I'm a grazer. Especially since starting Paleo and being fairly ketogenic about it, I don't get hungry as often. However, as a strength athlete, I know I can't go and slip into a calorie deficit, so I make myself snack through the day. Newest snack friends: Justin Nut Butters and Artisana Nut Butters. I just tried the raw coconut and cacao butter, and it's pretty much heaven.
They have individual packets, and you can be damn sure I'm taking some with me to Nationals!
Moving on.
WellnessFX Blood Work Results
This section will be LONG. Background: ManFriend and I decided to go Paleo in mid January. He was tired of feeling lethargic and worn down, and I simply wanted to take better control of my health. About two weeks into the new diet, we attended a seminar by the folks at WellnessFX and decided if we are going to make such a serious change, we might as well use their service to quantify the changes and keep us on the right track. A week later we had four vials of blood taken. A about two weeks after that, we got our results.
I'm going to share mine, the good and the bad.
Cholesterol
Total Cholesterol
Take away: My total cholesterol is high a that is mainly due to my "bad" cholesterol breakdown being atrocious. When the consulting doctor looked at this she asked when the blood was taken relative to starting Paleo, which was about two weeks in. Her recommendation was to maybe use some egg substitute if I was worried, but more than likely, this profile is a residual effect of my love of pancakes and scones when I had no dietary guidelines to answer to. It takes about three months for total blood turn over, so get tested again, and otherwise, keep up the low carb stuff now.
Inflammation
CRP is a marker for general inflammation, which could be due to infection, chronic stress, and heart disease. I was glad to see mine nice and low, especially since I recently had that bugger Maurice the Botfly removed from my side fairly recently.
Metabolism
Basically I'm well away from being anywhere near diabetic. The doc said that my ketogenic diet and highly active lifestyle will keep my insulin sensitivity really high for a long time. Here's to hoisting heavy things!
Vitamins and Minerals
The high level of vitamin D in my system was good to see. Something like 40% of the population is vitamin D deficient, and the higher you get in latitude (less direct sunlight, shorter days), the higher that specific population's deficient is going to be. I get about 850 IU of D through my daily multi-vitamin and calcium supplement (Calcium for strong MUSCLES! Lift weights for strong BONES!), and I'm riding my bike everywhere 3-4 days a week.
In the minerals panel, the CO2 was a touch off, but the doc said this is probably due to the ketogenic diet I'm following. CO2 in the blood is used as a buffer, and since ketogenic diets can drive your pH down, less CO2 is kept in the blood to let the pH come back up to 7.4.
Free Fatty Acids
Again, not great, but really damn close to right. The doc said that this is likely due to the same residual effect of pancake feasting I used to do, and also since it is so borderline, it could even be statistical variance.
My Recommendations
My consult doctor said I'm basically doing all the right things, and even though my blood work doesn't show it all yet, it should in the next few months. She said I should keep on with the ketogenic paleo diet, it's doing good things for me, and to keep up the supplementation regime that I'm already on and wouldn't add anything to that.
We will be getting our blood work done again in about six months, so later in the summer. I'm more interested in seeing how things change, because my scientist mind isn't happy with a single data point.
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