9 DIET: WHAT YOU EAT HAS A HUGE IMPACT ON HOW YOU FEEL
9.1 Why diet is important
It is very common for mercury toxic people to have all kinds of food sensitivities and digestive issues. Bad reactions to food can cause symptoms ranging from indigestion and fatigue to psychological problems. Being sensitive to a food is different from being allergic. Eating food you are allergic to can cause a life-threatening situation. This discussion is about food sensitivity.
Food is made up of chemicals. Some of the chemicals that can bother you are man-made, but many are naturally present in food. Some chemicals that are perfectly healthy for everyone else become poison to toxic people with their impaired metabolism. You are poisoning yourself when you eat chemicals to which you are sensitive. You stop poisoning yourself when you get these chemicals out of your diet. It is far more effective to clean up your diet and not eat any poison than to take exactly the right antidotes in the right amounts in the form of nutritional supplements and prescription pills. You can never match up the right amount of antidote with each poison every day, but if you don’t eat any poison, you won’t need any antidote.
Dietary control can relieve the need for a lot of medication and supplements. Unfortunately, following diets is a lot of work. You end up having to prepare all your own food because it is so difficult to eat what other people prepare while sticking to a special diet. Some of the restrictions require the use of more expensive ingredients, too.
Don’t feel discouraged if preparing a special diet for yourself is more than you can manage. If you start a special diet then decide it is just too much work, or it isn’t worth doing, just stop. There is no moral imperative for dietary modification. If it works for you, great! If not, skip it. Special diets are purely for symptom control. It is not the same as being a diabetic, where eating the wrong thing can really hurt you. When you are toxic, eating the wrong diet may make you feel bad but it won’t do lasting harm. You will still recover just fine if you chelate enough.
A good resource for learning how to eat a basic, healthy diet is The Weston A. Price Foundation at www.westonprice.org. They may have a chapter near you where you can find out the best places to buy locally grown organic food.
9.2 Avoiding problematic chemicals in your diet
9.2.1 Fruits and vegetables
Conventional supermarket produce can be high in pesticides and weed killers. Organic produce will cost more but to the extent you are able, switch over. If you can’t afford to go 100% organic be aware of the eleven most contaminated items and at least avoid those.
The following have far higher pesticide levels than any other conventionally grown food. On average, you will reduce your pesticide intake quite a bit if you only eat organic versions of these foods.
Table 9.1
High pesticide fruits and vegetables
potatoes
raspberries
spinach
turnip greens
strawberries
pears
peaches
apricot
apples
nectarines
collard greens
Other types of fruits and vegetables are grown without much use of pesticide. These are pretty safe even when grown conventionally (not organic).
Table 9.2
Low pesticide fruits and vegetables
Best
Very good
(total residue less than 0.002 ppm)
(total residue less than 0.05 ppm)
honeydew melon
carrots
sweet peas
bananas
mango
tomatoes
broccoli
cauliflower
avocado
cantaloupe
pineapple
watermelon
sweet corn*
winter squash
- Do note that sweet corn can have a lot of glyphosphate (RoundUp), a weed killer on it, unless it’s organic
There may be plenty of perfectly good “natural” food available at the store, from neighbor’s gardens and other sources, but for practical reasons you may have to stick mainly with certified organic. Organic food in the United States has to meet United States Department of Agriculture regulations.“Natural” is not a well-defined term and it takes a lot of time and energy to figure out when it means the product is good or when it means someone wants to sell you stuff at a mark-up. For the food where you do know, certain “natural” items can be a good way to get budget nutrition.
9.2.2 Packaged foods
Packaged food from the supermarket will usually have indigestible ingredients. Even completely healthy people should not eat partially hydrogenated oils, not to mention chemical preservatives and so forth. The advice of Michael Pollan who wrote In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto is good:
“Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”
If the ingredients sound like chemicals, they aren’t food.
9.2.3 Meat
If possible, eat organic meats. The meat of organically fed animals won’t have chemicals that may bother you. Organic free range and pastured animals have a more natural composition to their meat and it is more nutritious. However, organic meat and poultry raised in the conventional manner—feedlot finished beef, caged chickens—is less expensive and easier to find. In the USA, the safest conventional, non-organic meat from the supermarket is lamb. Your individual situation will determine your best choice, but good quality meat makes a lot of people feel so much better they bear the higher cost and find it well worth the money.
9.2.4 Fish
Don’t eat large predatory fish as they are at the top of the food chain and accumulate a lot of mercury. Farmed fish are usually not a good choice, either. They are not high in omega 3 oils and are exposed to agricultural chemicals from their feed.
Low mercury fish are flounder, plaice, sole, salmon, anchovies, sardines and catfish. Low mercury shellfish are scallops, clams, shrimp, oysters and squid (calamari). Most people can eat as much of these as they wish.
Canned light tuna and lobsters are roughly equal in mercury content and five or ten times higher than the above fish. You can eat these occasionally. Canned light tuna is the lowest mercury type of tuna, then skipjack tuna. After that, the mercury content in other forms of tuna fish rises rapidly. If you want to eat fish other than the low mercury fish we mention, you need to study the fish mercury list and decide what you’re willing to accept as a reasonable exposure. If you order fish and chips, for instance, and ask for halibut instead of cod, you will more than double your mercury intake.
A fish list from the FDA with mercury concentrations in ascending order is in Appendix B.
9.2.5 Game and game fish
There are some problems with fished and hunted meat that can be avoided with appropriate care. For fish, seek local information on fish mercury advisories. Freshwater fish in the northeastern USA and upper Midwest usually have far too high a mercury level to eat safely. In the western USA there are some lakes and streams with dramatically high mercury levels as well. ONLY eat fish caught where you know the advisory is based on analysis of fish from that body of water. Ocean fish will generally be fine as long as you follow the guidelines for low mercury fish.
There are two problems with hunted meat. An enormous number of small bullet fragments end up in the meat and you wind up eating them. Do NOT shoot game with lead ammunition! Use steel, copper or tungsten ammunition instead. Also, if you are taking animals on agricultural land they will be filled with the same chemicals the farmer is using on his crops. It is best to hunt animals in non-agricultural areas.
9.2.6 Doing your own cooking
If feasible, buy basic ingredients and cook from scratch. We know you are tired and overwhelmed because you’re sick. But if you take the time to prepare a few things that are healthy for you as often as you can, you’re going to feel a lot better and have more energy. Organic and home cooked food tastes better, too!
It might be something as simple as making a sandwich or rice bowl by slicing up something you roasted on the weekend along with an organic tomato you bought at the store. Even a handful of organic almonds and an organic apple can be a tasty and satisfying snack or meal and you don’t even need a fridge or stove to cook them. If you only learn how to make a few things and often eat food you don’t have to cook, this will still greatly reduce the amount of general chemical toxins your body has to deal with. You’ll feel better as a result.
If it is really not possible for you to cook any of your own meals, there is a lot of prepared organic food that you can buy and microwave, eat out of cans or heat in the oven. You can buy some of it on online. It won’t be perfect, but it will be better than nothing. There may be BPA in the plastic around your organic TV dinner but you will ingest a lot more nasty stuff if you eat non-organic food instead.
After you spend a few weeks eating additive free food you’ll start noticing reactions when you eat something problematic. You will learn what dishes at home or restaurants are good for you. As long as you stick to what you know works, you’ll be able to go out with friends, eat during travel and business and have something tasty for dinner when you are just too tired to cook. You will also know what to request if someone else does the cooking and asks what you would like to eat.
9.3 Thiol food sensitivity
Below we discuss sensitivity to high thiol foods. Little information is available about this issue and it is common among mercury toxic people.
Thiols are also referred to as mercaptans or sulfhydryl groups. Foods high in thiols and their metabolic precursors are also colloquially referred to as sulfur foods. This can be misleading as some forms of sulfur are not thiols and do not cause the problems thiols cause. Examples are glucosamine sulfate from cartilage or magnesium sulfate in Epsom salts. There are many lists of the sulfur content of foods available in books and on the internet that are not relevant to thiol sensitivity.
Mercury can ruin your body’s ability to regulate thiols properly. People who have thiol levels that are too high will not tolerate high thiol foods and those with levels too low will need to eat plentiful amounts. Approximately a third of toxic people are too high, a third too low and the rest fall in between. You might need a high thiol diet, a low thiol diet, or just to be aware of dietary thiols and eat them in moderation. Or you may be one those lucky people who can eat anything they want!
High thiol foods can also exacerbate yeast overgrowth in your digestive tract, a perennial problem for the toxic person. A low thiol diet can improve yeast symptoms dramatically, even for the person who is not otherwise sensitive to thiol foods.
High blood pressure, emotional volatility, mood swings over a period of an hour or so after eating, and craving sulfur foods which seem to give the person a lift go along with being sensitive to thiols. It is not easy to figure out your thiol status after just one meal, since a high thiol person reacting to high thiol food feels quite good initially. The reaction happens in a certain order and not all at once. First, the person is happy, euphoric and chatty. Then they become babbly. Then they become libidinous and kind of messed up, mentally hyper and disconnected. FINALLY, after two to three hours, they become tired and crash. They then become cranky, achy and depressed. This part goes on for days.
It s only later, long after the meal is forgotten, that the crash comes. Feelings of depression may develop, as well as tremors and neurological symptoms like those found with Parkinsons or ALS. It can be impossible to tell from casual observation if thiols are causing symptoms or not. Most meals from most cuisines contain significant levels of thiol, and reactions stack up meal after meal. In fact, people who have this problem may think sulfur foods relieve symptoms since they eat a sulfury food and feel good for an hour or two. Just when they are crashing from one sulfur food binge, they may crave more sulfur foods to get the initial euphoria back!
To figure out your thiol status, you need to do an elimination diet. Eat exclusively low sulfur foods for at least four days. Do not chelate with ALA during this time. Reintroduce high sulfur foods at ONE meal. Watch what happens.
Unfortunately, a low thiol diet eliminates many typical vegetarian and vegan protein sources. If you are unwilling to eat any animals, the highest protein low thiol foods available are pumpkin seeds, almonds, pistachios, flax seed, cashews, hazelnuts and walnuts (in order from highest to lowest protein content). Also, oats and wheat are far higher in protein than any other grains, with oats having about twice as much as wheat and about the same as walnuts, cashews and hazelnuts. Pastry flour is relatively low protein. High gluten flour for bread making is high in protein. Vital wheat gluten, on which seitan is based, is around 70% protein.
A round of alpha lipoic acid will raise your thiol levels. If you are sensitive to thiols it is important to keep them out of your diet to make room for this because you must use alpha lipoic acid to recover your health as none of the other chelators will get the mercury out of your organs and cells. As a rule, people who do well with thiol foods feel good while taking alpha lipoic acid and can use robust doses. People who are thiol sensitive get a lot of side effects from it and need to stick to lower doses.
Table 9.3
High thiol food list
alfalfa sprouts
daikon
radishes
amaranth
dairy products
rutabaga (Swede)
artichokes, Jerusalem but not French
dandelion greens
sauerkraut
asparagus
eggs
sesame seeds, ground, as when in tahini (when in hull ok for most, except the very sensitive)
bakery products containing whey, cysteine, eggs or enzymes
garlic
shallots
bean curd/tofu milk
green beans
sour cream
bean sprouts
greens (like arugula, used in salads)
soy cheese
beans of all sorts
hearts of palm
soy milk
bok choy
horseradish
spinach
broccoli
jicama
split peas
brussel sprouts
kale
sunchoke
Table 9.3 (cont.)
High thiol food list
buckwheat
leeks
tahini (from ground sesame seeds)
buttermilk - cream turns into butter and buttermilk. Buttermilk is where the thiols end up. Butter is thiol free
lentils, of all sorts
tamarind
cabbage
lotus root
tempeh
carob
milk, from any animal
tofu
cauliflower
miso soup
turnip
cheese, of all sorts - aging of cheese does not affect thiol sulfur content
mustard
turnip greens
chives
onions
turmeric (though not high in thiols, it is really good at raising thiol levels)
chocolate
papaya (slightly)
quinoa
coffee
peas, of all sorts
watercress
collard greens
peanuts
whey
cream
pineapple (slightly)
yeast extract
Watch out for foods that have garlic and onion powders added, e.g. processed meats like hot dogs.
Meat is also high in sulfur, but most people tolerate it well due to its low thiol level. It also depends upon how sensitive you are. If you need to limit meat, you should supplement amino acids, especially glutamine. Glutamine also helps to heal the gut lining.
Some people with inhalation allergies to pollen will have cross reactivity with certain fruits - OAS or oral allergy syndrome. Bananas, citrus fruit and grapes are often nonreactive unless the person is directly sensitized to them as a food allergy.
See section on ‘sulfur foods’ in section 9.3
“Unscented” products often have a neutral masking fragrance in them. Be careful of this and teach anyone who shops for you to look out for it in the ingredients.
Magnesium chloride solution.
If you apply a lot of Aspercreme some of the aspirin gets into your bloodstream. Don’t also take your maximum dose of aspirin by mouth at the same time. If you have ringing in your ears, you’re overdoing the aspirin.
If you are using hydrocortisone cream every day or very frequently, limit your daily application to 2 tsp. A one ounce tube should last a week or more. If you are using it faster, slow down.
Table 9.4
High thiol supplements
ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid or Thioctic Acid). Obviously this needs to be used for chelation purposes at some point, whether you are sulfur intolerant or not. If you are sulfur-sensitive, you may only tolerate small amounts of ALA, so start low just in case. This is not always true, but worth remembering. Also, do not take ALA during your sulfur exclusion trial.
Table 9.4
High thiol supplements
bromelain and papain (use enzymes derived from animals)
chlorella
curcumin
cysteine (1-cycstine) dairy source acidophilus
DMSO
extracts of the high sulphur foods glutathione
N-acetyl Cysteine (NAC)
Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)
Methionine (converts down into cysteine)
S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe)
Turmeric (while it does not contain thiols, it is really good at raising thiol levels)
Table 9.5
Lowthio
food list
abalone
cloves
lobster
sage
acai
coconut dried/ fresh*
loquats
salami
acorn squach
cod liver oil
lychee
salmon
alcohol t
coriander (spice)
mace spice
salt
allspice
corn
mackerel
sardines
almond extract
corn (sweet)
mahi mahi
scallopini
almond milk
cottonseed oil
maize
seeds - sunflower, linseeds, pumpkin, flax
anchovies
cucumber
mangoes
semolina
ancho chili
dates
majoram
sesame oil , but sesame seeds are high in thiol sulfur
anatto
am
meats prepared with tenderizer
shark
Table 9.5
Lowthio
food list
anice
dill seed
mint
shellfish
apples
dill weed
mushrooms
shrimp (fresh)
arrowroot
dried fish
non-frozen lemon juice
shrimp paste
artichokes
(french)
duck
nutmeg
smoked, liquid smoke
aubergine (all forms)
eel
oats
smoked fish
avocado
eggplant (all forms, e.g. japanese aubergine)
octopus
smoked herring
bacon
elderberry
olives (green or black)
snail
bananas
fennel seed
orange peel, orange zest
sorghum
bamboo shoots
fermented fish
oregano
soybean oil
barley
figs
oysters
spaghetti squash
basil
flounder
paprika
spearmint
bay leaves
fruit (all fruits other than papaya and pineapple are low thiol)
parsley
spelt
beef
game hen
parships
star anise
beef liver
game meat
pasilla chile
squashes (acorn, butternut, spaghetti summer, winter, yellow crooked neck, zucchini)
beer
gelatin
peaches
sweet potato
beets
ginger
pears
tapioca
berries
ginger root (fresh)
peppermint
thai basil
billberry extract
ginger spice
peppers
thyme
black pepper
goose
pepper, white
tomatillos
Table 9.5
Low thiol food list
bologna
gooseberry
pepperoni (sometimes contains added ingredients such as garlic)
tomatoes
breadfruit
grapefruit
persimmon
trout
brown sugar
grapefruit juice (squeezed)
pheasant
tuna
bulgar wheat
guava
pickled fish
turkey (dark meat)
butter
halibut
pigeon
turkey (white meat)
butternut squash
ham
plum
vanilla bean (extract)
cantaloupe
herbs, fresh (basil, thyme, rosemary)
polenta
venison
caraway
honey
poppy seed
vinegar (white)
caraway seed
honeydew melon
pomegranate
water chestnuts
cardamom
jerky
pork
watermelon
carp
king mackerel
pork liver
wheat
carrots
kiwi
potatoes
white pepper
casaba melon
kumquats
quail
white sugar
cassava
lamb
rabbit
whole wheat flour
celery
lavender
red chard
winter squash
celery seed
lemon grass
red pepper
Worcestershire
sauce
cherry
lemon
rice
yams
chicken (white meat, dark meat and organs
lemon peel, lemon zest and lemon oil
rice milk (made from rice gluten)
yellow crooked neck squash
chicken liver
lettuce
rosemary leaves
zucchini
cinnamon
limes
rye
clams
lime leaf
salami
- There is no significant amount of thiol precursors or thiols in coconut. However some coconut products are sulfited to keep them white colored. Read the label.
Table 9.5
Low thiol food list
** beer, wine, spirits - all low thiol, unless someone adds a thiol source, e.g. milk, or a spear of asparagus in a bloody mary or an onion in a martini
Table 9.6
Supplements that are safe and support the sulfur pathways
molybdenum is very good at supporting the sulfur pathway and worthwhile supplementing. Dose = 500 - 1000 mcg/day.
If you have elevated cysteine and you want to convert some glutathione, take 2:1 weight ratio of glutamine and glycine and your body will do the rest.
9.4. General notes on diet
The most important thing is to eat organic and then figure out how you react to thiols. After that there are any number of diets to try. What is confusing is that, with the complicated metabolic dysregulation of the mercury toxic person, what works for one person may do absolutely nothing for another, or even make them worse! You can’t just assume because a totally raw vegan diet resolved all kinds of issues for you that it is going to be the right thing for your equally toxic neighbor. They may need to eat steaks and bacon to feel good.
Many people get an almost religious fervor about their nutritional beliefs. They assume that what has worked for them is what everybody should be doing. Don’t pay any attention to nutritional proselytizing. You are going to have to figure out for yourself what works. Perhaps you are one of those lucky people that can eat pretty much everything with no problem!
Below is a list of diets you might want to try. Almost all have books and websites dedicated to how to do them.
• An organic and natural diet, which is explained above and restricts artificial chemicals.
• A diet based on your thiol status as explained above.
• A rotation diet, which is rather complicated to do but may help people who are sensitive to everything.
• A vegetarian diet, which is very calming.
• An Atkins style or ketogenic diet which restrict carbohydrates.
• The Specific carbohydrate diet (SCD), Body Ecology diet (BED), FODMAR GAPS and Best Bet diets, which restrict certain kinds of carbohydrates.
• The Feingold or FAILSAFE diets which restrict some natural food chemicals.
• The Gluten Free /Casein Free (GFCF) and Gluten Free /Casein Free /Soy Free (GFCFSF) diets which eliminate gluten, casein and soy. These are very common allergens for toxic people.
Remember, dietary restrictions, like taking medications and nutritional supplements, are to help you feel better while you are detoxing. When you get your health back, you should be able to eat anything you want and feel fine. Don’t worry too much if you simply can’t control what you eat as rigidly as required to adhere to this or that diet. Likewise, if you feel the effort for the symptom relief you gain is just not worth it. Your only concern should be what works for you. Don’t worry about what anybody else thinks about your dietary choices.