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Mental health reactions from resistant starch?
Quote from dan on March 8, 2019, 3:03 amUpdate: My mental health has been generally good. I am eating only cooked white rice, rice protein powder, light olive oil, a multi-mineral, vitamin C, tryptophan supplement, and salt. Sunlight might trigger a nap attack but the effect doesn't long; and avoiding sunlight hasn't helped much. I continue to avoid hand soap.
It seems my gut is particularly sensitive to foods that aren't soft. Even though cooked rice is fine and I kept it warm for hours, when I ate hardened or slightly burnt rice, I got hours of painful problems, and I think further eating with this condition caused the mental health swings. I want to warn people with sensitive guts who eat rice that resistant starch might a problem, even if you keep it warm in the rice cooker.
Dan several times people have asked if you're eating animal protein and you haven't really responded but keep writing about this rice and olive oil diet.
I would suspect that some of your unhappiness/cold/mental health would be a lack of animal protein. I know for myself that I get grumpy, tired and don't feel well when I don't eat enough animal protein.
I would add in Beef or another animal protein.
Also you mentioned you didn't go outside much. I think bright sunlight is very therapeutic and will help you feel better. I don't have clinical depression but I do find I get depressed when I am inside too much.
Secondly when you add in protein I wouldn't eat so much. Or even drink so much water. Drink when you're thirsty.
I now believe that the suicidal thoughts, nap attacks, cold and/or sweaty hands/feet, and certain headaches are well explained by dysautonomia, specifically a freeze/faint response that restricts blood flow to my brain, gut, and feet. The best evidence for this is:
- A SPECT scan showing low brain oxygen
- 12 hours of much improved brain function after hypobaric oxygen therapy
- Fainting or near fainting, particularly when I get blood drawn ("vasovagal syncope")
- Nap/fainting attacks seem especially likely after sun/heat/exercise/shower which dilates skin blood vessels
- Symptoms come from both drinking too little water, and drinking too much water without salt
So in addition to continuing on the unusual rice and olive oil diet, my depression/anxiety seems considerably better as long as I:
- Take a break or lie down when I get the low-brain-oxygen anxiety, headache, brain fog
- Distract myself from anxious rumination after triggers like social events
- Drink a good 1.5 liters of water (always with salt) throughout the day despite preferring to avoid water
- Cognitive thought reframing when I feel stressed
- Engaging socially immediately wakes up my brain
- Light exercise seems helpful, if only as a distraction
I'm also eating canned beans for some fiber and resistant starch but not too much.
A couple years ago I experimented various times with months of eating 1/2 lb/day grass-fed beef but didn't notice a benefit. I occasionally retry glycine powder though: it used to help me sleep and might help transport retinoids (see taurine thread)
Mental health was why I started taking vitamin A (irony) it worked for a bit, but then stopped working.
Since then I've found that strategies to reduce cortisol and serotonin seem to work the best for me. Particularly serotonin as I can be obsessive and prone to restless leg syndrome. Obsessive, repetitive, behaviours (Like preening. Ever meet a woman that can't stop plucking her eyebrows?) are often mediated by serotonin.
These are some of the things that help me:
Niacinamide, vitamin C, BCAAs, gelatin + adequate calories from carbohydrates like rice, potatoes, sugar etc.
Resistant starch is usually a problem, since it can ferment in the gut and cause excess serotonin among other things.