Dr Sean O'Mara - Arguably the BEST current low carb doctor and educator

bodyfat
#1

The key thing about Dr. O’Mara is that he outlines a clear and measurable goal. His current advice aims at reducing visceral fat (body fat accumulated around the body organs).

The linked video is book-marked at the dietary strategy chapter. The video is broken up into chapters and that makes it easy to navigate for information. The chapter list is in the video description.

I only found the video 5-minute body video channel today. I don’t like the title. But the content on this video has got me interested to explore it a bit more.
Some notes (mine) from this presentation

  • Dietary - Low Carb to Carnivore eating strategy
  • Fasting - include fasting (in an interview with Dr. Ken Berry MD, Dr O’Mara talked about 48hr fasts)
  • Sprinting - aspire to this type of physical activity. But modify depending upon ability. Visceral fat can be reduced initially without physical activity. Physical activity builds lean body mass, including bone strength, for longevity. “If you can’t sprint, you are dead.” - a paleolithic biomarker to reflect on.
  • Cold showers - cold therapy to stimulate mitochondrial health inside cells.
  • Hot sauna - not sure why but have read it is a small stress to produce health resilience
  • Sunshine - or as the host asked, What type of light therapy? To produce nitric oxide and convert cholesterol. And it’s nice, it improves mental health. Stabilise sleep.

A key warning note is that chronic exercise, like jogging, will maintain visceral fat.

A hierarchy of physical activity to reduce visceral fat and fat inside muscle tissue:

  1. Sprinting
  2. Resistance exercise - weights training in a gym
  3. Sports with a mix of rest and effort (sprints inside the activity)
    …
  4. Long distance running

So, I have a few adjustments to make to dial in optimisation.

How do your low carb health strategies compare?

Deep-freeze Dee-cember (30 day carnivore experience)
(Bob M) #2

Lately, I’ve found fasting to be tough. Not sure why. It may be the 5 days of exercise.

Sprinting is very hard to do. I tried sprinting on my 4.5 acres, and the ground is too uneven. If you’re next to somewhere that’s perfectly flat, it’ll be okay.

I still go jogging once-twice per week. It makes me feel better.

I’ve tried cold showers, but honestly living in a place with cold 6+ months of the year, I like a hot shower.

Don’t have access to a hot sauna.

I can never get in the sun.

#3

It’s not that bad for me but some are missing…

I have an aching foot but I do run a bit sometimes. Very little. I need to do more. I like sprinting (even if I do it rarely) when my foot is okay… It’s too painful now and too silly to run limping - but I can’t resist slopes with an even terrain… :wink:
I do lift.

I can’t do EF since I dropped my carb intake on good days (I mean, I always have higher-carb times here and there) but I won’t give up and make it happen again.

I just don’t do it in winter but I do it in summer, it feels better then anyway… :slight_smile: I do start with cold in winter too but my torso wouldn’t be happy with the 5 Celsius or something water… Summer cold water is WAY warmer… I never have hot showers since I started to have cold ones, I dislike them now. Cold is great - just not 5C cold… And some lukewarm for some of my parts when I am really cold in winter… Even properly warm but that’s rare. I hate really warm water even on my head. I start to wash my hair with cold water in summer, of course, what else? It feels nice enough! Just a teeny tiny push, not much, not uncomfortable.

No sauna for me either. Tried it in the past, fun but I can’t see myself to do it regularly…

I am partially solar powered so sure, I go out and get some sunlight all year round. I feel lucky I can do that. I suffer when there is no sunshine for several days :frowning: I NEED it. Even if I don’t even go out (of course that is the real deal and I should, except in summer. I avoid the sun in the summer but of course I still get some and it’s fine as I do need some), it cheers me up.

(KM) #4

Cold shower … :unamused: … I dread putting a cold tape measure around my waist. Resounding No Thank You from the kidney area on the cold shower idea. Sauna I could do all day long. I do hot (bath) tub soaks, hoping for the same sort of stress.

#5

I often don’t look forward to undress in the bathroom (in my colder moments)… But a cold (going to warm in winter) shower? Not such a big deal, really. I never challenged myself much and never did anything uncomfortable and I got used to the level I am doing quickly! A really warm shower would be unpleasant now! :smiley: Even a warmish lukewarm feels wasteful :smiley:
I do have times in winter when my limbs get super cold water, my torso the lukewarm one, all is well… And then I grab the towel and my limbs start freezing… But I can handle it.
I never get anything noticeably good from my cold showers but it has some benefits (smaller electricity cost - probably minimal but existing :D, I never need to wait for the water to get warm and surely it does something good to me even if I don’t notice it).
My SO, on the other hand gets WARM after a cold shower… But he has odd heating things anyway. If we go out for a walk in light frost, I get very warm hands due to the exercise while he has freezing hands in super warm gloves… But after some (not short) time (doesn’t matter if we are still walking or came home) he gets warm hands, his body realizes it’s needed. I don’t think body doesn’t realize mine is needed, it just makes me warm if I move, period. Overheating is a problem for me, even in winter. So my heating depends on exercise (it’s the biggest factor), mood and similar things (eating surely helps but I never feel cold just because I fast) but I don’t get this “the heating turned on due to being in cold for a while” my SO so often do. Interesting.

A cold shower really isn’t THAT hard. It sounded impossible for me too. But I started it in summer when I like cold water and then I got used to it… And the knowledge I can do it just fine helps in times when I really, really want warmth and not cold water. Even then, I never want truly warm water, just lukewarm and only for my most sensitive parts… Okay, maybe for my limbs after I froze them off with 5-10C water, that’s not enjoyable even for me, merely not really uncomfortable :smiley:

But there are plenty of people who need warmth more than I do… Still, many can’t imagine cold showers but it would be quite fine if they just tried it, that’s sure, I am surprised too :slight_smile:

(Todd Allen) #6

Nice to see someone promoting all the main points of what I have found working for myself. Dr Sean’s advice may be where I refer others seeking guidance in the future. I have SBMA a genetic supposedly progressive neuromuscular wasting disease. But at 59 I have been slowly rebuilding strength and muscle since going keto 8 years ago and if I can do it probably most others can too. I now think of myself as a body builder. The very worst body builder in the world but still that is better than not being a body builder. Here’s a pic of me strength training in my bathroom converted into a weak sauna with the addition of a space heater and some infrared bulbs.

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