Janelle wrote:But since I just came up with this myself after reading, I'm a bit worried that I'm taking too many supplements that would end up hurting me?
I've had adverse effects from supplements myself, so I'm also leery. If you are considering trying full vegan, B12 is considered a must have. http://veganhealth.org/articles/dailyrecs has recommendations based on scientific evidence.
Janelle wrote:I've been sleeping a lot better so far.
Anecdotally, better sleep seems to be reported by low carbers who increase carbs.
Hi all,
I know I disappeared since last January... life just kinda happened. For a while, I was keeping track of my diet, and trying to be consistent, but was just making myself crazy. After I managed to get the major things under control (sleeping at night), I came up with a less strict diet that I could still live with and focused on moving, work, and trying to finish my book rather than stressing over my diet.
The good stuff -- I went from struggling with desperate exhaustion and sleeping issues, to feeling pretty rested everyday. Still not sleeping through the night, but I can usually fall back asleep when I wake up. So I've been feeling tons better.
The bad stuff -- I got my blood test results back today, and here I thought that feeling better, my blood work would be a lot better? I know you guys are used to this kind of frustration, but man, this is frustrating!
I switched to a moderate fat mostly vegan diet + some fish and some cheese. Took me some getting used to going from a paleo diet, but I feel great now comparatively. I quit taking supplements, fish oil, and coconut oil, and switched to EVOO. I eat tons of nuts (primarily walnut/almonds) and seeds (chia/hemp).
I haven't been measuring my carb, protein, fat in take day to day, but I know my diet has been pretty high carb. So I'm going to try and reduce carbs for 6 weeks and see if that helps.
Can you guys help me interpret what this might mean, if I can conclude anything at all? The last one (Lp-PLA2), after reading about it, scares me. My doctor wants to put me on statins because of that one number. Have you guys found anything specific that seems to bring it down?
My Vitamin D keeps going down... It was at 25 a year ago. I was taking supplements for a while, then decided I'd just spend more time in the sun, since it was summer in TX. Apparently that didn't work.
Do you guys have suggestions on what I should try?
Nice to see you posting! I'm so happy you're feeling better...sorry your lipids weren't necessarily reflective of that. Forgive my many questions in advance; I'm just trying to get a fuller picture.
-Tell us how your diet has changed from one test to the next.
-You describe yourself as primarily vegan. Do you eat a lot of rice or legumes?
-What's your weight doing? Is it stable? Over time, are you overall losing a bit or gaining a bit?
-Do you practice any caloric restriction/intermittent fasting?
-Do you know your fasting BG or A1C?
-Are you exercising regularly?
-Do you have your homocysteine level?
Your lipids didn't change too much. The overall LDL-P is higher, primarily due to small LDL-P. Your increase in LDL particle size is good; as is your HDL and HDL-P increases- nice work:D
One easy fix, on the increase in small LDL-P, might be to either cut out or greatly reduce your dairy intake. Dr. Steven Gundry suggests that E4s shouldn't eat dairy at all; especially non-A2 dairy. He says that cheese, A1 in particular, can lead to a sharp increase in small LDL-P. I still cheat a bit with occasional goat cheese, A2, in my salad and non-fat unsweetened A2 kefir.
Maybe once you've given us a little more info, we can better help. Also, I'm hoping others here will have some helpful suggestions, particularly on the Lp-PLA2.
-Tell us how your diet has changed from one test to the next.
Old test -> low-carb, high fat/protein, primarily meat (lots of fish then pork/chicken), eggs everyday, and vegetables and ate a lot of cheese/yogurt and coconut oil too, and wine/sake.
New test -> I eat a lot of legumes & squash and some rice,oats, potatoes - in that order. Mostly gluten free. I eat lots of nuts, greens everyday, mostly kale/spinach and berries. Snack on nuts a lot. I sub cashew sauce for ricotta/sour cream in things, so I eat quite a few cashews too. Eat dark chocolate everyday. No dairy milk or yogurt anymore, drink hemp milk/almond milk, egg-whites only when I do eggs, and cheese is mostly goat cheese and parmesan and I cut way back on my cheese intake. I eat fish once or twice per week. Cut out alcohol completely and cut way back on caffeine (drinking decaf coffee and 1 cup of tea), which mostly fixed my sleep issues. I still have the same heart arrhythmia but it''s a lot more subtle and not keeping me up all night.
-You describe yourself as primarily vegan. Do you eat a lot of rice or legumes?
Yup, see above.
-What's your weight doing? Is it stable? Over time, are you overall losing a bit or gaining a bit?
I was at 135, dropped to 125 when I first went vegan then have been stable for over 6 months. I don't seem to be changing weight no matter what I eat now.
-Do you practice any caloric restriction/intermittent fasting?
Nope. I just eat when I'm hungry.
-Do you know your fasting BG or A1C?
No. I think I had the fasting BG done a year ago and it was normal, so I didn't really pay attention to it.
-Are you exercising regularly?
Not as much as I should be. Brisk walk ~3x per week. Going to start going everyday, just been cold and started getting lazy.
Hi Janelle. I don't have advice to share on lipids, I'll let others take those reins. I do have a couple of tips on vitamin d and blood sugar. I live in Florida and get more sun than I should (skin testifies to that!). I cannot sustain my vitamin d level without at least 4,000 iu's a day. Anything less and I fall under the reference range. Find your sweet spot for supplementation.
I think addressing your potential insulin resistance is prudent. Your lp-ir score was 27, I think, which is just above reference range. You might want to test your FBG and Ha1c. My fasting blood glucose has dropped from high 90's to mid 80's and I believe it is due to my fasting 13-14 hours from dinner to breakfast (excluding early morning coffee). I do have exaggerated blood sugar spikes when I eat carbs so I practice limitation there. Also keep up the 5-6 days of exercise a week. Keep us posted, you'll figure out your n=1 .
Silverlining wrote:I live in Florida and get more sun than I should (skin testifies to that!). I cannot sustain my vitamin d level without at least 4,000 iu's a day. Anything less and I fall under the reference range.
Wow!! After reading about how much Vitamin D we can produce being in the sun, I thought maybe since I was inside most the time, maybe I just needed to catch some rays then take supplements in the winter.
Thanks for sharing, Silverlining! That's insightful!
I'll add BG to my next round of blood tests. I'm going to start going every 6 weeks and see if I can figure this out.
You might want to consider buying your own glucose meter. Many of us regularly track our fasting and post-prandial BGs. Like you, I was thin (when I became aware of my E4 status) but my FBG had crept up to the mid/high 90s- not good . By focusing on that biomarker alone, you can make tremendous progress. See how your BG reacts to foods like: rice, legumes, potatoes, oats. If you're like me, you'll see a huge post-prandial spike. That's what we want to avoid. Met S is strongly associated with both AD & CAD, especially in E4 carriers.
My diet is similar to yours: primarily vegetarian with some fish, but I eat mostly non-starchy vegetables in lieu of the starchier choices above. My last LDL-P was slightly above 1,000, my small LDL-P was slightly above 100. Are you familiar with the dietary advice of top notch heart surgeon Dr. Steven Gundry for E4s? This podcast is a great starting point: http://body.io/body-io-fm-24-dr-steven-gundry/
Good for you for tracking your lipids and wanting to make positive changes. This is a hard time the of year to get started, but maybe the best gift you can give yourself. (((Janelle)))
Janelle, does your doctor, who presumably knows your FH, still want to start a statin? Maybe a low dose of simvastatin might quickly lower the cholesterol while you're boosting exercise and continuing the dietary changes.
I don't know if you're in the peri-menopausal age range and if hormonal changes are contributing.
Many of us believe glucose trumps cholesterol as a prevention measure against cognitive decline. Self-testing is so quick and easy, the one-hour after eating, gives instant feedback as to how various foods can spike the glucose or not. Sounds like you're not eating my favorite culprit, bread. The one-hour after eating glucose should be well under 120.
Kitano wrote:Janelle, does your doctor, who presumably knows your FH, still want to start a statin?
Sorry, what is FH?
Kitano wrote:I don't know if you're in the peri-menopausal age range and if hormonal changes are contributing.
I'm 35.
Juliegee wrote:You might want to consider buying your own glucose meter. Many of us regularly track our fasting and post-prandial BGs.
Well I bought a glucose meter on Amazon. This seemed like a great idea since I could find out what my body does with exactly what I eat and learn a lot pretty quickly. Thanks for the suggestion.
Juliegee, your numbers are really inspiring. I've been feeling tons better since I went mostly vegan/gluten-free and gave up alcohol -- the difference is night and day. I'm hoping that with feedback by just observing and adjusting I can get there too. You're my beacon of hope.
I'm going to try and focus on glucose for the next six weeks and see how that goes. Once I get a feel for how different foods affect me, I can adjust accordingly. I'm curious about things like sushi where I'm eating rice and fish together vs veggie chili vs stirring my cashew sour cream and guacamole into my chili.
I'm actually really excited about my glucose meter. Here's to hope!!
If I take 10000 IU of D3 until my D levels recover is that too much? I can't seem to find any remotely consistent information out there on vitamin D and the range of recommendations is HUGE.
FH=family history, or any other risk cardiovascular risk factors like hypertension, that your doctor would want you to take a statin. You're so young, it's great you're attacking the lifestyle causes first. I would opt to re-test the homocysteine level. Your c-reactive protein was low, but with E4, as in my case, it was the homocysteine (& A1c) that was less than ideal. However, your previous test was ideal and I'm not sure this level changes much, particular now that you're not eating meat.
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. By focusing on that biomarker alone, you can make tremendous progress. See how your BG reacts to foods like: rice, legumes, potatoes, oats. If you're like me, you'll see a huge post-prandial spike. That's what we want to avoid. Met S is strongly associated with both AD & CAD, especially in E4 carriers.
This seemed like a great idea since I could find out what my body does with exactly what I eat and learn a lot pretty quickly. Thanks for the suggestion.
