Posts made by Jennifer

@insufferable said in Bloodwork shows elevated TPOAb (Hashimoto's disease):

There is also a lot of iodine in dairy now, not for natural reasons, but because it is added to the cows' feed (often as ethylenediamine dihydroiodide), and because iodophor is used to disinfect milking equipment. There is iodophor in your milk!

In Denmark, 1 cup of milk has 27mcg iodine.

In Norway, 1 cup of organic milk in the summer (so the cows are probably eating pasture only) has 14 mcg iodine.

But in the US, 1 cup of normal milk has 84 mcg. (56% of the RDA)

Chickens are also given extra iodine in their feed (probably in the form of calcium iodate) and so 1 egg has 26 mcg iodine. (I don't know what the natural level for eggs is.)

Regarding iodine added to animal feed: "The iodine content of food of animal origin, if produced taking account of the currently authorised maximum content of iodine in feed, would represent a substantial risk to high consumers. The risk would originate primarily from the consumption of milk and to a minor extent from eggs. The UL for adults (600 µg/day) and for toddlers (200 µg/day) would be exceeded by a factor of 2 and 4, respectively." (Europe's upper limit is 600mcg apparently, but the USA's upper limit is 1100mcg)
https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/3100

Maybe iodine naturally present in food isn't bad even in a moderate excess and there's something especially wrong with the "unnatural" types of iodine that they add to salt, animal feed, and that they use to disinfect dairy. Maybe the body attacks the thyroid, when the thyroid takes in these "weird" types of iodine.

I will definitely stop using iodized salt and see what happens on my next bloodwork. I'm considering stopping dairy (and eggs?) too.

What do you think? I've never heard anyone, mainstream or alt-health, talk about this! (aside from Ray being against too much iodine, but he must not have known about the milk)

If this helps ease concerns, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and brought my elevated TPO level down on a (pastured) dairy-based diet. I was averaging daily at least 2 liters of milk, a few ounces of cheese and 2–3 eggs. The goats were given free choice minerals that contained kelp and in the spring would load up on it so much so that I could taste the kelp in their milk—it tasted fishy. Even still, my TPO level normalized. I’ve avoided iodized salt since before finding Ray’s work because of the anti-caking agents. I used a French Celtic salt by Eden and a sea salt by Jacobsen Salt Co., but now use Morton’s canning & pickling salt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrkF8rWFvQU

@Mossy, direct from the store. It was a difference maker when I ate them cooked, yes—I’m currently experimenting with a raw diet and only eat the yolks. I experienced bloating from non-heirloom eggs, but never the heirloom. I question if it has more to do with the hens’ diet. In the pictures below, the two eggs and two egg yolks at the top are heirloom and the egg and egg yolk at the bottom are non-heirloom. The pictures don’t do the color justice. The yolk of the chocolate colored egg is almost red, the yolk of the blue is just slightly lighter and the yolk of the non-heirloom is a tangerine orange. To get such dark yolks, the hens’ feed likely contains natural colorants like marigolds but setting color aside, the flavor is also more pronounced. The heirloom is just better to me all-around.

@secondkelping said in Did Peat every comment on anxiety-associated behaviors like nail-biting, hair-pulling, pacing, tongue-chewing, etc.?:

Just wanted to know if Ray ever mentioned these behaviors in any way. I have made good progress in not biting my nails or chewing my tongue these days (yes, I do all the things in the question) not the others though (still doing a lot of pacing and pulling out my hair unfortunately). But I wanted to know if there was a link between metabolism and these behaviors. I have improved my metabolism a lot but I still struggle with these things and need some ideas on how to completely stop these behaviors for good.

Any ideas would help a lot?

All these behaviors slowly started in early adolescence due to high stress from social situations in my life at that time. My weight-gain started at the same time as well. I've really improved my metabolism, but I don't know what to do to really move forward on conquering these behaviors for good as I've been improving my health...

I remember Ray saying that a potassium deficiency can make one startle easily but overall, he usually mentioned low thyroid function as the main cause and my anxiety, and hypoglycemia that induced it, vanished when I started supplementing thyroid so maybe as you continue to improve your metabolism, the last of your anxious habits will vanish? The first time I can remember having anxiety was when I first started school and the boys bullied me. I began biting my nails, but I soon replaced the habit with a less destructive one. I kept a silky ribbon in my pocket that I rubbed. No one could see it and it calmed me. My uncle, who also has anxiety, rubs the silk lining in the pockets of his coats so it apparently is a thing. lol

@Wamoti, below is the brand I have. It’s the one many of the old Ray Peat Forum members were using back in 2015 when we were experimenting with FOS. I’m not sure if they still carry it, but I got it from the pharmacy at Walmart:

@the_black_jew, right, not all of them have one. Ys with one can be located via their website:

https://www.ymca.org/find-your-y?distance=175&type=branch&facilities[]=75

About 16 years ago when my spine collapsed and I was relearning how to walk, I joined the Y down the street from me to use their pool as part of my rehabilitation and they had a climbing gym that they had recently built. I’m not sure if they still do this but at the time, the Y gave a discount on membership fees for those who were disabled and low income.

@gg12, have you explored what it is exactly that you fear most about dying?

I’ve witnessed a lot of death, some in tragic ways, have felt passings even when not physically with the dying, felt the fear that they were experiencing, the loss of breath, i.e., the breath of life, the release of all anxiety and pain until there was nothing left but an indescribable peace, received confirmation that they are still very much “alive” and well, and have cheated death a few times myself, and I can say with surety that I’m far less afraid of dying than I am of not having lived, like really lived. It helps that I receive confirmation from those no longer embodied that we continue to exist outside of these human meat suits we wear for a brief time, but my belief still requires some faith in this current world. A book you might find helpful in easing your fear of death is Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani. She had a near death experience and miraculous recovery from end stage cancer. And to answer your last question, I was raised Catholic but I’m spiritual, not religious.

@pondfountain, my pleasure. In my experience, diet is quite individual, but the majority of people I’ve communicated with do best long-term on a diet abundant in all three macros. For me, a mix of all three macros from lighter, easy to digest foods pre and post workout help with not only my performance but also my recovery and overall health so fruit, eggs, shellfish (scallops and crab), bean curd, young coconut and coconut fat make up the bulk of my diet. Again, it’s quite individual but contrary to the current diet boogeyman—combining carbs and fat—I’m very healthy and lean.

@winters said in peating mental state vs environment:

Peating represents youth, playfulness, and pleasure… as successful peaters will know, your mindset shifts as your metabolic state is affected. Is it a good idea if the current situation is not ideal? As in you cannot properly enjoy yourself for whatever reason (work, rejection, etc.) Or should it be reserved for leisure and relaxation?

Having resiliency/mental fortitude and joy that comes from within, not from external sources, which can be so fleeting and makes us a slave to circumstance, is ideal, in my opinion and experience. Like so many people, I’ve experienced a lot of tragedy in my life that would have killed me had I not had within me this inextinguishable joy, the kind of joy where I can sit in an empty room and not want to be anywhere but there in that moment, I’m so happy for life and my existence.

For toning without too much cardio, I like barre work (ballet), rock climbing and swimming. I’ve also been contemplating doing martial arts. If you live in the US, the YMCA has a climbing gym and pools that can be utilized regardless of weather conditions.

Merry Christmas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzEX3QMuVPM

@GRay, I’m not sure about over conversion, but do you know at what temperature the current pregnenolone you’re using is processed at? Ray said that pregnenolone becomes estrogenic when processed beyond a certain temperature and that he stopped recommending it because he was unaware of a source that was processed at a low temp. I’ve tried finding one that is low-temp processed, but so far have had no luck. I want to see if it works as well as progesterone for pain relief, but without the gnarly symptoms I get supplementing progesterone.

Apples and pears are fairly cheap here and make delicious cider, however, bananas are the cheapest, calorie dense fruit and are quite versatile—I make nice cream, flourless pancakes and Bananas Foster with them. I just make sure that they’re extra ripe, i.e., spotty before eating so that they digest well. This is bare minimum ripeness, for me:

@BeamsOfEnergy said in Share the T4 & T3 doses that you feel best at:

@Jennifer where do you get your thyroid?

Armour is only available here via prescription so I get it through my doctor, but I’ve also had good results with IdeaLabs’ TyroMax.

@RPadmirateur said in Share the T4 & T3 doses that you feel best at:

@Jennifer Did you say in one of your posts that you needed to reach the right amount of thyroid before Progest-E or another progesterone worked for you? If so, what were the results of taking Progest-E/ natural progesterone when you did not have enough thyroid on board/ what symptoms did it create?

Ray wrote in his Progesterone Summaries article that “using thyroid will usually reduce the amount of progesterone needed. Occasionally, a woman won't feel any effect even from 100 mg. of progesterone; I think this indicates that they need to use thyroid and diet, to normalize their estrogen, prolactin, and cortisol.” but progesterone supplementation never worked out well for me regardless of my thyroid dose. I’ve never had high estrogen, prolactin and cortisol levels but by the time I was in my early 30s, I had only had a handful of periods since I first started menstruating at 14 so my practitioner at the time started me on a natural progesterone cream and not long after I switched to Progest-E and began bleeding heavily for upwards of 10 days every two weeks and experienced heightened arousal—just the sight of a man and I was overstimulated—and this continues to be my experience with it, even while at a proper thyroid dose. It was great for relieving the pain from my spine collapsing and the anxiety and night terrors I had after my mum died—she suffocated to death in my arms from a pulmonary embolism—but I have my diet so dialed in that I have a good estrogen/progesterone ratio and pretty ideal periods (28 day cycle, no symptoms whatsoever, not even mood changes, and minimal bleeding for a couple of days) without supplementing it.

@GreekDemiGod said in Share the T4 & T3 doses that you feel best at:

So that would amount to a single dose of about 19 mcg T4 and 4.5 mcg T3, taken 4 times daily, right?
Also, do you think that rT3 is a relevant number to track? Have you noticed you feel better at a lower rT3? I'm asking because I read that people being given large doses of T4 are told that an increased rt3 is not that important.

Correct. I can’t say with certainty if I feel better at a lower rT3 because the one time it came back at the higher end of the range, all my other thyroid numbers were out of range. The only thyroid number that has come back higher in isolation is thyroperoxidase, and I had symptoms then—that’s when I was having adrenaline attacks (convulsions and syncope) that put me in the hospital.

Interesting, @mavuue. I’ve read similar accounts from people using cyproheptadine.

No worries, @GRay. You’re welcome.

@gg12 said in "Orthorexic Sequence" – My Personal Experience with OCD:

@war4512 But is this fully physiological? You can take the supplements and have the diet. But will that really help you from stopping from over identifying with your thoughts?
Thats why I think you can train yourself to break the self destructive OCD thought loop. I haven't confirmed this yet but I am going to try before I really on crutches.

Yes, it’s totally possible to break the OCD loop. I tried a gentle approach of thanking my OCD for the warning and reassuring it that we’re safe, but didn’t break the loop until I was so fed up with it controlling my thoughts that during a flare, I got angry and told myself “Stop it! We don’t go there anymore.” It’s inspired by this skit from The Bob Newhart Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcSAQyzPcl0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY8E-O7LCog