Couple Questions in regards to blood work specifically…
background: 50 yo female. Been low carb for 8 years, Keto for 6. Started at 210lbs (5’2") with hypertension, sleep apnea, daily headaches on awakening, fatigue, awful reactive hypoglycemia, uncomfortable in my own skin, etc. The reactive hypoglycemia is what drew me to low carb-if the sugar spikes are causing the crashes-remove the sugar, right? Of course Dr checked 3 hr GTT, and it was normal, so the advice was to go back to Weight Watchers! um, no
I currently sit between 155-160 lbs, but at my lowest was 135 lbs about 2-2.5 years ago. I’ve been in current range 1.5 years, ironically started a new stressful job 1.5 years ago,. That being said, I stay calm and keto on, knowing the gain is due to not being able to consistently IF because as a trainer, I host new reps and eat meals with them and frankly the job is stressful and i still emotionally eat! i check ketones and with the random occasional drop to .2, i know they come right back up when i “reel it in.” All the above health issues resolved and are still ok. Except the slight uptick in blood pressure, which concerns me, but i feel that too will come down when i implement more fasting and stricter carb restriction (to below 20 total grams, etc)
I have my annual physical today and will request the usual blood work. They run the usual, i request fasting insulin. In the prior two years was below normal 2-3, and they wanted to refer me to Endo, which i never pursued, obvious reasons why not.
Now to the Questions:
-In addition to my normal blood work, what else besides fasting insulin should i request? HbA1C has been 5-5.2.
-Cliff notes version of Dave Feldman’s recommendation on cholesterol hack? was it higher fat for days prior or fasting longer, I forget and no time to research it now
-any other recommendations/pointers?
Thank you so much in advance!
Kim