Just enlisted. First Post

#1

Hello. This group sounds like good knowledgeable and well meaning folks.

I am 68 y.o. male. Reasonable health for age. A1c 5.3. Insulin 3.9. But high trigs. Was a round 250 to 450 for many years. HDL only 36. BMI hung around 29. I was waisted at 38". 72" height.

Made my young adult years through college etc on the B.A.D. diet. You all know that one. Beer And Donuts! Hey, its Vegan, right? But I made up for it being active and outdoors.

When I became a responsible adult I adopted as best I could the guidance from the USDA D.G.A. Dietary Guidelines For Americans. As most here know, that is a formula for failure. And most likely a large contributing cause of the obesity and metabolic health disaster in America.

So after decades of frustration I came across a book by a crazy Irishman named Cummins. Not that I was looking at the time for dietary or weight solutions. I just wanted to get to the bottom of my body pain. Of course it turned out, after reading Cummins, to be inflammation from the metabolic train wreck which is the gift of the USDA DGA. The gift that keeps on giving, as they say.

So in the first 18 months of adopting a low(er) carb high(er) fat diet I dropped from 224 lbs to 210. Not trivial, but not record breaking. And not on Keto.

Then I visited my 38 y.o. nephew. He is a fire captain. I saw him at his station. I met him out front by his engine. Had not seen him for while. I was impressed how fit and lean and strack he was. He looked like a tanned Maasai warrior in a blue uniform. You know the Maasai? Those tall fit east African men who live outdoors herding cattle and drink three quarts of high fat milk a day and eat lots of meat and do not suffer from typical American chronic diseases.

Right then and there I decided I had to make some more changes. At one time I looked like that too. (sort of). I may never again, but I can do a lot better than I am. BTW, my nephew eats full Carnivore.

So I plunged into Keto research. I was previously disinterested in Keto because the celebrity banter about it and the failed attempts of my friends, who always tried fad diets and always failed. After looking into real Keto I could see why. They always just wanted to “glue” it onto their grab bag of bad habits and expect miraculous results. Never happened.

Anyway, I decided to do it right and made some more personal changes. Started 3 months ago and have good results in reduction of waist, weight, inflammation etc. Gained a lot of new food enjoyment. Got free of the mental bondage of “fat is bad” thinking. Dumped all the “good” DGA food that was actually crap.

Still losing fluid. Ketones only occasionally measure above 0.5. But, hey, I figure I still have a lot of trigs to burn out of my body. So I am patient. And I am fine tuning the meal plans and recipes.

This is not a drudge diet. It is pleasurable and rewarding. I’m not looking for anything instantaneous. You can’t undo a 40 year slow train wreck in a week. But results are solid. I am down to 36" waist and 202 lbs. Triglycerides down to 132. All good. But not exactly a Maasai Warrior.

Yet.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

Welcome to the forums. That’s quite a story, and thank you for sharing it with us.

(Stickin' with mammoth) #3

I like your positivity, sir. It makes you very powerful. Welcome and have fun with the search function–there’s so much information in here, it’s like a keto database.

(Robin) #4

Best intro yet! Glad you’re here and already have your head screwed on right.
You got this!

(Marianne) #5

Agreed! I love the way we can eat. Keto is the easiest “diet” I have ever been on, and the benefits far exceed just weight loss. You will find the longer you are on keto, the higher your HDL will go, which is a good thing.

#6

Welcome! That’s an inspiring story. I related to so many thoughts that you shared, especially watching people try and fail at Keto because they didn’t truly apply it fully or in the right ways. I saw that same thing happen years back when Atkins was new. I was one of the only ones reading his entire book all the way to the end, and applying it fully, and I watched the world flounder after only a few chapters or doing the diet based solely on hearsay and then tore Atkins apart, blaming him for their failure. If you really want it you do the homework, or else you don’t really want it. The “fad” followers don’t really want it and aren’t allowing themselves to get or stay focused.

I absolutely love and agree with your slow and steady approach, not expecting instant gratification and success but realizing it’s a large ship to turn around in an ocean of bad medical advice and crappy food products, and that takes patience, skill, and determination. It sounds like you have completed the turn and are smoothly on the course to better health. Congratulations on your efforts!!

(Bob M) #7

Many of us will never be like them. Have you seen their teeth? Shockingly white. And supposedly the men try to outdo themselves in vertical leap, and they have an amazing vertical leap. Saw one picture with a warrior jumping with people around him, and his feet appeared to be near their shoulder level.

#8

Certainly. But it sure is a nice self image exercise! Thanks for engaging in the fun with me.

(Bob M) #9

Found this, although it’s not as high as I’ve seen in some pictures, though my memory could be wrong:

#10

Sure! Easy enough. I can do that too!

NOT

#11

Interesting observation. This was noted by Weston Price, DDS when he toured the world cataloging health matters in various places. The pre-western food crap cultures had great teeth.

Ironically, I was just viewing a short vid on the Liberation of Dachau by the US Army. There is a close up of the emaciated masses pressed against the wire fence when the Army arrived. They are all grinning broadly. Surprisingly, in many cases their teeth were in really great shape. Some of this maybe from their dietary habits prior to imprisonment. But also maybe their dental health was preserved by the lack of the food most of the free people were eating outside the camps. Dunno. Just a conjecture to consider. Certainly excess carbs and other harmful “modern” garbage food was not their dietary regimen while behind the wire.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

They were eating the cheapest, crappiest food available, so it’s not the short rations that preserved their teeth. Far more likely that the conditions in the camp were so drastic that people didn’t survive long enough to lose their teeth. And as far as dental cavities go, we know that soldiers in the camps stole their gold fillings, etc., so they didn’t have perfect teeth.

(Joey) #13

@EssenSturm Awesome. Welcome to the new you. :vulcan_salute: