Anyone else doing a low saturated fat Ketogenic diet?

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McGido
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Re: Anyone else doing a low saturated fat Ketogenic diet?

Post by McGido »

Tincup wrote: After looking at the Finnish data, I converted a 2.5'x4' shower into a heat lamp sauna. I insulated the walls/ceiling with Refletix insulation (using duct tape to hold it together. There are 4-250 watt lamps in a diamond pattern. I usually let the lamps heat the sauna up to around 100 deg F. Then I spend 12 minutes on the front side, and 6 minutes each on the other sides, including another go at the front. I sweat heavily and have a higher oral temp increase from this than from the hot air sauna at the rec center. I follow this with a 20 minute soak with 49 deg F. water.
This is next level biohacking. I love it! I'm just doing the sauna at the gym and cold showers... but it's a start haha. Humble beginnings until my girlfriend comes home one day to find 4 heat lamps in our shower.. hehe

Also, happen to have any sleep hacks? This is one area I know I need to get right. I bartended for years and have been somewhat of a night owl, with a non-regular sleep cycle and often times not getting 7-8 hours. Trying to make this close to the top of my priority list to straighten out. My 23 & Me even said I'm likely not a deep sleeper.

My apologies for taking this thread way off topic.
kc425 wrote: I do use a meter (precision) to track both ketones and glucose.
What exactly do you use to measure ketones and glucose? Relatively green in terms of starting to monitor some of my markers. Just had my first blood panel done but would be interested in monitoring my ketones/glucose if you have any recommendations on how to get started.
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Re: Anyone else doing a low saturated fat Ketogenic diet?

Post by Stavia »

McGill, yes we have sleep hacks!!

I use the (sexy af) blue blocker glasses at sunset. Try to get natural sunlight in the morning. Light is the most powerful entrainer of circadian rhythm. I eat my main meal at lunch to signal to my body that its the most active time. I take a milligram of melatonin at bedtime (has other positive effects and I probably don't need it but it's a habit now).
I use earplugs and eye patch thingy and hubby and I have swapped from our super king to 2 side by side single beds.
I make sure to do soothing things for an hour before bedtime. I read for instance. Like an actual book. To.actually fall.asleep I listen to music such as Beethoven sonatas or a Headspace session ( I usually fall asleep in the middle. I've trained myself by repetition and association that its a cue to sleep).
I sleep exactly 5 cycles. 7 1/2 hrs. And make sure I give myself enough time from lights out that I won't need an alarm.
If I do wake in the night (its usually from anxiety) I get up and play my piano for a bit (say 20 mins) then try again. Pre-piano I would do some easy Sudoku.

I travel overseas a lot and use half to quarter zopiclone in addition then. I'm in the USA now and it only took me 3 days to adjust. Jetlag is another whole issue.

I'm very serious about sleep. Really really serious. I believe its about a consistent application of many strategies. If we go out with friends I find it mucks it all up that night and usually end up needing a quarter zopiclone at midnight. It seems to be the total routine that matters, not just one piece. That's how I believe sleep hax works.

Ps.
We're deadly serious about biohacking. This is not the bro-science weight lifting performance biohacking. This is our lives and survival. Tho the former do have some interesting information sometimes.
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Re: Anyone else doing a low saturated fat Ketogenic diet?

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Hi Mcgido;
Stavia has posted a lovely summary of sleep hygiene. The information goes a little deeper in the wiki. There have been multiple conversations on the subject of sleep in various threads, with two on blue light blocking that are quite useful:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3999&hilit=sleep
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3892&p=47869&hilit=sleep#p47869
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Re: Anyone else doing a low saturated fat Ketogenic diet?

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HI there McGido. I've been using the KetoMojo ketone meter, available on their website. It's the most affordable out there. They have lots of videos on how to use it. I imagine I'll use it less as I figure out how my body responds to fasting, eating more fat, playing with complex carbs specifically resistant starches, etc. Right now I take 1-2 tests per day as I play with my diet. It's been invaluable thus far! I also like to calculate my glucose ketone index to make sure that I'm actually in ketosis. Say you're in ketosis according to the strips, but if your glucose is higher than optional, you aren't really using the ketones in my understanding...I'm new to this all too! Best of wishes in your journey.
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Re: Anyone else doing a low saturated fat Ketogenic diet?

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Thanks for the welcome!
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Re: Anyone else doing a low saturated fat Ketogenic diet?

Post by Paulski »

McGido, I've found personally that fasting for longer periods requires a bit of trial runs and "lighter lifting" before going for a period of 5-7 days. Valter Longo has a lot to say about this, but fast-mimicking isn't something that works too well for me. I do best with water and tea (like hibiscus and peppermint). I've found a good way to build up your fasting muscle (or work into a longer fast) is to start with bone broth once or twice per day. After the third day you might drop that and just do water and maybe tea.
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Re: Anyone else doing a low saturated fat Ketogenic diet?

Post by vegarejuvinated »

Hi kc, I’m working out how to adjust my ketogenic diet to reduce my saturated fats. At the moment I’m heavily reliant on coconut products and use it as my primary fat source but I’m getting inflamatory side effects, most noticibly I need to clear my throat a lot and I’m very phlegmy. I love the feeling of being in ketosis but find it hard to maintain unless I’m fasting or eating 80-90% fat (I also have other polymorphism’s which indicate the I have trouble with fat metabolism). The very high fat diet does not allow for sufficient nutrients so I’m about to start playing with intermittant fasting (7pm until 2pm) then a light snack (need to work out how to replace my coconut smoothie here) then dinner 6-7pm. At dinner I’m going to eat a big plate of green and cruciferous veggies with a moderate amount of meat/fish and some yummy sauce like olive/avocado oil mayonnaise.

I can’t eat diary as I’m really reactive to it and trying to heal my leaky gut and reverse autoimmue symptons so my options for fat sources are a lot narrower than I would like ideally. I’ve started using Chronograpgh to track my macros while I am in the experimental stage and I have a keto mojo meter that I am using to track ketones and glucose levels.

I also have a Oura ring (yes I know probably metric overload but I’m geeky like that) and the key metric I have been looking at for a marker of overall health and balance of sympathetic and para sympathetic nervous system is HRV (heart rate variability) https://help.ouraring.com/readiness/hea ... ariability and https://blog.ouraring.com/blog/heart-ra ... ty-basics/

My HRV is typically very low in the ranges of 10-30 which I think is representative of my immune and health status at the moment. I’m interested to understand if Ketosis will stress my body further, for example by increasing cortisol and adrenaline to access fat stores especially during the night when I’m prone to waking between 3-4am. I’m going to reduce the coconut oil from today and see how it goes.
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Re: Anyone else doing a low saturated fat Ketogenic diet?

Post by Fiver »

Found 16 hour fasting surprisingly easy. Gave up excess sugars, then settled on a diet that was 70-80% fat. Felt great. But whoa! All cholesterol number significantly elevated. I think it is too much sat fats. Didn't expect them to be hiding everywhere.
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Re: Anyone else doing a low saturated fat Ketogenic diet?

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McGido wrote: Also, happen to have any sleep hacks? This is one area I know I need to get right.

Exactly do you use to measure ketones and glucose? Relatively green in terms of starting to monitor some of my markers. Just had my first blood panel done but would be interested in monitoring my ketones/glucose if you have any recommendations on how to get started.
One sleep hack I have for getting to sleep is putting my face in a pan of 40 deg F water before bed. I make sure my eye sockets are in the water as I understand the sensors for the mammalian dive reflex are behind them. I have not figured out how to get 8 hours every night, despite trying hard for this. I'm never tired though. If I have a bad sleep night, then I will sleep for much longer the next.

I second the recommendation for the KetoMojo ketone/glucose meter, if you want to track. To me, measuring an hour or so after meals for glucose is one of the most useful as it shows what kind of a spike you get with different foods. If you have weigh to lose, this is an interesting blog by a friend I know, Marty Kendall.
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Re: Anyone else doing a low saturated fat Ketogenic diet?

Post by McGido »

Tincup wrote:
One sleep hack I have for getting to sleep is putting my face in a pan of 40 deg F water before bed. I make sure my eye sockets are in the water as I understand the sensors for the mammalian dive reflex are behind them. I have not figured out how to get 8 hours every night, despite trying hard for this. I'm never tired though. If I have a bad sleep night, then I will sleep for much longer the next.

I second the recommendation for the KetoMojo ketone/glucose meter, if you want to track. To me, measuring an hour or so after meals for glucose is one of the most useful as it shows what kind of a spike you get with different foods. If you have weigh to lose, this is an interesting blog by a friend I know, Marty Kendall.
Thanks for the sleep tip!

I'm about 5'9 and weight ~140lbs so I definitely am not looking to lose any weight. I've always been pretty lean even when eating totally unhealthy in the past (refined carbs, sugars, fast food etc) I still maintained a low weight. I've cleaned up my diet (only thing I can't seem to get away from is rice) and intermittent fast for a few years now and I feel better (don't get drowsy during the day, mentally sharper, overall feeling of vitality) but I have been wondering if maybe I should be looking to add a few pounds of muscle since I don't really think I can afford to lose much weight. This feeling of being "too skinny" isn't rooted in any scientific basis so it's something I'm looking to explore more this year so I'm not just mistaking my own narcissism for a health problem :lol:

I am curious to measure my glucose after certain foods to see how I am reacting, sometimes I notice an elevated heart rate if I eat some sort of cheat meal and would be interested to dig deeper then just my own subjective experience after consuming certain foods to get some data on it.
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