Foods to help regulate hormones

[Suiren]

I just went through the worst PMS of my life, with pain that made me wonder if something worse was going on than PMS.
I never had problems during my period, until 4 months ago, when I had my first postpartum period, while breastfeeding around the clock still.
Maybe it was a bit early.

The pain/ symptoms (back, joint and body aches, abdominal cramps, general feelng of being sick, nausea) have gotten worse not better. My cycle seems to be long, not totally irregular, but just weird, with a lot of black blood and not much else after. I bleed very lightly (spotting) for over a week. (I used to have a 29 day cycle with 3 days of light bleeding before pregnancy)
I also experience acne and hair loss, so my guess is that I am dealing with  raging hormones.

I want to see if I can alter my diet to help my body regulating its hormones soon.
What would you recommend?

I have eaten some dairy lately (cheese), but am planning to cut it out again to avoid unwanted effects on my hormones. I eat raw butter daily, which I need for calories. Not sure if the butter could cause problems.

[TylerDurden]

Hmm, I've come across other RPDer females who've claimed that their periods became of a very minor nature and much shorter duration, as a result of going rawpalaeo. By all means, cut out all dairy and try to upgrade your rawpalaeodiet to higher standards.

[Suiren]

Yes, I have heard about that too but the post pregnancy hormones might make this situation different?
I have improved my diet but due to financial limits I can't go all out, like buy all meat grassfed or buy raw meats and organs, organic fruits and veggies etc.

I was hoping there might be foods beneficial to hormones or maybe some to be avoided (Paleo foods).

[Polyvore]

I find fish is best for my and other people's hormones.

[eveheart]

When I read your past diagnoses that you list in your signature, it screams "autoimmune" to me. How strictly are you avoiding inflammatory foods? One author suggests that a speck of wheat can set you back 6 - 8 months in your healing. What are your thyroid (T3, T4, TSH) numbers? Am I on the right track here? Ignore me if this makes no sense to you.

[TylerDurden]

Yes, I have heard about that too but the post pregnancy hormones might make this situation different?
I have improved my diet but due to financial limits I can't go all out, like buy all meat grassfed or buy raw meats and organs, organic fruits and veggies etc.

I was hoping there might be foods beneficial to hormones or maybe some to be avoided (Paleo foods).

  I would suspect that raw adrenal and raw thyroid would be great foods for improving hormones but these are difficult to obtain from farmers, for spurious reasons. Getting them in processed pill-form is possible, but way more expensive, and nowhere near as useful as the genuine, raw article,imo.

Reducing costs while maintaining food-quality can be possible. Doing Intermittent Fasting(1 large meal a day or eating every alternate day) can lead to a reasonable reduction in food-intake(-15%?) without delving into caloric restriction, thus saving some cash.
If you're living by the coast, there are always some   wildcaught species  like sprats or sardines  or mussels which  are dirt-cheap.

You might also consider going in for sprouting. I did so in pre-rawpalaeo days and found it rather cheap. It greatly improves the quality of your daily raw plant food intake without forcing you to expensively buy "organic" etc.

[Inger]

-Oysters, mussels, crabs, shrimps.. fish.. anything from the sea. The best foods ever.
-Seaweeds. Lots of minerals and Iodine.
-Organs from wild or grassfed animals, raw. Heart - has lots of coenzyme Q10, so important for our brain.
Healthy brain = healthy hormones.
-Raw fat. You need cholesterol to make hormones. Fatty seafood and raw grassfed beef/lamb and reindeer-marrow are my favorites. I do raw grassfed butter too.. sometimes raw egg-yolks.
-Wild edibles.
-High meat. Everything that improves your gut improves your hormones and your whole body too!

If you are short of money and/or it is hard to get all of the above, there are things you can do to improve your hormones that cost nothing;

-Sunbathing naked. It is important to expose the women parts.
-Cold showers, baths, cold overall. Keep home cold. Use little clothes when out, embrace the cold! Does wonders for balancing and improving hormones!
-Light management. Limit fake lights! Go early to bed. Look into the sun one minute every morning after rising. Try to get as much daylight/sun as possible during the day. At night - total darkness. Never turn on light if / when going to the bathroom etc at night.
-Earthing. Decreases inflammation and so also help hormones to heal.

Avoid stress! Negative stress are hormone killers for women!

Hope this helps Suiren.

[Suiren]

When I read your past diagnoses that you list in your signature, it screams "autoimmune" to me. How strictly are you avoiding inflammatory foods? One author suggests that a speck of wheat can set you back 6 - 8 months in your healing. What are your thyroid (T3, T4, TSH) numbers? Am I on the right track here? Ignore me if this makes no sense to you.

If one speck of wheat really sets you back then I must be behind years  . What author suggests that?
I very rarely have something with wheat, but some other things like dairy or potato I had occasionally. Usually when we are out and there is not much for me to eat. My hypoglycemia is better, but when I go very long without food, I still get dizzy and weak. So something like fries with Doener Kebab meat is a quick fix. Although, most of the time I just get meat with lettuce or veggies and I also make sure not to get dressing or gravy that could contain anything bad.

To me it seems all my conditions are hormonal and have to do with inflammation. The first time I had problems with my hormones was after quitting the pill in 2009. That is when my prolactin sky-rocked and I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's. Prolactin caused the hair loss you can see in the center picture of my avatar, and it stopped a few days after taking "cabergoline".
To me it seems my body gets thrown off waaaay too much by hormones. My postpartum shed after the birth of my son was almost as bad and I had bald spots. I don't think it should be this bad.

Anyhow, my thyroid levels:

Past:
Jan 2010, USA

Anti Tg  871.4   IU/ ml
Anti TPO 314.3  IU/ ml
Free T3 3.250  pg/ ml
Free T4 1.510 ng/ dl
TSH  3.080
(Prolactin)  29.6 ng/ml

With only Cabergoline for the Pituitary/ Prolactin Problem:

Sept. 2010

Anti Tg  586.9   IU/ ml
Anti TPO 201.9  IU/ ml
Free T3 2.540  pg/ ml
Free T4 1.340 ng/ dl
TSH  1.640
(Prolactin) 3.2 ng/ml

Current, as of Feb. 2012 (Germany)

FT3 3.8 pg/ml  (norm. 2.0- 4.2)
FT4 1.30 ng/dl (norm. 0.8- 1.7)
TSH 0.02 mIU/l (norm. 0.35- 4.50) low
(Prolactin) 297 (norm. 46.0- 622)

Antibodies TSH reception (Antithyreodale Antikoerper TSH - Rezeptor - AK)
0.75  IE/l  < 1.75
TPO (Thyroid Peroxidase-AK) + > 1300  U/ml  <60

The German units seem different and did not make any sense to me, but what the doctor said is that I don't have Hashimoto's anymore, and that my thyroid functions relatively normal, but that I still have high Antibodies and the sonogram was showing that as well. She said no medication is needed at this time (I had already went off all meds in late pregnancy to be able to breastfeed).

[Suiren]

  I would suspect that raw adrenal and raw thyroid would be great foods for improving hormones but these are difficult to obtain from farmers, for spurious reasons. Getting them in processed pill-form is possible, but way more expensive, and nowhere near as useful as the genuine, raw article,imo.

Reducing costs while maintaining food-quality can be possible. Doing Intermittent Fasting(1 large meal a day or eating every alternate day) can lead to a reasonable reduction in food-intake(-15%?) without delving into caloric restriction, thus saving some cash.
If you're living by the coast, there are always some   wildcaught species  like sprats or sardines  or mussels which  are dirt-cheap.

You might also consider going in for sprouting. I did so in pre-rawpalaeo days and found it rather cheap. It greatly improves the quality of your daily raw plant food intake without forcing you to expensively buy "organic" etc.

Sprouting as in growing my own? I might do it to some degree, the balcony is the only place I can do this.

I suppose fasting would make me lose weight? I have such a hard time keeping on weight, even when eating a lot of calories and high fat. Then there would be the dizziness that sets in at some point. I don't think I am the type to fast. My husband however eats very little and fasts throughout the day. That really does save some money.
But now, the baby also needs high quality solids.

I heard raw thyroid can also benefit the thyroid?

[Suiren]

Inger,

thank you for the great list!

-Oysters, mussels, crabs, shrimps.. fish.. anything from the sea. The best foods ever.
-Seaweeds. Lots of minerals and Iodine.

I have been avoiding Iodine because of my thyroid, but maybe it is a myth? I do eat a lot of fish, since it is the most affordable.

-Organs from wild or grassfed animals, raw. Heart - has lots of coenzyme Q10, so important for our brain.
Healthy brain = healthy hormones.
-Raw fat. You need cholesterol to make hormones. Fatty seafood and raw grassfed beef/lamb and reindeer-marrow are my favorites. I do raw grassfed butter too.. sometimes raw egg-yolks.

I do eat TONs of butter! But sometimes I worry about possible hormones in it and I wonder if it contains Casein? I have not been able to find out about that.

-Wild edibles.
-High meat. Everything that improves your gut improves your hormones and your whole body too!

Our last high meat experiment failed...not sure if it was done right. Of course the gross factor is huge here, but I would give it another try.

If you are short of money and/or it is hard to get all of the above, there are things you can do to improve your hormones that cost nothing;

-Sunbathing naked. It is important to expose the women parts.
-Cold showers, baths, cold overall. Keep home cold. Use little clothes when out, embrace the cold! Does wonders for balancing and improving hormones!
-Light management. Limit fake lights! Go early to bed. Look into the sun one minute every morning after rising. Try to get as much daylight/sun as possible during the day. At night - total darkness. Never turn on light if / when going to the bathroom etc at night.
-Earthing. Decreases inflammation and so also help hormones to heal.

Avoid stress! Negative stress are hormone killers for women!

Hope this helps Suiren.

I will try to do as much of that as possible. How cold should the water be? I have used colder water but not ice cold lately.
Sun of course is hard to get by right now
At night, I only use little fake lights, or just dim lights, but when my son goes to bed I have to do some work (knitting, sewing and computer), so I am not sure if that is even helpful.
I am not going to bed early at all though *sigh*, my son goes to sleep at nine and then I work into the night. Not sure if his sleeping schedule could be adjusted. I would love to go to sleep earlier.

[Barefoot Instincto]

Sprouting as in growing my own? I might do it to some degree, the balcony is the only place I can do this.

You should do it to a large degree! The only space you need, if you do it properly (and this is really not hard), is a small patch of counterspace in your kitchen. With correct sprout start timing, and a good setup, you could grow pounds of fresh, living vegetables with 5-10 mins of work a day, everyday! Nature's best plant food for us is...Living plants!

[TylerDurden]

I heard raw thyroid can also benefit the thyroid?

Not everyone can fast without incident. I'm (sort of) lucky in that I put on weight too easily, even on a rawpalaeodiet(though nowhere near as much as if eating cooked foods) so IF is best for me, really.

And, yes, like cures like, so raw thyroid consumption would benefit your thyroid, provided the thyroid came from a healthy animal. Take raw heart, for example. It contains lots of coenzyme Q10 and similiar nutrients that, unsurprisingly, the human heart also needs.

[TylerDurden]

Oh, and raw butter contains some casein and lactose, though not as much as with other dairy products. All depends on how acute one's allergy is, as some claim not to have issues with raw butter but do have problems with raw milk/cream/cheese etc.

Ghee contains the least amount of casein and lactose, but is heated and still contains trace amounts thereof.

Re:- "high-meat":- The trick I  used to get used to it at first  was to cut the high-meat up into tiny slices(preferably before aging it) and then swallow each tiny sliver, followed quickly by a big gulp of high-alkaline mineral water to disguise the taste of the meat.

[Suiren]

I see, maybe one day I will be able to keep my weight on more easily and then I won't have to worry about the calories as much.
At least I seem to be able to maintain my weight with less calories now.

I don't know if the raw butter gives me problems. I have never cut it out for the calorie reason. However, I don't feel much of a difference when cutting out dairy. If anything, I felt like dairy benefit me a bit, like I explained in my other thread.

Now if I could only get my hands on some raw thyroid..hmmm..

[LePatron7]

Not everyone can fast without incident. I'm (sort of) lucky in that I put on weight too easily, even on a rawpalaeodiet(though nowhere near as much as if eating cooked foods) so IF is best for me, really.

And, yes, like cures like, so raw thyroid consumption would benefit your thyroid, provided the thyroid came from a healthy animal. Take raw heart, for example. It contains lots of coenzyme Q10 and similiar nutrients that, unsurprisingly, the human heart also needs.

Same with brain. I find that pretty darn interesting.

[eveheart]

If one speck of wheat really sets you back then I must be behind years  . What author suggests that?

Nora Gedgaudas talks about this in Primal Body, Primal Mind. She also lists possible wheat sources in body products, and she says that some people don't really heal until they eliminate ingredients such as
hydrolyzed vegetable protein in shampoos; absorption through the skin in the shower can be higher than absorption in the gut. She also talks about cross sensitivity from things like coffee. I have made it my intention to be squeaky clean RPD. I really want to find out how well I can be, and I'm sick to death over self-induced backsliding.

[Inger]

Suiren 

Inger,

thank you for the great list!
I have been avoiding Iodine because of my thyroid, but maybe it is a myth? I do eat a lot of fish, since it is the most affordable.

It is a myth for sure. I would not take Iodine in any extracted/unnatural form, but only the natural way. That way you get the whole package that is extremely beneficial! Seaweeds are some of the most healing foods we have, for thyroid, for hormones... I eat lots of seaweeds these days, I never did before. I have no issues, in the beginning a little bloating but it disappeared after a week or so.
You can not get an overdose as your body regulates it and is getting all the other factors too to help detox. Only certain seaweeds like Kelp are extremely high in Iodine and should maybe not be eating in huge amounts. But Irish Moss, Arame, Sea Spaghetti, Dulse.. any other are just fine in larger amounts too! I make me seaweed water, water with dried raw seaweed in it, and drink throughout the day. Tastes amazing. Slightly salty in a nice way, and so addicting!
You can start to add little by little if you are concerned. Start with a small amount and then increase.
Above some info about he seaweeds, you can google more there are lots of great info out there!

A. Irish Moss (chondrus crispus, carrageen) is full of electrolyte minerals — calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. Its mucilaginous compounds help you detoxify, boost metabolism and strengthen hair, skin and nails. In Eastern medicine it is traditionally used for a low sex drive because it helps support T3 levels to convert LDL to progesterone and not to cortisol.

B. Wakame (alaria, undaria) is a high-protein, high calcium seaweed, with carotenes, iron and vitamin C. It is used in Chinese medicine for hair growth and luster, and for skin tone because it optimizes thyroid function.

C.  Kelp (laminaria) contains vitamins the fat soluble vitamins A, B, E, D and K in high quantity, and is a major source of vitamin C from the sea.  It also happens to be rich in many minerals found in land based plants. This is why it made my top ten supplement list so long ago in the blog series.  Kelp proteins are high quality and present in abundance for a sea plant.  It is a brown marine plant, kelp contains sodium alginate (algin), an element that helps remove radioactive particles (think Fukishima Iodine) and heavy metals from the body.  Kelp can works as a blood purifier, relieves arthritis stiffness, and promotes adrenal, pituitary and thyroid health. Kelp’s natural iodine can normalize thyroid-related disorders like obesity and muscle fatigue seen in fibromyalgia cases.  Clinical pearl: people with herpes virus of any type:  It is a demulcent that helps eliminate herpes outbreaks after they have occurred.  Kelp is nutrient rich and a small amount gives a large clinical result often.

D.  Hijiki is a mineral-rich, high-fiber seaweed, with 20% protein, vitamin A, carotenes and calcium. Hijiki has the most calcium of any sea green, 1400mg per 100 grams of dry weight.

E.  Kombu (laminaria digitata, setchelli, horsetail kelp), has a long tradition as a Japanese delicacy with reported nutritional healing value. Natural healers use it is a decongestant for excess mucous and to helps normalize blood pressure. Kombu has abundant iodine, carotenes, B, C, D and E vitamins, minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, silica, iron and zinc, and the powerful skin healing nutrient germanium, which is a pretty rare element in the human diet. Kombu is a meaty, high-protein seaweed. It is higher in natural mineral salts than most other seaweeds. I often add a strip of kombu to my bone broths and seafood broths.

F. Nori (porphyra, laver) is a red sea plant with a sweet, meaty taste when dried. It contains nearly 50% balanced, assimilable protein, higher than any other sea plant. Nori’s fiber makes it popular for sushi wrapping.  I do not eat any rice because its miRNA directly affects our DNA expression.  Nori is rich in all the carotenes, calcium, iodine, iron, and phosphorus.

G. Sea Palm (Postelsia Palmaeformis), American arame, grows only on the Pacific Coast of North America by Oregon and Washington State. It has a honeyed, salty taste that makes it tasty vegetable.  I like it with my cauliflower rice recipe form the e-cookbook, or as a summer or autumn salad topping.

H. Bladderwrack is loaded with vitamin K  and it is an excellent adrenal adaptogen and it helps sensitize us to insulin to because of its K2 like effects. It is often used today by Native American cultures broths and in sauna/steam baths for degenerative arthritis and inflammatory joint conditions.

I. Dulse (palmaria palmata), a red sea plant, very rich in iron.  The last two sea veggies are my favorites because they have the most iodine of any plants on our planet.  I was made aware of this sea vegetable when I was researching the Geritol solution for global warming.  It also has abundant protein, and vitamin A. What really makes it a specially balanced nutrient for a lactovegetarian paleo diet is that it contains 300 times more iodine and 50 times more iron than wheat products. Tests on dulse show antiviral action against the herpes virus.

J. Arame (Eisenia bycyclis), is one of the ocean’s richest sources of iodine. It often contains more iodine than seafood does!  Because of its high iodine content it can have major effects on women’s progesterone to estradiol ratio’s naturally.  If you are estrogen dominant you  might consider using this as become a staple in your broths and recipes.  Many natural healers use arame to help reduce breast and uterine fibroids, excessive bleeding, fibrocystic disease of the breasts, and ovarian cysts.  It is also quite helpful in cases of PCOS with acne and excessive facial hair.  It also contains a lot fat soluble vitamins and phytohormones, to normalize peri menopausal and menopausal symptoms. Arame is often associated with soft wrinkle-free skin turgor and tends to enhances hair growth and make your hair have an incredible sheen. The reason is because this veggie increase your free T3 to a dramatic degree when it is used regularly in your diet.

http://www.jackkruse.com/brain-gut-6-epi-paleo-rx/

I do eat TONs of butter! But sometimes I worry about possible hormones in it and I wonder if it contains Casein? I have not been able to find out about that.

Maybe it is good to be concerned about the butter issue. I am too a bit, even if I do eat it now. But I am thinking it might not be the best thing to do. I am following my body and if there are any strange reactions. Then I am going to quit the raw grassfed butter. I think it is a very individual thing, for some it is good for someone not. I am not totally sure it is good for me yet.
I have been eating lots of raw, unsalted grassfed butter last week and I have last days a slight tenderness in my right breast. I wonder why. Might have been the farmed raw salmon I was eating lots of at Christmas, or just some work I have done and the muscle is a bit sore.. or it might be the butter?

Our last high meat experiment failed...not sure if it was done right. Of course the gross factor is huge here, but I would give it another try.

Don't give up. Just try again! You cant do much wrong if you just remember to air the meat every other day or so. And fill the jar only about 1/3. Then.. wait. Maybe it helps to nibble on it throughout the process, so you get used to the stronger taste? I love the taste of my highmeat. t is like the oldest strongest cheese.. quite a lot ammonia taste! But I always liked those cheeses...

I will try to do as much of that as possible. How cold should the water be? I have used colder water but not ice cold lately.

No rules about temps, just do as cold as you can. Gradually increase time or cold. Just think, lets explore the cold! Do not be afraid of it anymore, just think it is something very nice and healing! Do as much as you feel comfortable with, because you will slowly want more. Just a cold shower a day and colder temps indoors (I have 14-15 degrees C in my home now and it feels just nice, I always used to have 22 degree C..!). Do it slow if you want. The important thing is, that you do.

Sun of course is hard to get by right now
At night, I only use little fake lights, or just dim lights, but when my son goes to bed I have to do some work (knitting, sewing and computer), so I am not sure if that is even helpful.
I am not going to bed early at all though *sigh*, my son goes to sleep at nine and then I work into the night. Not sure if his sleeping schedule could be adjusted. I would love to go to sleep earlier.

But you can get daylight in your eyes! And when spring comes start to tan as soon as you can, I do when there is still snow! Just find a not windy lonely place. The sun will warm you up fast!
Too bad you are going so late to bed. You will find a solution. Maybe your son is sleeping at daytime? If you stop that and put him earlier in bed? We went to bed at 7 PM as kids.. So it is possible!
You can work by candle light or lit an oil lamp! It works for me! It is very relaxing too. I have no issues to read by candle light now. Or use dimmed lights and dark sunglasses or blueblockers. That works too. The thing is, you do not want to get any blue or green lights in your eyes after sunset. Because it disturbs our hormones!
 

[Polyvore]

But Irish Moss, Arame, Sea Spaghetti, Dulse.. any other are just fine in larger amounts too! I make me seaweed water, water with dried raw seaweed in it, and drink throughout the day. Tastes amazing. Slightly salty in a nice way, and so addicting!

Me too!

[Suiren]

Same with brain. I find that pretty darn interesting.

Me too! Makes me think that if I would eat a whole body, every part of my body would benefit from it. 

[Suiren]

Nora Gedgaudas talks about this in Primal Body, Primal Mind. She also lists possible wheat sources in body products, and she says that some people don't really heal until they eliminate ingredients such as
hydrolyzed vegetable protein in shampoos; absorption through the skin in the shower can be higher than absorption in the gut. She also talks about cross sensitivity from things like coffee. I have made it my intention to be squeaky clean RPD. I really want to find out how well I can be, and I'm sick to death over self-induced backsliding.

Same here, I would not want to ruin all my progress. My belief with wheat and other bad foods was that my body would clear it within a few days. I thought so because it usually took my skin a day or two to clear up zits after cheating...but now, my skin is way too blemished anyway.
Coffee is something I have definitely cheated on more often than wheat. Probably every two weeks, usually when we go out we stop at a Cafe or Starbucks.
I will have to read more about that.

Cosmetics: I recently went through my cosmetics, only to find some do have ingredients that could cause problems. I knew about the absorption, and have been very strict with ingredients since 2006, but I usually just made sure the ingredients are natural and don't have any harmful effects, like carcinogens.
I just recently eliminated soy in cosmetics though (so many products contain soy), rice bran oil and wheat germ oil. The fact that it is oil led me into thinking it would not have the same properties as pure wheat, but when I looked into it I found it actually does.

(I don't have any shampoo or conditioner I can use now though. Dr. Bronner's soap has good ingredients, but it leaves a nasty sticky residue.)

[Suiren]

Suiren 
It is a myth for sure. I would not take Iodine in any extracted/unnatural form, but only the natural way. That way you get the whole package that is extremely beneficial! Seaweeds are some of the most healing foods we have, for thyroid, for hormones... I eat lots of seaweeds these days, I never did before. I have no issues, in the beginning a little bloating but it disappeared after a week or so.
You can not get an overdose as your body regulates it and is getting all the other factors too to help detox. Only certain seaweeds like Kelp are extremely high in Iodine and should maybe not be eating in huge amounts. But Irish Moss, Arame, Sea Spaghetti, Dulse.. any other are just fine in larger amounts too! I make me seaweed water, water with dried raw seaweed in it, and drink throughout the day. Tastes amazing. Slightly salty in a nice way, and so addicting!
You can start to add little by little if you are concerned. Start with a small amount and then increase.

Above some info about he seaweeds, you can google more there are lots of great info out there!

http://www.jackkruse.com/brain-gut-6-epi-paleo-rx/

Well, I love seaweed I will try to find a good source.

Maybe it is good to be concerned about the butter issue. I am too a bit, even if I do eat it now. But I am thinking it might not be the best thing to do. I am following my body and if there are any strange reactions. Then I am going to quit the raw grassfed butter. I think it is a very individual thing, for some it is good for someone not. I am not totally sure it is good for me yet.
I have been eating lots of raw, unsalted grassfed butter last week and I have last days a slight tenderness in my right breast. I wonder why. Might have been the farmed raw salmon I was eating lots of at Christmas, or just some work I have done and the muscle is a bit sore.. or it might be the butter?

I have thought about eliminating butter, but right now it really helps me to keep my weight on! I think I would disappear if I were to simply stop. And I could never eat as much suet I think...I am still too grossed out by it, it is very hard to get by, and I can't eat it with my honey spread over a coconut pancake.
Maybe I should try ghee and see if I notice a difference. I am unsure what your breast tenderness could be, but it seems that hormones could cause it...I am thinking of how breasts hurt in puberty and pregnancy.
But it might also just be the work, sounds logical.

Don't give up. Just try again! You cant do much wrong if you just remember to air the meat every other day or so. And fill the jar only about 1/3. Then.. wait. Maybe it helps to nibble on it throughout the process, so you get used to the stronger taste? I love the taste of my highmeat. t is like the oldest strongest cheese.. quite a lot ammonia taste! But I always liked those cheeses...

I love old cheese but not sure I will feel the same about high meat any time soon haha.
Nibbling sounds like a good idea, and I might also flush it down with water like Tyler suggested.

No rules about temps, just do as cold as you can. Gradually increase time or cold. Just think, lets explore the cold! Do not be afraid of it anymore, just think it is something very nice and healing! Do as much as you feel comfortable with, because you will slowly want more. Just a cold shower a day and colder temps indoors (I have 14-15 degrees C in my home now and it feels just nice, I always used to have 22 degree C..!). Do it slow if you want. The important thing is, that you do.

I tried running some cold water into my luke warm bath today, it gradually got colder but at a certain point I had to stop. It is amazing that you can do that, I always hated cold water.

But you can get daylight in your eyes! And when spring comes start to tan as soon as you can, I do when there is still snow! Just find a not windy lonely place. The sun will warm you up fast!
Too bad you are going so late to bed. You will find a solution. Maybe your son is sleeping at daytime? If you stop that and put him earlier in bed? We went to bed at 7 PM as kids.. So it is possible!
You can work by candle light or lit an oil lamp! It works for me! It is very relaxing too. I have no issues to read by candle light now. Or use dimmed lights and dark sunglasses or blueblockers. That works too. The thing is, you do not want to get any blue or green lights in your eyes after sunset. Because it disturbs our hormones!
 

What type of light is a computer?
We do only have yellowish lights at home and I have a red lamp on my desk. Not sure if red is okay.
My sewing machine has a rather dim light build in, so I don't need much additional light for sewing. The only time I need brighter light is for pattern making.

We will see if getting up a bit earlier each day will help my son going to sleep earlier. When he goes to bed at 9 that is without a nap. He wakes between 9-10 am.
Sometimes he does take a late nap, from 4-6 or so, and that would cause him to stay up until 11 even. We never wanted to do sleep training and instead let him make his natural schedule, but maybe by waking up a bit earlier his bed time will gradually shift naturally.

[eveheart]

(I don't have any shampoo or conditioner I can use now though. Dr. Bronner's soap has good ingredients, but it leaves a nasty sticky residue.)

I have been 'poo-free for about 5 years. I use water and a safe conditioner to clean my hair. I don't believe in stripping the scalp oils with shampoo, not even the SLS-free shampoos. My hair is a different texture than yours, so I won't make product recommendations, but I will say that once your scalp adjusts to no shampoo, it is a blessing.

[jessica]

suiren have you tried bone marrow? its very buttery and spreadable and super calorie dense.

[Suiren]

I have been 'poo-free for about 5 years. I use water and a safe conditioner to clean my hair. I don't believe in stripping the scalp oils with shampoo, not even the SLS-free shampoos. My hair is a different texture than yours, so I won't make product recommendations, but I will say that once your scalp adjusts to no shampoo, it is a blessing.

I have been using mild detergent shampoo for 7 yrs. and my hair did adjust To being less oily and I now wash once weekly. During that time I gave no poo a try for 6 months, but my hair did not adjust any more. I was unable to clean it and it was very oily all the way down, so I switched back to mild shampoo.
Maybe my scalp would be different if I was all RPD.

[Suiren]

suiren have you tried bone marrow? its very buttery and spreadable and super calorie dense.

I will look into that! I have been wanting to make bone broth, and I found a seller for bone marrow. Just hope it will equal up to the half block of butter I eat per day.