I am thrilled to report that my blood tests just keep getting better and better! Keto since late January 2015. Fasting (not just intermittent but multiple day fasts) since March 2017 with keto. Between June 2017 and October 13, 2017:
My C-reactive protein dropped from 1.0 to 0.9 and I have had a goal of getting it below 1.0 since my cancer diagnosis in March 2016. It was super high about 3 years ago (when I didn’t know I had cancer–the tumor was growing for 8.2 years according to my oncologist).
My fasting insulin dropped from 8.5 to 7.1 (Megan Ramos and Dr. Fung want it below 3.0 but hey, it is trending down from a super high 14 or 16 or some such several years ago pre-keto).
My fasting blood glucose was 87 which is trending down slowly but surely. It was way over 100 and then 98 in June 2017. I’d like to see it in the low 70s consistently and that will happen with keto + fasting consistently.
My vitamin D levels are now at 100 (they used to be super low, typical in breast cancer patients).
The only hiccup is my HbAc1 went from 5.0 to 5.4 from June 9, 2017 to October 13, 2017. I attribute that, in part, to going off the keto reservation a bit in July (maybe pretending to be more metabolically flexible than I actually am…) and also to a fair amount of increased stress due to my aged father’s increasing decline. So time to really stick to twice daily meditation and consciously letting go of my father’s process as he nears his 85th birthday. I can’t control it any way. So it’s is not just about food, but stress plays a major part too. I am going to double down on daily gratitude and remembering what a giant bowl of privilege I exist in these days, not just because of good keto food, nice warm shelter and decent clothing, but also because of having health insurance, knowing about keto, being part of Dr. Fung’s long distance Intensive Dietary Management Program, having all of the good people I do in my life, and being cancer-free since July 2016. I could go on and on.
I started working out 3 times per week (HIIT and weights) in late August 2017 so looking forward to my next DEXA scan in 3-4 weeks to see where my body composition is at. My goal is 25% or less body fat in 2018. I try not to look at the scale ever because it’s a terrible damn liar (I am a 6’1’ tall Amazon, weigh around 213 lbs but have a 33" waist, wear size 14 talls which can be loose, and certainly don’t look like I weigh north of 200 lbs). Like I said, screw the damn scale.
Cheers everyone and have a great weekend.
PS: When my internist won’t order all the tests I want, I just order them myself from www dot walkinlab.com and bring them to my appointments with her to discuss. Easy peasy, although I do have to pay out of pocket for those.