BB.

The last part of the article, I’d like to share with ya’ll if you don’t have time to read the whole thing:

What does it all mean?

Hello? Are you still reading? OK good.

Let’s talk practicality.

What can you do right now to address any potential hormonal problems that might have occurred with nutrient deprivation?

If you think you have a hormonal problem related to the above set of circumstances…

Figure it out

Get tested. I suggest a full sex hormone panel plus thyroid and 24-hour salivary cortisol. GH/IGF-1/somatostatin tests are less common and typically only used where docs suspect GH deficiency or excess, particularly in children/teens. Start with your doctor/endocrinologist or a qualified naturopath and see what you can negotiate.

Make a complete list of everything you’re experiencing. Even if it doesn’t seem relevant (like sleep, or mood, or cravings). Start to become an archaologist of your own biology. Dig shit up. Pay attention. Check in. Learn your physical and psychological cues, such as:

• mood, anxiety/depression, mental health, cognition, irritability, etc.

• energy levels and fatigue

• quality and quantity of sleep; normal sleep-wake cycles

• heart rate

• body shape and normal fat gain patterns for you

• appetite, hunger, and satiety

• cravings and food behaviours

• physical performance and perceived effort

• immunity and injury/illness recovery

• digestion and GI health

• skin

• reproductive cycles and libido

• pain perception and awareness; shifting patterns of pain and/or inflammation

• sense of overall wellbeing and mojo

Almost nothing, if it happens more than rarely, is irrelevant.

Low-hanging fruit

If you’re fasting regularly, stop. Now. Just stop. Especially if you’re relatively leaner and exercising regularly.

Eat relatively regularly, every few hours when you’re genuinely hungry. You don’t have to be rigid about this, just be aware of your physical hunger signals. If you’re doing this right, you should be genuinely physically hungry about every 3-4 hours. Eat until you’re satisfied.

Eat breakfast. The folks who seem to genuinely do well with breakfast skipping tend to be young male ectomorphs who may have a different GH machinery than you. Alwyn Cosgrove — who documents his clients’ progress obsessively and now has hundreds of data points — says that whenever he gets his female clients to eat breakfast, they start losing fat. True story. Hormones have a daily circadian rhythm, which can vary between individuals. A morning meal for someone who’s previously been nutrient-depleted can potentially fire up the furnace again, because it can send a signal of “Phew, food’s coming in, we’re going to be OK!” to a body that is feeling pretty anxious about famine.

Add a small portion of slow-digesting, high-fiber carbs to every meal. It doesn’t have to be a lot. A cupped handful will do. If you’re far enough into hormonal fuckedupitude that you’re dealing with insulin resistance, your body needs time to recover and respond properly. Depending on your individual dietary tolerances and food preferences, opt for things like:

• sweet potatoes/yams

• other starchy tubers such as yuca

• potatoes

• bananas (green or ripe), plantains

• other fruit

• beans, legumes, peas, lentils

• whole, unprocessed grains (soak them first if possible)

My hunch is that starches work better than fruit here because of the way the brain perceives glucose vs. fructose. But don’t overthink this. Just put the frickin’ sweet potato in your appropriate sweet-potato-related orifice and get ‘er done.

Do your best to ensure good food quality here, and try to go as unprocessed and primal as possible (e.g. a baked potato beats a potato chip). I am definitely not giving you a license to go hog wild into the brownie tray. Keep it real and sane. Don’t bullshit yourself. But honestly, if you’ve been restricting like a mofo for a long time, the details are less important than just getting into the habit of steady carb intake. If you can tolerate bread with no ill effects, the occasional slice won’t kill ya.

Pay attention to how you feel. I know I already said that. But it bears repeating. By the time we start circling the hormonal toilet bowl, there’s a good chance we’ve ignored a lot of body cues.

Bigger-picture stuff

Review your eating habits and patterns. You may need to eat more in general, more carbs, and/or more often. There’s good news: Abnormalities in the GH–IGF-I axis are reversible with refeeding. Look at your intake and ask yourself: What might count as metabolic stress?

Remember that the cumulative load of stress is the real problem here. Being an anal-retentive dietary fussbudget will cost you. As will flipping out about every single fucking thing you eat. As will overtraining and under-resting. As will worrying about whether you’re going to die of face cancer from eating a bagel. Just eat the damn food and lighten up.

Kill stress. Kill it with fire. Root it out with extreme prejudice. Get real about your sleep, your psychological environment, your self-talk, your work habits, your training load and intensity, your (lack of) rest and recovery protocols, your expectations, your relationships, and everything else that could be draining your tank. Get over wanting to be a superhero and embrace your vulnerable humanity. It’s OK.

Stop reading shit on the internet (except me, of course, ha). Step away from the computer into the real world of YOUR body. Worry less about the details and more about the big picture. My whole hypothesis here could be totally useless for explaining YOUR situation. Doesn’t matter. Just follow the real-life evidence wherever it leads you. Got a theory? Great! How’s that working for YOU?

Stop saying “should” and start saying “is”. Maybe Dietary Protocol X should work according to Expert Y or Anecdotal Evidence Z… but if it doesn’t feel good for you, it doesn’t fucking work for YOU and YOUR body. That is what it is. If you argue with reality you will always lose.

Consider your unique “stress sensitivity” and metabolic blueprint. Again, forget about “should”. You are YOU. Special snowflake YOU. If you’re someone who’s typically more sensitive to other things like sensory input, light and noise levels, nuances of things, tastes and textures, drug doses, food intolerances, etc. there’s a good chance you’re more metabolically sensitive too. (Even if you’ve tried to kill your sensitivity, or numbed it out, or pretended to be a badass.)

Consider the source. If you’re a middle-aged woman, don’t listen to a damn thing that young males say, unless said young males have a wealth of hands-on experience and research knowledge in the field of middle-aged women’s health. And even then, be suspicious.

Match your body to the information. If you are female, start by understanding that hormonally and evolutionarily speaking, a female body — especially one of reproductive age – is not exactly the same as a male body. An older body is not exactly the same as a younger body. A body in 21st century Western society is not exactly the same as a Paleolithic body. A human body is definitely not a mouse body. (Yes, I know I mentioned a rat study above, but take it as a starting point rather than gospel.)

Think long-term. Something might be working great for you now. Will it work in a month? 6 months? A year? 5 years? Face up to the inconvenient question of sustainability.

Balance the seesaw. If you add stress in one place you must take it away elsewhere. If you’re trying to lose fat and/or training hard, you must actively chase recovery and restoration. You must also do de-stressing, parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) dominant activities such as low-intensity rambling (especially outdoors in nature while getting sunshine), yoga, relaxing swims, laughing, cuddling, meditation, etc.

Stay checked in. Calibrate constantly. Try something and observe how you feel. Remember that it may take time to notice the effects. Go slowly, step by step. Be generous with your time, self-love, and patience. If you’re deep into this thing, it’ll take you a while to get out.

YOUR body is your boss. Nobody else. Love it, and listen to it.

Final word: What’s the “best diet”?

OK smartass Krista, what do YOU think is the “best diet”?

Well, obviously, there isn’t a single “best diet”. But here are some guidelines.

Don’t be crazy. Like S/M, be safe, sane, and consensual. If food, eating, and reading/thinking/arguing about food/eating are taking over your life, that’s being crazy. Unless being crazy is your job, like me.

Lower the stress load. That might mean eating a little more carbohydrate than conventionally recommended by low-carb folks. It means eating enough to support YOUR needs, whatever those are. It means removing inflammatory foods (sugar, wheat, maybe dairy for some folks, etc.) as much as possible, calibrating based on YOUR symptoms and individual body blueprint. Both over-restriction and bingeing are stressful. Try to find a middle ground of…

Eat when you’re physically hungry, and stop when you’re satisfied. Learn the body cues that will tell you what both of these things are.

Eat real food. Not processed crap. Not “edible food-like substances”. Eat stuff that comes from the ground or the field or the water. Animals and plants will do nicely.

Help your body do its job of digestion and nutrient processing. Eat fermented foods and probiotics. Occasionally eat something from your garden without washing it (assuming no animals are using your soil as a litterbox). Keep your gut happy and healthy.

Eat slowly and mindfully, in a relaxed setting. Stress — of any kind — shuts down digestion and harms bacterial flora.

Chill the fuck out. Don’t overthink this. Be real. (See “Don’t be crazy.”)