Hi Everyone!
Sorry about the incredibly long silence. I’m going through some personal life drama (nothing health related) and I’ve been incredibly busy. I’ll update everyone on that later.
All beef diet is still going strong! I am still alive and thriving. I will not have radio silence again for this long, and I am going to start a YouTube Channel in November! Stay tuned.
Here are some quick updates (pepper reaction and baby update):
Pepper reaction early August: I went out to eat and had pepper accidentally in August. Five days before the podcast with Rogan. I hardly had any pepper, just a bit. I freaked out as soon as I noticed, and left the restaurant and went home and stressed out. Had a bunch of activated charcoal, prayed to the autoimmune gods, almost cried, etc. I didn’t get away with it, I did react to pepper. It was MINOR in comparison to reintroducing a food and what used to happen, but I did react. I had body odour for about 2 weeks, and a tiny bit of brain fog. It was hardly noticeable really. Well, the BO was. But not the rest of the autoimmune stuff. My knee hurt one day and my big toe and that was basically it. Almost. It was a breeze for a reaction, but what did happen was I got a rash/breakout! I’m 99% sure it was pepper related because my skin never breaks out. I had something that looked like a keto rash all over my shoulders and back a week after pepper. I took some pictures but it was way worse in person. And itchy… It usually takes about a week for the reaction to hit my skin and boy did it. There are still marks but they’re finally fading now. It’s been 7 weeks since the pepper. So yeah, pepper is a no. But the good news is it wasn’t a disaster at all, other than my skin. Easy peasy for a reaction.
Breastfeeding and weaning and baby: I stopped breastfeeding August 27th right before the Joe Rogan podcast. It was bittersweet. Scarlett had naturally weaned herself down to just nursing at night, and she was only drinking about an oz. I nursed one day and she immediately threw it up. She never spits up food, but she’d spit up my milk. I didn’t think this was a particularly good time, and it was kind of upsetting. I’m wondering if my immune system is so sensitive that it was bugging her. Who knows. Mom worries. Anyway, weaning was a breeze. I had read about women getting sore boobs and the horrors of stopping breastfeeding but it was easy. I didn’t even notice. Except now I have no boobs again… Throughout my teenage years, I always consoled myself about my lack of boobs by thinking, “at least once I have kids I’ll have them!” WRONG. They’re back to normal. Literally, it looks like nothing happened (so it could be worse).
Scarlett now sleeps through the night! So that’s HUGE. I crib trained. Crib training was stressful. I did the cry it out method. It sucked. She screamed for 1.5 hours the first night. One hour the second night, 30 minutes the 3rd night, and 5 minutes the fourth night. Now it’s a couple of whimpers and she’s out. Should’ve crib trained wayyyy long ago.
J Peterson update: Dad is still going strong on beef. He reintroduced chicken and thinks it went well, but then he ate some chicken at a friends house that was marinated and had a reaction. It wasn’t even marinated with anything crazy. Garlic, spices, no sugar or anything. The reaction was pretty unpleasant but again, nothing like the reactions that used to happen when we were eating vegetables. He was incredibly anxious in the mornings for about a week and a half. And he told me half of his body was numb for about 3 days. So not ideal? But he’s recovered now. It’s been two weeks. That’s way better than a month of hell like it used to be. I told him to lay off the chicken and reintroduce it again when he’s back from touring. That way it’s more of a clean test. My guess is he can tolerate chicken and he just reacted to the marinade. I cannot tolerate chicken, but we are not the same.
Will update everyone more throughout the week!
Good to hear from you again..your updates are super informative …will be looking forward to November and your You Tubes…?
Hi, Mikhaila. Thanks for your post. Have you ever been tested for individual foods? Thanks!
I am so glad you talk about food reactions because I can tell when I’ve eaten something and it doesn’t agree with me. Yes to spots also a bit of brain fog. Dave Asprey hates pepper so I haven’t had any in two years, maybe more. I sprinkle ground tumeric on everything before cooking with no problems. Your dad is so dear but he definitely got some brain fog recently. There is something at Dr. Mercola’s site about infrared sauna with charcoal and niacin. I keep meaning to try that.
Infrared saunas work wonders for reactions! I haven’t had much success with activate charcoal but I take it just in case… Highly recommend the sauna.
Thanks for the update and great to hear you’re all (mostly) doing ok!
I recently finished a 7-day water only fast, followed by a 5-day fast mimicking diet/liquid-food only elemental diet. Profound changes in my mood, energy and brain-fog – the best I’ve felt in a very long time – and it helped other symptoms like skin and gut too. I’ve since started on a series of herbal microbials to get to what I think is one of the major contributors to my issues (gut dysbiosis, essentially) and will start to slowly introduce foods again.
Finished my 12 weeks of beef-only yesterday by introducing lamb – so far so good. Thanks again Mikhaila, without having shared your progress I would never have tried it. Looking forward to your Youtube channel and hope things continue to improve for you 🙂
Thank you for posting an update and sharing your story! I have been trying to switch to an all meat diet, but I’m finding it difficult to eat enough (I get tired of the beef quickly, to the point where I’d rather just go hungry).
I find it’s better when I can eat right after cooking – but I work in an office. Do you have any tips for folks that need to cook and eat later? Do I just need to get used to eating dry/cold meat?
A lot of its getting used to. I went hungry at the beginning of the diet until I’d get hungry enough that I’d eat. It’s a pain in the beginning but I promise it gets better after about 6 weeks. A lot better. Enjoyable even. It’s the beginning that’s really tough.
Article on black pepper.
https://philmaffetone.com/danger-in-black-pepper/
I listened to a recent JRE podcast with Dr. Rhonda Patrick on diets. Interesting. I have come to my unprofessional conclusion (software engineer not Dr) that the whole issue of diet is complex and one size does not fit all. (nor does one size fit the same person always in their lifetime) People have to find what works for them. The RD community is not sophisticated enough to handle long tail situations. (people who do not fit the standard model) RD’s who criticize your solution have no skin in the game. They blast you in a variety of ways and ignore the fact that NOTHING they have done has helped your conditions. At this point, you are reluctant to make changes because it makes you very sick. Self preservation is the right strategy.
In good health
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