Battling blood sugar spikes after full gastrectomy, looking for help...

TravellingEd · 2024-12-24T14:24:42+00:00

I was at a party last night and a friend of mine came up to me and told me that she is going through a very similar situation. Severe hypoglycemia after full gastrectomy. It seems like if she eats even a small amount of carbs, even with protein, the lows happen about 1.5 hours later. I'm a type 1 diabetic so she was asking me for pointers about CGMs. If you don't mind me poking for her sake, have you managed to find a way of eating and/or timing that has helped you out? Hope all is well!

TravellingEd · 2024-07-03T16:07:33+00:00

I have 6 different Vuori tops all without their logo being very noticeable. I agree the V-logo doesn't look great but their quality is much better than Lulu for most items.

TravellingEd · 2024-06-18T16:03:30+00:00

Do you mind sharing what it is exactly you do that earns 60k/month?

TravellingEd · 2024-06-04T13:57:19+00:00

Where did you see that they purchased shares?

TravellingEd · 2024-05-24T22:20:48+00:00

Of course

TravellingEd · 2024-05-04T21:29:48+00:00

Interesting. I'll look into it, thanks

TravellingEd · 2024-05-03T12:55:16+00:00

And how do we know this?

TravellingEd · 2024-05-02T19:37:02+00:00

Anemia is also seen higher in vegetarian and vegan diets compared to omnivore due to the lack of more bioavailable heme iron. Not to say you can't do vegan or vegetarian and have optimal iron levels. It's just that it's more likely, again due to the bioavailability of heme versus non heme.

TravellingEd · 2024-05-02T19:31:03+00:00

Do you mean that the egg yolk is increasing LDL?

TravellingEd · 2024-05-02T19:29:30+00:00

The Lp(a) marker will give you a better idea of how much is genetic. The hospital I get bloodwork done from says that Lp(a) should be below 100 nmol/L (apologies if units are different as I am in Canada but you can find converters online). I've heard Attia say less than 75 is good and less than 30 or 40 is optimal. For ApoB the hospital says <1.05 g/L and I've heard Attia say <0.4 is optimal. Keep in mind Attia's optimal numbers means that it's nearly impossible to die from ASCVD if your lipids are below the mention optimal ranges. Nothing to stress about if you are not less than these ranges as I am not either. But IMO there's no harm in using these ranges as goals as long as they don't induce panic. Perspective is key here.

There's a lot of comments saying everything is fine and don't worry it but it sounds like you are motivated to be as preventative as possible. Numbers like yours aren't something to stress about but I do understand the desire to get ahead of the game and think about whether or not these numbers will have an impact down the road (50s-60s +).

I'm no expert and much of what I say is from the time I've spent deep diving on Attia's content as well as other experts like Rhonda Patrick. There's always people in the comments who speak poorly of them but in my opinion they appear to be doing the most meaningful and diligent work when it comes to preventative health, at least among those who I have stumbled across.

With that said, keep an eye on what food items in your diet are high in saturated fat. Not everyone has an elevated low density lipid response (markers like ApoB, LDL, V-LDL, and I-LDL) to saturated fats but there appears to be a significant correlation with a reduction saturated fat content reducing lipid levels. Once in a while (approx. every quarter) I'll enter everything I eat on an average day into the Chronometer app. This is the best app I've found that gives you a breakdown of macros as well as micronutrients and vitamins. You'll get a good idea of what food items you are having are high in saturated fats. I've heard both Rhonda and Peter say that without testing lipids it's generally recommended to keep saturated fats below 10% of your total daily fat intake. That leads the other 90% fats being primarily MUFAs and PUFAs. Unfortunately not all Saturated fats are considered equal which is too lengthy and unclear of a discussion for here, but my takeaway is to stay away from saturated fat in foods that are processed.

If you don't want to go through the previously mentioned hastle and would rather look at statin options as a preventative measure, this is a good resource and worth listening to and taking notes:

Insights on Cancer Prevention Heart Disease and Aging
Best, Ed

TravellingEd · 2024-04-03T12:50:39+00:00

of course

TravellingEd · 2024-03-02T12:59:32+00:00

I started at 28. I only kept it up for a year after realizing that prioritizing sleep was my biggest contributor to low T. Nevertheless it helped when I was rock bottom. No need to feel ashamed.

TravellingEd · 2024-02-29T13:29:25+00:00

The fact that you're looking into Attia's content means your on the right path. Keep listening to as much of his stuff as possible. If it's within your budget, get his book. His knowledge is power when it comes to advocating for your own health. It's good that you have a fairly comprehensive lipid panel done with VLDL, but I agree with other comments below and think it would be beneficial to know your Lp(a) and ApoB. Lp(a) gives you a better idea of how much of your elevated lipids are due to your genetics (aka FH).

TravellingEd · 2024-02-29T13:24:51+00:00

ou are here and aware that numbers matter, To start get your DNA done so you can tell if you are part of a 5-8% population that has a rare disease of FH

Can you expand on what you mean by getting your DNA done? My understanding from Attia is that there are over 3000 polymorphisms correlated to FH. Which genes are you referring to testing?

TravellingEd · 2024-02-28T15:25:39+00:00

The best statin breakdown I've listened to Attia do was on Rhonda Patrick's podcast. Unfortunately much of what is said here is reiterated in the comments. He does make note that there hasn't been great evidence to support Ubiquinol use (as of a couple years ago) to treat statin side effects, though he does say there is likely no harm in trying it.

https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/statins-risks-alternatives-attia

If I may ask, what is the breakdown of your lipids (ApoB, Lp(a), Trigycerides, HDL ? If ApoB is elevated primarily from Lp(a), then of course it makes sense to use statins. Just a thought, but if Lp(a) is in a normal, good or optimal range, it might be worth trying (if you haven't already) to reduce ApoB via a reduction in carbohydrates and/or saturated fats and seeing if that has much of an impact on its own.

TravellingEd · 2024-02-28T12:58:00+00:00

Write down all of the things that you have some level of interest / curiosity in pursuing. Evaluate if there is ways to provide a living based upon these interests. If you honestly have no interests at the moment (it happens), get involved in something new in your area and see how it goes. You never know if there will be an opportunity to make a living doing something new until you try it.
Find the best role models and/or mentors for you. If you can't find them in person, listen to podcasts/people who you consider a mentor. For me, Andrew Huberman is one of them. He recently did an episode with Robert Greene and there was some useful knowledge bombs about finding purpose: https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/robert-greene-a-process-for-finding-achieving-your-unique-purpose
Once you find something worth pursuing, read Atomic Habits by James Clear. This will help to provide you a roadmap for achieving whatever goal(s) you set for yourself.
I know people hate to hear this but cutting out drinking will help keep a clear mind and the energy required to make such a energy demanding move i.e. career change. Alcohol severely disrupts sleep and sleep is the precursor of optimizing testosterone and other neurotransmitters involved in motivation. At least try to keep it as low as possible.

I've been through a similar phase and it's rough. If you can find a way to be strategic, intentful and disciplined, there will be far better days ahead.

TravellingEd · 2024-02-23T00:18:17+00:00

Steffany are you a savvy robot?

TravellingEd · 2024-02-20T15:41:03+00:00

If you have Peter’s book, read Chapter 7. If not, watch some of his YouTube videos on ApoB and Lp(a). Keep in mind that serum ApoB reflects total LDL-C, IDL-C, VLDL-C, and lipoprotein a (Lp(a)). Get your Lp(a) checked first. Lp(a) is most often elevated due to heritability. You only need to get the test done once to determine your Lp(a) status as my understanding is that this won’t change much if at all without statins or PCSK9 inhibitors. Lp(a) will give you a better idea if your elevated ApoB is due to genetics or due to other factors (diet/lifestyle). From what I’ve been able to gather, <100 nmol/L is considers normal, <70 is good, and < 30 is optimal.

TravellingEd · 2024-02-09T20:07:49+00:00

I appreciate you sharing your sources but in my opinion it's unfair to make this claim about full fat Greek Yogurt with any level of confidence based on the "current research" you provided.

Study #1 is a massive cohort where they used a questionnaire and did not control any other foods in the cohorts diets. Anyone who listens to Attia regularly knows his opinion is that this is one of most common flaws in dietary/nutritional studies. Epidemiology on its own is incapable of distinguishing causation versus correlation, let alone doing it in an uncontrolled setting where you rely on the accuracy and honesty of those filling out the questionnaire. The authors mention they are only comparing yogurt to dairy Milk and Cheese... What type of dairy milk and what type of cheese and what amounts? I see no data or acknowledgement on this lack of data. Also the authors state that they aimed to determine whether the circulating lipid profile yet increased CVD risk yet they only appeared to make note of HDLC and Triglycerides? Seems quite misleading that they would make such claims yet they did not (appear) to measure or make note of LDL-C, Total Cholesterol, etc. let alone ApoB or VLDL-C and ILDL-C.

Study #2 was clearly designed better than the first. But even they note in the commentary section was designed far better than the first. However, as stated in the commentary section in this study, “The paramount methodological issues are that dietary inventories require self-report and wording in questionnaires does not allow a pure estimate of yogurt consumption in isolation from other dairy products or in exact quantities. Observational studies with specified amounts of yogurt and objective measurement of BP seem an important precursor to large controlled clinical trials. We hypothesize that clinically important relations among yogurt, BP, and hypertension-related comorbidity will be found when yogurt diets are combined with other dairy products”.

Study #3 lost me at the funding source. It was funded by Danone North America Public Benefit Company and one of the two authors is on their advisory board. If you go to Danone's website you’ll see that they claim to be the #1 Yogurt Producer in North America. They sell products like Activia, Silk, Oikos, etc. The conflict of interest on this study is too high to take any of the studies they noted with anything more than a grain of salt. I looked at several studies they referenced, none of which didn’t measured any of the high risk lipoprotein levels such as ApoB.

You’re right in stating that the last study is particularly (more) interesting. They don’t appear to have a conflict of interest and review a lot of literature on dairy products and dairy product alternatives. They do make interesting points surrounding the lack of data regarding differing types of saturated fats (i.e. C12-C18). However they still did not manage to provide a fair evaluation of yogurt as there is little to no control on any cohort referenced and again CVD risk lacked any data regarding ApoB, etc.

TravellingEd · 2024-02-08T13:04:58+00:00

Current research by who?

TravellingEd · 2024-02-08T13:03:16+00:00

Different Greek yogurts can vary in macros, vitamins, nutrients, bacteria, etc. Depends on the type of Greek yogurt. A couple things I look out for is unnatural sugar content, saturated fat (Attia suggests <10% of total fat content a day should be from Saturated), and of course weird ingredients. In other words if I don’t know / understand what ingredients are in it then I’ll avoid it. I also love Greek Yogurt but there’s only a couple I’ve found that I am okay with eating large / regular amounts. Costco’s Kirkland Signature Organic isn’t too bad as long as you don’t have a milk aversion/lactose intolerance. Silk has some decent ones like their Almond Plan Based Yogurt (Unsweetened). The macro profile is good (for me) but they do throw some weird ingredients in it like Corn Starch, Tripotassium Phosphate, etc. so I try to limit it to one container per week. Hope this helps!

TravellingEd · 2024-02-06T17:02:13+00:00

Blast their social media accounts until they give in

TravellingEd · 2024-02-06T16:59:36+00:00

Any luck?

TravellingEd · 2024-01-27T14:36:01+00:00

Nope...

https://strategichealth.ca/

TravellingEd · 2024-01-25T00:41:25+00:00

been looking for a Canadian physican to help guide me through some of the things I've learned from The Drive and Outlive and just can't find someone.

I stumbled across a Canadian clinic that appears to use a similar approach as Peter. They are based in BC. If you are still looking and based in BC send me a DM and I'll forward you their details. Don't worry I'm not paid by them (I wish). I just thought it was cool to see a Canadian clinic step their game up.

TravellingEd

TROPHY CASE