EAT MOAR FAT! I'm finally GETTING it.

[QUOTE=sbhikes;965466]It's not that simple. Both are essential and you need both in your diet. But O6 is everywhere and O3 is more rare. Also, O6 from pork or macadamia nuts [B](and I don't even know if macadamia nuts have much O6)[/B] is not the same as O6 from soybean oil. From pork (or chicken or nuts or whatever) it's not unhealthy, but you want a good balance. So basically all you have to do is make sure you get some fatty fish like salmon in your diet (or fish oil capsules if you don't like fish) and grass-fed/grass-finished beef/lamb if you can, and then avoid the soybean oil and you should be fine without thinking about it at all.[/QUOTE]Mac nuts have O3 & O9 but no O6. They are the "healthiest" nut according to Mark. I've overconsumed them in Hawaii where I was harvesting them & cracking them daily. One can overdo anything, even the "healthiest" freshest, rawest, organicy anything, lol...Eating fresh caught, cheap Ahi, mac nuts, seaweed, local grass fed meat, passion fruits, mangos, indigenous papayas, coconuts, all fresh and organic....So why did I leave???

Oh & btw, the research I did, convinced me that it's correct to supplement my diet & my mom's diet with cod liver oil. I'm out of the fermented cod liver oil, but once I run through this bottle of regular cod liver oil, I'll get more of it. It has solid science behind its efficacious daily use. I do eat salmon & prawns & even some sardines & mackeral each week. But the supplemental cod liver oil, it's great anti-inflammatory, heart-protective medicinal insurance in my view. And I can carry it in my little lunch cooler, which I travel with my sensitive supplements in it.

Whoo-HOO! A major goal accomplished! I FINALLY read through to the end of this thread, having savored (almost) every bit and bite. With special thanks, of course to PaleoBird, but you ALL did it -- you got me back on track, enthusiastically seeking Keto-Nirvanah once again.

I'd hoped for something like this when I stumbled in three or so weeks ago, but hadn't really expected such a Synergistic Uplift.

I'll post more about me another time. For now (lifting tall glass of lemon juiced ice water, sea salt & basil) -- This One's For YOU!!!

XOXOX

Huzzah for synergistic uplift!

I haven't been around much this week because my Dad is in the hospital but I'm glad to see that you all are carrying on nonetheless.

Pemmican is the best food for having with you so that hospital cafeteria and vending machine foods hold no appeal.

KWM, that drink sounds lovely!!! :) Will have to try it.

PaleoBird, it's a good thing you made all that pemmican the other day! Perfect timing! Hope things went better yesterday than the day before.

Ok, this is a long rambling post copypasta'd from my personal journal...
It has some relevance here because I have some significant medical brain issues... which appear to be related to/affected by diet... and possibly controlled by going LC/VLC.

I thought to move it over here because Paleobird might be interested in it, though I know she has much more important things on her plate right now. But if I didn't do it I would completely forget.

Plus, I figured it i possible that some others here might benefit as well.

A little history:
I have a chronic brain condition (primary symptom: increased intracranial pressure; secondary symptoms: multiple, seems to be linked to 'neurotoxicity' as described in the article below, complicated migraine symptoms, dementia symptoms, seizure-like symptoms)... I was on one medication for quite a while but it was not controlling all of my symptoms, a second medication was added while I was in my normal LC/VLC stage and it worked wonders. But then I made some dietary changes away from LC/VLC at the same time as my doctor suggested a trial lowering of the primary medication/staying at the same dosage of the second medication and things in my head became worse... at first I blamed the lowering of the meds. I had to increase the med dosage again slightly.

[QUOTE=cori93437;969229]I've been reassessing.

I've upped my medication dosage and feeling great didn't come right back unfortunately... and maybe fortunately.
It's a mixed bag.

Because I think it may be diet related.
And in a way diet related would be better than medication related... right?
I mean... if I can control this more with my diet I may be able to live pill free AND pain/brain weirdness free.
And that would be a good thing to do without the drugs and their side effects!
There are still some big "if's" here though...

So this is what happened.
I read this article about the same time I was in the "I need to increase my medicine again" stage...
[url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201104/your-brain-ketones]Your Brain On Ketones | Psychology Today[/url]*

And I've read in Paleobirds "Eat MOAR Fat" thread some about Nutritional Ketosis some and it's connection to brain issues like epilepsy.
But for some reason I didn't make the connection to me until I read the article that also mentions the connection to migraines, which I'm being treated for in conjunction with my brain pressure problems because they see it as two separate issues... which I honestly think is a little silly... but that's ME and I'm not a doctor.

Now... when my brain pressure was really bad, and even when my pressure was supposed to be "under control" not so long ago but I was still having bad speech and those times when it's like 'fuses are blowing' and I zone out... so from brain function weirdness before I started taking the second medication which is ALSO used as an epilepsy med. See the relationship I'm seeing?
The worst of those times are very very similar to the descriptions I have read of partial seizures, almost word for word as a matter of fact, except they have never shown up like seizures on an EEG.
Kinda sounds like "neurotoxicity"* to me...
Plus the sort of "dementia"* symptoms I was having (got worse as day or tiredness progressed) poor memory, confusion, disorientation, not finding the right word for things or saying exactly the wrong word (look right at the vacuum and say "zipper")... blanking out a LOT for things a person my age should NOT ever blank on... like my own NAME! Yes, it happened.

Anyway... What this all comes down to is that during the week I was really thinking after I read that article and remembered that I had been eating some rice kind of regular because of my change in diet, not huge servings but still more carbs than normal for me, during the same time I was really trying to lower my medication.
Because of the other changes in my diet (LowOx) I think I had been replacing some of the other green veg I was eating before with slightly higher carb options... things that would suit husbands taste and mine since he doesn't like some of my other options much and I was trying not to prep two separate sets of side dish vegetables.

I remember remarking in another thread that the rice made me feel bloated... but I kept eating it a bit because I had made a big batch and frozen it in pre-packed portions for convenience.

So... it's time to see if going back to LC even VLC a lot of days works this kink out of the system.
(I don't count... so don't expect 'tracking of numbers'... I know which foods are low and which are high... I might have a quick peek at a nutrition guide but I'll be damned if I'm logging it and having people say "eat more meat, eat more carbs, eat more fat..." ... I'd probably get railroaded for "starving" myself around here anyway. Bollocks! I eat when I'm hungry.)
I don't think I need to go to full on Ketosis for life... but I'd consider visit that possibility later I suppose.

For now... Yesterday and today have been as they should. Meat and green veg.
Husband can have all the prepped rice he wants.
And on the upside my weight has finally decided to shift another pound down, finally.
[IMG]http://i962.photobucket.com/albums/ae108/sammykay316/Design%20Product%20Tech%20Class/Gear-Turtle-GIF.gif[/IMG]
Slow and steady and all that. :rolleyes:

It's weird... my weight really doesn't bounce around.
I find a new low... it stays within about 3 lbs of that for normal daily fluctuations no matter what I do... then one day...
Sometimes a week, sometimes two, sometimes an entire month... *poof* it goes to a new one pound lower increment and there I am.
If I'm really lucky it happens twice in one week... but that's only happened twice! LOL

Of course, what I do is "what I do"... as in stick to the plan.
Real food is on the plan, including the ocassional Honey Crisp apple (which I feel near ashamed to pay for at $5 a lb)... and sometimes sharing a nice treat with husband is too.
A girl has to live.:o

And hopefully we'll know if this is successful pretty soon.
That's all I got.

I know... SO not an exciting post. :p

* reference to article in link[/QUOTE]

It hasn't been very many days but the experiment seems to be heading in the right direction.
My head is feeling better.
It remains to be seen if this is some normal fluctuation pattern or if it will reliably stay better on LC/VLC.
And it remains to be seen if this will support me reducing my medication further without causing and increase in the head/brain problems.

I'm thinking I should look into purchasing a book or two on this subject...
Possibly "Primal Body-Primal Mind" by Nora Gegaudas..
... any other suggestions out there?

Thanks, C.

Cori, thanks for the thorough background -- I'll be watching your n=1 with interest. I've just persuaded my long-time best friend to try LC. She eats "clean" (heck, I buy my grass fed meat from her, and organic veggies) but she eats a lot of carbs. And her migraines require morphine.

I came to Primal from the Zone, where I'd gone due to a family propensity to Alzheimer's. At age 64, this ketone-brain focus pulls me in, too.

Cori, I am glad it's heading the right way. :)

I had some bloodwork done earlier in the week, and I just got the results from my Nurse Practitioner. He said my bloodwork was the same as a 20 year old!! :)

Cholesterol numbers were good, liver & kidney numbers were good.

Just wanted to post this here, in case there are people reading this thread who are afraid to up their fat. :D

[QUOTE=lissee;971288]I had some bloodwork done earlier in the week, and I just got the results from my Nurse Practitioner. He said my bloodwork was the same as a 20 year old!! :)

Cholesterol numbers were good, liver & kidney numbers were good.

Just wanted to post this here, in case there are people reading this thread who are afraid to up their fat. :D[/QUOTE]

I had expected similar results but my LDL is 269 and total cholesterol is 334! Even with eating 40-50 grams of carbs per day my Trigs are 122. Not sure what could be wrong with me. I listened to Dr Dayspring last night on Ask The Low Carb Expert podcast and he says Trigs should be under 70. He also says cholesterol numbers are quite meaningless without knowing your LDL PARTICLE COUNT. So I need to have a new test that includes APO-B and also probably get an NMR test that will show particle numbers.

[QUOTE=Miss Understood;971355]I had expected similar results but my LDL is 269 and total cholesterol is 334! Even with eating 40-50 grams of carbs per day my Trigs are 122. Not sure what could be wrong with me. I listened to Dr Dayspring last night on Ask The Low Carb Expert podcast and he says Trigs should be under 70. He also says cholesterol numbers are quite meaningless without knowing your LDL PARTICLE COUNT. So I need to have a new test that includes APO-B and also probably get an NMR test that will show particle numbers.[/QUOTE]

How long Primal?

It takes longer for some folks.