Ketofest Cholesterol Experiment – Updates/Progress

This post will be continually amended each day until this coming Monday, July 17th.

In the interest of transparency, I’ll be reporting my notes as the experiment progresses. The exception to this rule are any notes that might impact the outcome of the experiment, such as something I report that could influence the participants significantly.

Day 1

As of this morning, there are 46 who have signed up for the experiment. However, I expect a drop off as many have not checked the box for being present on the Monday following Ketofest. As this is a requirement for the experiment, I sent out emails requesting confirmation, but have gotten back little response thus far.

There were 5 who had signed up who let me know they’d need to drop out.

Overall, there are about 6-8 participants who are now engaged in the Facebook group we are using for active communication. Most have posted photo of their food and drink and are doing an excellent job.

I’ve intend to likewise participate in the experiment, but want to note one possible confounder with the day. I’ve been a bit spread thin lately and haven’t been sleeping very well. I ended up napping for a total of three hours off and on in the afternoon. I then only slept three and a half hours in the evening. While I’m doubtful circadian rhythm will have a meaningful impact on my lipids, it is still worth noting.

Day 2

A couple more participants became active in the FB group. Current active participants were again sharing photos, myself included.

My day was a bit tricky. But to set the context, I need to explain my own diet choice…

I had determined before starting Day 1 that I’d keep my diet simple by only having one keto shake portion and two hard boiled eggs for the first phase of the experiment. Then for the second phase I’d ramp it up to four or five times this amount (depending on what I could handle). I made this decision mainly out of efficiency of time as I won’t have to put much extra work in tracking my diet given the simplicity of this system, thus allowing me more bandwidth for the bigger responsibilities I have in the next several days (conducting the experiment, prepping the presentation, etc).

Of course the downside is that I’ll be missing out on the fantastic food of Ketofest. And believe me, I’m not at all happy about that. But like so many other things in the last couple years, I’m choosing science first. (grumble, grumble)

Which brings me back to the conundrum of Day 2. I’m only allowing to eat one meal in the morning before my series of planes, trains, and automobiles (no really, LAS>PHL, PHL>RI, Uber to Amtrack, Amtrack to NL). The obvious choice was the shake since I definitely won’t find 0 carb heavy cream on the layover in the airport. But perhaps I could find two hardboiled eggs. And indeed I did, just before my connecting flight. Whew! (To be sure, the eggs I found were small, so I got three and tossed half of one to make the correct 110g from the day before. Because accuracy.)

After Carl picked me up from the station, we got to check out his studio downtown where we will be staging for the blood draws.

The building has a very mid-20th century feel to it that showed a little wear, yet lots of charm. Walking through the room, I starting taking stock of where we’d be set up and how the process would go.

I couldn’t help but find his sign outside the door “RECORDING” a bit amusing. This Friday it will have a very different meaning. 😀

Day 3

General progress with participants was steady, nothing unusually new to report.

Things were definitely getting busy for me to the point where I missed two of the electrolyte drinks in my usual diet plan day, but otherwise stayed steady with the shake and eggs.

As an interesting aside, Evelyn (Carbsane) was in town and I offered to “reach across the isle” to grab lunch. We chatted about life, personal stories, and a little science. But of course, I could only have the shake and water at the restaurant.

Day 4

I was extremely happy we got a total of 24 confirmed volunteers. As mentioned earlier, I knew it would be less than that 44 who signed up, I just didn’t know by how many.

Things definitely got a bit frantic for me and I now realize I should’ve recruited one or more volunteers to help me with logistics. I was handling all volunteer entry, processing, waiver signing/collection, and trying to fit in Q&A where possible.

To make matters worse, I had a creeping feeling of illness come over me that seemed very odd. I was getting shaky and oddly sensitive to cold, not sure if this was due to being low on blood sugar or what. In a gap between entries I went to get my blood drawn and the phlebotomist (who was a real veteran) had enormous trouble getting my blood flowing. She ultimately tried in three different sites on both arms, but to our surprise, it just wasn’t coming out. We agreed I’d drink more water as I appeared dehydrated before trying again.

Unfortunately, I got concerned enough about how I felt that I decided I’d just go ahead and eat, thus disqualifying myself from the experiment. The phlebotomist happened to have brought bananas, and ultimately I decided to have one in case this was indeed a low blood sugar issue. “This is the only banana I’ve eaten since staring keto.” I laughed.

Eventually after having to make some more water and electrolytes, I felt a little better, or at least enough to finish out the experiment. I then took an Uber to GNC and bought some magnesium and potassium supplements, which I started downing of the next several hours with water spiked in pink salt. This had a very significant effect and I felt a lot better by the evening’s VIP party. I wasn’t yet 100%, but most of the way back.

Moral of the story: ELECTROLYTES!!!