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Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 29, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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For me it's an N of 1 so I can't really say. And my achilles pain has gone away in the past without diet changes.

But I just did some more searching, and it appears that a low carb diet could improve tendon health after all.

Specifically, there is a link between diabetes and tendon health. A high sugar diet leads to production of AGEs which cause tendon problems as well as other, more serious problems.

Perhaps a low-carb diet isn't necessary. But the standard American diet has so much sugar that something like 10% of the population is diabetic, and another 38% with pre-diabetes. I have to imagine that this could impact tendons.

GPT-4 let me down.

Yeah, like you said, these kind of injuries or pains just seem so absolutely flukey that it feels like pure guesswork trying to get rid of them or prevent them. Personally, I've had that with IT band issues in running. In principle, I know that these tend to be from weak glutes and/or hip flexors, but that still doesn't help me understand when and why it becomes a problem. I've rolled through training months with consistent 60-70 mile weeks and zero pain only to wind up on the shelf from much less, much lower intensity work later in the year. Why? Well, if I knew, I would do something about it.