Hello everyone. I've been reading the forum fairly intensively now for a couple weeks and decided it was time I registered & introduced myself.
I'll start with the personal info then move onto my health and dietary regimen...
My name is Dan. Twenty eight year old male living in the "boonies" of the lower/mid-Hudson River Valley of New York State, US. Married, no kids.
Hobbies include anything automotive (my "baby" is a '71 Checker Marathon in the driveway awaiting some TLC), reading, exercise/sports (not too big on large group sports though, most of it's solo or small groups), and video games.
Professionally I'm a project manager for an architectural firm specializing in healthcare architecture (I design and oversee construction of hospitals, doctor's offices ,etc. all day).
I guess that's a decent synopsis of myself for now.
As for health, this is a long and sordid tale like many of your past histories.
In 2001 my brother came down with a debilitating stomach or intestinal infection which had him bedridden for a month or two. As part of the testing they ran to determine what was going on they ran so blood allergy tests. He came back with intolerance to dairy and wheat (I believe he tested positive on the IG-g side).
As I had had stomach issues (gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation) on and off since puberty we had the doctors run similar tests on me. Of the 10 common allergens tested I came back positive on 9 of them (Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rye, Milk, Crab, Shrimp, Peanuts, and Soy; the tenth-egg albumin-was just below the lowest threshold at the time). This was done in May of 2001.
Upon elimination of the known offenders I had a couple of notable improvements of my health. My stomach was a lot better (not "right" but noticeably better), my mood was more optimistic (well, slightly less cynical at this point), I had more energy than I previously had, and most noticeable of all I lost a lot of weight. Since the onset of puberty I had always been a heavy kid and by 2001 I was at 240 pounds. Within 2 or 3 months of the eliminations I had dropped 70 pounds and was down to 170. Over the next few months I gained a good deal back (although my diet didn't change) and went up to 200 but plateaued there.
I lived life like this for 2 more years but always had thoughts there were other problems. Then in 2003 I had another blood test done. This was much the same panel but included Corn. Another offender discovered and eliminated. The cycle began again and I had much the same results. Slightly better stomach, better mood, lost some water weight (but it came back in time). By this time my diet was a heavy concentration of fruits and vegetables, lots of lean meats (a lot of poultry), and a heavy dependence of rice and rice products. I actually felt pretty good on my diet (in retrospect I wasn't doing as good as I thought I was) and lived this way for a while.
As I was set to turn 25 in 2006 my insurance was going to run out under my father's plan (I was a full-time student) so I did some research and found a good allergist who was willing to listen to me and do the full barrage of tests available to him. 8 vials of blood later and I had a much clearer idea of just what my body was fighting on a daily basis. The list is pretty staggering but includes a plethora of fruits and vegetables as well as rice (like you didn't see this one coming
).
I set about further elimination (which was easier than expected after the first two bouts); first with the known list of foods and then trial & error with the unknown variables. As time went by I found just about all fruits, veggies, and starches bother me in large amounts and most in small amounts as well. I've experimented with alternative starches (Quinoa, Amaranth, Tef, Tapioca, etc.) and tried far-flung foreign fruits (Rambutan, Dragonfruit, Mangosteen) but these have all had problems (most prevalently a mental fog and lethargy). Kumbucha worked pretty good for a couple months but this too began giving me problems after a while.
Frankly, the only thing which I could depend on was meat and this had it's own concerns. Some meat didn't sit well and this was hit or miss (some vendors have to be injecting certain cuts with something because some meat bothers me no matter what) and then there's the fear pounded into you about red meat and saturated fat which kept me from depending too greatly on red meats. I would eat mostly fish for months at a time but this never satisfied me (and again, some fish-particularly white fish-would bother me), at other times I was easting chicken thighs almost exclusively.
Most recently I spent 8 months eating almost nothing but Tyson brand thighs since they were cheap and sat well but they recently began giving me stomach issues so I believe they've changed something as well (maybe injecting them with broth now?). This is actually what led me to do deeper research into a diet based on red meat (beef in particular).
I found Steffenson's (sp?) articles online at the beginning of August which gave me hope and I began easing into a carnivorous way of life. Within the week I found this site and began to get better insight on the dos and don'ts (particularly raw v. cooked).
I've also been gung-ho all-or-nothing with what I do so it's been cold turkey for me since the beginning (barring the night during the first week that I ate two lightly cooked livers and proceeded to feel horrible-only later did I find out they were so carb based).
The beginning was easy since I've been so acclimatized to eating meat as my primary (and often only) food source. It was downright tasty when I was searing the meat but I was overeating as a result. I also was having issues with processing the fat and as a result I was dealing with daily loose stools.
The transition into raw the past week and a half was a bit more difficult. As a society we're acculturated that raw meat is dangerous so it takes a bit to get past the fears of food poisoning. The meat (90% of what I'm eating now is grainfed and I'm still working on finding a good local grassfed source) also has little flavor unless it's sat for a bit or is marbled nicely. Even much of the fat is hard to deal with at first if it's grainfed since it's not as tasty and you're getting used to eating raw fat. I also was dealing with a low energy level for about a week as I've upped the fat ratio while going raw.
The turning point was yesterday as I was reading Lex's journal (only up to page 11 at the moment) and seeing how he did as time went by (and some of the conjecture on the whys). A big thank you to you Lex, you've given me a big boost to my determination that I needed. I am getting better as time goes by and see a very positive outcome in the near future.
I had a big slab of suet this morning and it actually tasted sweet to me. Never would have thought it but I was definitely enjoying it. The london broil on the side was kind of lackluster though since it wasn't well marbled.
I used to be so shy and shut down around new people. As time has gone on and I've began healing my health issues though I don't shut up. Sorry about that.
