22 Years Old, Severe Leaky Gut, Help Going Raw

[ys]

There is no such thing as sushi-grade salmon.  All salmon in a typical sushi restaurant is farmed.

[political atheist]

Hey folks!

I am now back at college for my final semester. Fortunately the supermarkets in the area have grass fed beef options and wild salmon, however sushi-grade salmon is $37 per pound! Grass fed beef is about $10 per pound. So I'm trying to figure out how I can afford to eat raw paleo without running out of money before the semester ends.

Regrettably, I still have not tried a raw steak form the supermarket because I am terrified of getting food poisoning. I only buy grass-fed meat which comes in vacuum sealed packages. I sear it 20-30 seconds a side and eat everything but the cooked outside parts.

Cooked meat causes bloating and swollen lymph nodes for me, similar to what Aajonus experienced after his vagatomy.

My current diet consists of:

Beef (mostly ribeye)
Blueberries
Cucumbers
Carrots
Olive oil
Coconut oil
Lightly rendered grass fed suet which I mix with berries.

I really want to just eat the ribeyes raw but the fear of food poisoning is stopping me.

Does anyone else here eat packaged grass fed meat raw? Or does everyone get theres from a butcher?

As always, your input is extraordinarily helpful and formative. Thanks in advance!

lamb breast is cheap and the fattiest meat you can get

[Alive]

My theory on food poisoning is that it (almost?) always happens when cooked food, which is basically sterilized, is re colonized by microbes from raw food, creating an imbalanced micro eco system and toxins. The reports normally seem to be about some kind of filed roll or cooked chicken that were contaminated by raw meat, like what happened in my (low acid?) stomach after eating raw meat and cooked carbs together.

From personal experimentation I have found raw animal food on it's own or together with raw salad is very good.

As I said I've never had any problem with any fresh raw or aged raw animal food. So although I'm not convinced Tyler's fermented meat has the healing qualities he proclaims, it never seemed to do any harm - except the complaints from my (now ex) wife about the smell of death (but then that relationship sucked anyway).

So you may want to avoid rotten meat for social reasons.

Also another source of fat is grass fed butter (or even better butter oil gee) , not raw but IIRC only heated to 70C for a few seconds which is unlikely to have much impact on the dense oil component.

[tding]

Have you taken probiotics? Your gut flora might be out of balance.

[Cherokee]

Hey folks!

I ate a fully raw steak and nothing adverse happened at all!

I've added pastured lard to the the previously mentioned diet as well, as I find it much easier to digest than tallow.

My current objective is increasing my calories.

I'm looking to find alternative sources of fat. I'm interested in trying;

Coconut milk, full fat
Cacao butter
Pastured pig fat

As always your input is appreciated!

[Apani]

Just want to point this out: most coconut milk on commerca has been pasteurized.

[van]

same with cacao butter, heat is built up in pressing the fat out of the bean.

[Cherokee]

The more I think about it, the plant fats seem problematic.

I will try to make pastured lard my main fat, beef tallow is a bit waxy due to the higher saturated fat content and lower monounsaturated fat content, and therefore, harder for my damaged gut to process.

Going to pick up 12 lbs of pastured lard this Saturday.



On a side note I have heard it said on this forum that raw meat is able to kills gut fungi/candida. Any truth to that?
With my history of antibiotic use and mold exposures I am positive I have some kind of fungal overgrowth as well.

[Cherokee]

As always thank you for your wisdom and experience folks!

[ivanrk]

How do you know that the proteins in the bone broth are the problem and not the fermentable carbs in it. Meat stock is one thing but bone broth is different because some animal parts like cartilage have fermentable carbs:




Here’s where the problem is with SIBO and bone broth: Bone broth contains carbohydrates. More specifically, it is the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) carbs in bone broth that are problematic.

In short: The GAG carbs in bone broth can feed the bacteria in your gut, causing overgrowth to get worse in SIBO patients.

 

Bone Broth and FODMAPs
If you have SIBO, then you have probably already heard of the Low FODMAP diet. This diet is often recommended for SIBO because it removes certain fermentable carbohydrates which bacteria love to eat.

In several forums and blog post comments, I’ve read that “bone broth is high FODMAP.”  While this comment is in the right vane, it is not completely correct.

The GAG carbs in bone broth are a type of polysaccharide carbohydrates.  Under FODMAPs, polysaccharide types of carbs are allowed – even though these can also feed gut bacteria and aren’t recommended for SIBO.  The fact that these carbs (as well as many other gut-damaging ingredients) are allowed is one of the big problems with the FODMAPs diet.  (Confusing, right?)

In short: The GAG carbs  in bone broth don’t fall under FODMAPs, but still are not good for SIBO.

 

Thank you all for your contributions to journey back to health!

I tried bone broth for a good while in the Summer, however, the cooked proteins and highly available amino acids within it proved to worsen my intestinal overgrowth. It was this experience actually which lead me to discovering the importance of raw proteins. Presumably stocks and broth would help some, but in my own experience I have found raw foods, plant or animal to work best for me as they are less conducive to putrefaction and fermentation in the gut.

I suspect that those of us with low stomach acid simply cannot breakdown and absorb cooked proteins before gut microbes begin to feast on them and produce their often problematic metabolites.

Upon reading your suggestions I have cut my protein consumption down to near 100g. I am also reducing my consumption of carrots and introducing cucumbers and leafy greens.

Yesterday I drove 2 hours to a farm and bought 20ibs of raw grass-fed suet, which I lightly render and mix in a 4 blueberries to sweeten and eat 2-3oz of with my meals. Delicious!


Per your recommendations, I have increased my consumption of veggies and fat and brought meat consumption into range. Lemon juice and stomach acid supplementation have lead to marked improvements in digestion, bloating, and constipation.

Due to my history of antibiotic use and worsening of symptoms after using them this Summer, I suspect my issues are related to an overgrowth of yeasts and molds in my gut.
My plan of attack from here is to eat in such a way as to feed my gut bacteria and starve gut yeast. Consequently, I will be removing carrots and switching to non-starchy veggies like kale and cucumbers.

As always, I am most appreciative of your sharing of your own knowledge and experiences! Thanks for tuning in

[tding]

Sorry to hear about your situation and a great list of ideas. It's really unfortunate that leaky gut is not well recognized as a medical condition by many traditional doctors. I had some intestinal issues a while back and one thing that was quite beneficial was drinking bone broth regularly. There are some articles saying that gut inflammation can be improved with regular bone broth use:
https://www.bestnutrient.com/best-bone-broth/

At first, I started buying bones and making it at home. It took too long (24+ hours of roasting) so I tried some of the store bone broth brands which ended up being quite delicious and helped improve my symptoms.

[van]

You might find interesting the work of Paleomedicina in Hungry as it applies to leaky gut healing.