Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

Parent Cafe
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<p>Those are both excellent and there really isn’t much, if any, substantive change. You should be at extremely low risk of plaque in your arteries (and type 2 diabetes). </p>

<p>Cholesterol numbers can drift a bit from one test to the next. Triglycerides stayed the same (excellent). HDL went up. Exercise tends to increase HDL, so maybe riding season played a role, but it was already really good.</p>

<p>LDL is not measured directly, but is calculated using a 1972 formula called the Friedewald equation:</p>

<p>LDL = Total Cholesterol - HDL - Triglycerides/5.0 (mg/dL)</p>

<p>Triglycerides/5 is supposed to be a proxy for VLDL cholesterol, which is not easily measured.</p>

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<p>My last two were:</p>

<p>Jun-2012</p>

<p>Tot, cholesterol 198
Triglycerides 31
HDL 92
LDL 100</p>

<p>Jun-2013</p>

<p>Tot, cholesterol 202
Triglycerides 32
HDL 90
LDL 106</p>

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<p>Yes it was a max stress test–I continued until exhaustion. I think I surprised the testers. </p>

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<p>Countingdown- Your story is amazing. You have survived and deserve so much credit for the lifestyle changes you have made and your admirable weight loss. </p>

<p>Idad- Watched the entire series! Fascinating and educating!!! I am within a normal weight range (well maybe ten pounds to lose) but fear that I am not eating well enough given a genetic propensity to high cholesterol. I have definitely bought into all the low fat propaganda. Thank you!!!</p>

<p>You and Michael have enviable stats! Great job!</p>

<p>Bromfield- Which Canyon Ranch did you go to? Sounds like it was a very helpful medical assessment.</p>

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<p>“MOWC – I think if you go in a ask for a consult saying what you posted above – you are feeling a decline in performance, there is some family history, and you want it checked out because your overall fitness may be masking a problem – you will get it, no problem. My primary is a long-time transcontinental cyclist and marathon runner and I think he’d know exactly why you are concerned.”</p>

<p>I second that. I had no idea the docs would even consider a stress test for me, but my BP went up to 160/110 in a matter of a week (after a lifetime of 110/70), I lost a lot of weight, but all regular tests came back normal, so my GP referred me to a cardiology clinic, and the cardiologist decided that they need to do this since my overall fitness could be masking potential problems. Well, they ran out of test levels… Said that I broke their record (duh, it was not that hard comparing to running a marathon), and still could not find anything wrong other than the minor heart imperfection that I has had since I was a kid. The cardiologist decided that my crazy level of stress at that time (work issues plus a dear friend who was going through some really tough times, etc.) was the culprit. Mr B took some time off work and we went to Hawaii… My BP returned to normal levels, I gained back the 8 lb I lost in 2 weeks. Fingers crossed. It is possible that stress and fatigue interfere with your running performance, MOfWC, but you need to get a complete check up to rule out other issues!</p>

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<p>Yeah. Those two make for a very interesting (and intelligent) conversation. The real problem with making low-fat a dietary goal is that nutrition is mostly a zero-sum game. The amount of protein we eat is fixed within a fairly narrow range, so any fat removed from the diet is replaced with carbohydrates and, conversely, carb reductions typically get replaced with higher fat intake. That means that, to the extent sugars and refined grains are causing problems, cutting fat from the diet is counter-productive. It’s really hard to reduce both carbs and fat, because then you are basically looking at a starvation diet.</p>

<p>Plus, there’s a whole other side to the story. The corn oils and shortenings and margarines that were sold to us as “healthy” alternatives to saturated fat are HORRIBLE from a health standpoint and almost certainly have contributed to a lot of the population-wide health problems, including cancers and heart disease. It’s probably true that people who ate a lot of trans fats (margarine, Crisco, etc.) died of heart disease than people who ate less of these fats. </p>

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<p><a href=“Heart Risk? Marathoners Have Increased Artery Plaque | Runner's World”>Heart Risk? Marathoners Have Increased Artery Plaque | Runner's World;

<p>This explains my friend’s situation somewhat. </p>

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<p>^^^
MOWC, that’s one of the better write-ups of a small observational study I’ve ever read in the media. Refreshing to see an article actually explain what can and cannot be drawn from these types of studies.</p>

<p>Marathoners and other distance athletes are not immune to the artery plaque issues associated with very high carb consumption that Dayspring talks about. for sure, they can metabolize the carbs effectively during an after a long glycogen depleting run, but they also probably tend to towards carbs, given how much that diet has been promoted in the running literature. The health problems associated with massive carb consumption to support their endurance training (running, triathalon, and swimming) led to both Mark Sisson’s and Peter Atilia’s nutritional conversions.</p>

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<p>Missing some of our longtime diet/exercise/health/wellness friends. You know who you are!! (that means ALL of you!) If you stop by, take a moment to say hi. What brought me to this thread is the notion that there were some others like me who were TRYING their best to take care of themselves in their own personal, practical manner - I miss that camaraderie!!! </p>

<p>It is ok to be at different levels of d/e/h/w here! Helps to keep us all balanced! :)</p>

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<p>Is this it, MOfWC?</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.msma.org/docs/communications/MoMed/Hearts_Breaking_Over_Marathon_Running_MarApr2014_Missouri_Medicine.pdf”>http://www.msma.org/docs/communications/MoMed/Hearts_Breaking_Over_Marathon_Running_MarApr2014_Missouri_Medicine.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Good find, Bunsen. I wonder if it is that different for females? </p>

<p>DeborahT- where are you? Come back to us! Also wondering how DadII is doing with his marathon training. And BCEagle has flown the nest! Missing you folks! And others…</p>

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<p>I think I read somewhere else that DadII ran another half and did really well. Yeah, missing Deborah and CJane. Hope CJane is having the time of her life sailing (is this what she was going to do?). Yup, missing you all guys!</p>

<p>My legs are tired-er after the yesterday’s run than after my previous long run, but I hope it is just the result of intensified training, and tapering will take care of some of it. Boston is in 4 weeks! Yikes. There is some travel coming up in my plans which does not mesh well with my running plans… Arrrgh. </p>

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<p>DadII posted on the bragging thread that he completed a half and is training for a full. Wish he would forgive and forget and come back. I miss BCEAGLE but I think he’s gone :(. </p>

<p>Shouldn’t be on here. H’s operation is tomorrow. Should be doing a million different things lol! Hope I can get a pass and run on a treadmill. But that might be overly ambitious. </p>

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<p>MOWC:</p>

<p>It looks like women, in general, have smaller amounts of coronary artery plaque than men. I would expect that to hold true in this case, too.</p>

<p>If the findings of this long-term marathoner study are actually valid (still a big if), the mechanism that comes to mind would fit with the “oxidative stress inflammation” theories of heart disease.</p>

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<p>Best of luck Deb922 for a successful surgery and recovery for your husband and well, for you are his right hand woman taking care of him afterwards!!! Just jog around the hospital - lots of hallways there!!! :)</p>

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<p>deb:</p>

<p>With any luck, your hubby will be up and around and good as new in no time! What an ordeal, huh? These disk injuries are miserable.</p>

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<p>To the basement for me. I’m starting to get in the swing of these new workouts. Strength supersets today:</p>

<p>Rear foot elevated (TRX) split squats (2 x 30lb DB)
Chin ups
KB swings (50 lb KB)
Single arm bench press (2 x 40 lb DB)</p>

<p>I can’t believe I’m doing the TRX split squats with 60 lbs. I’ve come a long way since I tried the first one with bodyweight and my foot on the sofa a few years ago – and promptly fell over!</p>

<p>Got up to 5 chin ups on the second and third sets. The fifth one wasn’t the prettiest, but I got my chin up to the bar.</p>

<p>Doing 12 rep sets of the KB swings, the 50 lb-er no longer feels like it is swinging me. I thought I had bit off a little more than I could chew when I bought that one, but it just goes to show that you just have to stick with it.</p>

<p>Alternating bench press felt solid.</p>

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<p>Good workout, iDad.
Deb- best of luck and wishes for your H (and you).</p>

<p>Got an appt with a cardiologist. One of my Dr. running friends (race director for the Monkey) recommended this guy and he’s happy to have me come in. He fully understands that I’m a runner, so that’s good. April 9 or something like that.</p>

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<p>Sounds like a good doc, MOfWC. It is so much better to deal with someone who is on the same page as you are. Mine was a runner and perfectly understood the situation. Good luck with the appointment. </p>

<p>Deb, all the best to your husband. </p>

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<p>Good luck tomorrow, Deb. By this time tomorrow he will be healing and on his way to recovery. Yay!</p>

<p>Great progress MOWC. So much better to act than worry!</p>

<p>abasket- thank you for always encouraging me and everyone else.</p>

<p>Idad- My mind is spinning from all of this information. I can’t wait to see my GP and request seeing a lipidologist. I never knew one existed and I certainly never knew that borderline numbers could be shy of telling the entire story. I am fascinated with the idea that low fat/ low cholesterol dieting has a secret devil in the sugars and carbs. I will need to re-watch these videos and continue my education. Ironically I have the journalist’s book on my bookshelf. I must have read a review, purchased it, and well- just never got around to reading it.</p>

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<p>peacefulmom:</p>

<p>You don’t need a lipidologist. Just get your doc to give you a copy of your cholesterol tests next time. Any doctor can order these tests. LabCorp, one of the big national blood testing labs, does the NMR Lipoprofile particle test:</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.labcorp.com/wps/wcm/connect/a8f13f804a162e8f9adbff90b80e7bff/L3820-0408-3.pdf”>https://www.labcorp.com/wps/wcm/connect/a8f13f804a162e8f9adbff90b80e7bff/L3820-0408-3.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It is ordered instead of the usual cholesterol panel. I just checked. Billing at Anthem prices, it cost $48 at a LabCorp in NH. Gives everything you get from a cholesterol panel, plus the additional info on particle counts, sizes, and insulin resistance.</p>

<p>It’s LabCorp test # 884247. It gets coded as CPT 83704 for insurance billing.</p>

<p>The other national chain, Quest Diagnostics, also offers it, but I have never been able to find their code for it.</p>

<p>If you get your blood drawn at LabCorp, you can register at their website and download copies of every blood test they ever run for you. I get mine before the doc does.</p>

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<p>Taubes’ two books are fantastic. Especially, the breezier one: Why We Get Fat. His first one, Good Calories, Bad Calories, is a pretty ponderous tomb His whole premise that fat storage is controlled by hormones is pretty obvious when you think about it. Teenagers have growth spurts because of hormones and they can’t stop the growth spurt. Pregnant women store body fat because of hormones. Why should it be any different for the rest of us?</p>

<p>The only caveat is that not everyone is insulin resistant, so the problems with elevated insulin levels and eating carbs affect some people, but not others. Chris Gardner in his A to Z Diet Study at Stanford found that non-insulin resistant people could lose weight on either a low carb or low fat diet, but the insulin resistant people did much better on a low carb diet – as you would expect. Insulin resistance seems to be the result of years of accumulated effort, so it probably is more common among us “middle-age” folk, which would explain why we start packing on the pounds when we hit 50.</p>