This post is from Steve. (I titled it myself though.) Good job! What were your die-off symptoms like?
“57 yr old geezer, male, sciatica, walking problems, sitting problems, fatigue, digestive problems, sleep disorder.
Hey all,
Been suffering from digestive orders for just about 40 yrs. It would take many hours for me to put all the experiences on paper. So today I am only talking about recent ailments and my short time on ZC diet.
Finally retired from my job 4-5 years ago to concentrate on regaining my health. As I tried to get more active and get my weight down I started to get lower back pain on my right side. This progressively got worse in the last 2-3 years to the point I was in constant pain. One leg at times would feel shorter than the other, couldn’t sit for any length of time, couldn’t stand still for 5 minutes without getting sciatica pain, couldn’t straighten my right leg in bed, couldn’t find any position to sleep in bed without pain. The misery index was pretty high. Doctors told me I needed my right hip replaced and another doctor told me my pain was in my L4-L5 and my hip was sketchy. Many years in the past I had two ankle operations done by doctors in the past that weren’t necessary so I was very leery about getting another operation.
Luckily I stumbled on a very good massage therapist and after doing research and collaborating with other massage therapists, I have what they call a “frozen or corked hip”. My hip had somehow lost its flexibility and proper functional motion. So the MT would do a very grueling session once a week to work on getting the flexibility back into my right hip. The tension was so bad in my soft tissue the MT would have to put my pelvis back in its proper place for the 1st 3 months. I have been going to the MT for over a year and gotten moderate results but was no way near healed. Then I was trying to expand my diet and started eating dark chocolate, yogurt, and coconut ice cream. Then BOOM, I was right back to full irritation of my hip and sciatica!! Was incredibly pissed off and fully convinced that this problem too originated from diet.
Stumbled on Jordan Peterson diet videos and then watched Jordan and Mikhaila do a video together on YouTube. During their video they said that Jordan had a “knot of tension” in his body that went away from going on their strict diet. I believe my sciatica problem had also started out as a simple knot in my adductor 20 years ago too!
Mikhaila convinced me to try the ZC diet. I was on a pretty restrictive diet for me already so it wasn’t too difficult, I stopped eating yogurt, dark chocolate, and vegetables. Had about 3-4 days of “die-off” symptoms and then started to feel much better! Could actually feel way less tension in my muscles, the right hip has freed up much more, stomach is shrinking, energy is rising. The MT can’t believe how much better my body is responding, I have way less nerve pain in my soft tissue. This week I have gone to 2 pilates classes to keep working on getting balance back in my body! Before the ZC diet, I couldn’t have dreamed about trying to do a pilates class. My hip and back are not fully healed yet but this was an incredibly big improvement and I know I would be able to do a 40hr/week job again now if I wanted too.
PS. I did cheat a few days with a handful of macadamia nuts, beef protein bar, and Lea & Perrins sauce.”
3-4 days, then things started to improve rapidly!! It seems to be the pattern for other people also. But I am sure in some cases it will be longer. Give this diet at least 1-2 months to work. As you can read on this website some people are intolerant of eggs and pork. So you will still have to monitor very closely what is irritating your body.
Actually today I went to the golf driving range today and took 60 swings!! 1st time I swung a golf club pain free in 2+ years and have only been on the ZC diet for about a month.
This makes me happy to read!!! If playing golf again is an option/possibility then I’m off to buy a load of meat!!! 🙂
Since the last update, have played 9 holes of golf 3 times in the last several days and did very well. No pain during and after the round, can’t ask for better results than that!! Mostly all I have in my back is weakness, stiffness, and soreness. Exercising everyday, can feel my back getting stronger everyday and understanding my limitations way better. But if I do eat the wrong thing, I can now feel the inflammation and irritation come back into my body much easier(i.e. nuts). Just really motivated to see where my body is going to be in six months.
Had blood work done 2 weeks into the ZC diet and here are my cholesterol readings as of 5/15/18
Lipid Panel . 260
HDL . 75
Triglycerides . 42
LDL . 172
They told me to get blood work done again in 3 months. Curious to see what these results will be especially since I am able to exercise more often and intensely.
Totally agree, if more meat=more golf. Sign me up!! Really its just nice to feel more normal again!!
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