Happy Poo
Jedi Master
Hi Ant22, thanks for taking the time and effort to write all of this out. I was going to write a more detailed response about diet etc, and will do hopefully when I've worked out what to say.Yeah, cholesterol levels are really badly misunderstood out there, and it seems both the public and medical professionals both repeat like a mantra that the lower the better. But then again, they also repeat that fluoride is good for our teeth and milk is great for the bones, so if something is widely considered to be good there's likelihood it isn't - and vice versa.
I can relate to your confusion about diet too Happy Poo. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, although there are some universal truths there too. I tried keto for an extended period of time and it didn't work for me. Carb cravings were insane for the entire period of a few months I was on the diet and I had a plethora of symptoms that just made this experiment an unsuccessful one. I did carnivore too and it was even worse. After 10 days I was so weak that I struggled to walk even short distances. I described my experiences here, and Gaby replied with the following:
I guess like keto, the carnivore diet isn't for everyone.
I don't know if it's of any use to you at all, but I thought I'd share what works for me in case it gives you a few ideas of things to try.
For example, intermittent fasting, i.e., temporary ketosis has been quite miraculous for me. I generally fast for 16-18 hours and my eating window is 6-8 hours.
I also do a form of calorie shifting (aka calorie cycling, or metabolic flexibility diet). My diet is predominantly low carb, high fat and protein, but as Wednesdays are days when I go to the office I make them my high carb lower fat/protein days. A day I'm out with friends is also a high carb day for me so I can enjoy myself instead of worrying about finding low carb stuff to eat when out and about. I guess it's not really calorie shifting per se, but carb shifting, but it does the trick. I read about it quite a bit and a lot of the research does say that the approach involves high and low carb days. Many sources say that fat should be included on low carb days, but not on high carb days, I guess the assumption is that one will not have a lot of it, hence low carb days are called low calorie days. Well, I just ignore it and have a lot of it
Somehow mixing low carb meals with high carb ones on the same day doesn't work for me too well, but it took me a very long while to figure that out. And trying to stick to a low carb diet too religiously doesn't work either because carb cravings kick in and I start stuffing my face with processed sugar. Calorie cycling solves the problem because I get 1-2 days of carby sin per week
That said, I recently discovered that I cannot really handle processed sugar too well. I was having some weird symptoms and once I cut it out things got much better. So when I say high carb I mean stuff like potatoes, rice, fruit, bread, or a bit of chocolate here and there. I limit grains and avid legumes too. On my low carb days I only have meat with veggies and maybe a bit of creamy sauce (non-dairy), or a bit of bread to go with my ham or pates between meals, but that's mostly it. I almost exclusively drink sparkling mineral water with vitamin C so that's zero carbs too.
I cut out gluten and dairy years ago, but I actually have a bit of gluten around once every two weeks, occasionally once a week. I used to have a very bad reaction to gluten, mostly neurological (brain fogs, fatigue, depression, etc.) but ever since I started having small bits of it from time to time that reaction doesn't happen - while I also don't suffer the symptoms I that originally led me to cut out gluten either.
I guess the only way to find what works is to experiment and see what agrees with you, I hope you find an approach that works. And if it's a specific issue you're trying to address with diet you can always network about it. Someone may have had similar issues and they may be able to help![]()
I'm just very grateful to you, thanks

