Eat to Heat Update

Soporific is the word that comes to mind when I think about the last few weeks eating foods that heat up my metabolism. I often have this drowsy, contented feeling and I am toasty warm all over even in my hands and feet.

"It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is "soporific."

I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces; but then I am not a rabbit.

They certainly had a very soporific effect upon the Flopsy Bunnies!"

I believe it is a good sign to feel soporific it means my my body is heating up.

To explain better how things are going I'll take you through the metabolism check list I complied from Matt's Books, Elizabeth's book and stuff I have been reading elsewhere. There are many little things that go on in the body which can or may be effected when the metabolism heats up but these are basic ones that are guiding me along.

TEMPERATURE 

Above you can see the temperature graph I have been keeping. I began eat to heat just before that big dip where I dropped down to 97.2 F and it took four days to get back up to 98.0 F . The dip was due to a workout I did not the foods I was eating to get my metabolism up. The other dip could have been a temp taking mistake, as I felt the same and who knows why I dropped so low.

"Your waking oral/rectal/vaginal/ear/forehead temperature should be at least 98 degrees F/36.7 C every day--higher temps are even better."

My average waking temperature is around 97.8 F low on most scales. Ideally I should at 98.6 and never go below 98.0. So no improvement here.

"Your body temperature should rise even higher after meals and during the day, to temperatures at or above 99F/37.2 C."

My temp does rise after meals to around 98.0 F so my food is heating me up a bit, but just a bit not enough yet. I even have found my temps are lower through out the day my lowest temps often being in the afternoon around 3PM. This is when I try to eat foods denser in calories and less liquids, but it often back fired in the beginning because I bloated after the morning, and lunch time meals and had no room in which to add in more food. Currently I am not bloating up and so I can eat my favorite afternoon food homemade coconut milk ice cream. 

"While the thermometer is a useful tool, and indeed doing things with your diet and lifestyle that make your temperature rise usually make you feel and function better, it is but a tool. At the end of it all, who cares about a number on a thermometer? I certainly don't. The real objective with all of this is to get our bodies working their best."

BODY HEAT

"Your hands and feet should feel warm most of the time at normal room temperature."

Hoasty Toasty warm after the first few days of eating for heat, my feet no longer need socks and my hands are always warm. Before this I was always wearing socks all day and to bed t night.

"You should experience a feeling of radiating plentiful body heat in general--dressing lighter and feeling as warm or warmer than those around you." 

This I am! I hardly need an extra jacket when in the house and when I feel the cold winter air on me when I am outside it feels cold but does not penetrate and make me shiver through to the bone like it used to. I can feel as if I radiate heat from the inside out.

SKIN, HAIR AND NAIL GROWTH

"You should have fast-growing hair (head and body) and fingernails, with good shine to the hair and hardness to the nails."

My nails feel stronger and less flakey but I have not noticed if my hair is growing faster or not as I have long hair and rarely get it cut. I have noticed that my hair is less dry and it looks and feels shinier, thicker and healthier.

"Your skin should be soft, smooth and dewy. You should have balanced oil production, with few blemishes, or mostly small ones. Your skin should be thick, elastic, and bounces back and you should have an even skin tone with little redness."

My skin is definitely softer, moister and more even toned. I hardly ever have blemishes but I have noticed that my skin is less oily.

DIGESTION AND WASTE ELIMINATION

"You should have at least one, hopefully more, large bowel movements per day that do not require straining or the use of laxatives, magnesium or vitamin C overdosing, or other bowel-moving crutches--and also experience few other digestive troubles such as IBS, stomach bloating after meals, excessive gas production, heartburn..."

I began with these symptoms: gas, bloating, taking magnesium to loosen my bowels, and my BM's were not regular in that I would often skip a day not having had one oft and on. I stopped taking magnesium and began to eat for heat and at first things got worse, I was bloated more, and had running BM's and some heart burn oft and on, but after a bit things started to settle and now I have BM;s regularly and easily, not bloating which incidentally makes me feel thinner and my clothes fit better, and no heart burn and less gas.

"You should urinate roughly once every four hours during the day and NONE at night, always with a consistent yellow color to it (no clear or pale urinations or strong sudden urges).  Likewise, you should be able to down a glass of water without having to rush to the bathroom with crystal clear urine."

Yippppe Yahoo on this one, I have had for two years or so inconstancy which has completely resolved since I started eating for heat. No more "I have to get to the bathroom NOW!" trips just to tinkle a shot glass of liquid that was perfectly clear. I used to think the clear part was good but the have to go now was a pain as you can imagine.

"High stress hormones divert blood flow away from your digestive system and also shut down your immune system, which can lead to poor digestion and bacterial imbalances."

About a week into the eat for heat where I had a few days where I was not at all bloated and my digestive track felt like someone had unclogged a pipe, everything just started to work. I had several BM's and I ate food like there was no tomorrow. In one day I ate four regular meals, and lots of snacks in between and at 9PM I was till hungry and had to go to bed hungry as I was so tired of chewing and eating. I woke early the next day and felt like I my tanks were all filled up for the first time in a long time. I have not binged like that again, but I continue to have that filled up feeling.

"As you heal your metabolism, you can typically handle a wider variety of foods, but in the beginning it may help to reduce potentially irritating foods. Instead, focus on foods that provide nutrients and energy in an easy to digest form."

I am still unable to eat meats, dairy, eggs and animal fats. I am however reintroducing white processed sugar into some snacks where they work better than the whole sugars so the snacks are tastier. I have been a low carb eater for over 7 years always attempting to make things more complex to keep my reactive hypoglycemia in check. I have been eating lots of simple carbs those past few weeks and though I have had some head aches, which cleared up soon and foggy brain which continues but the overall effect has been increased energy, and the wonderful soporific effect and the ability to sleep through the night.

SLEEP

"You should be able to sleep through the night at least eight hours solid with no wake ups."

Before eating for heat I was taking melatonin each night to get to sleep. I would sleep well until about 2-4AM then be awake never dreaming or sleeping deeply until 6AM when I usually got up if I did not get up in the middle of the night to get some work done. So I have stopped taking melatonin, I sleep through until 4am usually and can easily fall back to sleep and get in a few more dreams before I awake again at 6Am or 7AM. I am getting 10-11 hours of good rest now each night and upon waking I feel so much better rested and able to handle another day. Yiippppeee!

"The Flopsy Bunnies simply stuffed lettuces. By degrees, one after another, they were overcome  with slumber, and lay down in the mown grass."

MONTHLY CYCLE

"If you are a female you should have a timely menstrual cycle with normal flow and very few if any symptoms of PMS, cramping, bloating, and other common complications. "

Before eat to heat I had a regular 28 day cycle with a little mood swing, well maybe a big mood swing ask my husband and my three sons, but now I have missed a cycle so this is still unresolved.

SEX

"If you are a male you should have very full erections and good sex drive. Females should also feel pretty frisky and have good vaginal lubrication with strong sexual urges, particularly around the time of ovulation"

Sorry this is none of your business. :)

ENERGY AND MOOD

"Extreme moods and energy levels on either end of the spectrum are signs of a stressed metabolism. Ideally your energy levels should be consistent through out the day, similarly mood swings should be reasonable. Sad things make you sad but they do not make you depressed and irritating things might get on your nerves but they do not leave you raging mad."

This is where the soporific effect really has helped me. I am more docile, and the irritating things seem to bounce off rather than like and arrow penetrate into my heart and make me raging mad. I am calm, I enjoy my loud boys more and my life feels good all around. I am more happy and content. My energy is also steady and the lull I used to have in the afternoon has evened out. 

From my last post Decisions to Eat for Heat or No? here is what Matt says in Diet Recover 2 to expect when you start out, I have underlined all the things that I did experience:

“As you start out, remember that you are challenging your metabolism, your glucose metabolism, your digestion, and more. This does not feel good!!! Headaches, skin breakouts, brain fog, severe drowsiness after meals, out-of-control hunger – particularly if you are coming off of a low-carb diet, heartburn and other digestive glitches – these are all normal in the first week or two. But just when you think you are poisoning yourself with all this food something pretty cool happens. You start to notice improvements in how your body handles everything. Instead of running from all these problem foods and big, heavy meals you experience your body rising to the challenge, making use of the tools you’ve given it, and functioning much, much better. "

I am feeling better overall....so I am going to continue follow my metabolism and see where it leads me.

Quotes from Matt's Books
Quotes from Elizabeth's Book