Looking for guidance - bile reflux, gastritis, etc.

[Pablo_pablissimo]

Hey guys,

I am looking for any help I can get regarding my diet and health in general. I will try to make it as concise as possible, I promise.

I have been struggling with GI issues since 2004 – a myriad of problems piled up all at once, including health related, and I ended up sick as never. I struggled a lot, with peculiar cramps, bloating, lack of appetite, you name it. My immune system was also in distress, to say the least (long-term use of various antibiotics prior to all of this). I constantly fought either with my stomach or my throat which was always inflamed. I finally was referred to homeopath who advised me to get off of sugars and dairy, which I did. It felt like a godsend, plus maybe the placebo effect of taking all these little sugary pilules. For the next few years my condition improved significantly: GI problems were subdued, I felt better emotionally. In those years I became more health-conscious and started watching what I put in my mouth: with time I eliminated a lot of junk food from my diet: I weaned myself off of sugar entirely (no more juices, fizzy drinks, etc.), still no dairy, I gave up alcohol; I stopped eating fried food and shunned fat along the way either. I tried to diversify my diet too, so I would introduce certain ‘new’ products I previously avoided, mostly veggies.

Fast-forward to 2011 – now and again I would go through a phase of some GI issues; could not gain any weight (not in a long run anyway) and then I had a major lower back failure which, needless to say, left me an emotional wreck. It was in November of 2011 and from this time on everything has turned for the worst, especially when it comes to my GI issues. When I finally got back on my feet with my back, I tried to focus again on eating even healthier than before – so I would eat 5-7 times a day, at regular intervals, mostly grains (mullet, oatmeal, buckwheat) with veggies and meat. I would not tolerate (and it only got worse) any raw food like fruits, veggies. I seemed to develop new food sensitivities by the day. And, the worst part was, that I kept losing weight and felt constantly cold (especially my feet were freezing). All this time I monitored my blood work, which was pretty ok  – nothing out of the ordinary, except perhaps for elementary bodies which were way under the lower limit. Anyway, being fed up with all of this and knowing that whatever I am going through is connected with my stomach somehow, I finally built up the courage to see a gastroenterologist, which I did back in April 2013. I was diagnosed with bile gastritis due to the malfunctioning of the pyloric valve – it was not closing properly, if at all. I was prescribed a bunch of pills, including IPP. After two months of taking it, I developed strange symptoms – a quick google search made me realize it was side effects of IPPs. I quit taking them cold turkey and started looking for alternatives: a tried manuka honey, aloe vera gel, mastica gum, marshmellow, and bunch of other stuff. I started getting back on my feet, until one day I developed heartburn which I have never had before! It was a disaster. I lost all the appetite. Again, I went online to find some clue as to how to deal with this and that is how I came across a thread in which I girl claimed she rid herself of GI issues following paleo. I kept reading this thread (more than 100 pages) in which she kept advising people to switch. I decided to contact her. She hit me right back sending me some recipies from R. Wolf’s book, and within one day I was on it! I thought ‘what the hell’, I really have nothing to lose at this point.

I started paleo on June 24. Unfortunate beginning, I would say, since I had garlic, spinach and avocado the very first day – all of which were kind of new in my diet (except for garlic, but I had issues with it before) – and one of the products, or possibly all of them, made me sick as a cat. The rest of the week I was recovering, but I decided to stick with paleo and not go back to, say, bread or rice. Yesterday marked the two week period on the diet and I am feeling somewhat better, yet really unsure.

What is important, I seem to be tolerating high input of meat and fat in the form of butter and olive oil quite well. My stomach appears to be doing better, miraculously the heartburn subsided, yet there are many changes going on I am not sure they are either good or welcome. I am still kind of weak; my legs and arms hurt; my mood is low (although before the weekend I was quite ebullient), then its high =  mood swings, I would call it. I have incredibly low libido, lack of it really. I try exercising, going for a short run, doing push-ups, playing table tennis, but it all requires a tremendous amount of ‘pushing myself’, and it does not give much joy, like I thought it would. My sleep is disrupted and I cannot get much out of it, even though I go to bed earlier than I used to.

Since I have gastritis and am not treating it anymore with IPPs, or any medicine for that matter, I am supplementing myself with Priobiotics from Now Foods, L-glutamine (3x1000mg), and aloe vera gel. I also drink ginger tea daily, which is supposed to help. I do not know if this enough, but paleo + supplements seem to be doing a good enough job – like I said, my GI issues abated, my hunger and taste is back. On the other hand I have weird stools (fragmented, hard as a rock, and unusually black like I have never had before).

AS to the pyloric valve, I was told it might start working again when I eliminate all the grains from the diet. I have no way of knowing if anything changed in that regard, but I still feel bile-like taste in my mouth at times, usually upon waking up. What is your take on that? Can I really expect things to self-regulate?

As far as the paleo diet is concerned, I am still quite confused. The more I read, the less simple and precise it seems: there are so many conflicting theories as to what, how or when to eat that I am at an almost complete loss here. I understand that there is a strong form, and a weak one, but there appears to be everything in between as well, and that is just not good. Not for me anyway.

I have a rather simple objective in mind following this diet and a way of living, really: I would like my digestion to improve, so that I do not experience these ‘systemic crashes’ and feel like I am dying; I would like to gain weight (currently, by any standard available, I am seriously underweight) and not feel like I am submerged in cold water all the time freezing to the bone; I would also like to get physically active and fit, maybe gain some muscle.

I have high hopes and I trust paleo would assist me in attaining my goals. BUT I really need some kind of assistance. All the articles and books will not give me what real-life knowledge and, most importantly, experience will. That is why I am asking you guys to help me figure all of this out and help make right, mostly dietary, choices. I believe that with improving the functioning of the pyloric valve the rest would come easy. But can I really expect that to happen?

If you have any experience with that, any suggestions, anything that can help me and straighten things up a little bit, please let me know. On my part, I will try to update you on the progress I make and seek answers when in need.

Let me then start by asking you this:
1)   Am I doing enough with regard to the inflammation of the stomach? If not, what else would you suggest?
2)   Do you think that supplementing with magnesium, B Vitamins, fish oil, etc. would be necessary and beneficial at this point?
3)   Should I shun away from fruits and carbohydrates in general (as some suggest) or should I rather increase their intake (if tolerated) in order to feel better, more energetic? At this point, I think, I am not consuming a whole lot of them and that maybe the reason I am feeling weak. On the other hand, most paleo-sites lean toward reducing the amount of carbs to minimum.
4)   What is the deal with the nuts: some claim they are truly paleo, others put them in the same category as grains = forbidden. I had problems with tolerating them in the past but now they seem quite ok. And they make for a great snack in between the meal  so putting them aside is a great loss.
5)   The same with white potatoes: some advocate consuming them, others specifically forbid.
6)   Is it important to supplement with digestive enzymes, especially as far as fats are concerned? Like I said before, for a long period of time a avoided fats as much as possible and then trying to incorporate them in my diet was not easy – I could not even drink a glass of broth without accompanying GI symptoms.

I would appreciate all the help I can get from you.

Thanks
Pablo

[miles]

"On the other hand I have weird stools (fragmented, hard as a rock, and unusually black like I have never had before)."

I think that's due to the probiotics breaking down your stool more than your normal gut bacteria.

Regarding all the different advice on paleo and not knowing what to follow, I think it's best to be balanced. You say you want a simple rigid diet to follow, but I do not think that is good in the long term. Try different people's advice, but don't be rigid with it. Try something for a week, see how it goes, but even if it works you should still add some variety now and again for hormesis at least, but maybe even to prevent some deficiency or overdose you didn't anticipate.

Regarding potatoes, you'll get rid of most of the toxins by peeling them, but even so you could afford to leave them on sometimes.

Nuts, you can reduce the anti-nutrients by soaking them in salt-water; and further by roasting them, though this may make them less beneficial due to oxidation of the fats.

There are benefits to raw foods; benefits to cooked foods; benefits to starch; benefits to very low carb; benefits to higher carb; benefits to fruits and salad; to dark leafy greens and to dairy. All of these also have negatives. The best thing is to try a bit of everything, and stick mostly to whatever makes you feel good including in the short term(taste), but still try new(and old) things now and again, to see if you have more desire for them; to maintain the ability to process them; and to reduce the risk of deficiencies.

It's very important to find the proper, health-oriented traditional ways of preparing various foods. Potatoes and crucifers should always be cooked; whilst dairy should always be raw. Other things are in between, such as organs and meat/fat which can be eaten raw/blue rare or rare, or alternatively slow-cooked, depending on what your taste is and what the cut is.

The specialty and focus of this forum is in/on raw foods specifically, just so you know.

[Aura]

I think you should first cleanse yourself (bowels) of previous cooked food diet and then slowly integrate raw food into your meals.
If you do not perform this detox, I am afraid you will never understand what s good for you and what's not, because of the mucus and waste built up you may have stuck  in your guts which could cause fermentation..
It could be first of all, enemas, then a fruit monodiet or a  juice fasting..

Recently I had some issues with my BM's and felt like getting rid of leafy greens. They were somewhat irritating me. I have been on just fruit and it was amazing.

Those stools you 've got show you are having problems digesting food so eating raw meat at this point does not seem wise...
I mean, you want to have easy digestible food items for a while to soothe your GI.

After the detox, I would go for a mono fruit diet, at least for 15 days.
Pick a fruit that is in season where you live.
You should be already noticing some changes (hopefully positive ones) in your stools.
You may feel a bit weak and hungry on just fruit but it is temporary and you can still add more fruits in. No restrictions in this sense.

After all this, if you are still into wanting to try raw meat, then you can start by adding a bit day by day.
I do not eat meat, just fish, eggs, fruits and little veggies.

Good Luck!

[Dr. D]

Welcome to the forum. You'll see pretty quickly that everyone has an opinion and they are all different.

One thing that I think we all will advocate for mostly is the use of raw animal foods. For me personally, I used raw plant foods for over a year and they helped, but not as much as raw animal foods have helped me in the past month and a half.

Recently, I have been straying away from your common muscle meats/cuts. Things like a t-bone are not nearly as appealing to me (thankfully, cost) as my three staples: fat, organs, seafood. I'm able to get most of my protein intake through organs and seafood, so ill just finish up with fat until im satiated. Then if I feel like a piece of fruit I'll eat only one fruit specifically. All these are based on digestive theories for myself and may not work as well for you.

It sounds like you're favoring plants a lot, olive oil didn't work well and as I get away from dairy and reintroduce it, I think I have an issue with it, other than digestive (fatigue, lack of clarity, potentially inflammatory)

1. I would suggest getting more omega- 3 fats into your diet from animal foods. Get some grass-fed beef fat and salmon. Omega 3's are extremely anti-inflammatory
2. That's a personal choice. It's kind of hard to choose a supplement and know if that's what helped or if its the food. Too much at once with experimenting leaves too many variables.
3. Carbs can be tough. If you tolerate them and they don't cause an issue, have at. I'd suggest about 50-100 g/day. That will still leave you fat adapted as long as you consume enough fat but not solely dependent on carbs. Any fewer carbs and your body will constantly be running on the most minimal stores of glycogen, leaving you in the stage of keto-adaptation that makes people really tired. So what works for me, if I feel tired/weak, add in more fat. If that didn't work, add in a little bit of carbs.
4. I personally stopped nuts for now because it is difficult to find raw nuts and I also relate them too much with snacking which causes me to overeat them. I don't think they are bad at all, it's just me and many others have had issues with their use.
5. We are a RAW forum, so while we maintain paleo things, it helps us determine how paleo it really is by whether or not it can be consumed raw. Raw potatoes usually dont digest well, so that's probably a no for someone with GI issues. If you are looking for raw starches, which seem to be beneficial, there are some posts around here naming them off. Search for them.
6. I don't think digestive enzymes would benefit in the consumption of raw fats. They have always digested for me from the start and I never have used them. As previously stated, get some grass-fed raw beef fat.

The quality of your foods is more important than anything. Don't skimp out in this area. Grass-fed or wild. No hormones/anti-biotics.