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lil chick's log
Wow @lil-chick your skin looks much improved. I imagine you are very pleased.
I was lucky in finding Grant’s work (through Garrett Smith) when my rosacea problem in the butterfly zone was just beginning to be a problem & I was starting to get worried about it. Mine has completely gone now (21 months in) but new problems I imagine go first. I was lucky with the timing. I found mine particularly worsened with high sulphur foods but this reaction seems to have largely gone although I still get other sulphur reactions. I’m sure you are on the right path lil-chick for it too completely go too - although your skin already looks great.
Thanks guys! In May of last year I attended a wedding, and it was outdoors and everyone was dressed up and checking each other out (as one will do when waiting for the bride and groom to arrive). I felt (although no one said anything) that people were looking at my face and doing an inward (OMG LIL CHICK's SKIN?) (POOR LIL CHICK!)
Now, I feel that although my face isn't normal yet, it has faded to where people won't be doing a double-take.
Exercize helps. Exercize has been talked about on other threads, and I wanted to just give my 2 cents about why I think many have had a hard time habituating fitness.
First, I want to talk about motivation. Second about acceptance.
The best exercize is going to give you satisfaction. IMO there is NOT enough satisfaction with "looking buff" or "feeling good" for most people to develop new habits.
I need to have SOMETHING REAL at the end of my exercize. A commute done without a car. A tomato raised. A lawn mowed. An closet cleared. A driveway shoveled. And later on, I want to gaze across my little hill of accomplishment and pat myself on the back!
For others, there are other sorts of rewards. A mountain climbed. A race won. Dance number memorized. Tai Chi routine perfected. Houses built, or public gardens made beautiful.
Regarding acceptance, I think we all have certain types of body styles, and that if you match your physical demands with your body style you will enjoy your fitness much more. Are you built like a distance runner, or a piano mover, or a belly dancer?
Another aspect of acceptance is ramping up SLOWLY because if you are trying to lower VA you are working hard just staying still.
A Sloth-like ramp-up is sometimes needed. But your body WILL respond.
Soap: I'm too lazy to go back and look but I know I spoke about SOAP a few times in this log. And I'm not taking it back: I do think reasonable use of (trad) soap and it's cousins toothpaste and shampoo are all helpful to remove oils (VA is fat-soluble after all) on skin, scalp etc. (I don't shampoo daily, more like bi-weekly).
I've realized, however, that soap doesn't really belong on mucus membranes. I think that the use of soap on the lady bits (don't know if this goes for men too) in combo with the acid pee is just too much. Just warm water = much better.
I was thinking that it's almost a wash between a scraping of colorful jam or butter on toast.
Our current diet lets see.
All meats, most fish. I eat a strip of bacon each morning and save bacon grease for sauteing. I feel best with square meals with meat/carb/fat at each meal. I generally don't eat chicken skin any more and often toss it before making broth.
I'm not doing daily egg white omelets anymore (to avoid avedin). However, I am not adverse to an egg in a batch of baked good such as muffins. Or a reduced-yolk omelette on the weekend.
Coconut oil and olive oil and an occasional scraping of butter.
Oatmeal every other day. Black beans a few times a week.
Rice, white flour products (as possible, organic), potatoes
Lots of peeled zucchini and raspberries lately because that is what is turning out of the garden. Enjoying "white" salads with home-made dressing and various low-VA vegetables and fruits. Boiled cabbage.
No alcohol. Have relegated coffee to the morning only, about 2 cups.
Dairy: about a cup or two of raw, skim goat milk daily.
Getting lots of sun. Eventually came out with a sun rash working outside too close to noon. Been more careful.
Have found that my skin reacts also to some greenery. Comes out in a rash. Wonder what is up with that.
Maple syrup, honey, white sugar
My fave snack is pretzels with peanut butter and a bit of home-made jam with no added pectin.
Most nights sleeping "hard" and it feels like "work". 🙂
Because greens have lutein and lutein also effects my skin
Quote from Sam on July 17, 2020, 1:01 pmBecause greens have lutein and lutein also effects my skin
Interesting Sam! If I was to categorize the type of plant that bothers me, it is especially greenery with texture. The kind of thing you don't want to brush up against. Like Squash Leaves or Hemlock or Holly. These leaves don't feel good. Perhaps the texture is actually scratching the Lutein or other VA right into the top layer of skin.
Some people have asked me if this whole VA thing is anything like an allergy. And this is contact rash seems pretty close! (walks like a duck...)
Has anyone ever seen pollen under the microscope? It's usually bright yellow and very PRICKLY
@jaj was talking about correlating symptoms to the various states of retinol processing in the body. So that we could better remedy the different situations (for instance is the current symptom about retin-aldehyde or whatever). I've got some ideas about that.
Yesterday I had one of those classic "detox" days that feels very much like a hangover. It was @jiri that made me realize that these two conditions are probably, in fact, the same thing. (hangover and detox day)
This is from the google machine "Acetaldehyde is the first breakdown product in the multi-step process of alcohol metabolism, and buildup of this toxic compound in the liver has been associated with some of the most common hangover symptoms, including headache and nausea."
VA Hangovers: (Low grade suffering). Head pressure. Bowel unsettled, can't decide if it wants to go, not go, have diarrhea or be constipated. Stomach also off. Low energy. Reaching for the extra strong reading glasses. Can escalate to debilitating if you aren't careful. (migraine) Can be impatient with people and feel sapped by their interactions.
Hangovers can happen directly after a what I call a "food attack" (or alcohol binge, which has been shown to send VA out of the liver and into the tissues). BUT ALSO hangovers seem to also come at random times when your body decides to do VA house work. Perhaps when your VA levels are starting to plummet due to doing too many anti-VA things (like sunning or fiber).
So, my guess is that VA hangovers are about the unusable form of VA. The "it's on the way out" form.
I would say the POISONINGS (what I've called "food attacks") are about things that happen right close up to the attack, and the final trigger is the last meal you ate. The body has decided it would be easier to empty the digestive system that it would be to store the VA. A recent Dr. Garret video talked about a study in which they realized that meals can boost serum VA. My guess is that if you checked the blood just prior to a poisoning, you'd find a high amount of (usable) VA in it. I suppose it is also possible that a poisoning could happen if you unloaded a bunch of usable VA from storage.
This is acute suffering. Everything must go. You might feel as though you ate something bad at a restaurant. Restless pacing. Emotional despair. Shivering. Incapacitation.
I've found there are at least a couple different types of nights.
Hard sleep: Sleep ok, but feel like it was hard work. Still this is the preferred. This is what you need to get from a hangover day to a "normal" day. My guess is that you are packing up the retin-aldehyde and getting it out.
Uneasy sleep: Can't get to sleep, wake often, can't get comfy. itchy. sweats. Next day will be crappy. My guess is you have usable VA in your system. My guess histamines are involved in this.
As for storage VA, (in the tissues)... I have found that if my body decides it WANTS that VA back, that suddenly it WILL drain temporarily out of the bad zones. Like sudden remission of rosacea during fighting an infection elsewhere. So, I think stored VA is still in usable form.
My guess is that the itchy-burny bodily fluids have the retin-aldehydes in them, and they cause itching after sweating, itchy nasal pasages, burning eyes, hot pee etc.
@lil-chick and @jaj This is all very interesting and I think pointing to an easing of symptoms on the way out.
We have done 8 months on very low A, some obvious improvements, but the way is very hard. I have not had a full week without detox symptoms.
Partially I suspect, because this is not only detoxing VA products. Obviously at the same time we are releasing other nasty stuff. Something happens when we release VA into the blood or just take it from the liver. There has to be something else going on and out.
As to the hangover part, I don't suffer (and my husband does not) from them at all. I think the last hangover I had was fifty years ago! We can drink alcohol no problem at all. This could be because we are quite choosy (only vodka or gin, rarely wine but if we do, it produces no hangover). I suppose due to our lipophilic Thiamine supplementation (we only take about 200 mg a week now but we must have stored a fair bit in more than 2 years supplementation) we can process aldehydes efficiently.
Sleep is nearly always fine and deep. Sometimes we hear noises at night and wake up, and then cannot go back to sleep, most probably because we are not tired enough.
The detox problems are in the lymph, skin problems, eye problems, hair loss, ankylosis, depression, fear and rage