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Raynaud syndrome, neuropathies, fatigue, concentration deficit, somnolence, brittle nails. A personal experience

Sunday 12 th February 2017

Raynaud’s disease, tingling and numbness in hands and feet, cramps, fatigue, concentration difficulty, drowsiness, … these diseases may have different causes, but one of the most important one is a problem in the circulatory system, that prevents to provide the needed energy to the extremities and to the brain.
After experiencing these diseases for several years, I explain in this article my conclusions about the influence of nutrition and life style on these diseases.

Raynaud syndrome is a lack of blood supply in the tip of the fingers, or even in the whole fingers.  They turn completely white and insensitive, and it appears under certain circumstances. One of them is when the temperature drops below a certain value, that is not necessarily very low; it can be 15ºC. 
Tingling, numbness and cramps in limbs are symptoms that are related with the peripheral nervous system. But the origin of this problem go back to a blood flow problem, where the distal median nerve doesn’t receive enough blood and lead to a lack of sensitivity, such as numbness; or a very intense involuntary contraction of muscles, that results in cramps. 
Tingling and numbness may aggravate with time, and become a peripheral neuropathy, with acute pain in the extremities.
 

Diabetes, sugar, fats and inflammation

It’s widely accepted in conventional medicine that diabetes is one of the most important causes of these kind of diseases we are dealing with. But in some cases, people  suffer temporal cramps or numbness, and without being diabetics, the cause is also a blood flow problem due to a temporal hypoglycemia or high blood sugar, which leads to a phenomena called glycation, with the associated vascular injury. It’s a pre-diabetes.
As we have explained in the previous article, the responsible food of the glycation is, according to Dr. Perlmutter, sugars and carbohydrates; while Dr. Graham thinks that fats are the responsible. Dr. Campbell-McBride attributes, on the other side, the cause of vascular problems and the kind of diseases we are dealing with in this article, to the endogenous production of alcohol and other toxins by opportunistic and pathologic bacteria in the intestine, that feeds on carbohydrates and sugars that are not well digested by the person.
I would like to explain my personal experience when eating any kind of carbohydrates: grains, beans and pulses, starches, sugars, syrups, honey and dry fruit (but fresh fruit it’s not any problem). Approximately one day after the intake, I suffer of hypothermia, hypotension, tingling and numbness in the superior extremities during all night; and if the temperature in low, also Raynaud’s disease during the day. Also, my nails turn brittle and my hair is weaker. The effect remains for 2 approximately days. The same thing happens eating fruits with fats or oils.
Eggs make also numbness and pain to appear in my legs. I can’t explain the exact reason to this reaction, it may be the high amount of fats in them; the inmune inflammatory effect; or to the oxidative stress.
These experiences I’ve described coincide with Dr. Perlmutter’s and Dr. Campbell-McBride’s theory about carbohydrates and sugars; and Dr. Graham’s theory about fats.
 

Digestion and energy

Another cause that leads to a decrease in blood flow in the extremities is digestion.
Digestion is a process that consumes a lot of energy, which is taken at the expense of reducing the activity of other organic processes. We have all experienced some time an irresistible feeling like sleeping after a copious meal. This is because the blood flow and the energy of the body are concentrated in the digestion, and it decrease in other parts of the body, which are mainly the extremities and the brain; this is, the peripheral and central nervous system. 
Therefore, if our meals are excessively abundant for the body, and they are repeated too frequently, maybe it won’t give somnolence, but it will reduce the attentiveness, memory, mental acuity and all the rest of cognitive processes. If this situation happens too often, although at too low scale, it may lead to mental developmental delay in children, behavior disorders, hypoactivity and low performance, chronic fatigue, and even depression. Concerning extremities, the affectation  may result in neuropathies, Raynaud’s disease, cramps, etc. And it would entail a lack of nutrients in skin, hair and nails.
In the same way, when you practice sport or any important physical activity, the energetic expense is concentrated in muscles; so it’s not possible to perform digestion or any intelectual activity at the same time than a physical activity. This is the reason why, for example, it’s advised to wait some hours after a meal before swimming. So then, the lighter a meal is, the less the energy is needed for digestion, so the greater is the energy remaining for the rest of activities in the body.
The energy spent to digest different food depends greatly on every person, the type of cooking, the food combining and many other factors. But approximately, 100 grams of fruit (about an apple) consume about 12 calories to perform the digestion; while 100 grams of meat spend 60 calories (72 calories for a steak); 100 grams of pasta burns about 36 calories (7 calories for every tablespoon); and oil needs 27 calories every 100 grams (about 4 calories for every tablespoon). 
On top of that, the energetic balance of food is also very different. Meat consumes 30% of their caloric contribution for their digestion; fruits and vegetables consume about 20%; carbohydrates burn 10%, and fats only 3% of their energy delivery for digestion.
 

Sleeping

Sleeping not enough is another main reason for a lack of energy.
In my experience, the most important aspect that impacts on Raynaud’s disease is sleep deprivation. When this situation is given, and temperature is low, and/or the process of digestion starts, then the circulation of blood in the capillary vessels of the extremities experiences important deficiencies. 
 

Physical exercise

Practicing some sports, on the other side, improves Raynaud’s syndrome, because the blood circulation is activated in all the muscles and extremities, whereas it decreases the blood flow in the brain and digestive system.
The completely lack of activity is highly harmful for all the systems. The body follows the law of minimum energy, so after a long convalescence in bed, or the immobilization of a member because an accident, rehabilitation is needed in order to recover the normal functions of the muscles. The same happens, in a smaller scale, after a long trip. Although it may last for “only” 8 hours in car or plane, the body already decreases the energy dedicated to the muscular system. (Interestingly, this phenomena doesn’t take place at night, as the body intelligently identifies that this reduction of activity is because of sleeping, and it doesn’t take it into account to decrease the muscular force).  This is why after mi frequent trips back to Switzerland from Barcelona in winter, when entering in a extremely cold house, unloading the baggage, and placing everything in order, Raynaud’s syndrome appeared in my fingers. My circulatory system had been kept down in my muscle system because of the long trip, and it couldn’t face a sudden increase of activity.
 

Congenital vital energy

The expense of energy to maintain the basal metabolism is not the same for everybody. It’s not true, for example, that all the same kind of people need the same calories. So for example, not all adult sedentary women consume 1800 calories daily. I’ve verified that in my case, for example, I need very much less calories, and an excess of them leads to health disturbances.
In the same way, not every person has born with the same vital energy. Some persons born with genetic diseases; other ones enjoy a perfect health and develop an extraordinary athletic indurance; other ones are born with paraplegias and they become genius. So then, the digestive force of every person is different too. Some of them have several alergies and food intolerances since young; other ones seem to resist eating any kind of junk food without any apparent injury. 
This is why some people can keep healthy just following a traditional home made food; while other ones need to pay very much attention with food and adhere to some diets. 
This is my case. For different reasons, I’ve found myself with the need to follow a frugivore diet if I want to enjoy a good health. Like me, many people have a very delicate vital energy, that is affected in great mesure by the food we consume. 
If I stick to my fruits, I’m able to walk during a week, 6 hours a day, climbing mountains under the sun of the summer. But if I jump my diet, a strong hay fever in spring and summer makes me impossible even go upstairs just one stage. 
I think that this lack of energy im the central and peripheral nervous system, may have some responsibility in some neurological, degenerative and behavior diseases, too.
 

Stimulants

In order to alleviate this lack of energy, people use to intake some stimulants, such as meat, coffee, tea, chocolate, and unfortunately, some people even go to drugs. But stimulants have an effect very likely to giving a whiplash to a tired horse in a race. Yes, maybe this horse will win the race, but what will his fate will be afterwards? The stimulants extract the tiny reserves of energy that still exists in the body, exhausting it even more, day after day.
Instead of searching for stimulants, the only solution the the lack of energy is to rest, not only physically but also mentally and physiologically. The first reflex should be to recover the missed sleeping hours, with a nap or advancing the time to go to bed. Fasting, semi-fasting or light meals are really needed during the days where energy is not enough to perform the digestion. A relaxation session, with a mediation of at least 15 minutes, is also very beneficial for a mental rest.
 

Conclusion

There are mainly three systems that compete for the energy of the organism: digestive system, nervous system and muscular system. When the available energy in the body is low because of different reasons, such as lack of sleep, improper food, stress, etc., then some of the systems have a great demand of energy, and the other systems may suffer a scarcity of that energy, with all the associated symptoms and diseases.
Following a healthy diet and life style will allow that all these systems work full of energy.

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