Re: Sulfur food reactivity and hunger

[Guest guest]

Sorry you are having such a rough time eating.. That

must be horrendously difficult with such limits.

I can eat sulfur foods but relate to your problems keeping

your weight on.. Before I found the things to help my

digestion I could not eat anything without nausea and pain ,

irritable bowel etc.. People around me also thought I was

anorexic.. I did not understand this until in hindsight I look

back and see to those who did/do not beleive that I suffer

from a " real " illness , actually thought I was trying to avoid

food or making my diet extra organised with all of my

supplements and special foods...The truth is far from it.. I

was even considering being a baker in my younger,idealistic

years/// And oh to eat bread and cheese and wine and etc

etc !!!like I did in Europe, my favourite place to be....

I find even now that I can eat, I am still hesitant as I

still suffer from post traumatic stress from it all. I try and

make my meals as yummy as I can -- a heck of alot of work

but it was the only thing to keep me going..

I sometimes wonder that I might have been better to just

stop fighting , but I truly know there was no where for me

to go to give up.. I am still in that mode --trying to

convince people of how my life really is--- and realise that

is only hurting me... TO heck with them--- if they were in my

shoes they may not be such a good person is how I look at

it.

Don't forget to give yourself a pat on the back ..How

about finding someone to consult..Andy Cutler maybe?? to help

you work out some of your problematic kinks..

nanci

>

> To those who need to avoid sulfur foods and other types of foods:

>

> My sulfur food reactions are pretty strong, and avoiding sulfur

foods has really helped me

> be much more functional, energetic, and mentally " with it. " Some

salycilates, too, but not

> all.

>

[Guest guest]

,

I think that you need to focus on what you CAN eat on a sulfur food

restricted diet. It will likely take some research to find some

recipes. You will rediscover foods that you haven't been thinking

about and forgot existed, but that are tasty and healthy.

I know what it's like to cook for the family first and then not have

the time or energy to cook something special for myself. Find things

that the whole family can eat. Put them on a low sulfur diet for the

sake of your health.

Meat is actually low sulfur (I think it was mistakenly placed on the

high sulfur list on Dean's web page). I hope that there is some sort

of meats that you like. Think about that, and ways to prepare meats

that you like.

I make stir fries with shaved beef or chicken thighs and lots of low

sulfur vegetables served with brown rice.

When on the specific carbohydrate diet I discovered some great

recipes. One would have to take out all the ones with sulfur foods.

I cook unsweetened applesauce, date puree, blueberries, and eat these

with the SCD yogurt. The SCD yogurt could be made from almond milk or

coconut milk, which I believe are low sulfur. It's not quite the same

as ice cream, but when sweetened with fruits it is great, and has the

added benefit of supplying lots of probiotics. While on that diet I

also rediscovered squash and cook them regularly served with butter

and salt. I use ground almonds, almond or coconut milk in baking.

I also make a " trail mix " with various nuts, seeds, raisins or

cranraisins, coconut, and use that for snacks or eat it like cereal

with coconut milk.

We probably could start a file of recipes for people on a low sulfur

food diet. The easiest way would be for people to put recipes into a

post and I can start a file of links to those posts.

J

>

> To those who need to avoid sulfur foods and other types of foods:

>

> My sulfur food reactions are pretty strong, and avoiding sulfur

foods has really helped me

> be much more functional, energetic, and mentally " with it. " Some

salycilates, too, but not

> all.

>

> But today, for the first time, I deliberately ate the same as the

others in my family (I ate

> sulfur foods) because I just can't stand being constantly hungry. I

haven't figured out a

> way to increase my caloric intake on this sulfur-free diet. I feel

like I'm on a starvation diet.

> I am 15 pounds below my healthy weight. I've lost 11 pounds since

going sulfur-free back

> in June, and when I started the sulfur-free diet, I was already

concerned about being to

> light. I think the last time I weighed 125 pounds was when I was . .

.. I don't know . . . 11

> years old? Yesterday a neighbor told me I look anorexic. He was not

joking--he was

> concerned.

>

> (...)

[Guest guest]

> But today, for the first time, I deliberately ate the same as the

others in my family (I ate

> sulfur foods) because I just can't stand being constantly hungry. I

haven't figured out a

> way to increase my caloric intake on this sulfur-free diet. I feel

like I'm on a starvation diet.

> I am 15 pounds below my healthy weight. I've lost 11 pounds since

going sulfur-free back

> in June, and when I started the sulfur-free diet, I was already

concerned about being to

> light. I think the last time I weighed 125 pounds was when I was . .

.. I don't know . . . 11

> years old? Yesterday a neighbor told me I look anorexic. He was not

joking--he was

> concerned.

>

The timing of your post is uncanny. Last night, for the first time in

a couple weeks since going no sulfur, I ate mac and cheese at a

restaurant with my family. It tasted SOOOOOO good, and I figured I'd

just deal. Well, it bit me and my energy level crashed through the

floor later. I do not normally have any kind of hypoglycemic

reactions so unless it was a one off, it was a sulfur reaction.

I am also, like you, very underweight. 6'1 " and 156 lbs as of

yesterday, and dropping. I feel so much better in general since going

off sulfur foods but the weight loss is a huge problem and has

destabilized me from 160 lbs to the point I may have to add something

back in and try and find a balance just to keep calories up. I have

not been this light since high school and desperately need to put on

weight. I am really not comfortable with using cortisol but at this

point may have to consider it. I know many others on this board have

gone that route and maybe it's something you need to consider as well.

I wish I had some great recipes for you but until recently most of

what I ate was eggs, greens, beans, etc. I still eat meat and the

only veggies I have been eating in great amount are squashes as well

as some lettuce and carrots (but I am still unsure if the greener

lettuces are sulfurous or not...I seem to be ok with them so far).

The stir fry idea mentioned by another poster is similar to what I

do...basically try and get as much as I can in a stir fry and use some

good oil (I use olive but were I not allergic I would use coconut) and

serve it over rice.

Good luck, I will email you if I come up with any great recipe ideas.

-Ross

[Guest guest]

I am really not comfortable with using cortisol but at this

> point may have to consider it.

My Medrol has been a lifesaver for me. My sulfur-food reaction can often feel

very much like

a " low cortisol " spell. But one way I know unmistakably if that feeling is a

sulfur-food

reaction is when, *no matter how much cortisol I take in that moment,* the

feeling doesn't

go away. If it was just a low cortisol spell, then stress-dosing extra

corticosteroids would put

me back in business. Not so w/the sulfur food reactions. So don't rely on

cortisol to help you

deal with food reactions. I now realize that it really is because of mercury

redistribution, and

cortisol can't erase that when it's happening.

[Guest guest]

This is my thinking on the topic at the moment:

I don't want to give up on the sulfer-free diet entirely, because I think my

body still

benefits from not having the mercury redistribution always happening when I

" dose "

myself with lots of extra thiols. I am finally beginning to feel my energy and

ability to cope

with life return. I'm starting to do housework again, and this is doing wonders

for my self-

esteem after accomplishing nothing at all for 2 months. I think that being on

the sulfur-

free diet since mid-June has probably helped make that possible since I've

thereby

avoided a lot of the mercury redistribution that I was unwittingly causing all

the time just

before my dump phase spun out of control. Plus, I'm on lots of B-50, Vit. B-3,

B-5, and

B-6, four times a day. That has been helping, too.

That being said, it's a lot like this:

Imagine a woman getting herself dressed to go out. She wants to look her best in

a

presentable way. There are two basic components for a well-dressed lady: the

clothing,

and the accessories. What if, for some reason she can't wear any clothing (let's

say

mercury stole it! ? Then she's forced to attire herself in nothing but her

accessories. Not

very substantial, but it could work. If she tries hard, digs out all her

scarves, hats, gloves,

belts, purses, slips, camisoles, shoes and jewelry, she may be able to cover

herself, but

she'll have to be very inventive about it. Even if she manages to avoid indecent

exposure

by using just scarves, slips, belts, hats, etc., she get pretty chilly when she

goes out.

So far, I'm like that lady whose clothes have been stolen by mercury. Sulfur

foods are my

clothing. I've been learning to do without them, but since they're so much more

substantial

than the low-thiol foods, I haven't been able to use these foods with enough

inventiveness or abundance to really " cover " me. Not because I can't cook. Not

because the

foods aren't tasty enough. I discovered, for example, that sliced eggplant

drizzled with

olive oil and broiled in my toaster oven is magnificent. I discovered that

spaghetti squash

tastes fabulous drizzled with coconut oil (I can't even eat butter anymore!).

And thank God

I can eat all kinds of meat. That is why I haven't died of starvation in the

past month and a

half on the sulfur-food diet. But little by little, my body is still burning

more calories than

it's getting. And I'm very inactive. . . yet constantly living with hunger

pangs. No matter

how much roasted chicken over quinoa with okra and rendered chicken fat, or

rice bread-

and-lunchmeat-and-apricot preserves sandwiches I stuff into my mouth.

But if there's anyone out there who can teach me how to get more calories out of

these

low-sulfur foods, I will try it, for sure!!

By the way, --I thought all nuts were sulfur foods (since you mentioned

almonds). Is

that wrong?

>

> > But today, for the first time, I deliberately ate the same as the

> others in my family (I ate

> > sulfur foods) because I just can't stand being constantly hungry. I

> haven't figured out a

> > way to increase my caloric intake on this sulfur-free diet. I feel

> like I'm on a starvation diet.

> > I am 15 pounds below my healthy weight. I've lost 11 pounds since

> going sulfur-free back

> > in June, and when I started the sulfur-free diet, I was already

> concerned about being to

> > light. I think the last time I weighed 125 pounds was when I was . .

> . I don't know . . . 11

> > years old? Yesterday a neighbor told me I look anorexic. He was not

> joking--he was

> > concerned.

> >

>

> The timing of your post is uncanny. Last night, for the first time in

> a couple weeks since going no sulfur, I ate mac and cheese at a

> restaurant with my family. It tasted SOOOOOO good, and I figured I'd

> just deal. Well, it bit me and my energy level crashed through the

> floor later. I do not normally have any kind of hypoglycemic

> reactions so unless it was a one off, it was a sulfur reaction.

>

> I am also, like you, very underweight. 6'1 " and 156 lbs as of

> yesterday, and dropping. I feel so much better in general since going

> off sulfur foods but the weight loss is a huge problem and has

> destabilized me from 160 lbs to the point I may have to add something

> back in and try and find a balance just to keep calories up. I have

> not been this light since high school and desperately need to put on

> weight. I am really not comfortable with using cortisol but at this

> point may have to consider it. I know many others on this board have

> gone that route and maybe it's something you need to consider as well.

>

> I wish I had some great recipes for you but until recently most of

> what I ate was eggs, greens, beans, etc. I still eat meat and the

> only veggies I have been eating in great amount are squashes as well

> as some lettuce and carrots (but I am still unsure if the greener

> lettuces are sulfurous or not...I seem to be ok with them so far).

> The stir fry idea mentioned by another poster is similar to what I

> do...basically try and get as much as I can in a stir fry and use some

> good oil (I use olive but were I not allergic I would use coconut) and

> serve it over rice.

>

> Good luck, I will email you if I come up with any great recipe ideas.

>

> -Ross

>

[Guest guest]

>

> I am really not comfortable with using cortisol but at this

> > point may have to consider it.

>

> My Medrol has been a lifesaver for me. My sulfur-food reaction can

often feel very much like

> a " low cortisol " spell. But one way I know unmistakably if that

feeling is a sulfur-food

> reaction is when, *no matter how much cortisol I take in that

moment,* the feeling doesn't

> go away. If it was just a low cortisol spell, then stress-dosing

extra corticosteroids would put

> me back in business. Not so w/the sulfur food reactions. So don't

rely on cortisol to help you

> deal with food reactions. I now realize that it really is because of

mercury redistribution, and

> cortisol can't erase that when it's happening.

>

I was considering it for the weight gain (or more accurately the stop

weight loss) possibilities. I didn't even think of it as a food

reaction remedy. So you are already on cortisol (medrol) and having

weight loss issues as well?

Ross

[Guest guest]

>

>

>

> By the way, --I thought all nuts were sulfur foods (since you

mentioned almonds). Is

> that wrong?

>

I don't see any nuts on the high sulfur food list. Peanuts are there,

but they are a legume.

See the sulfur food file in the links section.

J

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

- Just wondering if your hunger is from hypoglycemia , ie low

blood sugar , and if you have hypoglycemia then your body

does maybe burn more as you get so much on edge as you

are so hungry..

I had it so bad my blood sugar never went up after eating..

A half hour after eating it went down and oontinued to do

so for the next five hours.. It started at 100 and went down

to something like 60 on the medical test challenge , cannot

totally remember.. So I never felt not hungry and I felt

starved most of the time --

Then not to forget that if you cannot digest food . oh

what fun it is to be thinking food all day.. Geesh.. No

wonder I am still a wreck emotionally..

I had a cure.. chromium.. I started the higher chromium

taking 500 mg daily and within a few days my hunger felt

satiated.. Marvey darvey..!!!

Are there any times after eating , say a protein meal , which

would surely satiate your tummy . that you do not feel

hungry?? If not then you have hypoglycemia.. And again maybe

the weight is just the energy it takes to be feeling

soo crappy..\\

Nanci

I

[Guest guest]

> I don't see any nuts on the high sulfur food list. Peanuts are there,

> but they are a legume.

>

There is, somewhere on Onibasu I believe, an Andy post on this and I

am 99% sure it stated that nuts are safe (peanuts not being a nut as

you point out).

Ross

[Guest guest]

So you are already on cortisol (medrol) and having

> weight loss issues as well?

Oh, yes. Very much. One of the basic functions of corticosteroids is that it

increases your

appetite. I noticed this promptly when I began taking it. When I was on a higher

dose than

I am on now, my appetite was agonizingly strong. It could never be satisfied.

Now it's not

quite so strong now that I'm on 4 mg of Medrol per day (equivalent of 20 mg

Hydrocortisone), but my appetite would be less if I were not on the Medrol at

all. A doctor

would have to explain whether this necessarily translates to weight loss per se.

I don't

attribute the weight loss to the Medrol, I attribute it to a reduction of

caloric intake, but It

also increases production of stomach acid.

You'd be wise to consider these factors ahead of time, because once you get on a

corticosteroid, you don't just hop off that boat whenever you feel like it. It

takes a lot of

careful and minute dosage adjustments over time to determine what works best for

your

body, and then making sure you absolutely don't go off it cold turkey, but

taper. So keep

thinking about it. For me, I only went on it once all dietary, supplementary,

lifestyle and

ACE efforts stopped helping my fast-declining adrenals. But it's great now.

> >

> > I am really not comfortable with using cortisol but at this

> > > point may have to consider it.

> >

> > My Medrol has been a lifesaver for me. My sulfur-food reaction can

> often feel very much like

> > a " low cortisol " spell. But one way I know unmistakably if that

> feeling is a sulfur-food

> > reaction is when, *no matter how much cortisol I take in that

> moment,* the feeling doesn't

> > go away. If it was just a low cortisol spell, then stress-dosing

> extra corticosteroids would put

> > me back in business. Not so w/the sulfur food reactions. So don't

> rely on cortisol to help you

> > deal with food reactions. I now realize that it really is because of

> mercury redistribution, and

> > cortisol can't erase that when it's happening.

> >

>

> I was considering it for the weight gain (or more accurately the stop

> weight loss) possibilities. I didn't even think of it as a food

> reaction remedy. So you are already on cortisol (medrol) and having

> weight loss issues as well?

>

> Ross

>

[Guest guest]

I've always had a lot of hunger including inappropriate hunger (after

eating). For me, I think it has to do with two things: First,

needing micronutrients -- for me, I think vitamin A and perhaps some

amino acids. I'm up to 20,000 IU of vitamin A and it seems to help

some, but I still crave fats. Second: gut health -- I've had chronic

dysbiosis, and when it's been especially bad was when I've dropped

weight without trying and despite eating enough. My diet is pretty

much just meats and vegetables (usually stewed with a lot of fat).

For dysbiosis, on top of all the digetive support supp's, I found

CandaclearFour by Pharmax actually worked will (but you'reonly

supposed to take it for a month). Now I'm taking Pharmax Allicinn

2x /day (which might be working as long as I have no fruit or anything

risky). I haven't tried the high-dose probiotics Andy recommends

(since I'm unsure of brands/quality) just regular-dose.

[Guest guest]

> We probably could start a file of recipes for people on a low sulfur

> food diet. The easiest way would be for people to put recipes into a

> post and I can start a file of links to those posts.

>

> J

Very good idea and .

I for one don't cook very well, am very unimaginitive in a kitchen and have

sulfur intolerance.

Feeding myself daily is rather stressful and has been for years.

A file of recipes will take a load of my day :-)

Anyone got a low sulfur food recipe to start the ball (file) rolling?

Many thanks

Kai

>

[Guest guest]

>

>

> I wish I had some great recipes for you but until recently most of

> what I ate was eggs, greens, beans, etc. I still eat meat and the

> only veggies I have been eating in great amount are squashes as well

> as some lettuce and carrots

>(but I am still unsure if the greener

> lettuces are sulfurous or not...

Lettuce is low sulfur. It is also very good for us.

In general, with vegetables, the sulfurous SH groups are what give

the bitter taste, so the more bitter vegetables (like some of the

crucifers) are higher in SH groups.

J

I seem to be ok with them so far).

> The stir fry idea mentioned by another poster is similar to what I

> do...basically try and get as much as I can in a stir fry and use some

> good oil (I use olive but were I not allergic I would use coconut) and

> serve it over rice.

>

>