In the last week or so I have been forced to reckon with the fact that my cholesterol is high and the keto diet that has enabled me to dial in my blood sugar-may be the culprit that is creating chaos in a different area of my bloodwork. Since I ultimately may have to choose between the lesser of two evils, I have decided to tweak my ketogenic diet to see if my elevated cholesterol may be due to specific items within this diet rather than the entire way of eating. Here are the steps that I have taken:
- No added saturated fat-I’ll still eat meat and cook with coconut oil but I haven’t been adding fat that’s not strictly necessary, and I’ve cut back on meat in general.
- No dairy- I hate not having cream in my coffee but at least now I can taste the coffee since I’m drinking it black.
- More olive oil- this translates into more vegetable and greens since I’m not doing shots of olive oil alone…
- More nuts- I had been eating a lot of Macadamia nuts a few months ago but I got lazy and switched to meat and cheese. Now I’m eating them again as well as almonds and walnuts.
- More fish- I am primarily eating sardines and smoked herring (simple tinned variety, nothing fancy)
- More vitamin D- this is an important component for processing cholesterol so I’m on 5000 iu daily
- More exercise and sleep- right now I’m not doing any really hard training but I am doing a minimum of 30 minutes daily dedicated exercise and going to bed and getting up earlier.
While it’s still early days, I wanted to share some preliminary results. In short, it seems to be just as good if not better in terms of my blood sugar control-which is a huge benefit. I am more sensitive to my insulin-which is particularly noticeable in the AM when I am taking 2 units to cover my entire breakfast (unlike 4 in the past) and seeing literally NO spike and no crash. I am still drinking my coffee (black) but no infusion of coconut oil and cream seems to make the insulin work better. My energy and clarity are still good although not quite as over the top as when I was adding lots of coconut oil. That stuff really helps crank up the energy!
I suspect that I am in a milder state of ketosis and thus the effects are less pronounced. I plan to increase the coconut oil again when I am in a position to take on a major athletic event and need the energy. It’s similar to the concept behind a TKD (Targeted Ketogenic Diet) only I am not splurging on extra carbs around workouts-but saturated fats. Not sure if that will work but I suspect that maintaining “low carb adaptation” will enable me to ramp up ketosis at need.
In other news, I am doing my best to achieve and maintain momentum in my creative work despite having what I would consider a limited pool to draw from as we are still biding time on the east coast waiting to leave (next week!) In addition to my climbing and video goals, I am doing a 365 photo project too-I figure that it only makes sense since I am going to be living through a camera lens anyhow! I’ll let you check out the first two episodes of the AdventureRx vlog below and if you like them make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. I am really looking forward to having more to shoot and I am always open to questions and topics that you’re interested in.
I think we have a tentative meetup in Joshua Tree this spring too-I will keep you updated as we get more definitive dates in mind. Are you stoked? Last February we had a great turnout with climbing, bouldering, hiking and camping. I think we could have another awesome time together if anyone is interested in coming out for a weekend!
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If you have questions or comments about any of this-leave them below! If you want to see how all of this plays out, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel-we’ll see you out there on the road!
Hey Steve,
I’ve never heard of insulin being more sensitive from decreasing coconut oil. I do coconut oil and Jay Robb protein powder blended in my coffee every morning for breakfast. Also, I’ve always have had a pretty significant dawn phenomenon, even while I’m on/ off a keto diet, so I’m always looking for anyway to get the AM glucose under better control. Do you have any specific resources that you can think of regarding the insulin sensitivity/ coconut oil?
Hope ya’ll have a great time in Joshua Tree, looking forward to the next east coast meetup- as the Red River Gorge weekend was a great time!
Thanks,
Casey
Hi Casey! I don’t have any resources regarding insulin sensitivity vs coconut oil. I decreased all my saturated fats to try and curb my cholesterol-the increased insulin sensitivity has been an unexpected byproduct of this…and it’s still too early to say if the desired effect on my cholesterol will actually be part of this!
Hi Steve,
Are you measuring keytones regularly?
I’ ve been on a keto diet for about 2,5months and for the first 1,5 I would simply not get fully into keto, even though I was eating less than 25g of carbs a day and exercising a lot. After a lot of reading, I got to the conclusion that I was probably taking too much insulin - of the long-acting one. I reduced my lantus and increased my fast-acting insulin and in a few days went from ketos of 0,5 to 2,5!
The reason for this is that insulin inhibits the production of keytones. If you’re taking a lot of long-acting insulin, you have too much insulin flowing around all the time which is preventing you from completly entering a keytogenic state. So, for me, it works better if I take fast insulin when I eat and take just enough long-acting to prevent spikes in between meals.
So, I was wondering if you could also be taking too much long-acting insulin. If this is the case, you will not be using the fat you’re eating and this could be the reason for your higher blood cholesterol. If you measure your keytones, you will be able to see if this is what is happening with you. If you can’t measure them, I would anyway advice you to experiment a litle with your insulin dosages and see if this could reduce your blood cholesterol.
Just an idea…
and on other topic - hope that you and your family have a super time in this new exciting adventure you’re starting!!!! That is really audacious, and awsome!!!
all the best,
maria
Hi Maria-thanks for that info-I didn’t consider that an abundance of insulin could inhibit ketone production. I’m not quite sure what is “a lot” of insulin though. I take 18 units of basal insulin daily. I would also be curious as to why the basal increase could inhibit ketosis while rapid insulin would not? It’s all very good food for thought though. I suspect that my lack of physical activity of late (weather and travel prep) could also be part of the equation. Since I’ve gone away from the saturated fat and increased olive oil, nuts and the like, I have experienced much better glycemic response although ketosis seems to be weaker-probably because I’m getting more protein than before. I will keep working on it and posting. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with this. I look forward to whatever lies around the next corner!
Hi steve,
rapid insulin also inhibits the production of ketones. however, it’s effect is fast, which means it is very temporary. so, if you reduce basal and increase fast, you will have more time during your day when there is very litle insulin in your blood and your body can maximize ketone production…
when I started on this diet, I reduced my fast insulin to virtually nothing as most of my meals were under 5g carbs. I would take about 0,5units for the part of protein that is converted into carbs. Now, I’ve reduced my basal from 12u to 9 and I take 1 to 1,5units of fast-acting insulin with my meals. the results in terms of blood sugar are pretty similar. the production of ketones has dramatically changed.
If you can measure ketones, you can test it too: use the same food and exercise in consecutive days and just change your rates of basal/fast and test for ketones. remember to test at the same time of day for comparibility. I would be very interested in seeing if this also works for you.
Off course physical activity can also have an huge impact. but, if you have too much insulin around, you will not produce keytones even if you are working out a lot and even if you’re not eating any carbs. instead, you may feel week and have no energy to finish your workout because you don’t have carbs and you don’t have ketones.
cheers
Thanks Maria! This is all great info. It will undoubtedly take me a while to process it all but I look forward to experimenting with it!
Hi Maria,
This topic of insulin inhibiting ketone production is interesting to me. I have been on the diet for 3 months now. Things are not not as peachy (blood sugar) as they were at the beginning. I’ve noticed that I have had to up my insulin, bolus and basal, to get my sugars down. Also, recently when doing fairly intensive trail running my sugar spikes and I feel totally drained, as if I have no fuel to burn (fat or glucose). Insulin during these times seem to have no effect as well. Your comments about not having ketones or carbs when working out may be whats happening.
I was testing my ketones with urine up until the holiday break and things seemed great. I think I may be sliding in and out of ketosis due to insulin increases. I plan on ordering a kit to test with blood to be more vigilant.
Could you provide any resources about this topic (Insulin/ketone production). I have looked but with no luck.
thank you,
Heath
Hi Heath,
I experienced that same type of bounce back and recently I cut the saturated fats down a lot and it’s really improved my insulin sensitivity. I’m still eating meat but no dairy and much less coconut oil.
Hi Heath,
When you read that carbs hinder ketogenesis, that is not really exactly what happens. In fact, carbs make people produce insulin and the insulin is what prevents ketogenesis. This guy explains it well here: http://eatingacademy.com/glossary#insulin
So for a T1, it is not enough to cut on carbs and follow the guidelines for enter ketosis, you also need to pay attention to your insulin doses and timings.
I think that it will be very useful if you can measure your blood ketones and have a better idea of what may be hapening to you. It will also help you experiment with changes in basal and fast-insulin doses to see how you can maximize ketone production and reduce the chances of those periods when you feel drained…
Yes, I’ve certainly had more than my share of saturated fats. Cut down on those, measure blood keytones and adjust insulins. Awesome! Thank you guys.
Good luck my friend! I’ll be fighting alongside you in the trenches!
Sounds like a good plan!
But also, since you’ve mentioned a sudden need to increase insulin doses, try to make sure that you don’t have any hiden infection or something about your health that could be reducing your insulin sensitivity. I once had a tooth infection that didn’t hurt but made my bg skyrocket. Only when i found it and treated it i could get back to my normal insulin doses and bg.
Regarding cholesterol : I’ll bet it is your Total Cholesterol that’s high. You need to look at your ratio of hdl to ldl. I’ll bet, like me, that you are chock full of good cholesterol putting you at a negative risk for cardiovascular events. Big pharmacy has kept pushing to establish arbitrarily lower norms for total cholesterol in order to sell more statins. There is growing evidence that these low cholesterol levels are not at all healthy nor do they improve anyone’s macro vascular outcomes. So get your ratios and separate hdl and ldl and triglycerides. My doctor begrudgingly admits that my cardiac risk profile is the lowest he’s ever seen, especially for a 57 y.o. type 1. Then he sighs and says he has to recommend a statin because my total cholesterol is usually 200 to 220. We’ve had decades of cholesterol hysteria and it is going to be a long time before standard of practice catches up with the truth.
While I agree with your point regarding the industry, statins and cholesterol, my personal situation is with LDL at 292… But hopefully the tweaks I’ve made will reduce it.