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The Autonomic Nervous System and Diet…Where I’m Headed For Now

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It seems I keep learning new stuff every day 🙂  I have read part of Change Your Brain Change Your Life (I still have a lot of reading and learning to do!). And there is a lot of great information. One thing that really stood out to me already was the discussion of the sympathetic vs. the parasympathetic nervous system.

“There are two branches of [the autonomic nervous] system. One of these branches, the sympathetic nervous system, is often referred to as the “fight or flight” branch. It helps you burn energy. The other branch is the parasympathetic nervous system. This branch helps you conserve energy. It also helps you digest food.” (1)

Both in GAPS and CYBCYL I have read about this. And I found that I have major sympathetic dominance. This correlates to OCD, worry, anxiety, etc. It also correlates to slow/poor digestion. When your sympathetic nervous systems is overactive you are often in a fight or flight state. This state shuts down unnecessary processes…as in digestion. I knew that my anxiety made my digestion worse. This just makes it really understandable now. And gives me direction. I need to calm my sympathetic nervous system and stimulate my parasympathetic nervous system (I mentioned this once in an update post after reading about it in the GAPS FAQ). This will let my digestive system function and get rid of the worry. It will help my brain and gut function normally.

So I was doing a little research on diet related to the PNS, and I came across metabolic typing. Bill Wolcott says that different people have different nutritional needs (makes sense). Some people need more protein and fats, while others need more carbohydrates, depending on whether you are sympathetic or parasympathetic dominant. And depending on how your body burns energy. Here is the basic idea behind this type of diet.  You can do an online test to see what type of diet you need. Turns out I’m a carbo type…which corresponds to your body functioning best with a high carb, low fat, lower protein diet.

“Generally speaking, if you’re a carbo type you need a higher percentage of carbohydrates in your diet in order to strengthen the parasympathetic branch of your nervous system, which is weaker than your sympathetic system, and thereby alkalinize your too-acid metabolism. Or you need more carbohydrates to speed up your naturally slow cellular oxidation rate, thereby bringing it into balance by acidifying your too-alkaline metabolism.
Carbo types typically do well on a low-fat, relatively low-protein diet — one that includes liberal amounts of carbohydrates in the form of vegetables, fruits and whole grains. However, carbo types need to remember that a “low-protein” diet does not mean a “no-protein” diet. In fact, most carbo types will find that they need to include protein at most meals, but they need to focus on leaner, lighter meats, seafood and poultry than protein types. They should restrict their consumption of red meat in favor of light meat chicken and turkey and lighter seafood such as haddock, cod, perch, sole, catfish and flounder.
If you’re a carbo type you should stick to low-fat dairy products, but you can eat a very wide selection of vegetables, fruits, and grains. However, many carbo types, like protein types, do best by focusing on vegetables that contain low or moderate levels of sugar and starch.”(2)

This is definitely not the way I’ve been eating. By following GAPS I tended to eat a high protein/fat, low carb diet. Not intentionally. That’s just what tends to happen since GAPS is so focused on nourishing animal foods and fats. I’m finding that GAPS tends to be better suited for people with parasympathetic dominance (protein types). And this might be why I struggle so much with too much meat (especially beef) or fat or nuts. I don’t balance it with the proper amount of carbs.

Does this mean I need to start eating tons of bread, pasta, etc.? Absolutely not! Does this mean you can’t do GAPS and follow metabolic typing? No. I have to be more deliberate about my food choices and ratios. Carbs come from vegetables. When I put food on my plate I need to add more vegetables and less meat (the opposite of how I’ve been eating). Grains still may not be the best option for me. I have to try and see. Here is some info from Dr. Mercola on this issue.

“While this is technically correct, if one doesn’t understand the practical distinction between grains and vegetables, one is likely headed for a health disaster. It is important to remember that over two-thirds of Americans are either obese or overweight, and nearly every one of these individuals needs to lower their insulin levels.

Additionally, most people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes also struggle with elevated insulin levels that respond quite well to grain restriction.

So what nearly all of these people–likely over 85 percent of the U.S. population–will benefit from is not a low-carb diet (the Atkins Diet), but the grain-free diet outlined in detail in my new book.

So if you are a Carb Nutritional Type™ you will require about 60 percent of your food as carbs, 25 percent protein and 15 percent fat, but this type may need as little as 10 percent fat and as high as 80 percent carbs in exceptional times. If you followed an Atkins Diet you might improve initially but eventually your system would break down because it required far more carbohydrate.

Once a person attains a normal weight and does not struggle with other insulin related disorders, it is actually possible to consume some grains and remain perfectly healthy. Carb types actually can do quite well with grains, but remember this is likely to only be about 15 percent of the population at best.

Don’t stress out about the percentages; they are only rough guidelines. Even if they needed to be precise, you wouldn’t take the time or make the effort to eat exact percentages of foods every single time you ate, especially for the rest of your life.
Additionally, your activity and stress levels will affect and alter the quantity of food, as well as the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, you need to feel your best.
Last, there is also a circadian rhythm to account for. Your biochemistry moves through various phases throughout the day. These rhythms involve your hormonal output, your acid/alkaline shifts, your waking/sleeping times and many other time-based variables. While some people will have a need for the same ratios of protein, fat and carbs at each meal, others will discover that they need very different ratios at the different meals in order to derive optimum energy, well being and performance” (3)

Here is a guideline of foods that are good for carbo types.

I’ve been so focused on eating protein and fat and grain free that I think I got too low carb (again, not intentionally). While this may have helped seal my gut, it made my PNS even slower…resulting in slower digestion…and not improving my OCD.

What does this all mean? It means I have some experimenting to do. It means I need to be conscious of the ratios of food on my plate. It means I need to increase veggies. It means I’m gradually returning to where I started this journey…a whole/real food balanced diet that does not include processed foods and sugar. At the moment I am still eating a full GAPS diet. But I need to shift it a bit so that I eat plenty of carbohydrates and not quite as much protein and fat. And see if my body handles that better. I would like to add a small amount of properly prepared grains (soaked, fermented, sourdough) as well in the near future and see how I do. I don’t intend to eat “low fat.” I still think I need plenty of healthy fat. But maybe not quite as much as I have been eating and in better balance with my carb intake. I will still eat full fat dairy. I’m not a fan of low fat dairy, especially when nursing and trying to get my hormones in balance. And I don’t intend to eat tons of grains. I don’t think that’s good for anyone. I’m going to try to find the right balance of nourishing food for my body. For now that will focus on shifting from high protein/fat to high carbohydrate. In some ways this sounds like a big change, but in other ways it’s not. Really I just need to eat more vegetables 😛  And I need to be sure I’m not eating sweets. I need to combine all of information I’ve learned over the last couple years with this new information and with what I know about my own body. I still believe in eating lots of nourishing foods like eggs, butter, broth, coconut oil, fish, etc. But the quantities may have to be adjusted for each person’s body/metabolism type. Let the experimentation begin!

I know some people don’t believe in metabolic typing. I can’t say at this point if it does or does not work. But I’m going to try it. I figure I have nothing to lose. If it doesn’t give me improvement, then I find something else. But then again it might help! So this is where I’m at right now. I would also like to try to figure out Rebecca’s metabolic profile to see if I need to adjust her diet. I can’t assume hers is the same as mine. Everyone’s is different. And it can change throughout your life. Again, this is where I’m at for now. I’ll see how it goes and continue to listen to my body while focusing on healthy, real, nourishing food.

I will have to experiment with my ratios. I am a carbo type. But I think I lean a little towards a mixed type too…which would require an equal balance of protein, fat and carbs.

I am curious to see if this has any impact on Abram as well. He has had digestive issues lately, slow digestion. Is it possible that my carb/protein ratios can impact the makeup of my milk in the same way? I guess we’ll see.

There is still more that I’m learning and would like to share at some point. I will be looking into supplements. And I hope to do a series of posts on brain function and tools to overcome problems.

Do you have any experience with metabolic typing? Any thoughts or opinions? I will update as I experiment. But I’d love to hear stories from others as well.

(1) – Alternative Medicine
(2) – The Metabolic Typing Diet
(3) – Mercola

7 comments

  1. Sarah Smith says:

    Wow, some good info! How funny that we posted on a similar topic at the same time. I’ve been meaning to post about energy problems on GAPS for a LONG time, but I never seemed to get around to it. I think the metabolic type info is interesting, but I’m not totally sold on it yet. I do think, regardless, that the diet that works today may not work in a year or ten years. I think our bodies are constantly changing and we have to be willing to change our diets to maximize health. The hard part, sometimes, is being willing to change as it is easy (at least for me) to get into a mindset that the current diet is “THE” diet for me and always will be. It just doesn’t seem to be that simple in the long run. I’ve been reading some really interesting info on Matt Stone’s 180 Degree Health site about healing the adrenals by eating way more and resting a lot more. I’m gonna give this a stab and see what happens. I’m also actually transitioning off GAPS now (WOOHOO!) as my joint pain is gone and is not returning when I eat starches (for the longest time, I would feel pain returning if I ate any potatoes).

  2. christie says:

    Wow! you must have been plowing through some info! LOL! It took me yrs to get through most of that stuff and be able to apply it. I made the initial mistake of increasing starches rather than veg but def do better on a larger portions of veggies with good fats added, I find these provide max energy and keep me full longest. I don’t think metabolic typing is the ultimate however it is a great place to start and very valuable in understanding we are all different. My DH is a protein type and I am a mixed. I think if you are one extreme or another it works well however if you want more refining the ‘nutrion solution’ provides info on specific suppliments that suport either branch of the CNS, mag is for sympathetic dom and calcium is for parasympathetic so if you find mag makes you more stressed cal may be more suited this is where the ph paper takes all the guesswork out of everything and you can see imediately which foods and supps are having benificial results.

    It has been so wonderful reading your comments and gives me far more confidence to do what ‘works’ rather than stick rigidly to someone elses protocol.

    If you are after specific OCD supps check out Pfeiffer Institute as they have huge amounts of info regarding it and I thought the comments on zinc especially interesting. I tried adding a link but it’s not working but if you google OCD + Pfeiffer institute.

    Sorry about sounding so abrupt last post but my computer shut down during the post and I had to re type! About myself I have 5 chn and have been dealing with severe food and chem intol which have inproved greatly with the use of probiotics and adhering to GAPS when possible. One of my chn has severe learning difficulties which improve greatly on GF/CF diet. i know absolutly the Lord has an snswer for everything but had become exhausted looking for an answer. You have no idea how much I have appreciated everything you have posted. I have a history of SLE which has been symptom free for 11 yrs now. DH has mild OCD and has found the valarian and st johns wort and calcium have been most benificial but he is a protein typs so these may or may not be benificial for you.

    The most specific info I have come across is in Braverman’s book ‘The Edge Effect’ and ‘Rewire your brain’ who provides a diet and supp plan to boost the specific barin chemicals you are missing the Gabba type didn’t fit the metabolic typw which was me, it needed liver to boost glutamine and high purine foods which fits the protein type and veggies which fit the carb type,

    Hope that helps rather than overwhelms you. All the best Christie

  3. Mary Voogt says:

    @Sarah – Thanks for your response. I too don’t know for sure about MT. But I do know that I want to bump up my carbs for sure. So it’s guiding me along those lines. Good luck with getting off GAPS!! I too am ready to go off a bit. I can’t decide if I should start with just starches (like potatoes and rice) or do grains.

    @Christie – Wow, thanks for the response and all the great info!! And for introducing yourself 🙂 I still have a lot of learning to do for sure. I was very focused on GAPS for a while. Now God is moving me in a new, deeper direction. I need to focus on more than just my gut. It’s so fascinating to learn about all of the brain function and nervous system stuff. I will for sure look into all of the stuff you mentioned. I guess I have a lot more reading to do. Sounds like I’m just scratching the surface. I’m glad you are enjoying the blog. And I’m glad you have found so much healing yourself. Good luck on your journey!

  4. Sara says:

    Great post, Mary! You sure are learning a lot right now. I’m glad you have a new path forward. It really does make a lot of sense. It’ll be very interesting to see if this affects Abram’s digestion, too.

    Kevin and I did our metabolic typing a while ago, before we made the decision to start eating more of a primal/paleo diet. I’m definitely more of a protein metabolic type, but not entirely. Kevin is mixed and is about equal on protein and carbo, but may sway a little more toward carbo. However, even though we’ve known this for awhile, the food on my plate at dinner is mostly vegetables than it is meat… while Kevin fills his plate the opposite. 🙂 Even though I know I’m more a protein type, I just subconsciously think I need to eat way more veggies than I do meat to lose weight. But when I do this, I’m usually hungry a couple of hours later again b/c it all just digests so quickly. I’ve often thought I should try flipping it and having a higher proportion of protein over veggies to see how that affects me weight-wise… I’ll make it a few days, but then usually go back to thinking I need more veggies if I have any hope… it’s so hard to do mentally. 🙂 I also think I need to increase my animal fat intake – but olive oil and coconut oil are just so easy – lol.

  5. Mary Voogt says:

    We’re opposites, Sara! I love a plate full of meat/protein and fat. Especially now. I’m having a hard time changing my ratios and lowering fat intake. I don’t know how I used to eat so extremely low fat. I too use tons of EVOO and CO. But I also use lots of butter and love dark meat, skin, fat, etc. I don’t care about chicken breast, etc. So dry 😛 I’m struggling getting down more veggies. Probably b/c there are so few I can eat right now. So it gets very boring. I still can’t do broccoli, caul, brussels, etc. b/c of Abram. And I can’t tolerate carrots, spinach, tomatoes, peppers. That doesn’t leave much. I basically live on peas, cucumber, lettuce, beans, beets, squash and avocado (a fruit really, I know). It’s tough. Today for lunch I had pumpkin mixed with coconut oil, butter and chicken broth and a few chunks of beets. Plus some cashew avocado chicken salad. All healthy stuff. But there is no way I had a high carb/low fat/protein ratio. I could eat just a huge bowl of the chx salad. That’s the stuff I like. I’d totally try eating more protein and fat if I were you. I bet it would really help! I’m going to do my best to eat more veggies/carbs. It sure would be easier with grains or starches for sure. I might try sweet potato next week.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Thanks for this interesting discussion! I’m curious whether you can explain the doctor’s rationale for this statement (from the excerpt you posted):

    “…Generally speaking, if you’re a carbo type you need a higher percentage of carbohydrates in your diet in order to strengthen the parasympathetic branch of your nervous system, which is weaker than your sympathetic system, and thereby alkalinize your too-acid metabolism.”

    Specifically, I’m just wondering _why_ the carbs would strengthen the parasympathetic branch in this case.

    Thanks!
    Sarabeth

  7. Mary Voogt says:

    Sarabeth – Thanks for stopping by. Certain chemicals in the brain help boost the parasympathetic nervous system, like serotonin. You can get a serotonin type boost from carbs. There is more to it, but I think that is the basic idea. If you really want more info I have found that Change Your Brain Change Your Life and The Mood Cure have lots of great information. I’ll be doing another post on some of this stuff soon.

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