DogToffee takes it slow (healing journal)

[DogToffee]

Okay I'm back!

I spent a lot of time on this forum at some point but went back eating "normal" food after a while. It was too hard for me to jump into raw paleo cold turkey, so now I'm trying to do it slowly. I've been eating raw meat all this time now and then (because after I had tasted raw beef, the same stuff cooked started to taste somewhat "ruined"). I have noticed I often crave raw meat and also find this diet somehow appealing because I keep coming back.

I no longer wait to be cured immediately. I have atopic skin and it's quite bad. Now I can manage if I take good care of it. And by that I don't mean the same thing as doctors, who keep telling me I need tons of cream and cortison and antibiotics. My method is to shower every day using antibacterial soap and sea salt after shower. Later I put coconut oil on my skin and if it feels itchy (which is often) I use liquid zinc. And never see a doctor again.

I live in Finland so the air is very cold and dry most of the time. There is enough sunlight only in summertime, so I take killer doses of vitamin D every day. I also use air humidifier at home.

I've tried eating low-carb and paleo, but haven't noticed any difference.

Other problem I have is hypothyroidism. I don't take any medication, because there is still some action left. If my thyroid still produces hormones, I want to do everything I can to help it. I do fine in summertime but right now, in November, I feel terribly tired. I use kelp and coconut oil, but I'm not sure if the amounts I use are enough. I have kelp powder and it says on the packet I should take 1/4 teaspoon per day (which I am taking but it doesn't seem to help me). I have probably one tablespoon of coconut oil every day but maybe I should take more? If someone has info on this please share.

Okay, what now?

I'm really addicted to sugar and caffeine. I'm not ready to anything drastic right now, but I'll try adding more raw foods into my diet and limiting coffee intake to one or two cups a day (for now).

Tips & comments welcome!

[TylerDurden]

Try raw honeycomb(heather tastes the best). This would be a better substitute for sugar. The coffee sounds horrible - it also notoriously fouls up one's glandular system. I would strongly suggest you switch over to herbal teas. Some herbal teas give a vibe/boost like coffee but won't have the negative side-effects of coffee.

If you can get hold of raw (grassfed or wild) thyroid from farms that would be very useful.

[HIT_it_RAW]

Try raw honeycomb(heather tastes the best). This would be a better substitute for sugar. The coffee sounds horrible - it also notoriously fouls up one's glandular system. I would strongly suggest you switch over to herbal teas. Some herbal teas give a vibe/boost like coffee but won't have the negative side-effects of coffee.

If you can get hold of raw (grassfed or wild) thyroid from farms that would be very useful.

Could you specify which herb teas give you that boost? I personally get some(but nowhere near the one from coffee)boost from mint.

[HIT_it_RAW]

Your antibacteria regime seems very harsh to me! The skin has a protecting layer of "good" bacteria. They literally work by crowding out the bad ones. This is a very strong mechanism to protect the skin. I would give up the antibacterial soap and instead try to build up that layer of good bacteria. I can imagine that your regime of antibiotics and antibacterial soap has disturbed the natural balance of skin bacteria.

I sometimes use raw milk real kefir(made with grains) on my skin. It's very soothing and the good bacteria from the kefir combat any bad bacteria. The fats/proteins in it also feed the skin. I also really like butter on my skin but it does smell a bit after a while.

[TylerDurden]

Could you specify which herb teas give you that boost? I personally get some(but nowhere near the one from coffee)boost from mint.

I honestly can't remember. I used to mainly go in for camomile tea for its calming effect, pre-rpd diet. I also took herbal supplements, not teas, in the form of ginger, gingko biloba, cayenne and ginseng. At the time, I had severe chronic fatigue, and so I didn't personally notice any stimulating effect(only an rpd diet helped me therein), but I'm sure those with no such problems might well benefit from such herbal teas.

[DogToffee]

Try raw honeycomb(heather tastes the best). This would be a better substitute for sugar.

I just bought organic honey with royal jelly and bee pollen still in it. Propably better than eating candy.

The coffee sounds horrible - it also notoriously fouls up one's glandular system. I would strongly suggest you switch over to herbal teas. Some herbal teas give a vibe/boost like coffee but won't have the negative side-effects of coffee.

I'll try to cut down slowly. In here it's totally normal to drink coffee five times a day. If someone knows good herbal teas that will help then please tell me! I've noticed chili works even better than caffeine but I'm not sure if it's good for me either.

If you can get hold of raw (grassfed or wild) thyroid from farms that would be very useful.

Sounds great. I'll try to find out if they sell that somewhere.

Thanks!

[DogToffee]

Your antibacteria regime seems very harsh to me! The skin has a protecting layer of "good" bacteria. They literally work by crowding out the bad ones. This is a very strong mechanism to protect the skin. I would give up the antibacterial soap and instead try to build up that layer of good bacteria. I can imagine that your regime of antibiotics and antibacterial soap has disturbed the natural balance of skin bacteria.

I use black soap or tea tree & lemongrass, that's what I meant by antibacterial. Is that also bad for the good bacteria? I'm afraid to stop because I used to have horrible bacterial infections and those are now gone.

I sometimes use raw milk real kefir(made with grains) on my skin. It's very soothing and the good bacteria from the kefir combat any bad bacteria. The fats/proteins in it also feed the skin.

How do you use kefir on skin? They don't sell it in Finland but I've eaten some when travelling abroad and can't really imagine how to use it.

I also really like butter on my skin but it does smell a bit after a while.

Just regular butter applied on skin? Sounds weird but I'm willing to try anything.

Thank you for the info! It would be great to hear more about how you take care of your skin. Do you have atopic skin also or other issues?

[TylerDurden]

As long as the honey is raw, it's fine, otherwise it's like pure sugar.

[HIT_it_RAW]

I use black soap or tea tree & lemongrass, that's what I meant by antibacterial. Is that also bad for the good bacteria? I'm afraid to stop because I used to have horrible bacterial infections and those are now gone.

I'm not sure how antibacterial those are. Guess they are not really. If it works for you...

How do you use kefir on skin? They don't sell it in Finland but I've eaten some when travelling abroad and can't really imagine how to use it.

The stuff you drank was probably commercial made with powdered starter(culture) and pasteurised grain fed milk. You can't buy real kefir. You should find someone willing to share some grains with you(they grow) than make it yourself from raw milk. That's the real kefir and beleve me it something entirely different than the stuf in stores. How to use? Well just rub it on like a lotion.

I only use butter on my skin when it is very dry. I have to wash my hands often at work and sometimes i get very dry hands. Butter is the only thing that can make them most and supple in a single "treatment". Even beats Coconut oil.

I had a small patch of skin that became infected a few months ago. Still don't know why but is was thick, red, painfull and had some pustules on it. I used a mixture of raw honey, VCO(virgin coconut oil) and butter on it. Worked very well in both soothing the pain/itching and healing the skin.

[cherimoya_kid]

I would get your vitamin D levels tested.  If they are still low, you should probably try a different brand/type of supplement.  This sounds like an immune system problem.  I have a similar skin issue, which vitamin D helps control.

[DogToffee]

I would get your vitamin D levels tested.  If they are still low, you should probably try a different brand/type of supplement.  This sounds like an immune system problem.  I have a similar skin issue, which vitamin D helps control.

Can you tell me the brand you use? I have these: http://www.iherb.com/Healthy-Origins-Vitamin-D3-5-000-IU-360-Softgels/18335?at=0

[HIT_it_RAW]

Can you tell me the brand you use? I have these: http://www.iherb.com/Healthy-Origins-Vitamin-D3-5-000-IU-360-Softgels/18335?at=0

I use solgar vit d3

[DogToffee]

Yesterday, after opening this thread, I went to the expensive grocery store and bought some quality foods. I had a banana with coconut oil, raw meat, raw cheese, fermented cabbage and some good honey. I also noticed that bone marrow is really cheap! I love the taste, it's kind of gross but the texture is great and there's really nothing that tastes as rich, except maybe freshly picked blueberries. I also had some cooked food but not as much as usually.

I used the not-so-good honey I had to wash my skin and hair with and my skin feels really soft now. Hope it won't give me candida or something. I was also thinking of using bone marrow on my skin, but I'm not really sure about the smell. Honey leaves a nice soft scent.

I was going to buy sweets today but decided to get some raw chocolate and brazil nuts instead. I'm not as tired today so that's definitely a big bonus. I'm thinking about the coffee - maybe I could try to have just one cup a day, a smaller cup perhaps. I could drink green tea instead and then later move to herbal teas.

It's really dark now, even in daytime. It's kind of comforting. Like there's a huge grey blanket pulled over everything.

And I'm off to work.

[Dorothy]

DogToffee - here are some teas and herbs that can help you. First, you need to add some things that will help to heal your adrenal glands and moderate the swings in your blood sugar. The best one so far I have come across is licorice tea and you can mix this with other teas for a lovely sweetness. You can't drink this if you have high blood sugar or low potassium levels though. Also, eating cinnamon helps a lot. Stevia leaf is a sweetener that will help with our blood sugars and can be temporary substitute when working on rebalancing blood sugars. I would not suggest honey at first because that will still add to big sugar swings. D-mannose is a kind of sweetener that is not absorbed by the body but prevents urinary tract infections. These all can be very useful at the beginning stages because you can add them to your tea to balance yourself a bit.

Teas like mate are great. They are used by central americans instead of coffee and do not make those big swings. Also, any caffeinated tea is better than coffee - especially if you are sweetening it with the above choices. Drink 10 cups of tea if you have to in order to avoid the coffee. Another energy giving and balancing tea is ginseng. Man, there are so many! I'm blanking out. I'll add more when they come to me.

Getting off refined sugar and caffeine is vitally important. If you have to first go to whole grain rice to keep the carb thing going until you get off of the poison and then make the next step to raw paleo afterwards - do it. As long as you are swinging your blood sugar levels in the wind - it will affect how successful you dramatically with any other things you try to do to improve things. Eat and do whatever you have to to clean up the extremely bad things you are doing to yourself and all the rest will be easier. Cold turkey can be really hard. Eating sugar and drinking coffee - it would take a will of steel to go cold turkey. The best number one step is get your blood sugars more balanced or you will be craving carbs like there's no tomorrow. I wouldn't even go off coffee and sugar cold turkey. I would use teas and those sweeteners and fruit and then later honey. I still can't do much honey. Fruit is easier to keep in reasonable bounds. Honey can hit that sugar addiction button too easily for me still. I simply can't eat too much fruit at one sitting. It's the super-concentrated sources of sugars and caffeine that have to go first. Processed sugar and coffee are the two worst. I'd work only on those two first if I were in your shoes.

Best of luck!

[zeno]

I've used animal fats as a moisturizer for my skin and a conditioner for various leather bound items (bicycle saddle, journal, etc.). Skin moisturizers are just the oils of fruits and vegetables. Animal fats work just as nicely.

A simple way to use animal fats as a moisturizer is to just rub the excess into one's skin rather than wiping it off or rinsing one's hands--which is the usual tendency due to socialization.

[cherimoya_kid]

Can you tell me the brand you use?

I use Now brand softgels.  I know they work.  They're the only softgels I've tried.  They increase my blood levels of vitamin D, and also have lots of noticeable health effects like better sleep, stronger teeth, better skin, emotional calmness, etc..

[DogToffee]

I use Now brand softgels.  I know they work.  They're the only softgels I've tried.  They increase my blood levels of vitamin D, and also have lots of noticeable health effects like better sleep, stronger teeth, better skin, emotional calmness, etc..

Okay, I think I'll try those next. Thanks!

[DogToffee]

Dorothy, thank you so much for helping me! I really feel like I'm on the right track now.

The best one so far I have come across is licorice tea and you can mix this with other teas for a lovely sweetness.

I think I have some licorice tea at home. I usually drink it when I'm sick and it helps, especially if I feel tired and have to do something. I also have low blood pressure sometimes. I love licorice candy so this will be a good alternative for sweets!

Also, eating cinnamon helps a lot.

I love cinnamon! Any ideas on how to use it? As tea also?

Stevia leaf is a sweetener that will help with our blood sugars and can be temporary substitute when working on rebalancing blood sugars. I would not suggest honey at first because that will still add to big sugar swings. D-mannose is a kind of sweetener that is not absorbed by the body but prevents urinary tract infections. These all can be very useful at the beginning stages because you can add them to your tea to balance yourself a bit.

I don't really like the idea of bringing artificial sweeteners into my diet. I don't like the taste of stevia at all. I don't add sugar to tea so sweetening it propably isn't necessary. I try to avoid the sugar swings by eating honey just a little after a meal. I add cream and coconut oil to my coffee (and I am down to one cup a day).

Teas like mate are great.

I love green tea but mate makes me feel kind of nauseous for some reason.

Another energy giving and balancing tea is ginseng.

Ginseng sounds interesting! I have to see if they sell it somewhere.

Man, there are so many! I'm blanking out. I'll add more when they come to me.

Tons of info already. Thanks!

Getting off refined sugar and caffeine is vitally important. If you have to first go to whole grain rice to keep the carb thing going until you get off of the poison and then make the next step to raw paleo afterwards - do it.

That's how I think also. I can't eat whole grains because they make my stomach hurt and I don't really use that much grains anyway. I'll try to move to healthier carbs like vegetables and fruit.

Eat and do whatever you have to to clean up the extremely bad things you are doing to yourself and all the rest will be easier.

Hope so! Thank you for encouraging me.

Cold turkey can be really hard. Eating sugar and drinking coffee - it would take a will of steel to go cold turkey. The best number one step is get your blood sugars more balanced or you will be craving carbs like there's no tomorrow. I wouldn't even go off coffee and sugar cold turkey.

Yeah I have noticed that. I've tried to quit so many times without much success. I'm going to take it slow this time and try not to be too hard on myself if I slip. I know sugar and coffee are my worst problems and I'm working on those now. I don't have to eat 100 % raw paloe right away, if ever.

Best of luck!

Thanks!

[DogToffee]

A simple way to use animal fats as a moisturizer is to just rub the excess into one's skin rather than wiping it off or rinsing one's hands--which is the usual tendency due to socialization.

Great idea! I just realised I do that sometimes. I still don't feel comfortable using animal fats on my whole body - what if it smells horrible or dogs start chasing me or something?

[Dorothy]

Glad I could be of help!
One side thing - stevia is a ground up plant - not artificial - so it makes a great substitute for people addicted to sugar which is even more artificial. I hate the stuff myself though. D-mannose is the isolated sugar from cranberries - so also is just a better choice than isolated sugar cane. If you want to go for sugar these are better that's all and no less natural than sugars taken from a different plant and actually help to balance blood sugars and can have some positive affects instead of the all bad that processed white sugar (imho) is. If you don't sweeten your tea then it's easy - and licorice is a nicer sweetener for tea anyway. It's all relative. Make the choices that you can with the least negative affects.

You might want to try to find a tea that has lots of caffeine at first and then change teas until you can scale back. If you are on a pot or two of coffee and try to come off it too fast you can even pass out. If you get a headache it's because the arteries in your brain are starting to open again as coffee close them down and restrict them. Why people would want less blood to their brains ones they realize this is beyond me. But, if you put your head lower than your heart it will help the blood to flow to your head and help with the headaches. Your brain needs sugar so you could find yourself eating or desiring something uncontrollably that has sugar. That's why it's important not to have sugar around you if you can help but to have other sugar sources. I've known people to find themselves on the kitchen floor with sugared cereal eating it ....... and then come to. Going cold turkey could be impossible for some because the brain that controls your actions will just take over and make you feed it. If all the sugar you have around is licorice, fruit and d-mannose just promise to yourself that you will eat those FIRST before heading out the door to find another denser source.

You can do this! Just remember, you are dealing with addiction. Be kind to yourself. Set yourself up for success any way you can. One day at a time as they say. 

[DogToffee]

One side thing - stevia is a ground up plant - not artificial - so it makes a great substitute for people addicted to sugar which is even more artificial. I hate the stuff myself though. D-mannose is the isolated sugar from cranberries - so also is just a better choice than isolated sugar cane.

Ok, that cleared things up. Still I don't feel like I need any sweeteners though. But if I need them at some point I'll try D-mannose.

If you are on a pot or two of coffee and try to come off it too fast you can even pass out. If you get a headache it's because the arteries in your brain are starting to open again as coffee close them down and restrict them. Why people would want less blood to their brains ones they realize this is beyond me.

Interesting. I didn't know this and had to do more research. It's weird how coffee changes the brain. And it starts to look really weird people are drinking it.

You can do this! Just remember, you are dealing with addiction. Be kind to yourself. Set yourself up for success any way you can. One day at a time as they say.

Thanks again! I feel a lot better about this after reading your posts.

[DogToffee]

Today: no processed sugar or white flour
Tomorrow: no coffee

I decided I get to eat anything if I avoid processed sugars and grains. I bought bananas, apples, blueberries and clementines, and these really thin slices of dried whole grain rye bread (I have no idea what it's called in english). Of course I'm still having my meat raw and eating cheese, butter and cream. And honey.

Oh, I also bought whole nuts with the shell still on, and a nutcracker.

I've had green tea instead of coffee, only one cup of coffee a day in the morning. I'm going to try to survive tomorrow morning with just green tea. I think I'll manage - lately coffee has started to taste quite bad, kind of burnt. It also makes me feel a bit sick. It's really stupid anyway that the first thing I get in the morning is a cup of poison.

[sabertooth]

If you don't like the Idea of using animal fat as a skin treatment, try coconut oil. I have used both and find that animal fat works but its kind of pasty, while coconut oil has a perfect consistency. Coconut oil also has anti bacterial properties.

Sometimes people will over wash themselves which strips off the natural  oils and leaves one more vulnerable to infections.  There is probiotic bacteria on the skin that help protect the skin against more invasive  infectious strains, and compulsive washing can cause an imbalance in the  bacterial ecology.

I am real weary of any artificial vitamin D. Its a steroid like compound that was never meant to be ingested in large amounts. Our digestive tracts were never designed to take much of it in. I think some synthetic forms of vitamin D actually cause more harm than good.

http://www.gomf.macrobiotic.net/vitamin-d-tragedy.html
Take with a grain of salt, but please pay attention to the documented facts of Vitamin d overdose and the detrimental effects associated with artificial vitamin D.

 It is best obtained through the skin , generated by UV rays.
Try to oil yourself up and lay out in the sun, or even use a tanning bed for some really amazing health benefits. I swear by it.

[DogToffee]

If you don't like the Idea of using animal fat as a skin treatment, try coconut oil. I have used both and find that animal fat works but its kind of pasty, while coconut oil has a perfect consistency. Coconut oil also has anti bacterial properties.

Yes, I use coconut oil already.

I am real weary of any artificial vitamin D. Its a steroid like compound that was never meant to be ingested in large amounts. Our digestive tracts were never designed to take much of it in. I think some synthetic forms of vitamin D actually cause more harm than good.

This sounds weird but I will read the link you sent me.

It is best obtained through the skin , generated by UV rays.
Try to oil yourself up and lay out in the sun, or even use a tanning bed for some really amazing health benefits. I swear by it.

This would be fun but possible only in summer for about two months. Yesterday we had a little sunshine and it really hurt my eyes because I'm so used to the darkness. Next time we have enough sunshine to make skin produce vitamin D is in May.

I start taking vitamin D in September and stop when it starts to get warm and sunny again. But still there's eight months every year when I really don't have a choice.

[Dorothy]

If you don't like the Idea of using animal fat as a skin treatment, try coconut oil. I have used both and find that animal fat works but its kind of pasty, while coconut oil has a perfect consistency. Coconut oil also has anti bacterial properties.

Sometimes people will over wash themselves which strips off the natural  oils and leaves one more vulnerable to infections.  There is probiotic bacteria on the skin that help protect the skin against more invasive  infectious strains, and compulsive washing can cause an imbalance in the  bacterial ecology.

I am real weary of any artificial vitamin D. Its a steroid like compound that was never meant to be ingested in large amounts. Our digestive tracts were never designed to take much of it in. I think some synthetic forms of vitamin D actually cause more harm than good.

http://www.gomf.macrobiotic.net/vitamin-d-tragedy.html
Take with a grain of salt, but please pay attention to the documented facts of Vitamin d overdoes and the detrimental effects associated with artificial vitamin D.

 It is best obtained through the skin , generated by UV rays.
Try to oil yourself up and lay out in the sun, or even use a tanning bed for some really amazing health benefits. I swear by it.

Hi Sabertooth. I've been reading much about vitamin d and have read mostly the opposite of what was in that article you posted. That article was mostly about vitamin d in milk. Who knows the difference between that and what you buy in a pill form and there weren't footnotes to try to verify their statements - which just don't jive. All the doctors and researchers that I've read say that it's clearly perfectly safe to take 4,000 IU and probably more. When they accidentally dumped loads of vitamin D into milk firstly, we have no idea of the quality and secondly they didn't say how much! People might have gotten doses in the hundreds of thousands for all we know. I don't think there is really anything to worry about. My husband was really worried when he started but read enough that he is now totally at ease. Besides, the benefits have been obvious.

It of course is better to go out in the sun, but what DogToffee said above goes for the vast majority of people. Most people don't live in a sunny enough place and those that do usually still work during the day indoors.