You know when you are super diligent to make sure everything is in working order and you double check everything? Well, I messed up and accidentally kept my commerce side in test. So, if you have tried to purchase a session with me, or paid for the group session and it failed, that was my fault.
I have fixed it now. My sincerest apologies for the inconvenience.
By request, I am holding group sessions at a deep discount. How deep?
What is included in these sessions? Learning about why and how to eat low carb, Keto, Keto-vore, and/or Carnivore. We will be there to support each other. While it is my job to be, as some would say, the Keto police, I am there to provide information and assistance to help you understand the ingredients and why they may or may not work. Everyone responds to different ingredients in a different way. Because of this, I will ask everyone in the group to be cognizant of others needs and abilities with this Way of Life (WOL).
Why the difference in price? The in person meetings, I will have the actual material and will be providing a sampling of food and need to cover my costs for that. Those that attend in person will have access to the recording afterwards, if they would like to review it in the future.
So let’s get this started! Our first meeting will be Saturday, May 14, 2022, at 12 noon (PT). We already have 3 people signed up through Facebook and a few more that are not on Facebook have expressed interest. At the first meeting, we’ll decide how often to meet and when/where.
Please note that due to county regulations, I am not allowed to cook at Thompson Hall. It is a reheat kitchen only. A couple of folks that are attending have offered up their homes for the cooking demonstrations and I will happily take them up on that, but also want to respect their privacy and their homes, so will limit those meetings.
Ok, Ladies and Gentleman. I am excited to be working with you, so LET’S GO!!!!!
This is a really short post, but I feel it is quite important. Today, I went to see my doctor. I knew he was going to comment on my Cholesterol, so I was ready. The conversation was actually almost funny.
He pulled out my lab work and said: Hmmm, your cholesterol is pretty high.
Me: What is my vLDL number?
Him: 18
Me: So I’m good then, since it’s less then 20.
Him: Yes, that’s a good number. But your LDL is really high and is right at the edge of being dangerous.
Me: well, actually, new studies are showing that it’s ok to have higher LDL.
Him: Oh?
Me: (reached down to grab the envelope I brought in) Here are 4 medical articles that talk about it.
Him: (Looks at it for a bit) I’ll have to read these, I don’t want to tell my patients wrong information.
You may be asking what the articles were. These are the ones I gave him:
LDL-C does not cause cardiovascular disease: a comprehensive review of the current literature
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17512433.2018.1519391?scroll=top&needAccess=true
Lack of an association or an inverse association between low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and mortality in the elderly: a systematic review
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/6/e010401
You can get a general idea of what they are talking about from their titles, so I won’t go into great detail. The basic concept is that research is saying that you cholesterol level does not reflect cause for cardiovascular disease which:
are based on misleading statistics, exclusion of unsuccessful trials and by ignoring numerous contradictory observations.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17512433.2018.1519391?scroll=top&needAccess=true
Another website that is not medical, but they are doing a lot of research, is https://cholesterolcode.com/a-simple-guide-to-cholesterol-on-low-carb/
Dave Feldman has spent years working with doctors and scientist to discover what cholesterol is all about and it’s importance. He created the site cholesterolcode to log his findings and educate others. He breaks it all down quite nicely.
Science is always changing, which is why it is important to question it, read up on it, review it.
I’ll be working on more fallacies to debunked in the coming weeks.
It’s been a few weeks since I last blogged, so my apologies for that. I am hoping to fix that now that my schedule is starting to even out. I did want to make sure that I posted about this, however, as it is BIG NEWS. I first heard about it from Dr. Ken Berry and his YouTube channel. If you would like to see his video on it, you can click here. So, let’s start on going through the gist of this 38 page paper, shall we?
First, you can find the PDF article here: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/epdf/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001040
Starting with the abstract:
ABSTRACT: Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in patients with diabetes. Cardiovascular disease in diabetes is multifactorial, and control of the cardiovascular risk factors leads to substantial reductions in cardiovascular events. The 2015 American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association scientific statement, “Update on Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Light of Recent Evidence,” highlighted the importance of modifying various risk factors responsible for cardiovascular disease in diabetes. At the time, there was limited evidence to suggest that glucose-lowering medications reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. At present, several large randomized controlled trials with newer antihyperglycemic agents have been completed, demonstrating cardiovascular safety and reduction in cardiovascular outcomes, including cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, and heart failure. This AHA scientific statement update focuses on (1) the evidence and clinical utility of newer antihyperglycemic agents in improving glycemic control and reducing cardiovascular events in diabetes; (2) the impact of blood pressure control on cardiovascular events in diabetes; and (3) the role of newer lipid-lowering therapies in comprehensive cardiovascular risk management in adults with diabetes. This scientific statement addresses the continued importance of lifestyle interventions, pharmacological therapy, and surgical interventions to curb the epidemic of obesity and metabolic syndrome, important precursors of prediabetes, diabetes, and comorbid cardiovascular disease. Last, this scientific statement explores the critical importance of the social determinants of health and health equity in the continuum of care in diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/epdf/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001040
Ok, that’s a lot, so let me break it down for you. Obviously, there is a concern regarding the link between Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular disease. The study looked at 3 things: the use of antihyperglycemic agents (aka prescriptions drugs for diabetes), Impact of blood pressure control on cardiovascular events, and the role of new lipid-lowering therapies. So the next question is, what were the findings?
First, let’s go over some indicators. We know that T2Ds have a higher blood sugar level, but what causes that? Surprise: it’s not just eating too much sugar. According to the article:
progression to T2D includes metabolic syndrome and prediabetes with glucose dysregulation attributable to liver, skeletal muscle, and adipocyte insulin resistance, along with proinflammatory cytokines
This means that to get to T2D, you suffer from metabolic syndrome, inability to manage glucose (aka sugar), which can be attributed to liver, skeletal muscle, and adipocyte (cells that store fat) insulin resistance, and proinflammatory cytokines, aka small proteins that are crucial in controlling the growth and activity of other immune system cells and blood cells.
According to the International Diabetes Federation, metabolic syndrome is defined as having 3 or more of the following:
At one point in time, I suffered 4 of these 5.
The article then moves in to Lifestyle Management.
In adults with T2D, greater adherence to an overall healthy lifestyle is associated with a substantially lower risk of incident CVD and CVD mortality (Table 1). The table is on page 4 of the study posted above. But what does that mean? In a nutshell, it advises that an overall healthy lifestyle will likely put you at a lower risk of CVD and CVD mortality.
What the study showed is through an intensive life management change (calorie goal of 1200 to 1800 kcal per day (with <30% from fat and >15% from protein)), the patients lost more weight then just calorie deficit and lowered their A1C faster. In addition,
intensive lifestyle intervention yielded improvements in other cardiovascular risk factors, sleep apnea, fitness, renal disease, peripheral neuropathy, and depressive symptoms.
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/epdf/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001040
There was not enough research on this study to confirm that it definitively will remove cardiovascular disease, but it is definitely in the right direction.
You know that I am a proponent of movement. This study found that
Increased physical activity and exercise have been shown to improve glycemic control, lipids, BP, insulin sensitivity, and inflammatory biomarkers in T2D
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/epdf/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001040
This indicates that physical exercise (minimum of 3 times a week) also helps to lessen cardiovascular disease.
Here is where it starts to get interesting. To quote the article (again):
The Mediterranean, Paleolithic, low-carbohydrate, high-protein, vegetarian, and nut-enriched diets have demonstrated benefits on glycemic control and weight loss in T2D, with the Mediterranean diet producing the greatest improvements in glycemic control and a 29% CVD reduction over 4.8 years.
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/epdf/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001040
Keto is low-carbohydrate, high-protein. Obviously, this statement does not limit to only Keto, but this is the first study from AHA that includes Keto, so that is quite exciting.
Very low–carbohydrate versus moderate carbohydrate diets yield a greater decrease in A1c, more weight loss and use of fewer diabetes medications in individuals with diabetes. For those who are unable to adhere to a calorie-restricted diet, a low-carbohydrate diet reduces A1c and triglycerides. Very low-carbohydrate diets were effective in reducing A1c over shorter time periods (<6 months) with less differences in interventions ≥12 months
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/epdf/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001040
The study showed that very low-carb decreases A1C more than a moderate carbohydrate, as well as more weight loss and less medications. It also showed to reduce triglycerides (which are well known for being higher on a diet of pasta and rice). Note that the very low-carb diet was more effective in reducing A1C over a shorter amount of time. THIS is very exciting.
So, this is the first study that the AHA has published where they are acknowledging the benefits of a Ketogenic way of life. Eating ‘Keto’ will reduce your A1C faster then the previous recommended diets and will improve overall health. So, let’s get started on your road to health with a Ketogenic, keto-vore, or carnivore way of life.
The Keto, Ketovore, and Carnivore diets are not just for weight loss. It will help heal your body. The weight loss is a nice side effect, but should not be your primary reason. How do I know it heals your body? Let’s discuss, shall we?
I started Keto as a desperate action because I woke up and could barely move my legs. I had heard about Keto from a friend, and something told me to give it a try. My poor husband, who was starting to prepare Christmas dinner with all the traditional sides. He had to suddenly make extra dishes for me. He did great and I will always appreciate that he has supported me from the beginning.
As I got further into Keto, I started noticing that I was losing some of my bloat, and some weight. Then I started to notice that I was able to walk more, and faster. I was able to get up from a chair with less pain. I wasn’t feeling sick all the time.
Now, here’s the kicker. I have not lost hardly any weight (maybe 5 lbs) in about 18 months. Do I have weight to lose? Yes, about 20 more lbs. Am I worried? No, I am not, and here is why. My body is still healing. I’m 52 years old tomorrow, so I have 50 years of doing damage to my body to reverse.
I know that my body is healing with the protein and nutrients that I’m giving it. I know this because if I have too many carbs in a day, or if I accidentally have soy, my body hurts. But when I eat clean, it feel good, I have more energy, I can move. These, for me, are a correlation. Consider as well, what is called a Non Scale Victory (NSV). When I started my journey with Keto, I was moving into a 3XL shirt and a Size 20. Today, I’m wearing a L and a size 12. This is the inflammation being healed, as I’ve only lost about 20 lbs.
But it’s not just me. My husband has started to eat more Keto and he is noticing improved health as well. His joints do not hurt as much, and he’s able to recover each day faster than he used to when he has overdone it. This, is also why I know that eating this way heals our body.
So, how will I know that my body has healed and I can change the way I eat? Well, I’ll know my body is healed, or close to healing, when two things happen. The not as important thing is losing that last bit of weight, as my body will finally whoosh that weight away. The other? When I am able to exercise and lift a normal amount of weight. I will get there, slowly but surely.
So, are you ready to heal? I’m ready to help you. Let’s do this together, shall we?
There is a lot of confusion on what Keto is and if it is healthy or a fad diet, or? I hope to clear up some of the confusion surrounding Keto.
From News Medical Life Sciences:
The ketogenic diet became popular as a therapy for epilepsy in the 1920s and 30s. It was developed to provide an alternative to non-mainstream fasting, which had demonstrated success as an epilepsy therapy. However, the diet was eventually largely abandoned due to the introduction of new anticonvulsant therapies. Although it emerged that most cases of epilepsy could be effectively controlled using these medications, they still failed to achieve epileptic control in around 20% to 30% of epileptics. For these individuals, and particularly children with epilepsy, the diet was re-introduced as a technique for managing the condition.
https://www.news-medical.net/health/History-of-the-Ketogenic-Diet.aspx
In summary, the ketogenic diet was created in the 1920s to help save those with epilepsy. So, this is not a fad diet, it’s a healthy way of eating for people with certain ailments. The benefits do not stop there though.
Many doctors are finding that the ketogenic diet has other benefits as well. From Healthline.com:
These are all benefits that I, personally, have seen occur, or know someone that has benefited in these ways.
So, what are the negatives? Personally, I have found none. But these three are the mmost common ones that people will say are negatives and why they can’t do it.
Other causes of DKA include:
What is Keto? Keto is when your body goes into ketosis. To get there, keep your carbs under 20g a day. For some people, they can go up to 30g of total carbs. 50g of carbs a day or less is considered low carb. That is the jist of it. Depending on where you are on your journey will depend on where your fat intake and protein intake levels are. If you want to lose more weight, eat less fat and higher protein. If you don’t want to lose weight, you add more fat and make it closer to 1 to 1 fat to protein.
I can help you with that, including a quick menu, exercises you can do, and overall support. Click on one of the options on my homepage, to set up some coaching time. There are currently, as of January 2022, 2 options that are based on Maria Emmerich’s ketogenic coaching program. Maria is one of the most well respected, most popular, and well loved health coaches in the world. She has over 30 books on the subject.
For many years, we’ve been told that we need to add more vegetables to our diet to be healthy. But is it really the right diet for you? Probably not, and today, I’ll give you one reason. I’ll cover more in the future.
The main reason is anti-nutrients. According to Science Direct: “Antinutrients are natural or synthetic compounds that interfere with the absorption of nutrients.”
Where do they come from? Vegetables. Some are worse than others, obviously.
One of the more dangerous anti-nutrients are oxalates. Oxalates are found in types of fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and grains. From Sally K. Norton’s ‘When Healthy Isn’t: The Risks of a High-Oxalate foods‘, “Oxalates are tiny organic salts that form when oxalic acid is bound to mineral elements, such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium.” So, what does that mean?
These are small ‘salts’ or crystals that attach themselves to important nutrients that our body needs. They are creating small crystal shards By doing this, they prevent the body from absorbing these nutrients. Here is a chart that I pulled from Maria Emmerich’s blog that quickly show how much these anti-nutrients absorb zinc, preventing your body from absorbing them.
Sally Norton provides the following risks:
A high oxalate diet includes a diet consistently high in one or more high oxalate foods, including soy, spinach, Swiss chard, potatoes, nuts, seeds, wheat bran, beans, dried fruit, chocolate, and buckwheat.
Am I telling you that all vegetables are bad and you can’t ever have vegetables again? No, I’m not. Science is showing that for many, small amounts of vegetables are ok, within reason. Science has also shown that we are not meant to eat a lot of vegetables, at least not how they are grown today. We have one stomach and it is not capable of handling what is needed to digest plant matter/vegetables. With that, we can’t absorb those minerals, and what we do break down, grabs the nutrients we need and steals them from us.
How much can we eat? Depends on your body and how much it can handle. Growing up, I never did well with vegetables. When I was in my 20s, I attempted to become vegan and it started my health issues. I gained 60 lbs in 1 month and I am still recovering from that while in my 50s. Conversely, I know people that are vegan, and are doing well. From Maria Emmerich’s blog “The safe limit of oxalates for humans depends on a lot of factors. For most people 100mg a day or less is probably OK for most people. But some with digestive issues, suppressed immune system and other issues it can be even less. The lethal level, the level that will kill you, has a wide range of about 3.5 grams to 30 grams which is a very wide range.”
There are other factors that can lead to the intolerance of oxalates in your diet. One of them being Type 2 Diabetes. Others could be Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Lupus, and so on. Anything could lower your ability to handle oxalates, so please be aware of that.
Also consider that sugar and carbs will also affect how many oxalates your body can handle. I’ll go over the dangers of too much sugar and carbs in the near future.
Vegetables may causer more health concerns then we were originally told. Oxalates become small razor blades that cut through the inside of your body causing what they now know is Leaky Gut. Some people can handle more oxalates than others. This is why it is important to work with a Health Coach to help you navigate what will work best for you.
Are you ready for a change? I can help you with that.
I watch several YouTube channels, and one of them, 2KrazyKetos, released their January challenge today and Rachel was rather adamant that it is not New Year, New You, but New Year, New Do. I understand her thoughts on this. So, I am going to go with it.
Now, before I go further, my husband had decided to participate in the BBBE (Beef, Butter, Bacon, Eggs) challenge, a challenge put out there by Dr. Ken Berry, before we knew that the 2KrazyKetos were going to do this challenge again. They did the challenge for 46 days this past fall. So, two days ago, we went and had our labs done, and a DEXA scan. We will have the same done after 3 months of just eating BBBE. This is not a requirement for anyone and I would never tell you that you have to do this, so please don’t think that I am. This is strictly for my husband and I to see what happens. He will go back to Keto and I to Ketovore at the end of the 3 months.
We are doing this as a reset, to retrain our thinking on food. Beef and butter happen to be excellent ways to heal your body, so why not give it a try. Dr. Berry promises that our body fat will not go up and our blood work should improve. Please note that I didn’t say our overall cholesterol will go down. For some, it will. I do not expect that for us, as for most, it will go up. I will do a blog about why that does not bother me, in the near future. We are hoping that this will remove some of the inflammation that has built up in my body by unknowingly eating soy. As I type this, my arthritis in my fingers is truly flaring, and we believe it to be the pork and chicken I’ve been eating. Hence, the challenge.
Dr. Berry and the 2KrazyKetos go over this, so I’ll make it brief.
Therefore, taking the phrase from Rachel at 2KrazyKetos, a new ‘Do’ is in order. Are you ready to start a new ‘Do’ for your life? Let me help you with that. As a certified Keto and Carnivore Health Coach, I can and will help you with that. Coach Bronson (affiliate link) would say: Get after it. 2022, here we come. We can do this, together.
My apologies that it has been must longer since my last post then I intended. December has been quite a busy month for me. That being said, let’s talk about the future.
Just the other day, I received my official certification badges as a Keto and Carnivore coach. I intend, once I save some money, to take the supplement course and receive my certification in supplements as well. With the official certification, I will now be working on coaching people officially. The new year is perfect for that, yes?
So, with that, what do you want to see in a Health Coach? I intend to customize my program as much as possible to meet the individuals needs. Why am I doing that? It’s actually rather simple. I have weird allergies (some not so weird) and quirks. For example, I’m allergic to soy and all soy derivatives, allergic to tomatoes, intolerant to gluten, and I cannot handle shakes/meal replacements. So, my weight-loss is extremely slow, while by body heals, first. And that is my goal as a coach, is to help you heal first. The weight-loss is a nice side benefit.
In case you haven’t read my about me, let me talk about why I need to heal. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when things started going downhill for me, but I’ll start when I was a Senior in High School. Suddenly, my chest and lungs hurt a lot and I was coughing a lot. My mom took me to the doctor and he said that it was just my chest muscles from having to carry such a heavy backpack. We tried to explain to him that I didn’t carry a backpack, but he didn’t understand that.
Fast forward 10 years and the pain in my chest was really bad. I went to the doctor and his back up (my doctor was on vacation) ordered x-rays. I received a call that I had Pleurisy. So, I went back into the doctor’s office and as he opened the door to my exam room, I coughed. He asked me “How long have you had Asthma?” I told him I didn’t. He told me I did, as that cough was a classic asthma honk. Hmmm, this was new.
Fast forward another 15 or so years, I was having a hard time eating. I was feeling sick every time I ate. It got to a point that I couldn’t eat, as I started vomiting up blood. They started taking tons of tests, everything came out negative. The final test was swallowing a small camera to follow my digestive track. Results? Everything was working fine. Because of this, the doctor suggested I try an elimination diet. First three days, I could only have 6 saltine crackers a day. She advised us to look at all the ingredients and note when I reacted. My husband realized quickly that everything had soy in it. We confirmed my sensitivity to soy when I had my first cracker. It had soy flour, and I reacted. I immediately started making all my own food. Baking my own bread, making my own peanut butter, and my own chocolate even.
Fast forward to the last 4 years. My joints and whole body have just been getting worse and worse and more and more pained. Still struggled with eat, psoriasis and eczema were getting worse. I was at a loss on what to do. Then, Dec. 24, 2019, I woke up and could not move my legs. I was able to finally get them moved enough to get up and to the restroom. I had heard about Keto from a friend and had been looking into it for months. That morning, that was it, I made the decision to give it a try. Initially, I was only going to do Keto for 6 months, until I healed my body. I quickly realized that I have a long way to go to heal my body. I’m still healing. I can feel the inflammation, though it is not as bad as it was, and my stomach will tell me when the animal that I’m eating has been fed soy. So, I have to be extremely careful.
That brings us to today. After seeing the improvement that Keto and Ketovore has provided me, I want to be able to help others achieve that goal. I want to help you heal.
So, how can I coach you?
There are many different apps that can be used to track food. The most popular ones that are used in the Keto community are Cronometer, My Fitness Pal, Net Diary, Noom, and Carb Manager. There are others as well, but these are the 5 that I have used. But which one is best? That will depend on you and what you want to accomplish.
The two most popular in the keto community are Cronometer and Carb Manager. Both have a free and pay version. The biggest difference I’ve found, and the reason I prefer Cronometer over Carb Manager, is that the nutrition values for Cronometer are more accurate. Allow me to explain. You enter the food that you are eating into the app, and it brings up the calorie count, carb count, protein and fat count, and so on. It pulls from a common database that all users have access to (unless you add your own recipe). Here is where the two apps differ. If the item is not in the database, the users are able to add it. With Carb Manager, you add the information and then save it and everyone has access to it. With Cronometer, the information is submitted, and they have a team that reviews the information for accuracy. Once it is verified, then it is added to the database. So, I found many of the entries in Carb Manager did not have the accurate nutrition listed. So, if you use Carb Manager, be aware, and use at your own risk.
So, how do you use Chronometer? It’s easier then most think. The following directions are for if you are using a desktop computer. Once I set it up via a regular computer, I installed the app on my phone and opened it there, all set up.
First, go to http://www.cronometer.com and create an account. When you go to create an account. It will ask you some basic information:
Fill out your email, password, and your current body type information. Agree to the Terms of Service and then click Create Account.
It will let you know that you need to confirm your email:
Click the Validate button:
Once validated, click Continue:
This will take you to the basic diary dashboard. This is where you will add your food each time you eat, or each day.
To finish setting this up, you’ll want to go to Settings first. You’ll want to go to Profile + Targets:
The top part will be the information you entered when you activated your account. You can make adjustments to those numbers now if you like. Scroll down and you’ll see the calorie count that they recommend to maintain your weight:
You can adjust your Activity level on the right. Then scroll down further and add your goal weight.
Scroll further to set your macros.
They do have a Keto Calculator, that you can use. It will then ask the following:
Rigorous will put your daily carbs at 20g and your proteing at 1.0:
Scroll down and it will let you choose to track net carbs or total carbs. It is highly recommended to track total carbs. More on that in a separate post.
Scroll down and you can choose which nutrients are visible when you tracking your food. You can view the categories of General, Vitamins, Minerals, Carbohydrates, Lipids, and Protein. Choose which ones you feel will be most beneficial. Or during one of our meetings, we can discuss.
That is the basic to set it up. Real quick, I’ll show you how to enter food. Let me add what I had for lunch today, 2 burger patties, with some mayonnaise, and mustard. From the diary screen, click “Add Food”:
You’ll see options. If you have common foods that you use, they will show up in Favorites. Since this is a new account, I will just start typing in the search field at the top:
You can see when I select the brand name and item, the macros for that food populates at the bottom:
You can note the number of servings as well. Since I had 2, I’ll up the servings to 2. If you like, you can add time of day:
It will then take you back to your diary dashboard, which will show everything you have done for that day:
and that is it. It will track and will let you see your progress as you add you food. You can also add you Exercise that you participate in every day, which will adjust your calories allotted. However. if you don’t use those extra calories that are offered when you exercise, you may lose weight faster, if that is your goal.
I will also do a blog on customizing your targets, instead of choosing the basic Keto one, as I typically use my own macros. Stay tuned for that one.