Wednesday, January 14, 2015

25 Months On A LCHF Ketogenic Diet- Update!

It's been two years and one month since I read Dr. Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney's book called "The Art And Science Of Low Carbohydrate Living".   I will state without any hesitation that it was the pivotal turning point in my diabetic life!   It changed my entire concept of health and it also changed the lives of countless others who have joined my "Reversing Diabetes" facebook group since then.

At the time that I read that book I was eating a low carb and low fat type of diet and had about 500 members in my facebook group.  I remember one of my admins in the group at the time, a great guy and a mentor, Geoff S. would post about eating a ketogenic diet.  I kind of thought it was on the extreme end of the scale and didn't promote it much.  I have to admit that It actually scared me a little bit!

Fast forward two years later!   Geoff was a very wise man and he knew of what he spoke!
He helped me along in my early days of eating this way!  I am forever grateful to you Geoff!

Today I eat a fully ketogenic diet as Volek and Phinney write of and my facebook group now has more than 5200 members and a countless number of successful LCHF participants!   I have since added two more successful facebook groups with an additional 1500 members or so.


After reading Volek and Phinney's book, I began my own experiment which I documented for about 5 months.  I upped my fat intake, I lowered my protein intake, experimented with portion sizes and foods even using a food scale for a while!  It was a lot of work in the beginning but now it is simply my way of life!

Within days I was blown away by my blood sugar numbers and I have never turned back!   Now in Jan. 2015 it has been 25 months of this way of eating along with thousands of others doing this with me!   It is humbling to say the least!

I just had my yearly "preventative" exam.  I say that because I no longer have to have diabetes follow-up exams.  My doctor has declared me to be no longer diabetic "on paper" as she says.   She was completely blown away by my recent labs and could hardly believe my numbers!

Fasting Blood Glucose on day of testing was 74 (4.1 mmol),

A1c 5.3

Vitamin D level is stellar at 74, which is up from last years 52  (most people are under 40!)

Homocysteine is down to 9.8 from 11.8 in 2013.  This is a marker for heart disease.  Below 10 is fine. Over 13 or so is concerning although most physicians don't seem to take much notice until you have a reading of 15 or higher!

All of my liver enzymes are improved over the past 3 years.  So much for the propaganda saying that a high fat diet causes fatty liver!
Total Cholesterol of 222 is BORDERLINE (225 last year) Of course it is higher due to the higher "healthy" HDL

LDL of 106 is NEAR OPTIMAL (down from 144)
HDL of 92 is OPTIMAL (UP 40 points from last year)
Triglyceride level of 120 is NORMAL (145 last year)

RATIOS:
Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio is: 2.41 - (preferably under 5.0, ideally under 3.5) IDEAL

LDL/HDL ratio is: 1.152 - (preferably under 5.0, ideally under 2.0) IDEAL

Triglycerides/HDL ratio is: 1.304 - (preferably under 4, ideally under 2) IDEAL

The calculator I used to figure my ratios is here.  http://www.hughcalc.org/chol2013.php

I am so happy to share my results after 2 years of eating a LCHF Ketogenic diet and my hope is that it will inspire others and take away some possible fear that you may have about how a high fat diet affects your lipids!

For those of you who read this post whose life has also been changed by using the ketogenic diet for your health I would love it if you would comment on this post!