My Ten Steps to complete from RLS and to amazing good health
Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2022 12:36 am
I have posted a number times about my progress toward complete relief from RLS. More than seven years ago I found that I could switch my RLS on and off by controlling the amount of oxalate in my diet. In subsequent years I discovered and shared various issues that could impede a person’s progress to relief via a “low oxalate diet”. One of these impediments is the liver’s tendency to produce excess oxalic acid after consumption of gelatin and other concentrated sources of glycine. Another is the grocery industry’s proclivity to spray “non-organic” vegetables and fruits with an oxalic acid solution.
My attention to my diet and to various issues surrounding “eating healthy” led me to experiment with other dietary modifications which seem to have given me extraordinary improvements in my health and vitality. Not only have I become completely free from any discomforts of RLS, but I feel like I have a new pair of legs, with a vitality and a “spring in my step” that I haven’t known for 30 or 40 years. In addition to the rejuvenation of my legs, I have slimmed down to the my college weight without reducing my food intake. And, I stopped having severe allergies to dust mites and pollens.
I realize my extraordinary improvements may be idiosyncratic. However, because some people have expressed interest in my protocol, I have compiled my dietary modifications into a list of ten steps. I offer them here in the hope that others may find them beneficial. The first five are specifically tailored to addressing RLS issues. For now, all I can say about the other five is, “you might want to try this for a couple of months.”
Other than my own experience, I have no scientific basis for believing that the co-toxicities of fluoride and refined, bleached and deodorized cooking oils made from seeds caused me to lose my ability to tolerate normal amounts of oxalate and glycine in my diet. Nevertheless, I suspect this is, in fact, the root cause.
As always, I wish you all the best. Jim Hejl
MY TEN STEPS TO ACHIEVE COMPLETE RELIEF FROM RLS (AND A NEW LEVEL OF GOOD HEALTH)
1) Eat a low oxalate diet.
2) Take magnesium supplements but not magnesium glycinate. Excess glycine seems to stimulate the liver to produce oxalic acid inappropriately.
3) Avoid gelatin and gelatinous soups and stews because of their high glycine. Be mindful of animal protein that may be especially high in glycine. Collagen supplements probably should be avoided.
4) Eat organic vegetables and fruits. Non-organic are typically sprayed with oxalic acid solution post harvest to preserve freshness and nutrients.
5) Avoid eating asparagus. Apparently asparagusic acid operates similarly to oxalic acid.
6) Avoid refined, bleached and deodorized cooking oils made from seeds. I believe these oils have made me especially susceptible to fluoride poisoning. (I mostly use unrefined, virgin coconut oil and cold pressed olive oil. I also enjoy butter and ghee.)
7) Limit wheat products to those made with unenriched, unbleached, unbromated flour. Eat unenriched, organic pasta. When using commercial yeast instead of the natural leavening of sourdough starter, allow the dough to rise unrefrigerated for 12 to 18 hours, or more. (I typically buy King Arthur flour.)
AVOID CONSUMING FLUORIDE! Drink properly filtered or purified water. Avoid non-stick cookware that isn’t PTFE and PFOA free. Avoid canned foods unless the can liners are free of fluorocarbons. Don’t drink bottled or canned beverages made with fluoridated water. Wine, especially from California, is typically high in fluoride. Many pesticides are high in fluoride, so eat organic. (If you drink water purified by reverse osmosis you probably should add back appropriate minerals.)
9) You may need to take a break from goitrogenic foods. RLS and oxalate intolerance may be evidence of unusual susceptibility to fluoride and you may, like me, have a significantly impaired thyroid. In addition to damaging the gut lining, impairing iron absorption, causing magnesium deficiency and suppressing melatonin production, fluoride has traditionally been used as a medicine to suppress thyroid function. I experimented with avoiding all goitrogenic foods and my thyroid function greatly improved. After avoiding fluoride for more than a year I am slowly reintroducing cruciferous vegetables and the many wonderful fruits of the rosacea family. (I had been wary of eating fruit because of wide swings in my blood sugar. Eventually I realized that, for me, it was the goitrogens of certain fruits, rather than the fructose, which was causing my energy swings.)
10) Whenever possible avoid medicines that stress the liver’s detoxification function. I suspect the RLS augmentation from Pramipexole and similar drugs is due to liver impairment. Oxalic acid is a normal byproduct of liver function and it must be properly disposed of. When liver function is impaired, overproduction of oxalic acid may occur, especially in the presence of high glycine.
My attention to my diet and to various issues surrounding “eating healthy” led me to experiment with other dietary modifications which seem to have given me extraordinary improvements in my health and vitality. Not only have I become completely free from any discomforts of RLS, but I feel like I have a new pair of legs, with a vitality and a “spring in my step” that I haven’t known for 30 or 40 years. In addition to the rejuvenation of my legs, I have slimmed down to the my college weight without reducing my food intake. And, I stopped having severe allergies to dust mites and pollens.
I realize my extraordinary improvements may be idiosyncratic. However, because some people have expressed interest in my protocol, I have compiled my dietary modifications into a list of ten steps. I offer them here in the hope that others may find them beneficial. The first five are specifically tailored to addressing RLS issues. For now, all I can say about the other five is, “you might want to try this for a couple of months.”
Other than my own experience, I have no scientific basis for believing that the co-toxicities of fluoride and refined, bleached and deodorized cooking oils made from seeds caused me to lose my ability to tolerate normal amounts of oxalate and glycine in my diet. Nevertheless, I suspect this is, in fact, the root cause.
As always, I wish you all the best. Jim Hejl
MY TEN STEPS TO ACHIEVE COMPLETE RELIEF FROM RLS (AND A NEW LEVEL OF GOOD HEALTH)
1) Eat a low oxalate diet.
2) Take magnesium supplements but not magnesium glycinate. Excess glycine seems to stimulate the liver to produce oxalic acid inappropriately.
3) Avoid gelatin and gelatinous soups and stews because of their high glycine. Be mindful of animal protein that may be especially high in glycine. Collagen supplements probably should be avoided.
4) Eat organic vegetables and fruits. Non-organic are typically sprayed with oxalic acid solution post harvest to preserve freshness and nutrients.
5) Avoid eating asparagus. Apparently asparagusic acid operates similarly to oxalic acid.
6) Avoid refined, bleached and deodorized cooking oils made from seeds. I believe these oils have made me especially susceptible to fluoride poisoning. (I mostly use unrefined, virgin coconut oil and cold pressed olive oil. I also enjoy butter and ghee.)
7) Limit wheat products to those made with unenriched, unbleached, unbromated flour. Eat unenriched, organic pasta. When using commercial yeast instead of the natural leavening of sourdough starter, allow the dough to rise unrefrigerated for 12 to 18 hours, or more. (I typically buy King Arthur flour.)
AVOID CONSUMING FLUORIDE! Drink properly filtered or purified water. Avoid non-stick cookware that isn’t PTFE and PFOA free. Avoid canned foods unless the can liners are free of fluorocarbons. Don’t drink bottled or canned beverages made with fluoridated water. Wine, especially from California, is typically high in fluoride. Many pesticides are high in fluoride, so eat organic. (If you drink water purified by reverse osmosis you probably should add back appropriate minerals.)
9) You may need to take a break from goitrogenic foods. RLS and oxalate intolerance may be evidence of unusual susceptibility to fluoride and you may, like me, have a significantly impaired thyroid. In addition to damaging the gut lining, impairing iron absorption, causing magnesium deficiency and suppressing melatonin production, fluoride has traditionally been used as a medicine to suppress thyroid function. I experimented with avoiding all goitrogenic foods and my thyroid function greatly improved. After avoiding fluoride for more than a year I am slowly reintroducing cruciferous vegetables and the many wonderful fruits of the rosacea family. (I had been wary of eating fruit because of wide swings in my blood sugar. Eventually I realized that, for me, it was the goitrogens of certain fruits, rather than the fructose, which was causing my energy swings.)
10) Whenever possible avoid medicines that stress the liver’s detoxification function. I suspect the RLS augmentation from Pramipexole and similar drugs is due to liver impairment. Oxalic acid is a normal byproduct of liver function and it must be properly disposed of. When liver function is impaired, overproduction of oxalic acid may occur, especially in the presence of high glycine.