Substantial improvement with (strange) dietary adjustments

Wonkmonk

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I am currently exploring an aspect that I think I once mentioned briefly, but haven't given too much attention so far: Calorie/nutrient distribution over the day.

I have felt for quite some time now that larger meals in the evening make me worse. Generally, and irrespective of other factors, much of the symptoms seem to develop overnight. I generally feel worst right after waking up and it then gets gradually better.

I think the virus (which I think causes all this) needs certain nutrients to be active, both macro (carbs, protein) and micro (especially calcium seems to be important). At night, parathyroid hormone is upregulated, which raises overall calcium levels. If a high calcium meal comes on top of that, that's not good. Same with lots of carbs and protein.

So what I do right now is try to have very small, low-nutrient meals in the morning and evening while having a large meal around mid-day. I currently do 100 g of spaghetti cooked in low-calcium water with a tomato or a teaspon of nutritional yeast in the morning and evening (about 400 calories each). Lunch would then be a relatively large meal with about 1500 calories.

I am basically trying to starve the virus during night-time. I cannot skip dinner altogether, because I need two meals inbetween every meal that is high protein, choline and/or fat. Whenever a meal contains larger amounts of protein, choline and fat, I need at least two low-fat, low-protein, low choline meals after that, otherwise, it seems to cause symptoms.
 

Dysfunkion

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I have been making progress myself and I'm actually now starting to just zoom in on what the culprit in my case is.

In my recent topic on how I started enzymes I noticed I felt much better and was much more functional. I ate plenty of things since then and the only thing that really made me feel like garbage in a very general sense is when I went out to eat with some family on mothers day and had some fried seafood from a place that for some reason is especially bad for me leaving me much more slow and fatigued after. But after the base stack with serrapeptase and papain I cleared it and felt alright.

I didn't though start feeling even better than that until I integrated caricain follwed by a enzyme blend called Candifense, the caricain specifically is able to cleave gluten like proteins. After I started on the canidfense blend I decided to drop the caricain and I did just fine no real problems but knowing me I just had to screw absolutely everything up in the name of science to try to probe what was going on here. After I dropped it I ate a variety of foods (this was on the serrapeptase, papain, and Candifense blend). Rice and a mess of veggies? No problems, a little slower the next day at worst. Normal fried seafood from the store? Not much more than some fatigue the next day. A ton of fish? Barely anything but a little too hostamine overloaded the next day. A lot of peanut butter? Almost nothing. Plain pasta? The day I had more anxiety with some vague cognitive fatigue but it was enriched so there's that too. Some extra sugary pad thai? Immune system wasn't very happy the next day and for a day after I was somewhat out of it with some nasal drip then it tapered off.

Until...I decided to try some plain fresh baked bread. I took a bunch of that pizza dough from the store and turned it into a loaf with some hours of fermentation in between. This practically over the next couple days recrashed me, today was absolutely horrific. Anything I ate for some reason would fuel the reaction more. All of the above? It would all contribute to the dense brain fog and brain inferno I had going on since making the mistake of eating the fresh baked bread. When I drank my coffee even black around the peak time where that brain burning usually flares during the circadian rhythm it instantly made it worse. Brain was on fire, my tinnitus sounded like a fire alarm, body heavy, couldn't think straight, no motivation, the ear pressure felt like it was going to explode, head and upper body aching like I just got done lifting, all the good stuff. Honestly if I didn't have the rest of the enzymes holding back the PEM beast I think I would have been finished.

I had one thing left to do, I took the missing tablet of caricain out of desperation. Almost instantly it started to melt away and within an hour I'm fine left only with a little bit of a spicy feeling in my face. I have the Pure Encapsulations Gluten/Dairy Digest on the way to see if this does the same thing but I'm going to need to let this calm down more and then do the bread thing again. I also am after tomorrow not going to take the caricain again and see if everything stays fine.

---

So the general gist of this whole thing is the enzymes help me tolerate everything and most things just magically become fine and only present minimal passing symptoms with some variation depending on what was eaten. But if I remove the caricain and specifically eat fresh baked fermented bread all hell breaks loose, if I take the caricain after the reaction this stops it over just an hour. Whatever is going on with the specific bread reaction that doesn't even happen from fried food specifically or plain pasta it will suddenly cause me over the span of a few days to become highly reactive to everything else down to coffee which doesn't even have any carbs nor protein. High histamine foods under the enzyme stack before the bread don't really do much either, not even high glutamate. Though with the reaction to a lot of fish it seems histamine plays a role in what happens based on the way this feels.

But bread is full of gluten like pasta and the coating on fried food, in fact it even makes up that coating. Bread also contains barely any histamine. Caricain which is able to breakdown gluten like proteins resolves the issue though. Currently I'm not sure on the others but now I need to find out and do the bread test again. I also need to not take the caricain after tomorrow and avoid anything involving fresh baked fermented bread until the next test with the other enzymes that supposedly can do the same thing. I may also need to find out if this happens with premade store bread. What's for certain though is that there's something special about the fresh baked and fermented bread that starts the chain reaction that makes me react to everything else.
 

Dysfunkion

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Ok so the Gluten Dairy digest supplement (the Pure Encapsulations one - it just says endo/exopepidase, not sure which one's but apparently caricain in the Gluteguard is an endo pepidase) reaction is about the same as the caricain. This one makes me a bit more clear headed though and I may even like it better than the caricain. I do need to put it to the fresh baked bread test though to prove its worth in my stack. Another thing I want to do that will require some more bravery is trying land meat again with these enzymes in place.

My theory so far though is that since the benefit happens as per usual with anything that actually works with me as soon as it hits my stomach there is something getting stuck that needs to be degraded which also may somehow get into the blood/lymph and travel around BUT there may also be bacteria in there that feed on the proteins themselves too that produce compounds possibly like proteins themselves that also get backed up. Because this all goes to the same general system it also gets backed up in the vascular system of the head while causing immune chaos leading to me reacting to just about anything. Until something specific hits my guts and the chain reaction begins, other chain reactions seem to barely even occur in comparison to what I felt before eating all different kinds of foods. In general the same anti-biotic pushing direction helps me. Both the caricain and the Gluten Dairy Digest supplement also are the only things that defeat the nasal drip and free my sinuses.

Edit - last night I made some salmon, just a shadow if that of my usual reaction to cooked salmon meat. Not having anything tonight and not sure on tomorrow but I feel like judging my what the bread specifically did before there is some heavy immune piggy backing to these reactions and if they pass a certain threshold I become vulnerable to PEM.
 
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Wonkmonk

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I must say, so far the new meal distribution regime works extremely well. I do the following:

*Breakfast: 100g/3.5 oz. (dried) of spaghetti with some nutritional yeast or tomato for flavoring cooked in low-calcium water with the cooking water discarded to remove some choline (water-soluble). 300-400 calories.

*Lunch: Very large meal of 1,500 to 2,000 calories. Includes fat, protein and choline (all are essential nutrients). Seems like much is ok, as long as it's not pre-fermented. I tried so far: Falafel with bread and pasteurized yoghurt, plain fries (two pounds, frozen), hummus with bread, milk with bananas, blueberries with prunes and bananas (several pounds for about 1,700 calories).

*Dinner: Same as breakfast.

So what does this meal distribution accomplish?

(1) Separates high-choline/protein/fat meals from each other by 24 hours and two intervening meals.
(2) Strongly reduces nutrient intake at night when I suspect the virus (I think it's a virus) has the greatest activity
(3) Provides a balanced and sufficient intake of all essential nutrients.

I first feared that it would be difficult to adhere to. I suspected I'd get very hungery in the morning and late night because breakfast and dinner are so small (just 300-400 calories for my daily requirement of 2,500+), but this doesn't seem to be the case at all. So far, I am almost never hungry. I think the one big meal at lunch signals to the body that nutrients are plentiful, no need to crave food. I also feared spaghetti with just a tomato or nutritional yeast twice a day would become boring quickly, well, it does, but it's really not bad so far. I can do it easily.

Though not a concern for me right now, I even think this could be a weight-loss regimen. I can get at or below 2,500 calories per day and the low calorie intake at night probably has metabolic benefits. Anyone else would probably choose a tastier sauce for the spaghetti though (low fat!).
 

Dysfunkion

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598
I must say, so far the new meal distribution regime works extremely well. I do the following:

*Breakfast: 100g/3.5 oz. (dried) of spaghetti with some nutritional yeast or tomato for flavoring cooked in low-calcium water with the cooking water discarded to remove some choline (water-soluble). 300-400 calories.

*Lunch: Very large meal of 1,500 to 2,000 calories. Includes fat, protein and choline (all are essential nutrients). Seems like much is ok, as long as it's not pre-fermented. I tried so far: Falafel with bread and pasteurized yoghurt, plain fries (two pounds, frozen), hummus with bread, milk with bananas, blueberries with prunes and bananas (several pounds for about 1,700 calories).

*Dinner: Same as breakfast.

So what does this meal distribution accomplish?

(1) Separates high-choline/protein/fat meals from each other by 24 hours and two intervening meals.
(2) Strongly reduces nutrient intake at night when I suspect the virus (I think it's a virus) has the greatest activity
(3) Provides a balanced and sufficient intake of all essential nutrients.

I first feared that it would be difficult to adhere to. I suspected I'd get very hungery in the morning and late night because breakfast and dinner are so small (just 300-400 calories for my daily requirement of 2,500+), but this doesn't seem to be the case at all. So far, I am almost never hungry. I think the one big meal at lunch signals to the body that nutrients are plentiful, no need to crave food. I also feared spaghetti with just a tomato or nutritional yeast twice a day would become boring quickly, well, it does, but it's really not bad so far. I can do it easily.

Though not a concern for me right now, I even think this could be a weight-loss regimen. I can get at or below 2,500 calories per day and the low calorie intake at night probably has metabolic benefits. Anyone else would probably choose a tastier sauce for the spaghetti though (low fat!).

Yeah you also have the fermentation effect going on, mine appears to also stem from it almost but I don't know entirely what is going on or how to probe it further with food. From my reaction to coffee though when I've triggered the cascade which may stem from glutenins and gliadins it's pretty perplexing. My first thoughts were on immune piggy backing but one enzyme that targets the stuff suddenly reduces the reaction and the next day it's just gone. After that food sensitivities seem to largely diet down and I'm no longer reactive to coffee. The more fine ground the coffee, the worse the reaction but drinking more coffee of my normal grinds is fine meaning it's as if the raw amount of material going in matters itself much more.

Since that's the case though and that piggy backed reaction is about the same for everything else with a little variation I think there is a bacteria that never mind the nutrients is simply using the substrate load and produces something that kickstarts a process of reactivity from glutenins and gliadins itself. Only after that does the nutrient profile really start to matter but as long as the main protein feed is broken down then it's just about disarmed. It's also probably using the protein fuel to make it's own that can also be degraded by the same enzymes that can back up into the blood and lymph which causes continual immune activation. Fried food denatures these and I don't react the same to it, it simply doesn't trigger the specific cascade. As long as those are there this bacteria or whatever it is just continually uses the compounds and wreaks havoc. I also get benefits from herbal antibiotics but calming down my immune system itself doesn't seem to do much. Apparently some parasites can also utilize proteins and create degradable protein loops, I wonder if that's a factor here.
 

Wonkmonk

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think there is a bacteria that never mind the nutrients is simply using the substrate load and produces something that kickstarts a process of reactivity from glutenins and gliadins itself.
So you are reacting to gluten-type proteins in wheat? Wouldn't there be an easy solution: Going grain-free?
Only after that does the nutrient profile really start to matter but as long as the main protein feed is broken down then it's just about disarmed. ... Apparently some parasites can also utilize proteins and create degradable protein loops, I wonder if that's a factor here.
I also think there might be a multi-stage process with mediators, catalysts or byproducts of fermentation that are then metabolized further until the actual harmful compounds are produced.
Fried food denatures these and I don't react the same to it, it simply doesn't trigger the specific cascade.
So you are looking for a compound that degrades at probably about >100-180 C and is not destroyed by normal cooking. Have you tried pressure cooking? Some pressure cookers can reach temps up to 120 C. Maybe that's enough already.

For me, frying or deep frying does not seem to make a difference, so I am looking for compounds that do not degrade at all in normal food preparation below 200 C.
 

Wonkmonk

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Two things I want to try:

(1)

It seems to me like I get more symptoms from watery foods as opposed to solid or past-like foods. I found this out when I ate watery, soup-like lentils which triggered rather strong symptoms. That's in contrast to other meals when the lentils cooked down and all the water was absorbed and it formed a thick paste.

I think the reason behind this is that the harmful fermentation starts further down the digestive tract in the large intestine. Symptoms hardly ever start less than 8 hours after a meal, so I strongly assume the nutrients have to reach the large intestine in order to start the harmful processes. I suspect, with a solid or past-like food, more of the nutrients are absorbed or otherwise degraded before they reach the large intestine. The watery part basically flushes through very quickly, so all the nutrients are still in there and available for the bacteria.

What this means is that I will avoid watery meals, let meals like legumes cool down until no longer watery. It is probably also important not to drink a lot of fluid right after the meal.

(2)

I think that cooking foods and discarding the cooking water makes them better tolerated. I think I feel this with spaghetti. While I will lose some unproblematic nutrients like potassium, I will therefore start cooking foods like potatos or legumes in copious amounts of water and discard the cooking water. That way I can also avoid the watery-food problem mentioned in (1).

I will report if any of this made a difference.
 

Dysfunkion

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So you are reacting to gluten-type proteins in wheat? Wouldn't there be an easy solution: Going grain-free?

I also think there might be a multi-stage process with mediators, catalysts or byproducts of fermentation that are then metabolized further until the actual harmful compounds are produced.

So you are looking for a compound that degrades at probably about >100-180 C and is not destroyed by normal cooking. Have you tried pressure cooking? Some pressure cookers can reach temps up to 120 C. Maybe that's enough already.

For me, frying or deep frying does not seem to make a difference, so I am looking for compounds that do not degrade at all in normal food preparation below 200 C.

Yeah I normally don't eat much gluten in the first place but life has been extremely stressy on multiple fronts so the stress eating has just been the lesser of all evils at least once a week but at least now I know what the main gluten culprit that makes everything far worse is. I'm definitely in need for an extended fast here but maybe I'll do that when my work ends for the Summer when I have space to take that energy blow. I do know I react far less to ultra microwaved food so there may be something to the pressure cooking I'll also have to try with a variety of foods and food combinations.
 

Wonkmonk

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I do know I react far less to ultra microwaved food
It is known that microwaving is particularly effective in degrading some heat-sensitive compounds in foods, like for instance agaritin in mushrooms:

https://www.facebook.com/NutritionF...uce-agaritine-levels-in-fre/4834002209949583/

So this route is definitely worth exploring further.

I personally haven't noticed any particular benefits of heating foods more or less or with certain methods, but I haven't paid much attention to that so far either, so I might also have a look into this.
 

Wonkmonk

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I am currently exploring a factor I haven't given much attention so far: Carbohydrate "overload"

I have noticed that symptoms often start very quickly (1-2 hours) after a high-carbohydrate meal. It seems to help to limit carbs per meal to <300 calories of starchy foods (e.g., 3 oz of dried pasta or legumes).

Now, the problem is that non-starchy foods (meat, eggs, nuts seeds, fruit) have problematic nutrients (fat, protein, choline, fructose) and generally must be limited, so it would be hard to meet my nutrient needs with just 200-300 calories of starchy foods. Therefore, for larger meals, I am currently testing if I can split up the meal into 2-3 portions with 30 minutes to 1 hour inbetween.

I suspect that when the cells in the body get loaded with too many carbs, that reactivates the virus (which I suspect is causing this) or helps it multiply. Therefore, a low and steady carb supply is essential.
 

Wonkmonk

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Carbohydrate "overload"
This part was incredibly hard to figure out and it's perhaps the main reason why I made no progress for a very long time.

I have felt for years (I recall as early as 2015) that protein and certain fats make me worse. Now what would I do to lower these: Go high carb, because one can't go low-fat-low-protein-low-carb all at the same time. If two are low, the third has to be high. That then made me MUCH worse, even worse than before.

Now it seems that fortunately, it's not the total load of daily carbs that's problematic, but a carb overload in a short amount of time. It looks like 50g of carbs every 30-45 minutes can be tolerated. Not sure if there is also an upper limit for total carbs, but avoiding short-term carb overload is probably most important.

This is probably also why I thought weight loss makes my symptoms worse. It probably doesn't (losing lots of weight right now). Weight loss is just easiest with a diet higher in complex carbs. Since I didn't know I had to spread these out, attempts at losing weight always made me much worse.
 

Wonkmonk

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It also just occurred to me that managing the water intake throughout the day seems to be very important so as to prevent mixing with drinking water with meals.

It appears to be essential that drinking water and meals is kept apart, for mainly four reasons:

(1) Problematic nutrients like protein and choline are water soluble and are more easily made available to bacteria once water mixes with a meal

(2) Bacteria multiply better with more water content, as can be seen in doughs with different hydration.

(3) Water dilutes the stomach acid, which stifles bacterial activity and growth

(4) Perhaps most importantly: The watery part passes the stomach much faster than the solids and therefore helps flush the nutrients to the lower small intestine and large intestine where I suspect the black magic happens.

I will therefore now try to drink three 8 oz glasses of water (0.75 liters, which is about the maximum volume the kidneys can filter) one hour before each meal - so the water is absorbed before the meal comes in - and then try to drink nothing for the next 4 hours after the meal when most of the nutrients should be expected to be absorbed and would no longer be available to bacteria.
 

Wonkmonk

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Timing of water intake just seems to have solved a mystery (or at least I hope so): Nut butter (walnut, peanut, hazelnut, macadamia).

I sometimes felt like nut butter (with bread and a little honey) is absolutely fine and then on other days it seemed to cause strong symptoms.

I now believe nut butter was sometimes problematic because I drank a lot of water right after it. The meal is very low in moisture (nuts, bread, honey all are very low moisture), so I felt like I had to drink a lot of water. As detailed above, that probably led to a situation in which the problematic nutrients (choline, protein, fat plus fructose and fiber as a fermentation substrate) - all of which are abundant in nuts and bread - could dissolve easily in the water (fat forms an emulsion) and then be quickly funnelled down the upper digestive tract to the lower areas where I think the problematic bacterial fermentation happens.

Yesterday, I tried to have water 1 hour before the meal (should all be absorbed when the meal enters) and felt like there were no or almost no additional symptoms (on top of the chronic symptoms that are always present). That seemed to have worked nicely.

My hypothesis is when a meal is relatively dry or a thick paste, most nutrients get absorbed before it reaches the areas of the digestive tract where the problematic reactions occur.

So that added another layer of complexity to it. One has to take into account:

*Food selection (fat, protein, choline content)
*Food storage conditions (avoid bacterial activity, e.g., by quickly freezing bread after baking)
*Meal sizes
*Total calorie intake (sustained deficits must be avoided*)
*Meal timing
*Carb load
*Foods that seem to be problematic no matter what (e.g., dates, nightshades, certain spices)
*Food consistency (paste-like vs. soupy/watery, e.g., cooked porridge vs. watery fresh oats with milk)
*Water intake timing

One also has to perfectly adjust thyroxine levels (if substituting like me) and vitamin D status (20-25 ng/ml seems to be the sweet spot) and be aware a worsening usually occurs during pollen season (if allergic) and while having a cold/infection.

If only one factor doesn't fit, no improvement occurs or improvements are inconsistent. This is why all of this is incredibly complicated. It took me 10 years to figure this out. My first suspicion that my symptoms are strongly diet related stems from 2015. Had I known what I know today 10 years ago, I probably would have never stopped to work and could possibly have had a reasonably normal life.

*This is consistent with the idea of a virus reactivating think the host is starved and weakened.
 
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Wonkmonk

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I know I am making a lot of posts in this thread currently, that is because I had many news ideas in the past weeks and there may be some progress being made now. I want to quickly recap the theoretical perspective, because there is actually quite a lot I think I know about this condition. It's a bit long, so I'll split it up in different posts.

As discussed earlier, I do not think that I am 1 in 8 billion. There must be others who have this. I am firmly convinced that this is a hitherto unknown medical condition. I want to call it fermentation product-induced myalgia and fatigue syndrome.

An important distinction to most other presentations of CFS/ME is that the hallmark symptom PEM was largely absent especially in the earlier phases of the illness. It did appear later, but only when symptoms got very severe. Before I became almost completely bedridden starting in the late 2010s, I hardly had any PEM.

It's also important to note that symptoms weren't very pronounced until I had thyroid surgery and started thyroxine replacement therapy. I now know that I definitely had the disease before, I sought medical attention for fatigue and other symptoms before, but the start of thyroxine replacement therapy triggered a catastrophic worsening which left me unable to work and have an own household within months. It may be the case that this new disease never presents in its debilitating and life-altering form in those with functioning thyroid glands.

As often reported for CFS/ME, the onset of the disease was during a period of extreme stress (14-16 hour work days, sleep deprivation, reliance on fast food, high psychological pressure). In that time (June/July in Europe), I also had a viral infection with a runny nose and typical symptoms of a cold, so a viral trigger is also possible. In the summer, it was unlikely influenza or RSV, but one of the coronaviruses endemic before 2019 would be conceivable, just as Long Covid can be caused by the new coronavirus. Maybe the old corona viruses can trigger a similar chronic condition and that's what happened to me.

Why do I think it's more likely a persistent viral infection than an autoimmune condition?

(1) The symptoms gradually spread from one body area to the next. For instance, my lung, stomach, gums, lower back/kidney area, has been unaffected in the early years, but especially after strong symptom flares, new areas gradually got affected. That would be consistent with a persistent viral infection taking root in more and more parts of the body as the virus thrives and multiplies. An autoimmune disease would be expected to hit everywhere at once systemically (though I heared there are exceptions).

(2) I often have flu-like symptoms that feel exactly like fighting a viral infection

(3) Prolonged calorie deficits cause strong symptom flares. This would be consistent with a persistent virus reactivating because it perceives the host to be starved and weak (I think herpes viruses do this). Autoimmune diseases are often said to get better with calorie restriction.

(4) There are examples of persisting viruses being reactivated by bacterial fermentation products. For instance, EBV and KSHV are known to be reactivated by short- and medium-chain fatty acids, which are metabolites of human microbiota activity:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4097796/

That all being said, an autoimmune condition in which flares are triggered, for instance, by pro-inflammatory bacterial fermentation products is definitely also possible, as is a mechanism like in celiac disease in which the immune system attacks the bacterial compound itself. Another possibility would be that the bacteria themselves cause the symptoms and that they can better multiply with certain nutrients, though I think that's much more unlikely.
 
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Wonkmonk

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(cont'd)

Luckily, at the present moment, it looks like this novel disease can be treated and managed with dietary intervention. Treatment success in my case has been phenomenal. I went from bordering very severe CFS (almost completely bedridden and in constant pain) to moderate CFS and a situation in which I can care for myself again to some extent leave the house regularly and take part in some social activity. How far the recovery can go is unclear at this point. I wouldn't rule out that a full remission or even a cure is possible with diet, although I cannot say I am confident of this.

Discovering the dietary interventions necessary was very complicated and took several years of trial-and-error and is still subject to revision and change. I think I have now relativly solid circumstantial evidence protein, choline, fat and probably some carbohydrate substrate must be present for the harmful to occur. From symptom latency times (usually starting 8-12 hours after meals), I conclude that the harmful compounds are probably mainly produced in the large intestine and not or to a lower extent only in the upper digestive tract. It also appears that the most problems are cause by repeat consumption of harmful meals in subsequent meals close to each other (meal mixing!).

The overall dietary assignment is therefore actually quite simple: Try to avoid any situation in which the mentioned nutrients reach the large intestine. How I handle this practically at the moment has been detailed in the posts of the past weeks.

Interestingly enough, I think I know which bacteria produce the harmful compounds. I once made a spinach lasagna with feta cheese (which is non-pasteureized) cooking it in the oven so it slowly heats that it allowed the bacteria to ferment the protein and choline in the cheese, pasta and spinach while it slowly passed the optimum temperatur for their metabolism. The result was one of the worst crashes I can remember. Strong symptoms were also caused by other fermented foods such as soy yoghurt. The culprits therefore are almost certainly ubiquitous lactic acid bacteria of the type present in cheese and yoghurt. That also means any attempts at eradication with antibiotics or a microbiome transplant would likely be futile.

So what open questions are there:

What is the problematic compound? I suspect something like TMAO, a precursor of which is made by the microbiome. Could it be TMAO itself? No, because it is not produced in vegans and I was on a strict vegan diet for months.

Which virus (if it is a virus) caused it?

Are the symptoms caused by a persistent viral disease (with viral multiplication), an abortive intracellular replication process as proposed by Dr. Lerner or maybe an immune reaction to vestiges of the virus as suspected in some chronic lyme cases?

Perhaps most importantly: Will this dietary management approach work forever? Or will it lose effectiveness at some point (there is no sign of it so far)? How far can the recovery go? Is a full remission possible? Or even a cure by which the virus would be eradicated over time and I could go back eating what I want?

Scientifically, the most important questions could easily be studied. One could analyze, which bacteria are present in the spinach lasagna and what compounds they produce and then make provocation tests with these compounds and one could test for viral activity of coronaviruses or other respiratory viruses.

The mystery surrounding this newly discovered disease (as I believe) could probably be solved by science. The problem is, that won't ever be tried as long as I am the only patient who has this. Hopefully, any other people elsewhere affected by this will find this thread and if so, hopefully engage at some point. I am sure there is a community out there that's really suffering terribly from this as I did and to a lesser extent still do today.
 
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xploit316

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@Wonkmonk If I could please ask you to see my diet below, and tell me where I am going wrong I will be grateful. Over the last 8 years since being diagnosed Hypothyroid, I have struggled to loose weight, especially around my waist and belly area. I used to have a waist size of 33 before Hypo diagnoses, now its 44 inches (I am 40M, 6ft3). Your carb overloading and excess water intake theory seems very interesting and maybe I am also intolerant to glucose(No diabetes thus far), I really feel there is a simple tweak needed in my diet, but I have been unable to crack it thus far. This is my everyday diet since the last 3 years.

Breakfast (9am - while at work)
2 eggs scrambled(plain without milk) or omlet(with onions and fresh coriander leaves) with 4 slices white bread.

Lunch (1:30pm)
150gms cooked parboiled rice with some boiled veggies that agree with me (Okra, Cabbage, Brussel sprouts or Breadfruit). I saute them mildy with some mixed Indian spice and canola oil. Around 250ml water straight after finishing lunch.

Dinner (8pm)
150gms cooked parboiled rice with 100gms chicken thigh curry (made with some onions, tomatoes sauted in canola oil and some coriander powder and Indian mixed spice).

I drink a little water(maybe 250ml) before going to bed which is around 11:30pm.
 

Wonkmonk

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@Wonkmonk If I could please ask you to see my diet below, and tell me where I am going wrong I will be grateful. Over the last 8 years since being diagnosed Hypothyroid, I have struggled to loose weight, especially around my waist and belly area.
Hello @xploit316, of course, I will be very happy to do this, though I have to stress I am not a licensed dietician and also have no other qualification in nutrition science. So I am just providing a personal opinion.

First, if you are hypothyroid, it is essential to get your thyroxine levels in the right range. For weight-loss, one should aim for TSH between 0.3 and 1.0 and fT3 and fT4 in the middle-to-high norm. Then, of course, the cause of the hypothyroidism must be certain. Depending on why you are hypothyroid, the TSH and fT3/4 can be reached with iodine supplementation (if no autoimmunity is present) or with thyroxine replacement therapy. If you haven't already, it would be good to see an endocrinologist.

Second, your main carb sources seem to be white bread and rice. Both are not very good from a weight-loss perspective. They are low in fiber, low in volume and high in glycemic index. Rice also is high in arsenic (especially in parts of the USA), which can impair pancreatic functioning. My advice would be to see if you can replace these with other starchy foods. For instance, switch from white bread to wholegrain bread or swap with overnight-oats. White quinoa is an excellent replacement for rice, as is bulgur or millet. All are much healthier and richer in fiber and nutrients in general.

Third, for me, going largely oil-free was a real game changer for weight-control. It's surprising how many calories even a few tablespoons of oil add to a dish when veggies or meat is sauteed. I have found that many vegetables can be prepared with very little or even no oil at all, while hardly compromising on its flavor. For instance, tomato sauce, in my experience, doesn't need any more than a teaspoon of oil and I make it completely without. I could imagine that you are using a lot of oil for your scrambled egg, sauteed veggies and chicken curry and that that alone adds hundreds of relatively empty calories to your diet every day. Canola oil is fine and generally among the healthier ones, but you're still pouring liquid oil into your meals: Lots of calories without much nutrition.

Fourth, some weight-loss champions seem to be completely absent from your diet, for instance, legumes, leafy greens, apples or tubers/root vegetables. These can all be eaten cooked without much oil,

Fifth, if you are into reading semi-scientific literature on the topic of nutrition, I can strongly recommend the book "How not to diet" by Dr. Michael Greger. One very important aspect in that book that's often overlooked by weight-loss diets is food volume: If the intestine is physically filled with food, it sends a very powerful satiety signal. Your diet (mainly eggs, bread, rice, meat, sauteed veggies) seems to be very low in volume. Notably, foods like eggs and meat largely get digested and "disappear", so they can't fill up the intestines. Same with rice and white bread (most of it is starch, which gets absorbed). Veggies are very healthy, but when sauteed, a lot of the moisture is cooked out, so they also shrink in value. My advice would therefore be to swap some of your current foods with foods that have a higher volume and retain that during digestion. Great examples would be cooked legumes (green peas and green beans are particularly effective), root vegetables or oatmeal porridge. Regarding the porridge, I have found out that I can cook up to 700ml of water in just 100gms of rolled outs, When it cools down, it absorbs all the water and the consistency still is good. So, increasing food volume would probably be very important for caloric intake control.

Sixth, if the above is your diet every day, it is quite rich in animal protein (meat and eggs every day). This is generally not so good for insulin sensitivity. Maybe it would be worthwhile to reduce animal food sources a bit, e.g., only every second or third day. This should still be nutritionally adequate.

I would be so happy if any of this were helpful for you. I would be very interested in your opinion about these points. Should you be interested, I can also provide some weight loss recipes that worked well for me.
 
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