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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   2303 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for December 13, 2023

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

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My keto diet came to an end as scheduled on Thanksgiving. I lost about 12 pounds in 2.5 months, so decent results but nothing world-shaking. I was strict for maybe the first half of that, then less strict.

Pros:

  • Effortless weight loss
  • Delicious food that I looked forward to every meal
  • Zero self denial or hunger
  • No cravings for sweets or carbs
  • Less tendonitis

Cons:

  • Acid reflux
  • Much higher cholesterol

So let's address the cholesterol issue. In 2020, my LDL (bad cholesterol) was slightly high, but overall fine. When I got it checked after my diet, it was 297. This is very high and concerning.

I am making an effort to reduce my cholesterol now and will get another test in a couple days. I predict a much lower LDL. I will also likely get a coronary calcium scan to see if I have any early signs of heart disease.

I was pretty upset about the high cholesterol, but it turns out it might not be all that bad. It turns out I pattern-match (almost, but not quite) into "lean mass hyperresponders". These are people who have low BMIs, high HDL, low triglycerides, and EXTREMELY high LDL.

In this group, having low BMI is actually correlated with "worse" cholesterol numbers.

This Harvard med student is very skinny can run a marathon in 2:40. This puts him easily in the top 1% of cardiovascular fitness. Yet his LDL is an off-the-charts high 400!

So how did he reduce his LDL to normal levels? By adding 12 Oreos a day to his diet. He kept his normal diet the same, consuming copious amounts of saturated fat. He just ADDED 12 Oreos to his existing diet for several weeks. His body responded by LDL dropping 250 points to normal levels.

I believe the data about cholesterol causing heart disease is of very poor quality. My instinct is that for a person with a low BMI, a high cholesterol level doesn't tell the whole story. My extremely high LDL level might be perfectly safe, even good.

But I am not willing to risk my health on this counter-narrative and so will making efforts to reduce my cholesterol by eating oatmeal and supplementing with Berberine intermittently. I predict good results, but epending on my calcification score, I might also consider statins. Unfortunately, my current doctor seems incapable of doing anything except for regurgitating WebMD, so I'm doing a lot of this research myself which is not ideal.

I lost about 12 pounds in 2.5 months

So most of your weight "loss" was glycogene and water associated with glycogene, not fat. Will return quickly.

No, it's not "most". Maybe 5 pounds of water weight if that.

I've been off the diet for 3 weeks. Trust me when I say that my glycogen stores are fully replenished. I've been eating like a pig. I'm still 8 pounds lighter and my waistline is smaller.

I believe the data about cholesterol causing heart disease is of very poor quality. My instinct is that for a person with a low BMI, a high cholesterol level doesn't tell the whole story. My extremely high LDL level might be perfectly safe, even good.

This sums almost all of fitness/nutrition research. Even with the most meticulous of data collection and stats, it's basically a garbage in garbage out problem. In over half a century of this stuff being studied, there is little consensus. A study may show that high cholesterol foods are bad, but 'badness' entails a tiny increased likelihood of a cardiac event over many decades. Something not worth losing sleep over.

Curiously, before I went on Keto, I noticed I would get some pretty nasty acid reflux for a few minutes at a time when I ate unusually high-carb meals. When I went on pretty strict Keto, that vanished entirely. I'm now on what I consider "lazy keto", where all the meals I make at home are pretty strict keto, but I don't sweat eating Keto much when I go out to eat, which is a few times a week, and drink beer when I do. It seems to do the job fairly well as far as keeping my weight from going up much but not being too much of a pain in the ass to stick to. The acid reflux is still gone though.

So how did he reduce his LDL to normal levels? By adding 12 Oreos a day to his diet.

If he didn't deep fry them in pancake batter beforehand, then he missed an opportunity.

Congrats on the weight loss!

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