Here are all the resources from books to YouTube videos that helped me learn more about autoimmune diets including the Lion Diet.
The Lion Diet
Mikhaila Peterson founded the Lion Diet to cure her severe autoimmune diseases. I first heard her story on the JRE podcast you can listen to on spotify.
This is a great 30 minute video of her father Jordan Peterson summarising the benefits of the diet from his own experience.
Mikhaila has her own blog where she outlines what you can and cannot eat, a FAQ page, recipes and other tips.
Books (in order of most impactful)
Side note - I don't agree with everything in all the books but they are very informative and opening my mind to new ways of looking at food.
The Plant Paradox by Dr. Steven Grundy
This book outlines the impact lectins in plants can have on autoimmune diseases and offers his own diet.
Carnivore Cure by Judy Cho
A great book endorsing a mostly carnivorous diet but with much reference to all the different components of food that could be making us sick (e.g. lectins, oxalates, flavonoids, histamines, etc)
The Energy Paradox by Dr. Steven Grundy
Here Dr. Grundy focuses specifically on healing fatigue with his plant paradox diet.
The Keto Code by Dr. Steven Grundy
Again Dr. Grundy outlines how ketosis can help but explains it doesn't have to be as restrictive as you might think.
The Carnivore Code by Paul Saladino MD
This book gives much reasoning behind our bodies need to consume mainly animal products.
Supplements
These are the supplements recommended by Dr. Grundy in the Energy Paradox and largely relate to producing more energy. Please remember I'm not a doctor nor advising anyone to take these supplements in any doses. What supplements you should take will differ per individual and you should talk to a doctor. For example I have chosen not to take all that are listed below. I have summarised what to take and why because this info took me a while to find (especially in Australia) and so I am sharing that info with others. If you live in the Geelong region, Australia, see my page Where to Eat & Shop in Geelong to see where to buy these supplements.
Magnesium and Potassium - boosts metabolic flexibility by helping insulin get sugar out of your bloodstream and into your muscle cells and reversing insulin resistance.
-Magnesium: 300mg x2 day.
-Potassium: 99mg 2x day.
Glycine - protects the gut against glyphosates used in herbicides, improves sleep.
-Glycine: 1000-2000mg before bed.
Phospholipids - make up much of our cellular and mitochonrdrial membranes.
-Krill oil: 500-1000mg per day.
-Choline: 500-1000mg per day.
-Phosphatidylcholine: 500-1000mg per day.
-Phosphatidylserine: 500-1000mg per day.
Vitamin K2 - Essential cofactor in mitochondria function.
-Vitamin K2: 100mcg per day
Chlorella + Activated Charcoal - to be taken together. Rapid weight loss (0.5kg+ per week) releases heavy metals that are reabsorbed in our intestines. Charcoal prevents reabsorption but you don’t want to be on it for more than 2 months.
-Chlorella: 500-3000mg per day.
-Activated charcoal: 50-100mg per day.
Acetyl-L-Carnitine (L-Carnitine) - essential for carrying free fatty acids into the mitochondrial energy production pipeline (beta oxidation).
-L-Carnitine: 250-500mg 2x day.
Energy B vitamins - MTHFR mutations prevents certain forms of vitamins from being active in your body.
-Methyl B12: 1000-5000mcg under tongue
-Methyl Folate: 1000mcg per day.
-B6 in active form: 50-100mg per day.
Liver protectors - Fatty liver results from mitochondrial overload, high sugar consumption and leaky gut. These supplements protect your liver.
-Polyphenol milk thistle: 1000mg per day.
-To be taken with d-limonene found in orange peel: 1000mg per day.
Berberine and Quercetin - activate a major driver in mitochondrial repair and mitogenesis called AMPK.
-Berberine 500mg 2x day. Found in bayberry and grape root.
-Quercetin 500mg 2x day. Found in onions, the pith of citrus fruits, apples.
Ketone Salts - help improve keytone production.
-10,000mg mixed ketone salts (BHB) in the morning at start of program.
Vitamin D3 - often deficient in people with autoimmune conditions.
-D3: 10,000 IUs per day (250mcg).
Polyphenols - Boost energy levels, feeds the good bacteria in your gut, enhances mitochondrial function by protecting against reactive oxygen species generation during energy production.
-Consume in food. Found in pomegranates, dragon fruit, extra virgin olive oil, celery seed extract, turmeric, walnuts, capers, hazelnuts, coffee beans, ginger, tea, red wine, dark chocolate, kale, fennel seed.
Prebiotics - For rebuilding the gut biome.
-Inulin: 1 teaspoon per day, work up to 1 table spoon.
-Ground flaxseed: 1 teaspoon per day, work up to 1 table spoon.
-Psyllium powder: 1 teaspoon per day, work up to 1 table spoon.
Lectin Blockers - To take if you eat a meal containing lectins to reduce their harmful effect.
-Glucosamine.
-Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM).
-Hyaluronic acid.
Long Chain Omega-3s - Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA help repair the gut wall and keep unwanted particles from leaking into the rest of the body. Our brain is also 30% DHA and 60% fat and so is therefore important for brain function.
-Fish oil (distilled if you can find it): 1000mg of DHA per day.
Mitochondria Boosters - help with ATP production.
-Exposure to red light.
-NAC (N-acetylL-cyseine): 500mg per day.
-Gynostemma extract: 450mg.
-Shilajit 300mg.
-NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide): 10mg.
Ubiquinol, PQQ or Coenzyme Q10 - these are all forms of an important coenzymes in the mitochondrial transport chain which are essential for making energy.
-Ubiquinol: 100mg.
-PQQ: 20mg.
-Coenzyme Q10: 100-300mg.
Where to buy food in Geelong
Beef and lamb is to be organic & grass-fed. Chicken is to be organic and pasture raised (meaning fed only grass). Fish and seafood is to be WILD (don't be fooled by organic and 'responsibly fished' labels - what the fish is eating matters). People can react not only to what they eat, but what they are eating is eating. For example if you react to soy and you buy a chicken that was fed soy, you can have a reaction. There are many things you can consume when eating meat that can cause you to react including antibiotics, hormones, corn, wheat, soy, etc. If you look at the ingredients a cooked chook at Woolworths or ham served in the deli at IGA, you will see the meat only makes up 90%. The rest of the ingredients is often things like preservatives, colourings, regulators, nitrate etc. It is really really difficult to find meat that is just meat. Side note - some people with autoimmune disease report reacting less to grain fed meat.
Torquay Farmers Market
-Otway meat has the most delicious meat I've eaten.
- Dama Dama Free-Range sells wild deer.
-There is a store selling pork with no added nitrate (nitrate gives bacon its pink colour) and wild seafood that is not frozen.
-Sausages with herbs and salt.
Surfcoast Whole foods
-Cherry Tree Organics
-Hagen's Organics
-Beef tallow (lard)
-Best of the Bone Bone Broth
-Various brands of salt with slightly different flavours
Hungry Jacks
-I know, it's not great quality meat, but I was so relieved to realise I can eat the patties on their own. It's a good food to get when on the go or out with friends.
Pubs
-Most pubs will cook you a steak if you ask for it to be cooked with no oil, no seasoning, no sides and no sauce. Call ahead to make sure.
Water
-The mineral water from IGA is the bomb. It almost tastes like sugar.
-Recommend getting a soda stream to make carbonated water any time and reduce plastic use.
Buying supplements
For a full list of the supplements Dr. Grundy recommends see the Resources page. Please remember I'm not a doctor or advising anyone to take these supplements in any doses - I just found it really hard to find some of them so I am sharing that info with others.
-Magnesium: Supermarket $15.
-Fish oil : Supermarket $20.
-Vitamin K2: Supermarket $10.
-Vitamin D3: Supermarket $15.
-Methyl B12: Supermarket $24
-Folate: Supermarket $10
-Glycine: Surfcoast Wholefoods.
-Activated Charcoal: Surfcoast Wholefoods.
-Inulin: Surfcoast Wholefoods $22.
-Psyllium powder and capsules: Surfcoast Wholefoods $27.
-Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM): Surfcoast Wholefoods.
-NAC (N-acetylL-cyseine): Surfcoast Wholefoods.