Cholesterol on targeted ketogenic diet?

#1

So I have been eating keto since around 20th of january (and rather low carb since january 1st, and have probably been in ketosis for almost a month. I have been weightlifting for many months now, but on the ketogenic diet my strength has decreased and doesn’t really seem to improve. I would therefore like to try a targeted approach similar to the one mentioned in Targeted Keto Diet: Boost Performance with Carbs Post Workout - Thomas DeLauer, just for pre-workout instead.

I have also recently become familiar with the work of Dave Feldman https://cholesterolcode.com/, and the importance of high HDL and low triglycerides on a keto diet, but I am worried that ingesting 10-15 g glucose and 10-15g fructose 40-60 min before training, three times a week, might cause trouble to my cholesterol in relation to the Feldman way of understanding cholesterol. Any thoughts on this? Or any data about how targeted keto affects cholesterol?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Although we enter ketosis as soon as our glycogen is depleted, it can take six to eight weeks (sometimes longer) of being in ketosis for our muscles to become adapted to using fatty acids for energy in place of glucose. You might try waiting another four weeks or so to see what happens to your performance level. Most people find that they know they are fat adapted when their performance returns, and it often returns at a higher level. In the meantime don’t worry about it, and don’t overstress yourself physically. You are already putting your body through quite a bit, just from the change of diet.

If you don’t feel fat-adapted in another four weeks, then by all means consider the carb business. I have read enough to convince me that cholesterol level really has nothing to do with heart disease, but that’s just me. If you have to worry about a doctor or an insurance company, then the Feldman protocol becomes an option to try before getting blood drawn.

My personal concern would be the spikes in insulin level resulting from eating carbohydrate, but that’s because my primary reason for this diet in the first place was to stop being a pre-diabetic. Insulin scares the crap out of me, because there is so much diabetes on both sides of my family.