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I got lots of new stuff tested this time.

For those who have been following my journey, there won't be much need to review. For those who haven't, this is the 3rd update of an "unknown part" series.

Here is Part 1

Here is Part 2

And now for Part 3...

I had to fight HARD for this stuff. I got VAP, testosterone, cortisol, and full thyroid info.

Also, they have referred me to a cardiologist to get several more tests done, including ApoE phenotype.

I will list the basic changes I've made since last VAP, but keep in mind that with so many changes in so many different directions, it's hard to tell what contributed and to what degree, but the bottom line is... this formula represents the changes, for better or for worse... so this is where PaleoHacking comes into play!!

Basic changes: added 5000mcg K2-MK4, 200mg chelated Mg, 200mcg yeast selenium, added a milk thistle and dandelion supp that includes 75mg of turmeric, no coconut oil, big reduction in tuber starch, virtually eliminated cream/butter/ghee/cheese (so a major reduction in sat fats from dairy). added bananas back in about a month ago, more dark chocolate 85%, switched cooking oils to mac nut oil and avocado oil, huge reduction in egg consumption (from about 12-18 per week to more like 4-6 per week). Also began walking and/or jogging mostly fasted 3-4 times per week.

I am of the belief that the huge reduction in dairy sat fats combined with more activity from fast walking/jogging has had the most profound impact. I think my caloric intake from sat fat was too much for ONLY weight lifting. I think the added supps might come in second place.

Overall, I see some REALLY nice improvements and some other bits of good news!!

  • Trigs went from 224 to 102.

  • VLDL sank from 69 all the way back down to 29

  • CRP Cardiac tanked from .52 to .10

  • CRP Quant went from .7 to .3

  • TSH went from 1.88 to 1.54

  • Remnant Lipo went from 65 to 48

  • TC dropped from 265 to 232, even including a 5 point gain in HDL.

  • VLDL small remnant went from 36 to 19

  • apoB100 went from 142 to 121

  • A HUGE shift from pattern B to pattern A LDL across the board

A couple things that aren't too awful but something to keep an eye on:

  • Lp(a) went from 8 to 10

  • VitD 25-hydroxy went from 58.8 to 45.8 (but that's normal when transitioning from summer to winter)

  • HDL remains stubborn at 40

So... while I am quite happy with some of these numbers, I do not feel that I'm totally out of the woods yet. But I still believe that I can find a great balance within the general "Paleo" diet framework. The quest continues!

Am I headed in the right direction? Please let me know if you can identify anything, especially with respect to Testosterone and Cortisol, as they look pretty middle of the road to me.

(The data is a bit blurry because they had to fax it to me, so my sincere apologies for the eye strain but at least the info is still visible.)

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You need to read Stop the Thyroid Madness site and thyroid-rt3.com I do know that the T3/reverse T3 is susposed to be above 20.0. Also Vit D3 needs to above 70ng/ml – Dextery Nov 24 2011 at 3:05
I don't see how anyone could say that you're not headed in the right direction. Good work! Are the bananas that got added back in an approximate trade for the starch or are you running lower on the carbs now? – Jim Nov 24 2011 at 3:55
Good question Jim - I think I'm running perhaps slightly lower carbs, but I don't fry bananas in oil (although man alive it is delicious if you do. lol). I think the fact that I was cooking sweet potatoes and potatoes in coconut oil and/or ghee might have been part of the problem. I would not say that my daily diet has been low carb though. I am getting at least 100g per day but I have not been tracking it and it may be more than that. – Jack Kronk Nov 24 2011 at 4:34
1 
 Jack, congratulations! These improvements are truly something to be happy about. What a powerful demonstration of the benefits of hacking your own health. Knowledge in your case was/is certainly power. – January Nov 24 2011 at 6:33
1 
 in light of Korion's recent question(paleohacks.com/questions/83736/…) I have added a bounty to this. – Jack Kronk Dec 15 2011 at 16:34
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5 Answers

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Just seeing this thread for the first time; way to go, Jack. It would seem that you're headed in the right direction. One mistake to avoid is in assuming that you've already wrung all of the potential results out of the changes you've already made. There's no reason to believe that simply doing exactly what you've been doing won't result in sub-50 trigs, higher HDL etc.

Testosterone looks good, so you can throw out that consideration. It's safe to say that you are not deficient in zinc.

TSH is a bit high for my tastes; I notice Se supplementation, but do you get much iodide in your diet? Free T4 is kinda low, so even if you are converting it to T3 now due to selenium being repleted, you may simply not have enough T4. I think reverse T3 is slightly elevated due to the decrease in carbohydrates. How many grams are you at right now? I would add back in more starch if I were you. The CO removal and activity likely account for most of the TG reduction, so I don't think you'll move backward with more starch.

A reduction in TGs alone should shift most people into Pattern A, so there's no reason to believe that it will shift back without a shift upward in TGs. TGs down, VLDL down, HDL up, and the shift to Pattern A are all basically indicating the same thing: the liver is having to package fewer FFAs as VLDL-TGs. Most of the things on the VAP that are still a bit out of range will come into range as you continue to decrease VLDL.

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Congrats Jack, it's good to see your numbers finally stop being so stubborn. If I had to guess, I'd say it's the fasted walking/jogging that brought your trigs down and really made a difference across the board.

Just for my own curiosity/learning, could you fill in the blanks for the reasons why you changed specific things in your diet?

Milk thistle/dandelion: Liver booster
No coconut oil: I think Travis mentioned something about CO being extra work for the liver when trigs are high?
Monounsaturated (dark chocolate, mac and avocado oil) in place of saturated (dairy, eggs): Because of dairy/eggs ability to raise LDL and/or the possibility of being ApoE4?
Less tubers, added bananas back in: Not sure about this one.

Also, I believe you said you have the occasional beer/pizza/etc. Have you gluten cheated since your last blood work? Maybe this is a case of a stubborn leaky gut finally starting to heal (those supps you're taking may have helped with this too).

One more thing: you say you added bananas back in, which I assume means your fructose probably went up. If so, it's pretty noteworthy that your trigs went down 50% even with an increase in fructose.

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Hi Phoenix - some really good thoughts here. #1: yes Milk thistle for the liver. That it has turmeric extract is an added benefit. #2: Yes the no CO is because of Travis. Although that may only be temporary, as the MCTs are easier to burn than LCFAs. Dark choc is is actually mostly saturated, but it has some other properties that are supposed to be very beneficial for the heart. Also it is fairly potent in antioxidants. – Jack Kronk Nov 25 2011 at 22:45
1 
 Less tubers/added bananas are disconnected decisions, even though they might seem connected. For me, less tubers equaled cooking less w/ saturated oils like ghee & C/O. I'm still on the fence about a heavy amount of starch in the diet. Not sure yet. Regarding the fructose in bananas, I think there's simply not enough fructose in a single banana daily to warrant any real concern. If I was drinking 8 cups of juice everyday then the unbound fructose might have a big affect on trig production in the liver, but I'm just not convinced that a few bananas per week will screw up my lipid numbers. – Jack Kronk Nov 25 2011 at 22:49
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Jack, you don't know when to be happy. That's quite a big chunck of improvement. The trigs are still a little high compared to some Paleo Hacks showoffs, but compared with the general population just fine. You're previous alarming numbers are great. Time to relax.

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shah. I agree that it's a big chunk of improvement, but I'm only happy with these numbers when comparing to my previous labs. Also, now that I made some great progress, I want to keep going and not lose the momentum. There will be a time (hopefully soon) that I will "relax" and back off completely and just enjoy eating healthy and living life. That's what my real goal is. I am only attacking this bcuz I have to, but when we've got this figured out, it's gonna be really great cuz not only does it solve my riddle, it is then that we can step back and identify how my situation might help others. – Jack Kronk Nov 25 2011 at 17:21
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Your thyroid antibodies are up. Poor functioning thyroid can cause lipid abnormalities. Total LDL meaningless. Pattern A is great, with very few of the smallest ldl4's Get free t3 and fee t4 levels next time.

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Doc says the high TPO antibodies is just "due to a previous episode of Thyroiditis". – Jack Kronk Nov 24 2011 at 3:44
Which could have adversely affected your thyroid function and/or cause blocking antibodies which makes your thyroid levels inaccurate. – Doctorsh Nov 27 2011 at 1:10
what is the solution Doctorsh? – Jack Kronk Nov 28 2011 at 18:56
He said it in his comment: get free T3 and free T4 tested. Your TSH is nice and low, but your free Ts could be low too, depending on the reason for the TSH suppression. – Christopher Gagnon Dec 14 2011 at 1:12
I'm not understanding "previous episode of thyroiditis." 111 seems high for TPO anitbodies which would seem to indicate Hashimoto's, Can you expound on that? My understanding is that this is an autoimunnity that cannot be cured but can be controlled to a fair degree . – edrice Dec 15 2011 at 20:44
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Jack, any chance you could chime in on http://paleohacks.com/questions/86169/hack-my-ridiculous-blood-work-450-ldl-updated#axzz1huB0klT2

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