Is ketosis working the way it should in my body?

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Tincup
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Re: Is ketosis working the way it should in my body?

Post by Tincup »

TheBrain wrote:
Since I started Dr. Bredesen’s protocol, I’ve been taking Life Extension’s NAD+ Cell Regenerator (NIAGEN nicotinamide riboside), 100 mg, per day. Is this along the lines of your suggestion that niacin might help? Or would it need to be the flushing niacin? I still have 250 mg of that form on hand. I could never tolerate any higher dose for my coronary artery disease, so I stopped it altogether. The random intense flushing, especially in the middle of the night and in social situations, was intolerable, even at 500 mg.

I checked out Robert Miller’s Facebook page, and all I saw were posts about Australian politics. Maybe if I follow him, I’ll see more of his posts?
The nicotinamide riboside should be accomplishing something similar, more of exogenous NAD+. The idea with the niacin is to convert some betahydroxybuterate (BOHB) to acetoacetate. The doseages talked about are much lower - like 35mg, so the flushing should be modest, I would think. No guarantee's, just thought it might be worth trying since you have high levels of BHOB.

My links to his page contain a search for Niacin and the second one has a search for niacin NAD+. These searches should focus the posts and avoid the political ones. Miller has been experimenting with this a lot.

Other thoughts would be to shift your eating window to start at sunrise, focussing protein then. Eating only during daylight. This is a circadian rhythm thing. Also try to get outside in the first hour of sun, exposing your naked eyes to the early morning sunlight (not meaning at all to stare at the sun). This is to get your leptin timing correct. Again getting some sun at midday. Idea is the body (and eyes) respond to the solar cues.
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Re: Is ketosis working the way it should in my body?

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Thanks, Tincup. I don't know why your searches didn't work for me, but I did my own search on Robert Miller niacin in FB and got the posts.

Do you think I could forgo Life Extension’s NAD+ Cell Regenerator and just use what he suggests instead: Nicotinic Acid, either Solal, 30mg; or Solgar, 100 mg, but take half the Solgar per day?

I'm taking so many supplements. Obviously, I don't want any redundancy.

It would be very challenging to shift my eating window as you've described. I aim for a 14-hour fast overnight, and eating at sunrise and only when it's light outside would mean a very early dinner. And I've already asked so much of my husband. We already don't eat breakfast and lunch at the same time (or with the same foods). But we do have dinner together.

I do use one of those blue light devices, timed with the rising sun. I should probably use it at midday as well (if it's not nice enough to be outside). I also use blue blockers in the evening. I've been trying to correct my circadian rhythm for the purpose of resolving insomnia. My light strategies don't seem to do anything, but I keep trying.
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Re: Is ketosis working the way it should in my body?

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TheBrain wrote: Do you think I could forgo Life Extension’s NAD+ Cell Regenerator and just use what he suggests instead: Nicotinic Acid, either Solal, 30mg; or Solgar, 100 mg, but take half the Solgar per day?
You could try that and see if you feel differently.

TheBrain wrote: It would be very challenging to shift my eating window as you've described. I aim for a 14-hour fast overnight, and eating at sunrise and only when it's light outside would mean a very early dinner. And I've already asked so much of my husband. We already don't eat breakfast and lunch at the same time (or with the same foods). But we do have dinner together.

I do use one of those blue light devices, timed with the rising sun. I should probably use it at midday as well (if it's not nice enough to be outside). I also use blue blockers in the evening. I've been trying to correct my circadian rhythm for the purpose of resolving insomnia. My light strategies don't seem to do anything, but I keep trying.
You might try getting out and using the sun instead of the light, both in the morning and at mid-day. There are a lot of frequencies in the sun that aren't in artificial lights and the sun is what we are adapted to. Are you living in relatively low latitude area?
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Re: Is ketosis working the way it should in my body?

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Thanks, Tincup. I’ll give it a go and stop the Life Extension supplement and replace it with one of the other two.

I live in southeastern North Carolina. Most days this time of year, the best I could do would be to expose my face and eyes to the sun while otherwise bundled up (but this morning at sunrise, it was in the mid-20s outside; I’d have a hard time getting myself out there). When it’s warm enough, which is a good chunk of the year, I wear shorts and short sleeves. Then, it would be more feasible to get out there at those times.

I took Ari Whitten’s course The Energy Bluepirnt. He covers a lot of topics, including the benefits of sun exposure (with no looking directly into the sun) and light therapies that can be used if needed. I now have the blue light device, a near-infrared light device, and a far infrared sauna. I know they don’t replace the sun, though. For a while, I was getting sun exposure regularly in mid-morning (not sunrise), and I didn’t notice any improvement. Maybe I didn’t get out there early enough.

Given all my efforts to improve my health but having only limited success, I’m suspecting that I won’t make much progress until I’m on the other side of mold illness/CIRS. After that happens, then I’ll be better positioned to achieve a healthy gut microbiome and thyroid function and hopefully much more. In the meantime, I can’t help but tweak.
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Re: Is ketosis working the way it should in my body?

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Can I ask a very basic question on ketosis? I hope I haven't interrupted the thread wrongly. I am still feeling my way.

How do you know when your body is in ketosis? Is it just going on what the blood glucose/ketone meter says. My readings have varied from 0.2 to 3.0 during the past few days but I don't feel any different, some of you were saying you get mental clarity, it seems to be passing me by! I am not hungry though and could easily skip meals. I am still having a battle to eat enough calories, but am happy to lose a few pounds.
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Re: Is ketosis working the way it should in my body?

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Hi Elaine,

Your question is absolutely fine for this thread.

In his book The End of Alzheimer's (p. 180), Dr. Bredesen recommends a beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) level of .4 to 4 for ketosis on the Ketoflex 12/3 program. Except for some of your lower readings, you are certainly in that range.

I don't know enough to suggest reasons why you aren't feeling any different, but I can comment on my experience. Unfortunately, increased mental clarity is passing me by as well—so far. However, ketosis has resolved my reactive hypoglycemia. So good things are happening. I suspect some of my other health issues (CIRS, for example) are obstacles for me and that after I resolve them, more good things will happen.

Let's see what others might suggest, but I wonder if you might have an obstacle in your way.
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Re: Is ketosis working the way it should in my body?

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Theresa you are so far ahead of me on every front that I hesitate to chime in, but,... LOL

This circadian rhythm thing is near and dear to me, and, I live between Southern Pines and Cary! I have a lifetime record of world class sleep challenges -- mostly around circadian rhythm -- and had not done much to help it. Once here, one of the first things I did was get blue light blocker glasses and I was amazed how much it helped, until the circadian thing became the main issue (as usual). I figure you are way past the glasses.

One night, I ended up not sleeping at all again, and didn't to get sleep until almost sunrise. I forced myself to stay up another hour and go take my 30 minute walk (usually afternoons) at sunrise. I was amazed how quickly my circadian rhythm turned around! But then it got just too cold/icy to go out. I ended up standing at the window that gets the morning sun for 30 minutes two mornings: by the kitchen sink! LOL But, that seemed to help also. Now I am sold on getting out early. Believe it or not I got sleepy by 10PM last night (and did not walk this morning). I have no answers for you but will be reading.

I can see I need to do whatever it takes to keep that sleep cycle from messing up my days as well as my sleep.

I get a lot out of your posts.

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Re: Is ketosis working the way it should in my body?

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ElaineB wrote:Can I ask a very basic question on ketosis? I hope I haven't interrupted the thread wrongly. I am still feeling my way.

How do you know when your body is in ketosis? Is it just going on what the blood glucose/ketone meter says. My readings have varied from 0.2 to 3.0 during the past few days but I don't feel any different, some of you were saying you get mental clarity, it seems to be passing me by! I am not hungry though and could easily skip meals. I am still having a battle to eat enough calories, but am happy to lose a few pounds.
Elaine, on feelings, both my wife and I can "feel" the same way at 0.3 mmol/L and 7. 5 mmol/L. The feeling is an individual thing.
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Re: RE: Re: Is ketosis working the way it should in my body?

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ElaineB wrote:Can I ask a very basic question on ketosis? I hope I haven't interrupted the thread wrongly. I am still feeling my way.

How do you know when your body is in ketosis? Is it just going on what the blood glucose/ketone meter says. My readings have varied from 0.2 to 3.0 during the past few days but I don't feel any different, some of you were saying you get mental clarity, it seems to be passing me by! I am not hungry though and could easily skip meals. I am still having a battle to eat enough calories, but am happy to lose a few pounds.
I feel no different if I'm 0.4mmol or 4mmol. But I can feel the difference between 0.0 mmol and 0.4mmol. The slight brain fog lifts. But I'm a 4/4. YMMV.

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Re: Is ketosis working the way it should in my body?

Post by ElaineB »

Very helpful. Thanks.

By the way what does YMMV mean? I saw a list of abbreviations somewhere but can't find it again!
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