Periodic lurker to poster

(Colin) #1

Hello!

My name is Colin. I resisted making an account after started keto earlier this year after a bout of evo-vegetarianism, which seemed to serve me well, but I stumbled into keto naturally and then found the actual process was a thing. I have not stayed on keto for more than 14-16 days, usually slipping back for healthy carbs or a some pizza here or there. My body seems to legitimately enjoy the fasting and not spending all day eating (8:16 being my usual day-to-day, now) has greatly lessened my lower back pain.

April 2016, before I started keto, my blood results were HDL: 20-35, Trig: not sure, LDL: 200-220, Total: 295ish. I freaked out. I began toying with my diet. This year I began keto on and off. I just got another blood test done with my new doctor: HDL: 46, Trigs: “Good,” LDL: 225ish, Total: 325. My doctor offered statins which I refused. My wife doesn’t want me doing keto and I’ve always had high LDL. My family doesn’t have a history of heart disease to my knowledge (my mother doesn’t know her father though). I don’t smoke, drink, or do drugs (even smoke pot).

I want to give keto a fair shake. Can someone offer me advice for any blood panels I should have done to figure more out? My wife is an extreme skeptic. Showing her evidence is pointless because it doesn’t come from a doctor. I need to get on top of this but I work from 0900-1730ish and then 2030-0330ish. I hate recipes and my keto diet consists of whole foods (seeds, nuts, fish, veggies(kale and collards), oils, etc). Food itself isn’t the problem. Maybe I should have taken part in the community a long time ago.

My usual diet expanded:

1200-2030

6oz-8oz Salmon cooked in Kerrygold butter with pink salt and pepper (or any whole spices, no medley)
1-2 avocados with pink salt and cheese
3 tbsp hemp seeds (2tbsp shelled, 1hulled)
1oz almond, cashew, walmut (mixed or single)(not in the first 3 days of a cycle)
3 tbsp chia seeds in water (sugar-free askiate)
1 tbsp Kerrygold + 1 tbsp coconut oil + 1 tbsp abocado oil + 1 tbsp olive oil x2/day (sometimes I mix it with the chia drink once)

I’m pulling from memory. After about two or three days food is not palatable to me, so I begin fasting. I’ll usually fast for 18-36 hours without a problem and only eat because I think I need to. I drink 1-2 tbsp of pink salt during work and fasts. I take a multivitamin, 7dhea keto, and take fish oil. I keep magnesium pills in my work truck. I usually have electrolyte pills for emergencies.

Goals:

  • a 9 day fast because Odin hung on Yggdrasil for 9 days for wisdom.
  • keto for three months (next doctor appt)
  • convince wife that keto isn’t the problem, but it is my inability to keep at it.
(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

Keeping carbohydrate low is over 90% of this way of eating. Replace all the carbohydrate calories you are no longer eating with fat calories, and your insulin will stay nice and low, which will allow your inflammation to heal, your insulin resistance to go away, reverse your diabetes, unclog your arteries, allow your fat cells to clear out the excess, and help clear up your brain. (Apart from that, keto has very little to recommend it. :grin:)

Two videos got me started on this way of eating. Perhaps your wife might find them interesting. The first is Dr. Peter Attia’s TED talk about his assumptions about obesity and diabetes:

The second is a lecture by Dr. Robert Lustig, about the ill effects of sugar:

Dr. Lustig scared me to death, because diabetes is rampant in my family. This lecture helped me to recognize and come to terms with my addiction to sugar and other carbohydrates (even though I am a member of a couple of Twelve-Step programs for other addictions, it wasn’t as easy as you might think).

The easiest way to stick to this way of eating is to do it. It’s actually easier to stay away from sugar and refined carbohydrate completely than to try to eat them moderately. Don’t swear off for ever, but when you have cravings, simply postpone acting on them till tomorrow. Tomorrow, you can have all the pizza you want; just don’t have any right now. (If you’re a praying man, that will help the process. Every morning, on awaking, ask to be given a sugar- and carb-free day.)

Please keep us updated on how things are going for you, and feel free to message me privately.

(Carpe salata!) #3

If you wife would read a book try:
Dr Jason Fung - The Obesity Code.

Dr Fung is a USA Urologist treating people with kidney failure - most of them because of diabetes. He mostly treats them with keto.

(Colin) #4

I apologize for not getting back immediately. I have doubled down with the WOE (and discovered Boar’s Head uncured beef franks). I feel characteristically better.

I have been helping my wife in/out of the hospital. She has been diagnosed with Crohn’s. I will share the videos with her, and the book.