After 2 weeks of a low histamine diet I started to feel good. Really good. So good in fact, that I got cocky and began to entertain thoughts of a hypothetical future wherein living on fresh plants could be moderated in some way, or modified to suit a more typical Western diet, albeit with a healthy intake of plants most of the time.
This perspective led me to cheat on the diet, first in small ways, then large. My first cheat was processed cheese puffs and Takis, which tasted great and did not seem to noticeably effect my breathing or overall health. The next was a meal of turkey with dolmas (spiced rice wrapped in grape leaves and topped with potatoes). This too did not cause any problems, so on a whim, I went full bore the next day: Arby's Beef and Cheddar with Bacon and a side of curly fries. This was a terrible idea. The rest of the evening, I was convinced I had induced a cardiac event. Breathing was labored, my fingers and toes started to go numb, and my stomach and left arm started to hurt. All the symptoms that convince sensible people to visit the emergency room. Luckily, these symptoms subsided after about 6 hours, but the lesson has been learned: moderation kills! When Dr. Esselstyn says no oil, that means no fucking oil. That means no nuts, no vegetable oils, no meat, no cheese, no yogurt, and especially no beef, cheddar, and bacon with a side of transfat laden fried potatoes. If even one cheat meal of this kind was enough to cause me to fear for my life, I am in a new phase of life. The damage has been done to my arteries, and I am not going to be healthy enough ever again to eat meals like these without risk. I must reassociate those foods as disgusting. I must learn to hate and fear them. I must discourage their consumption in my home and encourage only whole foods in my pantry. If I had a choice, I would surely keep small amounts of oily foods in my diet, but its clear that I don't have a choice if I want to live a long life free of heart disease and be around for my family.
I will remain on the low histamine vegan diet and attempt a vegan cheat day of pumpkin pie in November with Thanksgiving dinner. Updates to follow.
Monday, October 22, 2018
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Week 30 Histamines: A Possible Cause of My Declining Health
In what must certainly seem like hypochondria, I'm now investigating a new dietary strategy for reducing my resting heart rate, which has remained unusually high for my fitness level. My oil free vegan diet has already removed various health risk factors from my daily food intake (dairy, eggs, meat, and oils). The empirical literature demonstrates that this shift alone may extend one's lifespan and reduce the risk of developing any of the common killing diseases of affluence (heart disease, diabetes, and cancer). However, after 25 weeks of eating that way, I was not noticing a major improvement in my symptoms such as shortness of breath. After tracking my resting heart rate for a couple days, I was alarmed to discover that my resting heart rate was 85-90 beats per minute during relaxation! No wonder I used to feel symptoms of congestive heart failure, especially given my intensive physical training regimen at a high body mass index.
Considering the literature that shows a high resting heart rate is an independent risk factor for early mortality, and given my fervent insistence that I NOT DIE before I have built a family and a legacy, I took a more careful look at my diet and researched ways of lowering resting heart rate. Now, I already knew that eating vegan is supposed to lower resting heart rate for most people, so my continued high heart rate was a red flag that something unique to my physiology may be amiss. After some digging around, I learned about histamine excess and realized a large portion of my preferred food intake is composed of histamine increasing foods (fermented vegetables, mushrooms, nuts, tofu, tomatoes, watermelon, sourdough bread, and peppers).
Since I have effectively cut out all pleasurable foods anyway, I figure cutting these out too will not pose any additional challenge, so I will now be excluding all histamine promoting foods, including healthy options such as mushrooms and nuts for the next month to allow my gut biome time to change. Further research revealed that gut flora may play a causal role in high histamine levels, so I will be entirely cutting my intake of these foods, especially since I tend to crave ONLY high histamine foods. I suspect by removing these foods, I will likely starve and kill any parasitic organisms that may have depended on my high intake of histamine and spurred my cravings.
If my vegan diet was me living on hard mode, this diet will be elite mode. What the low histamine vegan diet means in practice is a restriction of almost all pleasurable, processed foods from the diet. No more tofu and soy sauce. No more salsa and hot sauce with my rice and beans. Just black beans, brown rice, oil free popcorn, greens, Rosaceae fruits, cantaloupe, grapes, herbs, vitamins, and sea salt adjusted for allergy tolerance every day for the next month. In addition to dietary changes, I will also be ensuring my home is regularly vacuumed and a HEPA filter is running in the room where I sleep to limit airborne allergen exposure and thereby remove an environmental cause of histamine release. I will also be abstaining from vigorous exercise. Only brisk walking and carrying of work materials will be allowed due to the severe caloric restriction of this diet. After a couple days of these changes, I have been able to breathe better and relax easier. I have lost no muscle mass so far, despite very little exercise. In addition, my heart rate has reduced stepwise day by day from 90 bpm down to 80 bpm to around 70 bpm and less when I sleep. Libido has reduced, but I still get the job done fine. I will report back with more for Week 34.
Considering the literature that shows a high resting heart rate is an independent risk factor for early mortality, and given my fervent insistence that I NOT DIE before I have built a family and a legacy, I took a more careful look at my diet and researched ways of lowering resting heart rate. Now, I already knew that eating vegan is supposed to lower resting heart rate for most people, so my continued high heart rate was a red flag that something unique to my physiology may be amiss. After some digging around, I learned about histamine excess and realized a large portion of my preferred food intake is composed of histamine increasing foods (fermented vegetables, mushrooms, nuts, tofu, tomatoes, watermelon, sourdough bread, and peppers).
Since I have effectively cut out all pleasurable foods anyway, I figure cutting these out too will not pose any additional challenge, so I will now be excluding all histamine promoting foods, including healthy options such as mushrooms and nuts for the next month to allow my gut biome time to change. Further research revealed that gut flora may play a causal role in high histamine levels, so I will be entirely cutting my intake of these foods, especially since I tend to crave ONLY high histamine foods. I suspect by removing these foods, I will likely starve and kill any parasitic organisms that may have depended on my high intake of histamine and spurred my cravings.
If my vegan diet was me living on hard mode, this diet will be elite mode. What the low histamine vegan diet means in practice is a restriction of almost all pleasurable, processed foods from the diet. No more tofu and soy sauce. No more salsa and hot sauce with my rice and beans. Just black beans, brown rice, oil free popcorn, greens, Rosaceae fruits, cantaloupe, grapes, herbs, vitamins, and sea salt adjusted for allergy tolerance every day for the next month. In addition to dietary changes, I will also be ensuring my home is regularly vacuumed and a HEPA filter is running in the room where I sleep to limit airborne allergen exposure and thereby remove an environmental cause of histamine release. I will also be abstaining from vigorous exercise. Only brisk walking and carrying of work materials will be allowed due to the severe caloric restriction of this diet. After a couple days of these changes, I have been able to breathe better and relax easier. I have lost no muscle mass so far, despite very little exercise. In addition, my heart rate has reduced stepwise day by day from 90 bpm down to 80 bpm to around 70 bpm and less when I sleep. Libido has reduced, but I still get the job done fine. I will report back with more for Week 34.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
1st Degree Black Test Complete
My black test is officially complete and I passed the gauntlet without permanent damage. In my time as a martial artist, I have certainly suffered worse physical punishment, but rarely have I ever found my will power as taxed.
Testing began Friday the 29th at 11 pm. I started alongside 2 other students, both older than 50, who were attempting a modified shorter version of the test that ended around 10 am. I paid $500, stretched, and silently waited for the test to begin. I was unlucky enough to be considered a young man, and therefore would endure the full 12 hours with full contact sparring at the end. My 2 compatriots would start an hour late and leave an hour early.
From 11 pm to 12 pm, I was tasked with falling to the ground, standing up, then striking a shield 10 times. Rest was not allowed. The falling alone resulted in minor bruising that accumulated as the hour wore on. The older students were exempt from this requirement to protect their joints for later. From 12 pm to 2 am, I performed gun disarms blindfolded. By this point my hands were already shaking involuntarily. From 2-4 am I struck the pads with nonstop back kicks, then roundhouse kicks, then knees, as my strength declined. Eventually, my strikes declined to slow pushes as muscular and mental fatigue set in. From 4-5 am I demonstrated counter techniques against a number of assaults including knife attacks, baseball bat attacks, gun attacks, bear hugs, ground grappling, tackles, strikes, and kicks. Mostly, I was successful. Occasionally, I would screw up by failing to be attentive or getting cocky which would invariably get me kicked or struck. This was also the point where I gained my second wind and found myself enthusiastic and even euphoric to demonstrate the techniques. This turned out to be a temporary hit of endorphins. From 5-6 am, I struck pads using any technique, usually straight strikes, hooks, and knees as a matter of necessity, given my mounting exhaustion. From 6-8 am, I returned to falling down, standing up, and striking a pad 10 times which compounded my earlier bruising. From 8-9 am, I slowly completed 500 burpees under direct observation of a counter. From 9-10:50 I was enrolled in a gauntlet that consisted of striking a pad 10 times, falling to the ground, and rolling to the opposite end of the mat, then standing and sprinting back while dizzy to repeat the procedure. This was simplified to merely striking and running by 10 am to keep my movements quick. Of all tasks, this was the hardest to tolerate. The rolling in conjunction with the bruises sustained by hours of falling and standing resulted in a feeling of full body pain combined with the same kind of dizziness one would feel after getting knocked out. I endured this agony for an hour, fighting, falling, rolling, feeling knocked out, slowly standing, and shuffling back to repeat the procedure. At this point, I nearly quit the test, but persisted through sheer frustration at the thought of enduring 11 hours of such trials and failing to finish in the last hour.
Finally, the class was organized to spar with me from 10:50-11 am. This was to be done without gloves or headgear with Kyokushin Karate rules (hits above groin and below neck only). 10 students volunteered, most of whom had slept the whole night before with the notable exception of 1 student who stayed for the entire 12 hours to show moral support. The owner of the club was the opponent for the first and last rounds, and he ensured that I was very well bruised by the end of the ordeal. In particular, I sustained a nasty bruise across the upper arm and very sore ribs. I concluded the test by thanking all students who attended as well as the owner of the club, and making arrangements to purchase a custom knife from the instructor to memorialize the occasion.
Takeaways: This test was prepared for and completed using a supplemented 99% plant based, whole foods diet. The 1% of the diet that was not plant based or whole foods was cheddar cheese dust used as a seasoning, and plant oil. This effectively refutes the notion that animal products need to be a large portion of the diet, and I imagine I could have completely excluded that 1% of food and still completed the test just as well. During the test, I used mushroom powder, prune juice, and sea salt as a sports drink as well as apples and beetroot for energy. Toward the end, I did chug a Gatorade offered by the student who stayed through the duration of the test and I found it much more helpful than the slower digesting sugars.
I learned my own attitude toward conflict. One reason I was not badly injured during the sparring was my attitude of respect prior to and during the sparring. The student who had attempted this test prior to me years before had challenged the instructor, resulting in a much worse outcome. He ended up with fractured ribs and a chipped tooth from a kick to the face. I learned that I don't relish a fight. I relish skillfully avoiding a fight, or finishing the fight quickly to limit damage to myself and others. I prefer the victory that costs least whenever possible, though I've also learned I will confidently accept a more costly victory when its the only possible course.
The worst exercises seemed to be almost entirely composed of level changes: burpees, backward falls, forward falls, and rolls. These exercises work every muscle in every plane of motion and may stand alone for physical conditioning. My arms, legs, and torso, despite being bruised and sore, are superbly well muscled. I was also impressed to the degree that the abdominals were used for rolling on the back, as well as the degree that the upper body was fatigued by using the arms to support the weight of the body when standing. I suspect that this movement supplemented with bear crawls and combined with martial arts specific drills may stand alone for maintenance and base building of sports specific strength.
Testing began Friday the 29th at 11 pm. I started alongside 2 other students, both older than 50, who were attempting a modified shorter version of the test that ended around 10 am. I paid $500, stretched, and silently waited for the test to begin. I was unlucky enough to be considered a young man, and therefore would endure the full 12 hours with full contact sparring at the end. My 2 compatriots would start an hour late and leave an hour early.
From 11 pm to 12 pm, I was tasked with falling to the ground, standing up, then striking a shield 10 times. Rest was not allowed. The falling alone resulted in minor bruising that accumulated as the hour wore on. The older students were exempt from this requirement to protect their joints for later. From 12 pm to 2 am, I performed gun disarms blindfolded. By this point my hands were already shaking involuntarily. From 2-4 am I struck the pads with nonstop back kicks, then roundhouse kicks, then knees, as my strength declined. Eventually, my strikes declined to slow pushes as muscular and mental fatigue set in. From 4-5 am I demonstrated counter techniques against a number of assaults including knife attacks, baseball bat attacks, gun attacks, bear hugs, ground grappling, tackles, strikes, and kicks. Mostly, I was successful. Occasionally, I would screw up by failing to be attentive or getting cocky which would invariably get me kicked or struck. This was also the point where I gained my second wind and found myself enthusiastic and even euphoric to demonstrate the techniques. This turned out to be a temporary hit of endorphins. From 5-6 am, I struck pads using any technique, usually straight strikes, hooks, and knees as a matter of necessity, given my mounting exhaustion. From 6-8 am, I returned to falling down, standing up, and striking a pad 10 times which compounded my earlier bruising. From 8-9 am, I slowly completed 500 burpees under direct observation of a counter. From 9-10:50 I was enrolled in a gauntlet that consisted of striking a pad 10 times, falling to the ground, and rolling to the opposite end of the mat, then standing and sprinting back while dizzy to repeat the procedure. This was simplified to merely striking and running by 10 am to keep my movements quick. Of all tasks, this was the hardest to tolerate. The rolling in conjunction with the bruises sustained by hours of falling and standing resulted in a feeling of full body pain combined with the same kind of dizziness one would feel after getting knocked out. I endured this agony for an hour, fighting, falling, rolling, feeling knocked out, slowly standing, and shuffling back to repeat the procedure. At this point, I nearly quit the test, but persisted through sheer frustration at the thought of enduring 11 hours of such trials and failing to finish in the last hour.
Finally, the class was organized to spar with me from 10:50-11 am. This was to be done without gloves or headgear with Kyokushin Karate rules (hits above groin and below neck only). 10 students volunteered, most of whom had slept the whole night before with the notable exception of 1 student who stayed for the entire 12 hours to show moral support. The owner of the club was the opponent for the first and last rounds, and he ensured that I was very well bruised by the end of the ordeal. In particular, I sustained a nasty bruise across the upper arm and very sore ribs. I concluded the test by thanking all students who attended as well as the owner of the club, and making arrangements to purchase a custom knife from the instructor to memorialize the occasion.
Takeaways: This test was prepared for and completed using a supplemented 99% plant based, whole foods diet. The 1% of the diet that was not plant based or whole foods was cheddar cheese dust used as a seasoning, and plant oil. This effectively refutes the notion that animal products need to be a large portion of the diet, and I imagine I could have completely excluded that 1% of food and still completed the test just as well. During the test, I used mushroom powder, prune juice, and sea salt as a sports drink as well as apples and beetroot for energy. Toward the end, I did chug a Gatorade offered by the student who stayed through the duration of the test and I found it much more helpful than the slower digesting sugars.
I learned my own attitude toward conflict. One reason I was not badly injured during the sparring was my attitude of respect prior to and during the sparring. The student who had attempted this test prior to me years before had challenged the instructor, resulting in a much worse outcome. He ended up with fractured ribs and a chipped tooth from a kick to the face. I learned that I don't relish a fight. I relish skillfully avoiding a fight, or finishing the fight quickly to limit damage to myself and others. I prefer the victory that costs least whenever possible, though I've also learned I will confidently accept a more costly victory when its the only possible course.
The worst exercises seemed to be almost entirely composed of level changes: burpees, backward falls, forward falls, and rolls. These exercises work every muscle in every plane of motion and may stand alone for physical conditioning. My arms, legs, and torso, despite being bruised and sore, are superbly well muscled. I was also impressed to the degree that the abdominals were used for rolling on the back, as well as the degree that the upper body was fatigued by using the arms to support the weight of the body when standing. I suspect that this movement supplemented with bear crawls and combined with martial arts specific drills may stand alone for maintenance and base building of sports specific strength.
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