Day four

No grain, no processed food, and no milk products. This is the first day I've stuck with the diet completely. I had very little coughing little pain and only a little swallowing. I also ate relatively little food. BMI = 26

Day three

I fasted for two meals and ate cereal and milk for dinner.

Moving back to older blog

I keep flip flopping like an unstable politician on blogs. My blog entries will be on this blog.

Caveman Diet Day 2

- 2.5 days from yesterday.

Paleo Day 1

Day one was not completely Paleo. I had a sandwich I had made two days before that had bread (of course) and cheese. I hate to waste food.

GERD Elimination Plan

My question is what is the best way to solve the GERD problem quickly and permanently.

I have been to doctors who have diagnosed me with asthma, allergies, and GERD. Only the last doctor, an ENT suggested GERD and that was after a second visit. The allergy inhaler did nothing to improve my symptoms. The Prilosec did help my symptoms but I believe also sent me to another doctor visit with lower abdominal pain.

Ending today I tried a rapid weight loss plan using Slim Fast shakes. I have lost a few pounds but it has not been good on my lower end so I'm ending that plan as of today.

After much research on the internet and quite a few years of these problems worsening, my hypothesis is that my GERD has the following causes:

• The fat around my stomach pressing on the stomach and pushing the stomach contents up my esophagus.
• Eating too fast
• Eating too much
• Sugary and processed foods especially chocolate
• Foods that I am allergic to according to a recent test (Corn, milk, oats, peanuts, potatoes, soybeans, and wheat)

I also believe that the GERD is a life threatening emergency that must be stopped as fast as possible and through any reasonable means necessary.

I will test this hypothesis by going onto a paleolithic diet for at least 30 days and by chewing all food until it is completely liquid in my mouth before I swallow it. The ENT recommended that I try the paleo diet and my research points to this as a possible solution as well. 

The theory behind a paleolithic diet is that humans developed over millions of years as hunter gatherers and that our bodies are best suited for that type of foods.  Modern hunter gatherers don't suffer from the heart disease and obesity that we "civilized" people do.

I have no desire to live in the bush wearing a loincloth and being a snack for bugs on a regular basis, but the idea behind the paleolithic diet sounds reasonable. At any rate it will cut out the processed foods that I know are not good for me.

I will report the results as they occur in this blog.

Current Health Challenges

As of right now I have the following health problems:

• A chronic cough
• sometimes difficulty breathing
• A feeling of mucus running down the back of my throat when my nasal passages are dry
• Sometimes a lump in my throat
• A constant need to swallow
• a hoarse throat
• Near constant heartburn
• 29 pounds above my ideal weight
• Tendinitis from constant computer use
• Getting farsighted

All but the last two are symptoms of serious heartburn or GERD (Gastrointestinal Reflux Disease) of a kind that can result in deadly esophageal cancer.

To say I'm worried would be a serious understatement.

Action has to be taken and fast. See the next post for my plan.