Thanks Tyler - I've been thinking about that hack, even if not food-based...What was your ultimate CFS hack?

ForTheHunt, I always appreciate your wise counsel - I'm certainly trying to be Zen, even though I'm feeling/looking awful. One can only do one's best in a given situation - the rest is up to the cosmos...Sleep deprivation has its potent psychological effects tho'...

It's well established that PUFAs contribute to oxidative stress, including oily fish like salmon and tuna, so eat PUFAs sparingly and one's that come complemented with anti-oxidant vitamins D, A and E.

I'd prefer to stick to ruminant meat rather than oily cold water fish whose fatty acid profile is sculpted for a different ecosystem.

A diminished intake of n-6 requires less n-3, so reduce n-6 to the minimum and automatically reduce the requirement for n-3. It's the same with vitamin E - minimise PUFAs and minimise need for tocopherols/tocotrienols (needed to protect these oily/fluid unstable fatty acids in higher temperature environments i.e. out of cold water).

Sunlight causes oxidation reactions wherever there's high concentration of PUFA in the skin - hence wrinkling (collapse of collagen, GAGs etc.) by the sun...

A good quality non-esterified vitamin E supplement might be worth it if you have high markers of oxidative stress...Saying that, best to eat less oxidative food...

Coconut oil is a mitigator of oxidative stress, if you can tolerate it (and not use it for nourishing over animal fats). Some people are recommending "coconut cream" with its full complement of nutrition, although we must remember that coconuts include the mineral binder phytic acid, which represents anti-nourishment - this is not in coconut oil (only in coconut cream/milk).

Kombucha is also a mitigator of oxidative stress, if you are in a position to consume fermented foods (sadly, they're too acidic for my teeth at the moment). Fermented food increases glutathione peroxidase production/activity, which is an awesome free radical scavenger (like superoxide dismutase).

What about things with high ORAC values like goji, schisandra, rooibos tea etc.?

I'm glad this thread has still enjoyed some activity, mainly because I'm trying to harmonise with my deteriorating teeth.

First of all, I've been grinding dried bones of venison, which is very easy - the only caveat is that this practice seems to make my teeth feel over-hard/brittle and I've easily chipped one of the front teeth ever so slightly from a piece of silt not washed off my salad. It seems to me that bone meal delivers a disproportionate amount of calcium to magnesium, which I blame for the brittle feeling. On this basis, I'm not sure I recommend bone meal, although strangely enough, I always found gelatinous bone broths to not deliver unbalanced minerals along with the gelatin, so maybe the range of minerals dissolved in the water was better available. This would be my conclusion on broth vs meal, although sadly, the excitotoxins (free glutamates from hours of cooking) in broth trash my (overexcitable) neurons. Another vector for healing my gnashers eliminated (story of my healing path!).

Silica from horsetail and oatstraw, combined with "nourishing infusions" of nettle definitely started to turn the tide for me and some of the lesions on my teeth started to "close in" (craters becoming only lines) pretty quickly. The only caveat is that these herbs are diuretics and despite what Susun Weed says, I was pissing out potassium because I had the cracked lips to prove it. Another vector for healing the teeth quashed. However, you've got me thinking on the coriander/cilantro tip now and I'm sure an infusion made from 100g coriander per day would be mineralising. Coriander is a chelator of heavy metals too, so maybe it would be an extra bonus or downfall. Dried coriander leaves costs me £10 per kilo...

Do you know any negative effects of coriander? If not, this could be combined with a good source of silica for best effect.

The next thing I've dabbled with was silica G5 (so-called organic liquid silica), which yielded amazing results initially - tooth sensitivity disappeared sharpish in a couple of soft spots, which was profound at the time. However, there seemed to be a honeymoon period and then things went the other way. I did a half-arsed VCO oil pull, which must have left something dodgy in my mouth (I was biking for an early train) and since then, the gums around varying teeth have been bleeding, painful, infected etc. My teeth feel like a terrible mess recently and I don't feel I can get on with other things until I can somehow strengthen them...

Michael, where do you buy raw butter from - red23? Or did you find their source for Jersey butter?

One other thing I'm just procuring from the US is a vitamin D lamp, mainly for the winter, so I can avoid having to dose supplements for my body weight etc. I avoid fish oil now (F-CLO), plus I don't think the D3 supplements work for me (or maybe I'm overdosing on them).

Good suggestions from everyone, although 500-600g meat is almost double my maintenance dosage for protein.

I reckon I'll try 300g meat per day and notch it up to see how I feel (and the general impact on my metabolism, like yawning throughout the day etc.).

Isn't it better to overeat fat and keep protein moderate? I know my kidneys start to tire of the nitrogen and metabolic acid clearance...I was wondering if the bubbly piss was actually due to higher bicarbonate content (produced by kidneys) for acid buffering - it really got me thinking (like carbonated water).

What says you?

@ys: 1-1.5 lb is still more than I eat...1.5lb = ~680g...What percentage of that is fat?

When you say recover digestion, are you talking about recovery through food choices or other means?

I love crazy weirdness too - the quirkier the better and especially if it's rationalised in a convincing, charming way...And really, who cares what "they" think - after all, they'll be dead and buried sooner or later, swept away like everything...Nothing lasts...

As soon as your shadow is longer than you, you aren't photosynthesising vitamin D, hence the height of the sun in the winter sky is not sufficient...

I manage to escape my office for half an hour's nature walk around the back of my company (even wild hare running there), which I'll definitely be continuing through winter, although at minus temperatures, I seriously doubt that exposure would be long or extend beyond my arms and face. Still great to get out though...Find some mad walking sticks or something. I wish there was a lake nearby for skimming stones or walking on the ice...

I used to mountain bike to work and the sunrise was often an amazing sight on winter mornings. I agree that the sun (and moon) is the perfect therapy...

The vitamin D lamp is part of my effort to remineralise teeth without having to resort to cod liver oil, which some say is toxic - even the "sacred" fermented stuff.

I don't really like the ambiguity when it comes to cooking myself on a daily basis - I'd rather pay the premium for a human-ready/intended version...In my opinion, it's worth the peace of mind that it delivers...

I've f*cked myself up plenty by cutting corners and being daring, so in the case of UV radiation, I'm not sure I want to be that edgy this time...

What says you - do you have much experience in this endeavour?

Hey all,

Has anyone used these Sperti vitamin D lamps during the winter time?
http://www.vitaminduv.com/purchase/vitamin-duv-f-fluorescent-lamp.html

I generally avoid cod liver oil, plus I'm skeptical as to whether the supplements I've tried before are actually an optimal dose, so I was considering this lamp for the winter, now that "my shadow is longer than me" on midday walkabout.

I'm thinking about importing this lamp for myself and family members, but I thought I'd gather some sensible consensus from my paleo contemporaries as a preemptive strike...

Cheers,

Scotty

Nice one. So don't you utilise raw glands now?

Eating more than 100g salmon/tuna gives me a dodgy "free radical burn" nowadays so I stay away from concentrated PUFA sources, whether n-3 or n-6. Actually, n-3 is more prone to lipid peroxidation...I feel best on lipids originating in my own ecosystem rather than cold waters.

This is one of the reasons why I choose to get my retinol from land liver and cholecalciferol from sunlight/supplement, rather than F-CLO, although I'm not sure if it's a valid synergy like F-CLO...

I've still not actually fathomed Peat's stance on dietary arachidonic acid (AA) because he advocates liver and eggs to some extent.

There's a question of what's best - minimise PUFAs to the limit or increase complementary antioxidants like vitamin E (tocopherols/tocotrienols, which PUFAs deplete through endogenous lipid peroxidation). Peat states that the excess PUFAs are anti-thyroid and therefore anti-metabolic, which the populations relying on fish countered by eating fish heads (particularly including the thyroid glandulars). In that case, eating the whole animal was essential, although maybe still not optimal.

With minimal n-6s, the need for n-3s diminishes - Peat even states that the n-9 mead acid is biologically active enough and more stable (stress-resistant) to replace these PUFAs.

@Inger: I agree, completely. I ventured down this same path of nut munching, although the idea is to learn and adapt through direct experience - muss es sein? es muss sein!

@actionhero: Thanks for relating your experience. Do you consume fruits that're fully ripened, so as to minimise organic acids on the teeth? I've tested many fruits by swishing sodium bicarbonate in my mouth before hand and feeling the fizz sensation for different fruits, although there are few that actually don't create a fizz - ripe mango, ripe papaya, ripe melons, err...Most berries create a fizz and especially citrus fruit, of course! I try to avoid acidic fruit to spare my weak tooth enamel.

I have transparency at the edges of some of my teeth and very tiny chips due to various accidents, so maybe I was malnourished from early times. I eat liver, heart, kidney, marrow, bone meal + clay, muscle meats, different cuts of fat (minced or chunky) up to maybe 300g per day. I have noticed the teeth/jaw becoming more solid, but the cavities did not improve and the transparency/chips are still there with active nerve pain in some teeth. I also supplement D3 and K2, as well as consuming raw butter oil (the only neolithic food I consume in small quantities with no reactions).

I've had straightening braces to pull my massive fangs down (I'm a true carnivore!) and some x-rays, so maybe they harmed my teeth - who knows? I swish my mouth twice per day with VCO+neem before brushing.

Maybe it will take a bit longer than a year or so for me to undo the damage, but I'm here for the ride! It seems like the best approach is just to stick to the plan and enjoy what may transpire.

@ys: What do you mean "for a while I was ok"? Did you suddenly become "not ok"? ;-#

I've eaten liver, kidney, heart every day for a while now, along with marrow - as my evening meal. I typically eat just muscle meats (preferably tougher cuts) with melted minced fat as my lunch.

I find it's best to rotate textures for some variation, so different preparations are the key to sustaining daily organ meats. Sometimes, I'll make a paste by getting the organs out of the freezer and grating the frozen mass with the fine side - that's the best method to reduce organs to a smooth paste (juicing organs leaves the stringy bits intact, so it's best to freeze and grate).

I also buy air-dried "pet treats", which are useful for snacking on - you can slice the organs and jerky them in a dehydrator if you have one (I find them less potent though).

Of course, it's nice to leave everything chunky sometimes.

Eating the whole animal is important though for balance, so don't avoid the tough cuts. I've even tried chewing on intervertebral discs to get some collagen, but it doesn't seem to agree with me.

Also, you can combine bone meal (long bones seem to be best for rasping) with some clay, if you're prepared to make it.