What Got Better

I mentioned a few things in last night's post that got better when I went LCHF.  It wasn't only weight loss, blood pressure, and lipid panels. 

I wanted to go over some of them in greater detail.

Acne

I've suffered from pretty bad acne from way back.  As a teen, I was told repeatedly by doctors and dermatologists that it had nothing to do with my diet.  It would clear up as I passed through puberty. It's hormones causing it.  Yet, at 40 I still had it.  I'm pretty sure a 40 year old has finished going through puberty.

I will grant the contention that it was hormones causing it, just not puberty hormones.  Insulin is a hormone.  A powerful one at that. Guess what causes your body to over produce insulin.  Carbohydrates.  Any carbohydrate consumed quickly converts to blood glucose once consumed.  Even so called "healthy whole grains". This causes your body to produce insulin. 

Photo by Siona Karen

Hypertension (high blood pressure)

Hypertension has been billed as the silent killer, displaying few if any symptoms.

My hypertension was first brought to my attention when I started regularly donating blood while in the service.  Every 60 days I was eligible to donate again, and was strongly encouraged to do so.  So, every 60 days or so for 4 years I heard yet again that my BP was a bit too high.

So, this isn't something that started because I got older, it's been with me throughout my adulthood at the least. Additionally, while I was in the service, I was fit.  The USAF has constant checks on that. There is no doubt that at that time, I was not overweight. So, my hypertension was not caused by obesity.

Photo by woodleywonderworks

Arthritis

Also while in the service, I noticed frequent swelling and pain in my knees. Fearing an injury of some kind, I had the doctors check it out.  Not being able to find anything obvious, they performed an arthroscopic examination of my knee joint.  This involved injecting a dye into the joint and taking pictures of the insides, to see if I had any tissue damage.

The diagnosis?  Simply arthritis. I was dumbfounded!  Arthritis?  I was 21 years old!  I thought only elderly people got arthritis?

Apparently I was mistaken, and it only got worse as I got older, I ached all the time, and it spread to more and more joints, eventually turning into gout in knees and toes. 

Gout

Everything I read on this disease blamed it on the consumption of meat and protein.  From the Wikipedia entry on gout:

Dietary causes account for about 12% of gout, and include a strong association with the consumption of alcohol, fructose-sweetened drinks, meat, and seafood. Other triggers include physical trauma and surgery. Recent studies have found dietary factors once believed to be are, in fact, not; including the intake of purine-rich vegetables (e.g., beans, peas, lentils, and spinach) and total protein. The consumption of coffee, vitamin C and dairy products as well as physical fitness appear to decrease the risk. This is believed to be partly due to their effect in reducing insulin resistance.

I see something new has been added to the Wikipedia. There's hope after all if studies are finally looking at insulin resistance as a cause.  If you've read anything I've posted, you'll know I believe insulin resistance (precursor to type 2 diabetes) is caused by carbohydrate consumption. 

IBS

I'm going to go again to the wiki for this one. 

The primary symptoms of IBS are abdominal pain or discomfort in association with frequent diarrhea or constipation, a change in bowel habits. There may also be urgency for bowel movements, a feeling of incomplete evacuation (tenesmus), bloating or abdominal distention. In some cases, the symptoms are relieved by bowel movements. People with IBS, more commonly than others, have gastroesophageal reflux, symptoms relating to the genitourinary system, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, headache, backache and psychiatric symptoms such as depression and anxiety. Some studies indicate that up to 60% of persons with IBS also have a psychological disorder, typically anxiety or depression.

I'm not going to go into more detail, but, yeah, it's nasty, painful, and embarrassing. 

That clip reminded me of another condition that has vanished.

Acid Reflux

I practically lived on Tums. I went through at least one, sometimes, two giant bottles of extra strength every month.

Depression

I didn't mention this one, but depression has been a constant companion throughout my life.  It's something that I always denied, but it was there. Many people will tell you that I'm a much happier person these days.  Most of them will attribute it to Kristen and the kids.  I do attribute it to Kristen, but it was the changes she made to my diet.  Real foods, chock full of nutrients.  

During our junk food extravaganza of Kristen's pregnancy with Honor, both of us battled with depression.

Then there's depressions frequent companion. 

Low Self Esteem

Yeah, I didn't think much of myself. After all, conventional wisdom says that calories in less than calories out is all it takes to lose weight.  It's just my weakness of will that causes me to be fat.  It's all my fault for not getting my lazy ass off the couch and exercising more and eating less. 

Yeah, anyone who still believes that needs to watch Fat-Head The Movie.  Or, simply go read the stuff on Mark's Daily Apple, Fat Head, Diet Dr., Dr. Eades, and many others that their blogs link to. Willpower doesn't have a damned thing to do with it.  If you've become insulin resistant from eating a high carbohydrate diet, your body is forcing you to eat because your cells are starving!

Your body is also slowing your metabolism in an effort to keep from shutting down completely from starvation, hence the total lack of energy, or inclination to get that lazy ass off the couch.  It's a vicious cycle.  Which leads to the next item nicely. 

Lack Of Energy

It got to the point where I rarely got out of my chair. Between a lack of energy and arthritis, I always took the elevator at the office, and there's only basement, main floor, and 2nd floor. 

Conclusion

I've likely left out something, but those are what I can recall easily this morning.  I'm not trying to say that LCHF will cure everything that ails you.  However, more research continues to be published that many of our modern illnesses are dietary.

Actually, some of the research is quite old, like the work of Dr. Weston A. Price and Dr. Pottenger. Dr. Price's work was dental in nature, the problems he researched are also problems I've had.  I do not yet know if my changed diet has helped those issues, but Richard Nikoley recently posted an article describing his recovery from everything that has plagued my mouth. So, I know it's helped at least one person.  

My suggestion is simply this, if you're having any of these issues, follow some links, read some blogs, read some books, be another n=1 experiment.  Just make sure you do it right, LCHF is not about counting calories.  Don't do it. If you're hungry, eat.  Just make sure you eat real food!  No protein bars made in a lab.  Nothing prepackaged.  LCHF is more about what you eat than how much you eat.  Don't starve yourself, you'll doom your experiment if you do.