The Ketogenic Diet Part 11- The Miracles Continue!
Ok today I am going to give you my other results that were still pending last time I wrote you and address some criticism from one of my colleagues whom I will simply call “Dr Smith”.
Like so many traditional allopathic doctors Dr Smith can’t seem to handle the fact that we can be very very wrong. Carbs are not essential to our diet. We can eat mostly fat and have better lipid and other values than we could ever ever have on a balanced diet. Honestly it’s just programming and unwillingness to accept or even think about something new or different
First things first. I told you that my last values, while good, would even get better. It has been approximately one month since I had those values drawn. At the time I mentioned I had elective surgery which because of some “plastic surgery” comments I received I will tell you was a lipoma (brown fat benign tumor) from my lower back, not a face lift as one person had suggested.
The lipoma was large and I just got tired of it ruining my bikini line! But it necessitated over a month of minimal workouts with minimal exertion. If you think I had a face lift then thank you! What you are seeing is the cumulative effects of a year of RG cell use!
The point of telling you all this was to remind you of what I said last time, “My HDL will be even better when I can exercise again!” Well here we are a month later and my total cholesterol is actually a little higher now at 181 up from 170. Now a typical doctor might get upset about this but, the HDL which in me has always been hyper responsive to exercise went up from a very good 66 to a ridiculously good 93. This accounts for the bulk of the change in my cholesterol. My bad cholesterol is now 79 which is a few points higher as well but still very good for anyone unless you have already had a heart attack.
I got the gold standard of all tests, the NMR of the lipids which shows particle sizes as well as absolute values. Without getting too deep into the interpretation there are heavy dense particles and light fluffy particles. Each of them represents a different way that fats are carried through the bloodstream and each of them has an associated “risk of heart attack” either higher or lower.
The most important one is called LDL-P. The lower this number the lower your risk of heart disease is. Anything under 1000 is considered ideal. Mine was 890. Along similar lines they measure the Small particle LDL-P. You want that less than 530 Mine was 101!
Next is LDL-C. You want that under 100 for optimal. Mine is 83. From these results you can look at the “pattern” of your bad cholesterol. A large fluffy pattern which is of course what my results demonstrate puts you in the lower risk category. A heavy dense pattern is higher risk although the absolute numbers still take precedent. Ideally you want a large fluffy particle pattern with a low total bad cholesterol, and a high good cholesterol. 93 is off the charts good! I have seen them as high as 105 in a person who if I remember correctly was about 102 years old!
Finally as part of this mix of labs you can calculate an “Insulin resistance Score” which includes your lipid (cholesterol scores) and your blood sugar values all of which were great on my tests. An insulin resistance score of less than 45 is ideal, mine is less than 25.
Now a couple of points to remember. This is not me bragging about how good my tests are. I would expect and you should expect them to be that way. This is what I do all day everyday- study how to slow down the aging process!
The other thing I will remind you is I have average genetics, my lipid values were just OK on a regular diet nothing to write home about ( this was of course 12 years ago since I started getting younger since then they have gotten steadily BETTER!).
My dad had a heart attack in his mid 70’s and needed bypass surgery. He also had type 2 diabetes that eventually became insulin dependent. So yeah I have really average genetics!!!!
I also want to remind you since this is about the ketogenic diet I eat 60 to 70% of my calories from fat and I avoid carbs most of the time. I have for the past 8 months and I have never had better lab tests or frankly looked better physically.
Bottom line: At the moment I think the ketogenic diet is the most healthy and most productive as far as weight loss and lipid values. I have demonstrated that with every lab I can that will answer the question, “Is this healthy?” My HsCRPs, homocystienes cholesterols IL-6’s and so on are all at the top of optimal.
You would think no self respecting physician would argue but last week I got this from the aforementioned Dr Smith.
“Dr Dave, I looked you up to see if you were real. Much to my surprise I found you are licensed, Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Anti-Aging Medicine and have never been sued. You must be very very lucky! I read with some disgust the Atkin’s like dietary advice you have been spewing on your blogs and I have to tell you you are doing everyone, your patients, your colleagues and your industry a huge disservice. Statins have been proven to be safe and effective at lowering heart disease risk and yet you seem to be anti-statin and pro crazy high fat diet. I urge you as a matter of moral decency to stop this bad advice. Sooner or later you will pay the price for this! Respectfully “Dr Smith”
My response:
“Dear Sir, thank you for your concerned response. I have included for your review a list of scientific articles that have addressed the long term use of ketogenic diets. If anything I would think we should be asking the question, “Why are we not trying this more often?” While I respect that doctors are in the trenches with their patients and must be the ultimate arbiters of the medical decisions made, and that nothing is worse than an arm chair coach who has nothing to lose, I would urge you to open up your mind and brush up on the science which is considerable. Billions upon billions have been spent using statins to “treat heart disease” mainly because “we have nothing better”. Billions more have been spent to “prove” they work. The evidence of this is far from incontrovertible in the general population and frankly it’s a very expensive way to try to prevent something that could be approached very differently! As long as these drugs remain profitable there will be nothing better. I also understand as you do many people are incapable of following any kind of specific diet even when their lives are at stake. In that situation the moderate risk reduction afforded by statins in probably justifiable. But the bulk of people can do this without drugs. And if they do they will be treated to being able to get OFF drugs, lose more weight specifically fat than they ever dreamed possible and de age their bodies which is what I am all about. The fact that you took the time to write tells me you care. The fact that you adhere to what has been dogma for far too long tells me you need to open your mind a bit. I respectfully suggest the following if you are healthy: Try it for yourself! If you do not succeed then I can understand your view point much more. But I can tell you EVERYONE who has committed to this diet has seen near miracles happen. I have been objective about this. I have gotten every test any physician would want to feel comfortable that things are going in the right direction not vice versa. Yet still doctors especially remain unconvinced even when I use the very tests they are so enamored with. If I had bragged about the effects of a statin here would you have been less critical?!”
Here are a few updates from some of my patients:
MB is 59. I have known him for 20+ years. Heart disease runs in his family and both his father and an older brother died in their 50’s of heart attacks. MB had his heart attack 3 years ago and survived to be put on statins and beta blockers. His weight on a dietician supervised “heart healthy diet” was 203 pounds. He is 5 feet 10 inches tall and had a BMI measured at 29.5 (high so he was considered overweight) and appeared as he described it “middle aged flabby with a gut”.
He saw my progress on the diet and asked me to advise him. I told him of course this was not medical advice and he should ask his cardiologists. He went on the diet 3 months ago. As of last week he weighs 172 pounds, is off statins, and beta blockers and his wife has also lost 20 pounds.
AS and MS are a couple I have known for over a decade. A. is a doctor who was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer. After 6 weeks on the diet he has lost 9 pounds. His wife who led the way and started earlier has lost 18. He has used it in 2 or 3 patients with similar results. His most astounding was a 72 year old Hispanic diabetic woman who was morbidly obese, had uncontrolled diabetes and could not walk. Because of the latter she had developed pressure ulcers that were non healing. Currently she has: lost 30 pounds, is able to walk short distances with zero assistance and has blood sugars that are much much easier to control and closer to normal. None of that may sound like a miracle to you but to her and those of us who care for people like this it is nothing short of one!
The biggest thing about this current diet is in my opinion hope. So many people have no hope. They have tried “everything” and either lost so little it was not worth the pain or simply gained it all back. None of that has happened to the people I know who do this diet. They lose weight easily, painlessly and permanently.
If you want to know what kind of exercise I do mainly go here.
Let the miracles continue!
Doc
PS I continue Ultra 85 4 to 6 caps a day to maintain the low inflammatory values and triglycerides in my body!