I’ve been a bit busy lately, but not so busy I couldn’t take a little time to chat it up with Gary at Biohackers Lab.
We covered a wide range and I enjoyed getting in a bit deeper to the core concepts and why I have so many doubts about the lipid hypothesis as it stands.
And without question, Gary has the most comprehensive show notes I’ve seen for any podcast I’ve been on. Really impressive work!
Great great interview. I had to hit the rewind many times. Thanks for keeping simple for many of us.
Thank you, Gela. I hope it was helpful.
Oh dear!
I watched and listened to this again and again! I will watch and listen to it again and again!
So, I made an appointment to have blood tests on Monday and I started to eat more fat!
Around 6 months ago, I had tests and my cholesterol was sky high!. On that time I was about 20 hours fast and before that (Can’t quite remember but i think about 2 days)I had 48 hours water fast. I was not overweight and was quiet active. (Fasting for controlling T2D, specially morning ones) it is time to rethink about fasting for me!
Now when rethink, and after listened to you,(your theory) It makes sense again!
Thank you for your amazing work! Appreciate it!
Hi Latife-
I’m glad you’re getting a stronger perspective on this system and how dynamic it is. And yes, particularly with regards to extended fasting as you should know the one and only fast I did was for 2.5 days and it yielded the highest cholesterol score I’ve ever had. But I didn’t panic as I predicted it would happen given the Inversion Pattern.
Hi Dave,
I just want to share my lipids result with you. I have added more fat, but I did not count actually. I think I did not eat enough fat. I did not do intermittent fasting more than 14 hours for these 3 days as I normally do 16, 18,20 etc. Still results seem high to relate ‘normal ranges’, however I am feeling comfortable that ‘my lipid system is not broken down’ as you saying. I wonder what would happen if I did not do any exercises. I added some fat but I regularly do and did exercises. For example, second day I have done skipping rope for 30 minutes. And other days did about 15 minutes HIIT at home after dinner :). By the way I had some carbs(almond cake, nuts)
Fat changed the results?
Fasting changed the results?
Need a bit carbs?
I do not know. But I will keep following you and your experiments to find answer.
Here is my results:
18/07/16. 08/12/16. 26/06/17
TC: 7.1 10.1. 8.4
HDL:1.5 2.0 1.9
LDL: 5.2 7.8. 6.2
Non-HDL : 5.6 8.1. 6.5
Triglyceride: 0.8 0.7 0.7
Started LCHF diet after July 2016.
Loved the podcast. I have been following your research since I saw the Breckenridge interview.
I am also a hyper-responder. I went from 215 lbs to 180 lbs in 6 months on LCHF. Before my last physical (also before I came across your research), I fasted for 3 days and ate the day before my last physical. My results were:
TC: 456
LDL-C: 377
HDL-C: 52
TRIG: 148
NON-HDL-C: 404
ApoB: 271
LDL-P: >3500
sdLDL-C: 94
%sdLDL-C: 25
VLDL-C: 27
LP(a): <15
ApoA-I: 137.5
My production and absorption markers were OPTIMAL.
My physician, who is listed as a LCHF doctor, said he had never seen numbers like this before. Some were outstanding and and some were awful (per the medical community). They didn't make sense to him. I told him about my fast and he did not think it would have an impact. Obviously it did. He asked me to do some colon therapy and take some some supplements to cleanse my liver and improve my thyroid function. I did.
I am having follow up bloodwork on Friday. Should I eat more calories and fat for the next 3 days to do "well" on my exam? I typically only eat 2 meals a day at most – lunch and dinner. Should I try to go to 3? Should I add some more carbs for 3 days? I have been almost zerocarb lately – just occasional veg, greek yogurt, and dark chocolate.
Any thoughts on my numbers would be appreciated too.
Thanks for your help.
Hi Steve–
Certainly you should check out my own experience doing a 2.5 day test and how I set a new record for my own cholesterol levels (which happen to be right near yours!) http://cholesterolcode.com/the-fasting-disaster/
With regard to your next test, you may indeed be blowing away your doctor when he sees how much it will have changed after *not* doing a large fast (note you should always fast at least 12-14 hours before a lipid blood test anyway, we’re just talking about longer, multi-day fasts).
If you decide to do the protocol, you may indeed see a large difference in the other direction. But if you don’t yet have a “baseline” of what your cholesterol would be on your average diet, you might want to prioritize that first.
And if he’s a LCHF doctor who doesn’t feel fasting would have an impact on cholesterol, please send him to this site!
After posting my results here, I concerned about my previous scores, as they are high too. (I will even try get more previous ones but I am pretty sure they were not high). While I was thinking about that time, july 2016 I remembered that I started low carb diet and fasting at the same time which is 15/7/2016.(on this time some events happened) just remembered I was fast for 24 hours for 3 days(15/16/17 July). I was just having dinner for 3 days and eating low carb. As I was expecting they will go down I remembered saying to my GP, ‘I found the way managing my diabetes and my cholesterol will be Ok too’ but did not go like that. 🙂
If last three days play roles on cholesterol scores it makes sense to me why scores(18/7/16) are high too. Other ways I would think ‘oops! do I have genetic issues?
Thanks for everything!
Yet one more N on the fasting/very low-calorie impact! It’s amazing how many comments I’m getting that confirm this pattern.