested though in how others have dealt with adrenal issues whilst being on a RAF diet.

I'm trying to understand the order in which particular foods are used for energy. I was under the impression that fat is not used for energy until ketosis sets in during a 100% carnivorous diet. So then, if I am eating enough carbs (small amounts of fruit) then this is my first source of energy, and then when that runs out, my muscles become the next source of fuel. Or does meat become the next source? (That would make more sense, but I have not read much about that). Any supporting text/links? I read once that fat was the first source of energy, but now I am confused.