Emeira's Diary

[Emeira]

I do not have problems with acne, just curious why do i crave salt? Does that mean my body is missing something essential?

[dime]

Maybe, why don't you try pure salt only and see if it satisfies your craving? Then you'll know if it's really the salt that your body is missing. Sodium is an essential nutrient as far as I know btw.

[RRM]

Is it ok to eat canned, salted herring?

No, canned means sterilized by heating.

just curious why do i crave salt? Does that mean my body is missing something essential?

Maybe, maybe not.
But since you are not susceptible to acne, its ok to consume some salt.
Consuming some seafood regularly will already do the trick (of meeting your requirements)
There are many animals that like salt, as it is an essential nutrient, but not widely present in high doses.
Many foods are very low in salt (fruits, many plants), so that its essential to be able to distinguish it properly.
(hence the receptors on our tongue)

[Emeira]

No, canned means sterilized by heating.

SALTED ATLANTIC HERRING. The product is prepared from fresh or frozen fish. The fish is salted as whole fish or as headed or nobbed or headed and gutted or gibbed or filleted (skin-on or skin-off) fish.

Salted herring it's not heated, it is raw only kept in brine for some time. I think it is ok to eat.

[dime]

Yes I also think it's not heated; it's only frozen for some time to kill potential parasites and then canned in brine.

[RRM]

Actually, you asked:

Is it ok to eat canned, salted herring?

So, if it is NOT canned its ok.
If it is canned, its not ok.

[Emeira]

According to the spit test I think I may have candida. Not good...

[RRM]

Everybody has candida. Its in our body naturally.
The question is: do you suffer from candida overgrowth?

[Emeira]

Everybody has candida. Its in our body naturally.
The question is: do you suffer from candida overgrowth?

I don't know
Last morning I did the spit test and it matched the candida signs, hmmm... but maybe candida spit test isn't a reliable test?

[Christina]

I think that candida gets out of hand when the body's immunity is compromised. When the thyroid is low, immunity is low and viruses and bacteria have a field day. A low thyroid is also often responsible for missing menstruation. When i eat well, my temperature goes up, which means the thyroid is functioning better and at somewhere around 98 degrees F, i menstruate. it's always a good sign when the temperature is up. if you have a low basal temperature, that could explain the candida. The stress of eating disorders can cause low adrenal and thyroid function and then not protect against candida. it takes time to heal it. make sure you continue to eat well and don't overexercise, sleep well etc.. these are all great if you have candida or not

[Emeira]

When i eat well, my temperature goes up, which means the thyroid is functioning better and at somewhere around 98 degrees F, i menstruate. it's always a good sign when the temperature is up.

My hands and feet are always cold and my blood pressure level is lower than normal.
Please write what do you ordinarily eat during the day? How active are you?

[Christina]

Hi Emeira (:
I'm still a work in progress but am maintaining a basal temperature of 97.8 on my wai food plan.
I used to drop into the 96 range when I under ate or skipped dinner ....
My thyroid was slightly low on my last blood test december of last year and i will be retested in 2 months. I hope for better results!
I also still get cold hands and feet but not as bad as i used to. but i seem to get cold when i under eat or overeat or when i'm anxious or overexercise.
Before i put down my daily diet, I want to share some thoughts with you on thyroid and immunity. I read about a study of actors and their immunity in which they found that an actor playing a depressing role had a suppressed immune system and once they played a happy, upbeat role their immunity went up to healthy!!
I think that people that have been emotionally/ physically abused or were exposed to depressing, stressful environments, are not supported and loved are more fearful, self depreciating and have lower immunity. They might as a result not trust life or themselves and not listen to their bodies. Instead they follow rigid diets etc to control what they are essentially afraid of. The control goes against the body's true needs and it eventually acts out as in binging etc..The answer for such a person is not "love yourself", which is just too foreign for them, but start supporting yourself and have your own back, when maybe nobody else does ( in example, if you are being disrespected, mocked, think of solutions how to move yourself into a better environment). I think that starting to speak with our inner child and asking what it wants and taking baby steps to support it- like something that takes as little as 15 min. or $15- creates trust by action. Your body relaxes when you do that and you will slowly start a love relationship with yourself. It's not about alway succeeding or being perfect/ popular/ desirable by all but about our intention of moving ourself into a slightly better place one action at a time. In my mind that's the healing path for someone with a body mind disconnect, which includes eating disorders etc. just controlling diet and exercise is a great thing but not the deep healing.
Ok, now that I said that, here is my daily diet of the week
1 T. honey and warm water after i wake up, so I go poo
1 c. carrot juice and 1 t. butter/honey
1-2 cups pear juice with 1 t. olive oil per cup ( i sip it during my walk of about 2 hours which is my main exercise. i also do pilates or yoga 2-3x weekly and hike once a week)
2x 1/2 banana with 1/2 T. raw butter ( i feel so good when i eat some of the butter, it's not on the sample diet but i think it's accepted on the wai diet)
4x 1date +1 t. honey+1t. r. butter
2x 50 g tuna+ 2 yolks+ 1T. r. butter+ 1T. honey ( at noon and 5pm)
1x 1 banana + 2 yolks+ 1 t.honey

I eat between 1800 and 2000 kcal sometimes more but around 1700-1900 i'm able to maintain my weight of 134 lbs @ 1.74m. I didn't used to be able to eat this much because a year back i used to under eat at times which let led to my body holding onto every bite when i tried to eat normal.then i started forcing myself to eat 3 good meals per day for 3/4 of a year and now it's the wai diet and think that i trained my metabolism so that i can now eat as well as i do and not have a weight backlash.
I am also working on getting back my menstruation- it's been absent for 4-5 months, which has happened to me before. but i have only been back on wai for 1-2 months. so, i'm hopeful to have one soon.
i live in california which keeps me warm, thank god!! i cannot live in cold climates, it makes me miserable. i then want to live in a sauna haha

[Emeira]

Thank you for answering

The HARDEST thing for me to do is to listen to my body's energy requirements. Most of the time I choose to eat fruits, not because my body needs energy, but because they taste so good and it is too hard to resist, so the result is weight gain (Consequences of Bulimia, distorted view of the reality, body and food). I just don't know when I am really hungry and need energy and when it is habitual, emotional eating.

[Christina]

I know honey, let's keep doing our best to become more and more in touch and therefore better "guardians" of our bodies. Nobody is perfect and we struggle with this area. it's about the good intentions not about getting it right all the time!

[Emeira]

I was In a birthday party, and after 3 month strict 100% wai diet I was offered a slice of cake. I politely said "no, thank you" but my mother-in-law was still asking me to eat it, so I didn't want to insult her. It was very hard but I decided to eat that cake.
Thank God, so far there is no acne.

What would you do in this situation?