You must be so pleased, Elle! I’m glad that you’re feeling more confident about the transition to maintenance 🙂 I like
Mosley, Fung and Taubes for the backbone of my library, too. It’s so helpful to have all this research easily accessible
on this thread!
Hope you’re having a great day too, Maggie! It’s another hot one here..uggh
Allie
Hot here too Allie and painting the deck 😕
I’ve been looking at a few of the interviews on the BioHackers Lab, including the one with my new best friend, Benjamin Bikman, which JGwen posted previously.
Here is a link to another interview with Emily Maguire, a nutritionist who talks about low carb and keto diets and women.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywt6UHJx4d4
I debated whether to post it but decided for people just starting out, women in particular of course, this might be useful as it does cover a lot of topics which seem to come up regularly on the Forums
Btw, I mentioned on another post how I liked Benjamin Bikman, who was interviewed on the BioHackers Lab. Well, I also like the interviewer but did find myself grinning every time he used the word ‘Ladies’
Marie – thank you for the link – it does look very interesting and I am very much looking forward to watching it. Benjamin Bikman is my new best friend also. Does anyone else think he looks very similar to the actor Jason Watkins who was in W1A (the satirical comedy about the BBC). They both make me smile.
Here’s another link to a BioHackers Lab interview. It’s with Dr Stuart Phillips. He’s got some interesting ideas about levels of protein required on a low carb/keto diet.
I came across him via Benjamin Bikman’s BioHackers Lab interview. Both Dr Bikman and the interviewer seemed to rate him. He talks about his concerns about current recommendations for daily protein requirements, the importance of eating enough protein in order to maintain our lean body mass, and sarcophenia i.e. the loss of muscle mass and strength as we age, and the importance of protein (and exercise) in helping to mitigate the effects of this process.
I’ve just listened to all of this talk (some of it while waving hand weights around) and found it really interesting and useful. But as always, so much is said that it becomes difficult to take it all in. What I’m taking away from it all is this: bearing in mind I’m 68, T2 diabetic (blood sugar not under good control a.t.m.), and have lost quite a bit of weight recently (72.5 kgs now) … I need to increase my exercise habits, notably more weight training, but also make a real effort to take in more protein, and it seems best way to do that is increase the amount of meat (red) I consume. That won’t go down particularly well with my vegetarian wife, but I’m sure she will be supportive. I have a good, largely plant-based diet, but I’m going to supplement that with chicken, steak etc.
There was a point in the talk with Prof.Phillips where I thought, hell, I’m just fighting a losing battle against losing muscle … but I will fight on.
Thanks to marie123 for finding that clip, and to everyone else who puts so much time into researching stuff, and sharing it with others.
Thank you Marie, … Ladieeeeeeees made me smile also! 🙂
Elle – that is interesting. Thanks.
Hi Flashf – Yes, that’s pretty much what I took from it, too.
I started walking and took up exercise not long after beginning BSD last August (on finding out I was Type II). I did an Exercise on Prescription programme, and since that ended in April/May I’ve been trying to work out the best types of exercise/activity for me, as an older (early 60s) woman to continue with. As I’ve just said on another post, resistive training, muscle mass etc …. it’s a whole new world to me. But I know I’m far more likely to keep something going if I understand the specific benefits it has for me.
If you’re using hand weights it sounds like you’re already on to all of this? Are you doing the BSD/low carb to help with your blood sugars? How’s it going?
Forgot to say, the idea about needing more protein caught my interest because while I was in the losing weight stage of BSD (maintaining now) I found myself wanting to eat a lot of red meat (steak). It was such an unusual thing for me, I’d only eaten it twice before in my life. It also took my daily protein intake higher than the recommended BSD ‘moderate’ protein amounts fairly regularly (I used fatsecret to monitor everything). So, a lot of this rings true for me.
I guess it’s all about personalising things to work for you, isn’t it.
Marie
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/14-ways-to-lower-insulin
An easy read of 14 ways to lower insulin levels with links to the research behind the tips. I do take applecider vinegar on occasions (takes some effort getting used too, I drink it while holding my noose :)) and cinnamon with my yoghurt.
Interesting read, apologies if it has been posted before.
You don’t have to eat cider vinegar or cinnamon — the best way to lower your insulin levels is to cut your daily carbohydrate intake to 20 grams and /or add in some extended hours (16-24 hours is ideal) between meals. Super simple, no holding your nose!
Yes, I have been trough the bsd and still aiming for low(ish) carbs while in maintenance , still found a lot of interesting stuff in that link about exercis and other things. I also do a 36 hour fast each week which has helped keeping my bgl low and also helps to keep the weight off.
Bjorn – thank you for the link – an interesting easy read. I am especially interested in anything that increases insulin sensitivity because that is what I am working on at the moment.
I use Apple cider vinegar on occasions to help with a healthy gut and it is good to know that it also helps with insulin sensitivity. I must admit that I also find it truly horrible.
I have cinnamon every day with my kefir, ground flaxseeds, inulin, berries, yoghurt and flaked almonds because I absolutely love the taste. Good to know that it is also helping the insulin resistance.
A very interesting talk from the The Diet doctor site: Actually it is quite shocking as it shows just how science manipulates the facts and highlights just how good our low carb way of life is.
Hope the link works.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/demonization-deception-research-saturated-fat-cholesterol-heart-disease
The demonization and deception in research on saturated fat, cholesterol and heart disease
June 24 2017 by Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, MD in Cholesterol, Heart disease, Saturated fat
Here’s a great talk by Dr. David Diamond about how everything we used to believe about cholesterol, heart disease and saturated fat is based on truly bad science. It’s a funny and enlightening talk by a smart guy, highly recommended.
Thank you Krysia! That was a really good talk. I guess now I know that my decision to resist statins was probably a good one. It always bothers me when the ‘goal posts ‘ are constantly moved down bringing more and more people into the ‘at risk’ group. Well worth a listen!
Thank you, Krys! Just watched this, and I’m feeling both indignant and speechless!!!
Thank you for the link Krysia — I’m going to listen as soon as I have a minute — I want my husband to get off his statins. His old doctor had him on massive doses of two different statins and when he retired and found a new physician in Tahoe, the new doctor was shocked and immediately took him off one of them and lowered the dose on the second.
I want him to try to get off both if possible — especially as now he isn’t under stress all the time.
But it makes me mad that he was being so heavily medicated in the first place.
I’m ok with statins if they are medically necessary (they seem to have a role in people with heart disease) but my husbands heart is healthy so unless there is a good and compelling reason to take them, I would like to let them go.
I would also like my OH to come off some of his medication. I’ve just about got him to agree to go to the GP for a review of his medications but now he actually has to go! I wonder if we should be asking the medics to point us in the direction of the latest medical research, backing up their decision, when they prescribe a new drug. My guess is that they wouldn’t be able to do that nine times out of ten.
Have just got back from teaching classes today and I just couldn’t get this out of my head all day. I have a client who works with statistics and she had explained to me at the time of my statin disaster in 2012 that I should have looked at the absolute risk of having a heart attack not the relative risk when I started taking statins because the relative risk is basically a nonsense figure. I didn’t appreciate at the time how right she was.
This saying drifted into my head today – ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.’ Very relevant I think.
Verano – you were much more sensible than I was. You made a really good decision to keep away from the statins. I actually really trusted the consultant who prescribed them and that clouded my judgement.
Allie – I still feel quite shocked today. How is this legal. Even if it is legal it is totally immoral.
Californiagirl – my husband was put on statins also. No heart problems either. When I had the severe reaction to them he realised it was the statins that were causing the muscle pain he had put down to getting older. When he told his doctor – his doctor said that it was fine for him to come off them as he had low cholesterol anyway. Husband was a little cross about this.
The more we speak about this the more angry I get. My total cholesterol is 5.2 always was, has been and is. I class this as my ‘norm’. This was at the top end of ‘normal’ But then the goal posts moved downwards and my GP became more desperate to get me to take statins. She worked away on her computer, clicking on one programme after another to try and get me into the danger zone but I always managed to stay in the ‘normal risk’ group. Now, knowing what I know, I would really have to be convinced beyond doubt that any medication would help rather than hinder.
Further to lies, damn lies etc. I always remember from my days of learning statistics that correlation Is not causation. That has always stayed with me. I can’t remember the example but it was something to do with politicians and the full moon! That really would be scraping the bottom of the barrel to explain the behaviour of some politicians!
Anyway, I do find this new research into cholesterol really fascinating….. maybe it really is ‘ friend rather than foe’ , especially as we age, as Aseem Malhotra et. al. have suggested.
Verano – I agree that this research into cholesterol is truly fascinating. If it really does turn out that cholesterol is friend rather than foe – how on earth are they going to do a U-turn and say OK we were wrong – cholesterol is OK. Just think of the billions that the pharmaceutical companies will lose and the reputations that will be ruined.
After reading that you did the harder Suzuki I had a go at one this morning and I thought about what you said that correlation is not causation when I successfully completed it. I couldn’t do the harder ones before I started intermittent fasting – so does this prove intermittent fasting improves your ability to do harder sudukus. Obviously not – if you follow the rule correlation isn’t causation. But then I am not a pharmaceutical company that needs to bend the rules to make billions.
I am now going to do the harder Suzuki in the ‘I ‘ now as it was very relaxing after a very hectic and stressful week to totally concentrate on the more difficult suduku
.
I just listened to a podcast where the middle part was an interview with Megan Ramos, where she talks about the way they advise on fasting and how to avoid plateau’s in weight loss, and why they occur. Also a useful image for maintenance .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAEDKdlKwqg&t=2093s
P.S. I also like sudoku. Have an app on my phone and use as a coffee free coffee break when I need to zone out for a few minutes.
Thanks JGwen, for posting that. Very interesting.
Krysia it is a truly frightening prospect if indeed they do discover that we need more not less cholesterol especially as we get older.
I love your example of correlation and causation. I’d just love intermittent fasting, or time restricted eating to work for me full stop! I have been paying a lot of attention to what and when I eat this week, and think I have come to the conclusion that restricted eating is just not working for me at the moment. I seem to be fine when I get up with no hunger and then have brunch around 12.30pm. BUT then I start to get the munchies. I just seem to be hungry all afternoon. I don’t know if it’s physical or psychology ‘hunger’ but either way I’m not losing weight. Time for another rethink for Week 3 of my ‘Plan’.
Verano – I find that my metabolism really suits having my eating window between 7am and 1pm or 2pm. I am absolutely not hungry for the rest of the day. My body absolutely loves it. I find that missing breakfast is much more problematic and I am hungrier for the rest of the day so it just doesn’t work for me.
On Saturdays I absolutely have to have a normal eating window as my body rebels against restricted time eating on Saturdays – why it does I really don’t know. On Sundays I could – but usually don’t because we are usually out.
So – I think it is good to listen to our bodies and I think that when we cut the carbs it is much easier to hear what our bodies are telling us. So I think that if your body says no to restricted time eating at the moment then you should listen to it.
Hi, V.! I think that you’ve come to some important insights this week. I hope that you feel
that way too!
Krysia, I’ve heard that metabolically speaking, not eating after 2:00pm is optimal. Even
some mainstream Docs support not eating after 6:00pm. I’m wondering where your lovely
walks will take you today?
Yes Allie I think I have learnt even more about my body this week.
Krysia that’s really interesting. I wonder if on Saturdays you subconsciously think I’ve used a restricted eating pattern for five days so on the six and seventh I’ll relax? Who knows how our minds work!
I think that is so very positive, V.!!! Now you won’t be working at cross purposes with yourself,
or trying to “fit a square peg into a round hole”, so as to speak. Build upon it in the new week!
Fingers crossed that this will re-energize you to add to all of your other accomplishments,
and this will represent turning a corner for you. I don’t think this journey ever truly ends, do
you? As JGwen always says, we need to constantly re-discover our “Why”. I’ll be with you,
too, and will find a way to do something nice for myself every day, also. Today I put on a rose
scented perfume, just for me 🙂
Allie that is so apt …. square peg into a round hole …. I think that’s exactly what I have been trying to do. Yet from the Fast Diet, and I’ve quoted this before……
“Your body is not my body. Mine is not yours. So it’s worth carving out your plan according to your needs ….. We none of us live cookie-cutter lives, and no single diet plan fits all.”
Time I took my own advice onboard I think!!!
I know my WHY and tomorrow I will do something good for myself. Hope you have had a day of pleasure from you rose scented perfume!
At the end of the quote above it says ….”. Ensure that your goal outweighs your temptation “. Wise words!
Verano – that was a very perceptive comment about my Saturdays. Saturday is the sixth day I work in the week and it is a very busy day with no proper breaks and follows five very long and busy days. I think that my mind feels that it should be a day of relaxation and rebels against me making it an even harder day by adding intermittent fasting to it.
Allie, I love your rose scented perfume “just for you” — I also put on perfume just for me — after working in the garden, I love to clean up, put on fresh clothes and dab on perfume just for me! My dogs know me by my perfume and when I put it on (just a tiny spritz) they come running! My favorite is Kalimantan by Chanticaille (hmmm, hope I spelled right)— more sandlewoody and spicy — I used to love a gardenia one. Rose reminds me of my mum!
I have heard that there are spammers who are trying to advertise a free ebook by Dr Fung on facebook. – The official facebook group for Dr Fung are posting warnings that this is a spam, and not to respond.
Article in The Guardian shows a photo from 1976 of people on Brighton Beach. And everyone is slim.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/15/age-of-obesity-shaming-overweight-people
Hmmm! I was slim then too – although I didn’t think so at the time. Pleased to say that I am back to that weight again now and (sort of) think I’m slim this time.
Your “signature scent” sounds lovely, californiagirl. For multiple decades I’ve had a spicy Fall/Winter perfume,
Yves St Laurent’s “Opium”, and a lighter floral one for Spring/Summer. That used to be Nina Ricci’s “L’Air du
Temps”. I don’t think it’s available anymore, so I found the rose one, which was my celebratory gift to myself
when I reached maintenance. My nephew’s girlfriend has just completed a Master’s Degree program in
Perfumerie (?), and I always thought it might be fun to have someone who knew what she was doing to
work on developing a true signature scent 🙂
Fascinating article from the Guardian, Elle! This is just the sort of thing that I would really enjoy sitting
down with you all and being able to discuss. Oh, the limitations of this format!. I haven’t had a chance to
look at the comments section, but it will be interesting to read through them. Thanks for the link!
Sunny, seeing ourselves as others see us, regardless of the numbers on the scales, is a challenge. I
don’t think I’m quite there yet 🙂 Being subjective, rather than objective, is where the disconnect occurs,
I think! AND at both ends of the spectrum, regardless of whether we are underweight or obese….I think
most human beings have a limitless capacity for denial. Possibly an emotional survival technique? Would
be very interested in your thoughts on this, and others who care to jump in 🙂
Allie
Ellem – I agree that it is a fascinating article from the Guardian and very relevant to our way of eating.
A few posts earlier in this thread Verano said “it is a truly frightening prospect if indeed they do discover that we need more not less cholesterol especially as we get older”
I have just watched a video from the diet doctor site that seems to bear this out: It is a video from David Diamond entitled “Why High Cholesterol is Healthy”
https://www.dietdoctor.com/video/presentations/diamond-breck2018?autoplay=1959397
I am not sure if the link will work because when I tried to look at the video on the diet doctor site it said I needed to book up a one month free trial on the site to view it. I was so interested in the subject that I booked my free trial – and it was well worth viewing but so shocking as there are a wealth of trials that show high cholesterol is not harmful and actually protects and lengthens our life as we grow older.
On a completely different subject – I loved reading the posts about perfumes. At the moment I am really into rose oil and rose body lotion – rather than perfume. I wonder if it is because it is the smell of summer – all those lovely roses.
I’m going to see if I can access your link, Krys. I think the chloresterol subject is being hotly debated at
the moment. It became a major concern in our lives when OH was diagnosed with stage 3 congestive
heart failure in 2016. Following investigative studies and a cardiac catherization, it was discovered that
his right coronary artery was completely blocked, and 2 others were so choked with plaque that a coronary
bypass wasn’t feasible. The only option was 2 complicated stenting procedures, and none of the drs.
would undertake it because it was too risky. We were very fortunate in that a world renowned interventionist
cardiologist from Milan was visiting our hospital 2 days a month to take on complicated stenting and valve
procedures. Since husband and I had been eating the same diet for 45 years, why were his arteries such
a mess and mine were not? Was this a genetic defect? I didn’t have much opportunity to do a lot of
research on the subject, because months later he received a diagnosis of colon cancer, and we had to
get through that. What I did learn though, was that chloresterol is the vital substance that repairs little
tears in the artery walls, so very necessary for survival. I’m hoping the mainstream cardiologists will
come to some kind on consensus on this subject, or at least make testing for determining the condition
of one’s arteries PRIOR to a cardiac event easily available. Just think of the medical costs that might
be saved if we knew this! And lives saved. My subjective evidence is that husband’s grandmother, father
and aunt all died of massive heart attacks at the age of 65, and all were obese. Judging by the scarring
on OH’s heart, he’s already had 2 silent heart attacks, and now has a defibrillator implanted in his chest.
I’m just desperate to know how to prevent any new plaque from forming! While the debate continues,
we are off animal fat and cheese, and too frightened to go with the new research. What if it turns out
to be flawed, and husband pays the ultimate price, in terms of his life? Scary business, indeed. Sorry
to ramble on, but this is a real puzzle to me. Thanks for listening 🙂
Goodness, Allie, You have had a good few years of it, haven’t you, with OH’s heart issues then cancer. I agree, it is so scary not knowing what to believe, and lives are at stake, and lives are being lost.
Thank you, Elle. It has been difficult, but there is a bright spot in this lengthy saga..Before it was necessary
to spend 3 weeks in an out-of- town hospital, I had already lost well over a 120lbs. I never would have been
able to do what I expected of myself at that time had I not been healthy and fit! Whatever comes next, I
know that I’ll have the stamina for it. Will always be SO grateful for that 🙂
Allie – I think you are absolutely right to be too frightened to go with the new research. Because your husband has been so ill it is so important to follow the advice of the cardiologists. Your husband sounds as though he has had superb treatment from them and they have done their absolute best to give him the best possible outcome. How lucky that a world renowned interventionist cardiologist from Milan was visiting your hospital 2 days a month to take on the complicated stenting and valve procedures. Thank goodness the operation was successful.
I think the video is aimed at people who do not have heart disease and who will not be helped by lowering their cholesterol, even if it is high. This is not the case with your husband and you must follow the advice of his doctors. At the end of the video he does cover the reasons why some people with very high cholesterol never have a heart attack but others with high cholesterol do, which you might find very interesting.
Thanks so much, Krys..I knew you would understand! Having the opportunity to meet and get to know
so many exceptional ladies on these forums has been a Godsend, in keeping my anxiety levels under
control. Within days of registration, I definitely felt a difference, and I’m grateful to you all. It’s had such
a positive impact on my life 🙂
Hi guys
I heard about this on the news this morning, so thought I’d track the report down and post a link for anyone that is interested…..
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(18)30135-X/fulltext
In case the link doesn’t work, it’s a study just published by Lancet Public Health. What are your thought?
Kazzeexx
Hi Kazz. Yes I am looking at the research too. And feeling a bit fed up that this has emerged just when the tide of opinion seemed to be turning. The BBC news comment on the website seemed a bit more balanced than the interview at midday. Extract of their news release below:
“However, there are limitations to the study.
The findings show observational associations rather than cause-and-effect and what people ate was based on self-reported data, which might not be accurate.
And the authors acknowledge that since diets were measured only at the start of the trial and six years later, dietary patterns could have changed over the subsequent 19 years.
‘High fibre intake’
Prof Tom Sanders, professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics at King’s College London, also pointed out that the use of a food questionnaire in the study led to people underestimating the calories and fat they had eaten.
“One explanation for the finding in this and the other US studies is that it may reflect the higher risk of death in the overweight/obese, who may fall into two popular diet camps – those favouring a high-meat/low-carbohydrate diet and those favouring a low-fat/high-carbohydrate diet,” he added.
Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: “This provides further evidence that low-carb diets could be incredibly damaging to our long-term health.
“High-fibre starchy carbohydrates should provide about half of our energy, including fruit and vegetables, while reducing intake of higher fat meat and dairy.”
I am feeling quite fed up that Public Health England has piled in so quickly and bluntly. But some of my certainty is a bit shaken. Perhaps this is the comeback for pulses and brown rice?? I do hope that MM will give some kind of statement on this, given the coverage it has generated.
Interesting Kazz. If I read it right, restricted carbs where the extra energy is sourced from plants (approximating this way of eating) fared well but the best outcome was where around 50% energy comes from carbs. On 800cal per day that would be 50g carbs, which is the figure that used to be recommended on this forum a year ago.
I lost all my weight using the 50g figure but on maintenance have been aiming for 20 as that has been recommended more and more.
It is so good that there is so much research coming out about ideal dietary composition. This article reinforced my recent decision to limit animal fats- mainly my sad weakness for cream…
Hi Kazz the link does work! I read a ‘Precis’ of this report in the Daily Mail this morning. In my opinion any research based on what people SAY they eat is fundamentally flawed as what they ACTUALLY eat can be a very different thing. Unless people are kept in captivity and only eat something like shakes which are weighed and measured then, for me, reports like this are a bit spurious. There are so many variables but I’m sure that the researchers did find some correlation between age at death and amount of carbs eaten ….. but it all comes down to statistics again…. and we all know about those!
Caron, I wasn’t sure what to make of it to be honest. Some of it suggested the benefit of LCHF but then other parts seem a bit anti with this WOE. My overall impression was LCHF was ok as long as protein and fat intake was from mostly plant based rather than meat/dairy? Which is how I try to balance things myself. But then goes on to say carbs good for short term energy when we know burning fat is even better. So I’m scratching my head somewhat and welcome other views. Hmm!
Caron wonderfully summary.
I’m looking forward to reading this, Kazz. The link works, even for me!!! I need to down some coffee first, so that
my cognitive functioning is operational at 8:00am 🙂 Thanks xxx