Havent updated this thread in awhile but here is my progress in the last few months:
My diet is pretty sorted and stable now. I generally eat the same thing every day now:
Breakfast is a smoothie: Bananas (2 or 3), cacao (1tblspn), almonds
Lunch is usually brisket and rice, or brisket and potatoes.
After noon snack is a tin of tuna and yoghurt
Dinner is brisket, rice or potatoes, and some vegetable like broccoli.
After dinner I have another smoothie same as above.
I often drink 1L of the electrolyte water a day, which is 400mg of magnesium, 100mg sodium, 100mg potassium, 600mg chloride.
Generally i seem to be getting solid magnesium (800mg~1000mg) a day (more on sport days where i drink only electrolyes). Thats basically been my only focus.
On Friday nights i eat whatever i want. When i go out for lunch or something (only once or twice a week usually) i try to get something with decent protein, like a burger.
Been trying to increase my protein intake.
I've been feeling pretty good generally. I'm sending another hair test sample in on Monday, which was taken on 7/7/18th. I suspect for my next hair test i might need to start taking some more calcium, as that is very low in my diet.
At the start of this log, i had many highs and lows. Now i am looking more for long term stability. I was definitely magnesium deficient and generally mineral deficient in a lot of my previous tests, but i think the almonds help with a lot of minerals and the cacao + electrolye water helps balance my magnesium losses from the magnesium depletion of exercising.
I'm just trying to iron out the kinks now and get everything balanced. But i'm already out of 3 lows, so thats good. Heres hoping my 3rd test is moving in a positive direction too.
I still haven't got my 3rd hair test back yet, but I suspect it could be similar to my 1st test (but probably better anyhow lol since my diet is more nutrient dense, but im not going crazy with potatoes and tomato paste)
I've made one small change to the smoothie which has made a large change in my general health: adding 99% fat free yoghurt to it, 1 cup both morning and night into the smoothie.
My diet was lacking in calcium, and after reading dr. Wilsons stuff on calcium offering stress protection etc (i believe he got this info from dr. Eck at ARL) , I thought it was worth a try. Initially i tried supplementing calcium, but my scalp itch came back (remember i believe scalp itch is caused from a high CA to mg ratio). Then i tried supplementing calcium with magnesium at the same time, but i still got the scalp itch. I've basically been avoiding calcium this whole hair testing journey since i didn't want to go bald. But anyway, I thought of another idea. Since foods are loaded with all the co-factor nutrients, i thought maybe i could add it to the smoothie.
It worked! No scalp itch at all. Also, since its 99% fat free (and theres very little lactose in it since its yoghurt and already digested) i'm having no problems digesting it. Also, since the 2nd hair test with the fast 1 oxidation i felt my hair was thinning a bit. But the scalp itch and recession seemed to stop. But I didn't like the thinning. Now my scalp feels really good, but also it doesn't feel thin.
From this change alone, i feel so much more stable and stress-tolerant. Its amazing. I feel more outgoing, progressive, able to do anything, to keep pushing even when tired and know that i can deal with whatever comes up. My stuttering is also hugely reduced, which i think is due to my increased stress tolerance. Its curious because I started stuttering around age 10 or so I believe, and before this i never had it. I think at age 10 i had an ear infection cause by milk consumption, so i was taken off dairy all together and given soy milk. I've mostly avoided dairy since so I would have underconsumed calcium for the last 16 yrs of my life. I also needed a few teeth removed because my jaw was so crowded (and needed braces) - i wonder if this was also due to a lack of calcium? I've never broken a bone though, despite playing sports. I wonder if i will have any physical changes, like broadening of my palate or increased weight / muscle mass now i'm increasing CA consumption. I wonder also if the low CA consumption contributed to my acne as a teen, if the CA (or MG) was required in some enzyme formations which my body chemistry was lacking to clear the acne.
@Orion
In general my thoughts on magnesium are now that its definitately required in some body chemistries, but best to get from foods. Also, calcium will aid in stress tolerance. I think a healthy calcium level is more likely to keep magnesium high on the hair test. I doubt magnesium will stay high from only supplementing it (whilst simultaneously having low calcium) since you will be victim to stressors which all drain magnesium.
@mattyb @Helen @TubZy you guys might be interested in these thoughts / experiences
Gbold and Matty, I think you were 100% spot on the money when you said the best thing to do is eat a diet to balance you in the long run. And it will take a while to figure out, but you can do it. My progress has been slow, but very steady. Just like what my oxidation rate needs to move more towards...
Also my eyes haven't been dry for many months now. But we are in the middle of winter where i live.
