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Jan18
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Gundry internet ads

Post by Jan18 »

Has anyone seen this ad for Gundry's own olive oil from Morocco? https://enrichyourfood.com/190828A.php?n=tba
It has all the earmarks of high pressure salesmanship and I'm so disappointed. Buy it now before it sells out, we make it in limited quantities only, if you get it now, you'll get this great price, etc. So all olive oil in the entire world is bad except for his? What I buy from Cultivated Olive Tree supposedly has a rating higher than the usual organizations I've read to look for and now I'm doubting that. And Pritikin has come out recently emphasizing all fats, even monosaturated ones, are not good and should be greatly limited. (I realize they've always emphasized low fat, but so does Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine which is responsible for finally getting the American government to use the plate instead of the pyramid for nutrition guidance -- and PCRM says that plate still needs tweaking.)

I also realize Pritikin and PCRM focus on healthy weight and healthy hearts, but don't those help with healthy brains, too? Maybe I should be trying their protocols and see what happens to my numbers. After all, from what I remember about Gundry, his main focus was autoimmune disease. In fact, I got so focused on his elimination protocol that I didn't realize he actually promotes foods with lectins once your gut is healthy and you don't have leaky gut. I read that here (maybe it was Stavia who reminded us of that?)

I do 70% good fat/20% lean protein/10% carbs, track everything on cronometer.com, and stay within 1200-1400 calories a day. I exercise most days, cardio alternating with strength-training. I get 7-9 hours of good quality sleep in a completely dark, quiet, cool room. I am eating better than I ever have. I have been able to go off my BP meds.

I work with a functional medicine doctor who took Bredesen's training.

But I'm not losing weight. My oxidized cholesterol is still high risk. My leptin is twice what it should be. My fasting glucose is fine, but my fasting insulin is three times what it should be. Cortisol fine, hormones not what they should be (I'm 69 and they had been absolutely flat and are improving...) I take supplements with B vitamins (I'm one of the 50% of people who don't metabolize B's well) as well as fish oil, CoQ10, Vit. D (those levels are good, as are my HDL levels), a multi-nutraceutical, folate (all recommended by and monitored by my doctor.) Five years ago, a cardiologist wanted to put me on a statin, but we did and EKG, stress test and calcium score test first. No problems with the EKG, stress test and 0% calcium on calcium score. He was surprised and said, "Just diet and exercise!"

I am so frustrated.

I need to lose 45 pounds and it isn't happening. Since obesity contributes to health risks in so many ways, maybe I need to do a protocol to lose the weight first and then check numbers and deal with them.

I apologize for my negative post; I don't mean to bring anyone down. But this ad of Gundry's saying that only his olive oil can be trusted was the last straw. (Maybe I misinterpreted the ad, but that is how it struck me and on top of all I'm doing which isn't working, it made me question everything. And the fact that he now says in that ad that only 1/2 T. a day provides more of the polyphenols and hydroxytyrosol he touts now directly contradicts his "pour olive oil over everything" stance! Does that mean he now contradicts his 70% fat recommendation, too? I'm probably overreacting, but welcome your thoughts.)
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Post by xactly »

Jan18 wrote:But I'm not losing weight. My oxidized cholesterol is still high risk. My leptin is twice what it should be. My fasting glucose is fine, but my fasting insulin is three times what it should be.
Would you consider doing periodic fasts? I was impressed by the results Jason Fung shared in has book, "The Complete Guide to Fasting." Fasting appears to be uniquely powerful in producing sustained weight loss, increased insulin sensitivity, and improved lipids.

So far, I have done a three-day fast. I'm scheduling a fast once a quarter, and the next one I hope will be a five-day fast.
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Post by Jan18 »

xactly wrote: Would you consider doing periodic fasts? I was impressed by the results Jason Fung shared in has book, "The Complete Guide to Fasting." Fasting appears to be uniquely powerful in producing sustained weight loss, increased insulin sensitivity, and improved lipids.

So far, I have done a three-day fast. I'm scheduling a fast once a quarter, and the next one I hope will be a five-day fast.

I forgot to mention I also do intermittent fasting. My minimum period of not eating is 15 hours and many days I go longer, up to 18 hours! I am religious about the intermittent fasting.
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Post by Michae_M »

I would echo that on many levels, fasting might be the key to healthy, measurable, and effective weight loss in many people. Have you thought about fasting for longer periods?
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Jan18 wrote: I need to lose 45 pounds and it isn't happening. Since obesity contributes to health risks in so many ways, maybe I need to do a protocol to lose the weight first and then check numbers and deal with them.
Have you tried switching the good fat/lean protein breakdown, to instead
  • 70% lean protein/20% good fat/10% carbs
You seem to be doing everything right, so it doesn't make sense that the 70% good fat breakdown isn't working, which suggests to me that your body is not using the fats for fuel but instead storing it, IMHO
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Post by TheBrain »

thjj wrote:You seem to be doing everything right, so it doesn't make sense that the 70% good fat breakdown isn't working, which suggests to me that your body is not using the fats for fuel but instead storing it, IMHO
I recently had an organic acids test done that showed my mitochondria are struggling and fatty acids are not getting into my cells very well (and I’m on a ketogenic diet). I’m not storing the fat (my BMI is 18), so I don’t know what’s happening with those fatty acids. But your suggestion that Jan18’s body might not be using fats for fuel could be right on.

I’ve never felt the increased energy and improved cognition from being on a ketogenic diet that others report, but this diet has healed my hypoglycemia/insulin resistance. My FM practitioner has recommended I consume 3,500 mg acetyl-L-carnitine per day, mostly through supplementation. This is supposed to help bring fatty acids into the cells. She has even recommended I eat read meat daily to get carnitine from that source!
ApoE 4/4 - When I was in 7th grade, my fellow students in history class called me "The Brain" because I had such a memory for detail. I excelled at memorization and aced tests. This childhood memory helps me cope!
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Post by TheresaB »

Jan18 wrote:my fasting insulin is three times what it should be.
Doctors who say just “eat less and exercise more” just don’t get it. It’s about insulin! Most people are insulin resistant. From this study published earlier this year, https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1 ... alCode=met only 12% of Americans are metabolically healthy! I suspect you are among those who are insulin resistant, which would explain why you are experiencing difficulty losing weight.

Insulin is the master regulator of glucose and fat burning. It’s very important to keep insulin low for weight loss. If it’s too high, it will inhibit fat burning. If you are following Dr Gundry’s yes/no food list using his diet pyramid, then you’ve already eliminated such things as year-round fruit, high fructose corn syrup, bad carbs, bad fats, etc. In following his pyramid, https://gundrymd.com/wp-content/uploads ... Diet-1.jpg you have likely reduced your insulin spikes, since you’re eating high fat and fat produces a low insulin response, the problem is your fasting insulin. You can have a fairly flat insulin profile throughout the day (low spikes) but if your fasting insulin is too high you won’t lose weight. Fasting insulin is the floor, it’s what you start your day with, it’s your background (basal) insulin, it only goes up from that baseline in response to food intake.

When insulin is too high it’s telling your body, “Hang on to the fat, we need to be in storage mode!” Even though you are intermittent fasting, that background insulin is still too high.

A way to lower this high fasting insulin “floor” is to periodically hold insulin as low as possible so this low insulin will begin to burn up that extra body fat. You’re already intermittent fasting, up to 18 hours, I hate to tell you this, but you may need to extend the fast. I know that sounds daunting and it isn’t fun, but from personal experience, it’s not as bad as you think. Fasting is an effective means of lowering insulin, there are no drugs or supplements that do this that I’m aware of. But keep the faith, if you need to incorporate longer fasting periods in order to lose weight, you won’t have to do that forever, once you’ve reestablished insulin sensitivity (and give this time) things will normalize as long as you don’t fall off the eating properly wagon.
To understand this concept better of lowering your insulin floor, read this:
http://www.buttermakesyourpantsfalloff. ... n-problem/

You might also want to get to know Dr Jason Fung, he is a nephrologist (kidney doctor - kidney issues are very common in type 2 diabetics). His life work and his clinic centers around helping folks with insulin resistance and Type 2 Diabetes through fasting. There are a number of videos out there with his presentations, here’s one on Insulin Resistance, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUiSCEB ... e=youtu.be. He’s written, or co-written, a number of books: The Obesity Code, The Complete Guide to Fasting, the Diabetes Code. He has established an internet support site dedicated to helping people outside the area of his clinic, Toronto. It's called Intensive Dietary Management (IDM) https://idmprogram.com/ and looks to be a wonderful resource.

I also like the book, “Eat Rich, Live Long” by Dr Jeffry Gerber and Ivor Cummins for understanding insulin and weight loss. The book even mentions ApoE4 cautioning about fats.
-Theresa
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Post by Hboroughs »

Hi Jan18 - I really empathized with your post. We are all here on this forum because we are seekers of knowledge, and wish to be personally responsible for our health. Because most of us are not medical professionals, we sometimes must rely on the trusted opinions of who are (although I believe that the more time we spend researching and reading actual studies, the more equipped we become to discern information ourselves). In any case, Dr Gundry is one of those professionals who seems to have invested his time in APOe4 individuals, and so this has gotten the attention of our community. I have been seeking to follow a health approach incorporating both his and Dr Bredesen's recommendations, but they do not always align. Furthermore, I share your concerns with the high pressure sales approach you mention. Have you listened to his podcasts? They are full of the same and there is something off about it.

I have grown to believe in the power of the N=1 experiment, and I try to learn as much as I can from all of the available resources, and then see what works for me personally. Our bodies are far too complicated for the "one size fits all" approach. So I am going to try to ignore Dr Gundry's off-putting approach and simply be grateful he has shared knowledge with me. If a few pieces of his knowledge improve my health then I am the better for it. I will mix in what works from him with pieces and parts of what works from other resources and continue to monitor my labs and do my best to manage the crazy gene we inherited.

The resource I am MOST grateful for is this forum! I appreciate posts like yours with such honesty about how you are feeling. It is always such a relief to hear what others are struggling with, knowing none of us is alone in this.

Sending you blessings for good health.
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Post by Jan18 »

TheresaB wrote: It’s about insulin!
Thank you, TheresaB. I will definitely get the books you recommend.

I wonder why my functional medicine doctor has not emphasized that! My fasting insulin improved from 16 to 12, so maybe she thought I was on the right track, but she sure didn't speak of it! Still much too high. My A1C also went from 5.8 to 5.5. And homocysteine from 13 to 7.

Can you please speak to some other numbers, as a second opinion from hers? Here they are after 6 months working with her and using some nutraceuticals.

Fasting glucose 94 to 85.
Estradiol, progesterone and testosterone were "flat" and coming back. (Complete hysterectomy 1998)
Cortisol 15.2 to 11.8.
DHEA 99 to 113.
LDLp 2659 to 2589.
sdLDL 45 to 35.
Total cholesterol 301.
HDL 60.
Letpin 59.
Vit. D3

And I'm concerned, too, about my thyroid panel, which is slightly low:
TSH 2.3
Free T3 3.0.
Free T4 1.07
Reverse T3 12
Free T3x100/ rev T3 25 (should be greater than 20 -- is this the culmination of all numbers? I think she said this meant my thyroid was okay.
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Post by Jan18 »

Hboroughs wrote:Hi Jan18 - I really empathized with your post. We are all here on this forum because we are seekers of knowledge, and wish to be personally responsible for our health. Because most of us are not medical professionals, we sometimes must rely on the trusted opinions of who are (although I believe that the more time we spend researching and reading actual studies, the more equipped we become to discern information ourselves). In any case, Dr Gundry is one of those professionals who seems to have invested his time in APOe4 individuals, and so this has gotten the attention of our community. I have been seeking to follow a health approach incorporating both his and Dr Bredesen's recommendations, but they do not always align. Furthermore, I share your concerns with the high pressure sales approach you mention. Have you listened to his podcasts? They are full of the same and there is something off about it.

I have grown to believe in the power of the N=1 experiment, and I try to learn as much as I can from all of the available resources, and then see what works for me personally. Our bodies are far too complicated for the "one size fits all" approach. So I am going to try to ignore Dr Gundry's off-putting approach and simply be grateful he has shared knowledge with me. If a few pieces of his knowledge improve my health then I am the better for it. I will mix in what works from him with pieces and parts of what works from other resources and continue to monitor my labs and do my best to manage the crazy gene we inherited.

The resource I am MOST grateful for is this forum! I appreciate posts like yours with such honesty about how you are feeling. It is always such a relief to hear what others are struggling with, knowing none of us is alone in this.

Sending you blessings for good health.
Hi Hboroughs,
Thank you for your support, too.

Like you, I spend much of my time researching and reading, and trying to ignore Dr. G's off-putting approach to glean the good of his information while trying to balance it with Bredesen's. I will continue to do so and not necessarily discount his contributions because of his ads for his products.

Yes, I've listened to many of his podcasts and have his books.

Thank you for your kind words and I agree that this forum is a blessing. I must spend more time here than elsewhere in the future.

Here is another downer I now have to navigate after dropping dairy, wheat, grains, sweets, trying to not cook on high temps (there went roasting vegetables) and all of the other eliminations we had to do: We already limit saturated fat and now I've read that all fat, even monosaturated is bad for us (Pritikin Institute quoted several studies on monosaturated fats.) And what is your take on what Gundry now says in his Moroccon olive oil ad about the other olive oils around the world not being good for us or at the least, not having a 30th of the "good stuff" (darn, forgot the name of the compound he tells about in his ad) that his Moroccon olive oil has?

What hit me with that was the idea that if even too much monosaturated oil is bad (these were studies of cardio concerns) then his new recommendation of only 1/2 T. of his Moroccon olive oil supplying 30X the "good stuff" would be a much lower intake of oil, falling in line with the studies quoted by Pritikin.

I get so discouraged trying to figure out what to cook (and hey, it's a MAJOR accomplishment that I'm now even cooking!!!! I've hated cooking my entire life and now do so daily. One has to. The restaurants are no help to us with the ingredients they choose (not grass-fed or pastured or organic) and with the oils they use and hidden sugars, fats, etc.

Barbara
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