I'm so interested in the post ! I live in the UK where we don't get much sun, even in the summer. I'm in my mid 50s and am pale skinned and slim. Because I have osteoporosis and a heart valve defect I guessed I needed some vitamin D to help these conditions, and, after doing much research, started to take 4,000 ius of D3 per day last January. A blood test, four months later, at the beginning of May revealed that my blood level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D was 153 ng/ml (384 nmol/L), more than twice the 'normal level ! Certainly not the kind of level that 4,000 ius of D3 per day should produce ! I stopped taking the D3 and a couple of months later my 25-hydroxy vitamin D had dropped down to 64.8 ng/ml (162 nmol/L). My endocrinologist has now advised me to resume taking D3 but at 2,000 ius per day and I will have another blood test in two weeks time and then review the amount I should take based on those results. This shows how important it is to get tested !

Anne

If we do have known level from testing, do you have a formula or algorithm for calculating how much more we should add to raise blood levels of Vitamin D by a specific amount?

I found one such formula in a book touting Vitamin D but the whole tone of the book was pretty snake-oil like and low on information for intelligent people so I did not have complete confidence in his tables.

You said "the ability to activate Vitamin D is lost by the majority of us by age 40".

Did you mean to say it declines after age 40?

Dr Cannel has some interesting points to make on the accuracy of some Vitamin D test results here.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-july.shtml

I am a 64yr old male living in the UK. My skin is fairly tanned as I try to get as much full body sun exposure as is available here however I have also been taking 5000iu/daily for a couple of years now. When I was last tested my score was 147.5nmol/l 59ng/ml. I wonder if Anne's numbers are the result of a faulty test.

where do we get enough vitamin D wihout worring about laboratory tests? What about the good old cod liver oil spoon some mothers used to give us when we were children? And what about getting of the sofa and start walking half an hour every day? I live in sunny Portugal. In the summer we eat a lot of sardines and other fish, and also spend hollidays in the beach. Instead of worring about things science or medicine may never understand, we could start looking back to our healthy paleolithic ancestors and ask what changes civilization has brought that made diabetic 7% of the total population. Excelent blog, Dr.!

I am the other Anne. I will add GF to my name for "gluten free" so you can tell us apart.

I think it important to stress that vitamin D supplementation needs to be continued long term. I have met too many people who have been prescribed 50,000 IU of D2 for 8-12 weeks and then told to stop because their 23(OH)D went over 30ng/ml. I know one person who's doctor stopped and started the D2 3 times.

I agree that testing is important. I have had a difficult time raising my vitamin D to an optimal level. I am hoping my next test will be good. I have to wonder what role my low vitamin D played in my CAD.
AnneGF

Jenny-
Vitamin D dosage effects appear to be quite idiosyncratic.  I started out at a 25OH-vD level of 21 ng/ml, and currently have to take 10,000 IU (softgel) daily to keep my 25OH-vD level at 66 ng/ml.

I'm male, and a big guy, plus T2 diabetic, so I probably need a larger dose.

Take a look at the Vitamin D Council web site below. Search for the string "rule of thumb" in either of the links below, in which it is mentioned as a rule of thumb to increase 25OH-vD levels by 10 ng/ml would require 1000 IU vitD.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-may.shtml
-- or --
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/vitamin-d-newsletter-reprinted.html

BTW:  I bought your recently-published “Diabetes 101”  book (great job!). I want to give it to some of my poorly-managed diabetic friends, which tends to be most people, due to the poor level of diabetic care.

I was a patient of Dr. Richard Bernstein, who I hear complimented your book.  He is quite a character, but taught me more about diabetes than all of my doctors forgot. I owe to him my current state of relatively good health in spite of diabetes.

I personally went from 30ng to  60ng in 3 months by taking 8,000 ius of D per day.
Any opinion from anyone on how often this blood level should be tested to regulate dosage?

Another interesting post, thank you. I'm wondering about your opinion on how often you think Vit. D levels should be tested after the initial test is done, especially if the levels are drastically low.

Excellent, excellent, excellent post.

I, too, often get asked how much D someone should take.

People tend to want to take it prior to checking (or in lieu of checking) blood levels. Often times, they're afraid to ask their doctor to order the test since many in our community have flat out refused to order it.

My doctor says, "taking vitamin d without checking blood levels is like baking a cake without knowing the temperature of the oven."

It's true. Without knowing your level, you don't know how much to take or for how long to take that dose.

You may also need more at different times of year.

I take 10,000 IU daily starting in mid November and continue until mid-May or so.

I get my 25(OH) and serum calcium levels checked every 3 months.

What drives me nuts is the media and other health professionals "warnings" against taking too much and/or their suggestion that you get more D through sunlight.

Almost every article on D has some disclaimer from a medical professional warning against too much D. But, they fail to really communicate how RARE D toxicity is and how the risks of NOT taking enough D FAR outweigh the risks of taking too much D.

And, to suggest that people get their D by spending time in the sun is irresponsible. As you know, the bodies ability to activate D from the sun decreases with age.

We should be measuring levels and then managing levels through supplementation.

Do you also check serum calcium levels?

Jessica,

I get my serum calcium, serum inorganic phosphate and alkaline phosphatase measured at the same time as my 25(OH)D level. So far, even when my D was much too high, the levels of calcium and inorganic phosphate have been normal but the alkaline phosphtase was above normal. I think I'm lucky that my GP and endocrinologist will measure my levels judging from the problems other people have getting tested. My endocrinologist told me that he fully supports me having D3 supplementation so maybe that's why.

Anne

Jessica,

Don't forget to check Magnesium -- as we build stronger bones and drive mineralization there, Mag can get depleted from the blood and intracellular stores.

Have you read the Magnesium report at TYP?

-G

Jessica,

Don't forget to check Magnesium -- as we build stronger bones and drive mineralization there, Mag can get depleted from the blood and intracellular stores.

Have you read the Magnesium report at TYP?

-G

Great book on this topic is The Vitamin D Cure.  It has a table that shows how much you individually need to take based on your weight and current level to reach your goal vitamin D amount...p49.  The average American needs 20 to 25 iu per pound to raise their level to 50 - 70.

here is a good site on vitamin D, www.vitaminD3world.com The site also has links to a neat micro tablet form of vitamin D

It all makes sense when vitamin D is viewed as a hormone, a steroid hormone, not a vitamin. Vitamin─no, steroid hormone─D exerts potent effects in tiny quantities with hormone-like action in cells, including activation of nuclear receptors.

We have been working on a project to help people with health challenges. who do you know with health challenges. you can check out www.amiraclemolecule.com/lincolnmanutai

any questions email lincoln.manutai@gmail.com

we also have a potent vitamin D3 availble for a cheap price.

I hadn't used iodized salt in more than 15 years.  In recent years I have only purchased various sea salts, usually as unrefined as possible.  There are traces of iodine in unrefined sea salts, but probably not enough.

I've also heard that another cause of lowered iodine intake in recent years is a decline in the use of  iodine-based disinfectants when cleaning food manufacturing machines and equipment.  Traces of residual iodine would go into the food during processing, apparently.  Not sure what disinfectants are used instead now.

So I also have increasingly incorporated kelp into my cooking and seasoning.  I began with sprinkling kelp granules on our morning eggs with a bit of sea salt and ground black pepper, for instance, or adding kelp granules to homemade vinaigrettes, salad dressings, and sauces.  It sort of looks like medium grind black pepper, but without the spiciness.  

Additionally, I keep a jar of Ao Nori Flakes (natural sea vegetables) in my seasoning cupboard and I use it liberally like one might use finely chopped parsley or chives to add a bit of green garnish in soups, mashed cauliflower, etc.  No one even needs to know it's sea vegetables instead of minced parsley, if you catch my drift.

Toasted nori is a great snack, and can be cut or torn up to use as wrappers or platforms for other foods.   Kids often love nori, especially if introduced at a young age.  

Some specialty grocery stores (such as Whole Foods or ethnic markets) may stock fresh sea vegetables in the chill case (often stocked with fresh chilled pickles and raw sauerkraut).  The sea vegetables are packaged with salt crystals for longer storage, but the salt should be rinsed off before using.  Sea vegetables make a great salad accompaniment to seafood or sashimi, but if that's too exotic, try tossing just a small amount of chopped colorful sea vegetable into an ordinary tossed salad at first to get used to the soft-crunchy  texture (sort of like a good traditional raw sauerkraut's texture).  

Last, but not least, dried seaweed/sea vegetable kombu is very good for adding iodine to broths.  These larger dried sea leaves keep very well in a cupboard for a long time, and are easy to toss into simmering water to create a delicious, nutritious broth for seafood  recipes.  The kombu leaves are removed and discarded after the broth is made.

More information about how to use kelp, nori, sea vegetable, and kombu is easy to find online, too (the WAPF website www.westonaprice.org  is also a good resource).  Using these items regularly in your cooking adds a delicious slightly savory accent as well as iodine and other trace nutrients to your diet.  Strange as "seaweed" might seem at first, only the fresh sea vegetables and nori will even be noticed by your family members, and even nori isn't so exotic with the rise in familiarity with sushi and sushi-like rolls.   The kelp granules, flaked dried sea vegetable, and kombu can be your secret if necessary  .

Nori and kelp granules can be often be found with the Asian foods on the international or ethnic aisle of conventional grocery stores. Kelp granules are sometimes stocked with spices, herbs, and seasonings, too.  More variety of choices may be found at specialty grocers.  I like the Ohsawa brand (Japanese, family-owned, traditionally prepared foods, distributed in the US by Gold Mine Natural Food Co. of San Diego - no affiliation to either company-just a customer).

Kelp can also be taken in tablets or gelatin capsules for those who wish to take more or not use it in cooking.  That form of kelp is usually stocked in vitamin and supplement departments.

Wow!

Thanks for the great advice, Anna.

My mother was Japanese, so I can tell you that I, too, find it easy to add a variety of seaweed products to meals. I'm impressed with your seaweed enthusiasm!

Thank you Anna for all that information!  I have been trying to incorporate more kelp and sea vegetables into our family's diet - but for another reason.  Many autism-boards believe that algin found in seaweed chelates heavy metals, and it's also been suggested that kelp will battle the strep virus.  Although our family's experience is anecdotal, we are seeing tremendous grounds with our child.  She wouldn't eat the kelp tablets (in gelatin form), but readily makes her own dipping sauce for boiled eggs (mixing wheat-free soy sauce with kelp granules and Gomasio - sesame seeds mixed with sea vegetables).  There is also a liquid-kelp form I got when we were exposed to the strep virus; I put a dropper-ful into a shot of juice.

I am so excited that there are people like Anna who is living the life and willing to share, and Dr. Davis who is putting himself out there and sharing this information.  18 mos ago I didn't know that heart disease was reversible.  And I was exhausted caring for a child that was mildly on the the spectrum.  Now, through radically changing our diets (including supplementation), not only is my health on the up-and-up, but my child is recovered and says and does amazing things.

From the bottom of my heart I thank you.  - M

Great post on Iodine.

How much Iodine is safe and how much should be taken daily?

Thanks!!!

Big thanks to Anna from over here in the UK too. In Wales we have Laver bread made from seaweed and here on the east coast we get samphire (glasswort) which is like saline asparagus but has a short season (damn, I'm drooling now!)

Following your post I've discovered a source of different sea vegetables and (dried) seaweed with which I'm currently experimenting. Tasty stuff!

My doctor has me take it in liquid form, I buy it here in Australia from a compounding chemist and it contains important minerals for thyroid health each 5ml dose has 15mg zinc, 100mcg chromium, 100mcg
selenium, 150mcg molybdenum, 100mcg iodine, 2.5mg manganese, 2mg boron. Doesn't taste the nicest in juice though

Many thanks for your advice Anna, I am very interested in alternative health.

I was surprised to learn that food processors use plain salt without iodine.

Been eating sea veggies, cereal grains, vegggies, etc since the late 70's, along with occasional wild foods (I live in rural area). I began with the Macrobiotic way of life, and have morphed it to suit my needs, as well, that diet has made important evolutionary steps over the decades. I have recently incorporated fish oil, due to my medittranean heritage, i.e. hyperlipdemia, so my hdl's are 39, my ldl's 135, and tri's 80, cholesterol 198. I suspect fish oil (using Now foods Molecularly Distilled 4k-6k IU's) with intake of 5-6 days a week, ought to improve the next blood report stats.

Here is a site I use, for sea vegatbles.

http://www.seaveg.com

So iodine deficiency in early 20th century America was a big problem. How to solve this enormous public health problem in a large nation without television, few radios, no internet, with a largely rural and often illiterate population?

I also wonder if coffee/caffeine plays a role for some people. I know that coffee tend to make me hungry, and i wonder if it is due to an effect on insulin.

Before most people begin to worry..

Major Correction:  love handles and fat that makes you look soft & flabby is subcutaneous fat, not visceral fat as stated in this post.

If you can pinch it, it's subcutaneous.

Does high fruit consumption with it's high content of fructose increase viceral fat?

Visceral fat occurs behind the abdominal wall--where the organs are.

The stuff you can grab a handful of is subcutaneous fat and it is metabolically inert.

The most concerning fat is intracellular liver fat which is deposited, as the name suggests, between the cells of the liver.  It appears to be a major cause of insulin resistance, and hence obesity.

Liver fat is made out of fructose. Dietary changes including very strict Atkins-style diets do not reduce liver fat significantly (according to biopsy studies) even after 6 months.

Most treatments for fatty liver change the liver enzyme test results which doctors interpret as meaning that the fatty liver is healing, but sadly the biopsy results don't confirm this either.

Perhaps years of eating no fructose might burn off the intracellular liver fat, but I have not seen any evidence to support this in the research.

Something that's always puzzled me is that, soft drinks typically use high fructose corn syrup, but what sugar are they using when they refer to sodas using "real" sugar?

http://www.bevreview.com/2009/02/09/pepsi-throwback-mountain-dew-throwback/

If they are using sucrose, or table sugar, then isn't that 50% fructose anways?  


Jenny, is there ANY research that suggests fructose above and beyond sucrose/glucose contributes to liver fat?

For example, if you read this headline, "High Levels of Fructose, Trans Fats Lead to Significant Liver Disease, Says Study"
( http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100622112548.htm
)

you would think it's about fructose, but if you read the article it's really sugar in general they are talking about!

The glucose part of sugar is mostly benign, for people with good insulin sensitivity. We need glucose in our blood in our muscles etc. It is only a problem if you do not maintain correct levels, ie insulin resistant, or insulin deficient.

Fructose does cause problems for everybody. But there also it will cause more problems to the insulin resistant than the sensitive.

Another thing is that Liver and other tissues have a limited capacity to convert fructose to fat. If it gets overwhelmed then the fructose can escape and stay in the blood far longer than it should.

A good way to prevent this is to not drink the fructose, but eat it with food. So Fruits are OK, and eating some fructose with food is OK. Trouble with liquids is that the stomach does not store the liquid for long and releases it in the blood supply, allowing the fructose control system to be overwhelmed.

Do not think that fruit juices are healthy. Fruits are healthy but not their juice, even if it is very fresh. With food it would not be much dangerous, in limits.

Per Sandra Cabot M.D.

"The liver is able to repair itself and grow new healthy liver cells and over one to two years you will be able to reverse the fatty damage to your liver and achieve a healthy normal liver.

If you are overweight you will lose significant amounts of weight within several months, however the liver will take longer to completely repair itself..."

Recommended course of action:

Follow a low carbohydrate way of eating - eliminating all grains, sugar, fructose, etc.;
Increase the amount of raw plant food in the diet;
Eat first class protein with every meal or for a snack;
Consume healthy fats;
Do not eat very large meals;
Take a liver tonic everyday;
Drink plenty of hydrating fluids;
A regular exercise program is important.
The above is paraphrased from Dr. Cabot's book: Fatty Liver: You Can Reverse It.

Obviously more research is urgently needed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_obesity

Abdominal obesity=love handles = visceral fat= NASTY

Nina

The fructose in fruits and even HFCS will be burned for energy if the person is exercising.  If not, it turns into visceral fat.  Sorry, I can't give a url as proof but I know I read it from someone knowledgeable.

kevin

AGREED....ARE YOU MORE A FAN of mono-fat or saturated fat?

I've been able to dramatically reduce my abdominal and pectoral fat through a low-carb diet. I look very toned and lean. However even after strict adherence for 3 years, there is still some fat in the abs and pecs that refuse to go away. I don't eat any grains or wheat products and very little sugar and fructose, yet, this one last bit of fat refuses to perish. Perhaps it is possible that some of our bodies will genetically always store more fat than others?

paradoxically, I know 2 people who eat so many grains and wheat products and cannot get fat. They have remained lean all their life, don't have man boobs, and don't do that much exercise. What gives?

low carb with only just enough protein (atkins is high protein and gives high insulin from this), raw green veges, healthy fats (omega 3, nuts, avocados and olives) is the only way to fix it

Funny thing, I have been eating the types of food you recommend and avoiding those you don't on this post. After 4 months, I have lost 80 pounds, moved from morbidly obese to overweight and now see those love handles and tummy fat softening and starting to disappear (bye bye visceral fat). I can't wait to see what happens in the next four months! My energy is spontaneous and mental acuity has returned. I am even back in college pursuing an advanced degree in nursing. The benefits are much more than physical. Thank you for your insight. My life is better as a result.

Same Wikipedia source as mentioned before says: "Visceral fat, also known as organ fat or intra-abdominal fat, is located inside the peritoneal cavity, packed in between internal organs and torso...". So "love handles", "polka handles" or whatever you call them, is not visceral fat!

Re: comments about "love handles" not being visceral fat.

Absolutely correct.

"Love handles" are simply an INDICATOR of visceral fat. Last I checked, I can't grab your liver or intestinal fat.

Kellygy--

80 lbs!

That's fabulous. I'd love to hear more.

I feel better though and I seem to heal better too (could be my imagination but I had a real bad scar after my hand was stabbed with glass and it has been getting so much better). Nose bleeds have significantly decreased too (only 2 minor ones in a hole year whereas I was having them everyday before I changed my diet). I have also successfully (I think) fought off a candida yeast infection as all digestive trouble and urine infections and perpetual belly button infections have ceased too!
There was no doubt I was fat deficient after following a low fat diet all my life. I just can't lose weight though. I suspect that I have fatty liver and damaged kidneys because I get back pain alot too (used to be both left and right sides almost every day after I started HFLC but now it is only the left side occasionally). But because I am in my twenties I go to see the doctor and they can do nothing for me. They don't believe in extensive liver tests and kidney tests for someone so young. They analysed my urine and found nothing wrong so that's it. Please, someone in the know tell me my next move...
Forgot to mention I take chromium every day (because Atkins says it is good for IR) and milk thistle every day because it is supposed to help fatty liver. Also to note, my blood sugars have improved and I no longer get dizzy like when I first started HFLC. So that is some progress with the symptoms. But no matter how little I eat I can't lose weight. I'm afraid to do more exercise because I don't understand why my blood sugar readings are so high afterwards. I do a bit but not much. I tried weight training but even that gives me a liver dump. Even walking around the block gives me a liver dump. Also please note, I am HFLC. I eat alot of animal fat. I don't eat too much protein, I always eat excess of fat to try and reach ketosis and I eat somewhere in the region of 20-50g of carb a day (although I think it depends where your carbs come from as to whether they matter, so the carb in an almond is locked in with all that fat. The 6% carb of 100g of almonds is better and lower carb than eating 6g of candy. I think this because of the fat burning index (heard of that?) and the fact almonds don't impact my blood sugar  hardly at all and also the fact they seem to get me into ketosis quicker than any other food).
Anyway I'm stumped.
Someone mentioned fructose. I was reading hyper lipid's post about rats who ate saturated fat with fructose/alcohol and it protected the liver. Rats who ate a low fat diet with fructose/alcohol developed "fois gras". So, believing that fructose is worse for the liver than alcohol I avoid all fruit and most veggies.
Advice/comments would be appreciated. I don't want to fall off the wagon because I believe HFLC is the way to go. I just believe myself to be damaged beyond belief. I have been overweight ALL of my life since the age of 2. But now I'm giving HFLC a bad name because I've been on it almost a year and lost only the initial 10-12pounds. :-(

My first comment said it wa posted but didn't show up. So here's part 1:

Great post - it is straight to the point. I'm not going around pinching my fat to decide whether it is visceral or not because that isn't the point. For those of you who are obsessing about what is and what isn't visceral, read this:
"Increased visceral fat can be suggested by increased waist circumference"
Another point which is a great one:
"Visceral fat, on the other hand, is metabolically active. It produces large quantities of inflammatory signals[...] Visceral fat is also itself inflamed."

I find that my waist measurement can change overnight or within 2 or 3 days up to 3 inches either way.

I am classed as morbidly obese. I have a BMI of 38. I have terrible insulin resistance (of the liver) and have pre-diabetic blood glucose readings. I have been on HFLC since October 2009 and although I seemed to deflate 10 pounds or so within the first 2 weeks of starting it, I haven't lost a pound since. I think this is because of my insulin resistance of the liver. Just like a diabetic, I get a "morning effect" of high blood sugars without eating anything. After exercise I get the highest blood sugars I've ever got since going HFLC. I know my liver is churning out too much sugar, so I've been trying to eat a tiny amount (5g) of carb every 5 hours to prevent the liver dump, yet eating HF to try and reach ketosis for as many as possible of my waking hours (I find ground nuts, butter and cream, in the form of cakes, is the fastest way to get my into ketosis, but I only ever manage a mild ketone reading although I get the breath sometimes). Every morning I feel groggy, can't wake up and have a terrible morning effect so I think I've been fat burning during the day and then just putting it on again in my sleep, once my liver dumps the sugar, which raises the insulin.
I've been researching for months and I think I need some Metformin drug, but can't have any cos I am in the UK and they only prescribe it for diabetics. I could probably fake it and pass a diabetic test because I have researched, but should I do this? Aside from increased life insurance and the pure morals of it, I would certainly be better off as a diabetic on the NHS as I'd get free BG measuring strips and free kidney and liver tests too.
I'm really struggling now and faking it may seem extreme but I don't know what else to do. I'm so overweight and because everyone knows I am HFLC they think the diet is rubbish because I am not getting any thinner. They see me eating fat and losing no weight and they turn back to their low fat diets thinking I'm a crazy woman.

So if you can grab love handles, then that's visceral fat? Then what about the type of obesity where the belly is round and tight?   You can't grab ANY of that fat, and by all definitions THAT is visceral fat...   They can't be both visceral fat.

Can't remember where I read it but one test for visceral fat is to measure your waist while standing and again while lying on your back.  It the measurements are the same, that's sq fat.  If the measurements are different, that's internal visceral fat moving away from the waist.  

kevin

Here is the most recent treatment of this subject from WebMD:

The Truth About Belly Fat

WebMD can be total garbage, just read what they had to say on the link you provided:

"Can Whole Grains Help You Lose Belly Fat?

A recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that a calorie-controlled diet rich in whole grains trimmed extra fat from the waistline of obese subjects.

Study participants who ate all whole grains (in addition to five servings of fruits and vegetables, three servings of low-fat dairy, and two servings of lean meat, fish, or poultry) lost more weight from the abdominal area than another group that ate the same diet, but with all refined grains.

"Eating a diet rich in whole grains while reducing refined carbohydrates changes the glucose and insulin response and makes it easier to mobilize fat stores," says study researcher Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD, RD, a distinguished professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State University."

--these stooge researchers, never bother to compare a whole grain vs. a NO GRAIN diet, because they know what the outcome will be.

Rats that avoid  fructose also have other healthy habits, so it's hard to be sure why they got skinny.

The changes are evolutionary and ongoing. I started with Jorge Cruise's, Belly Fat Cure, and then decided to look into the underlying causes of my weight loss and came across Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. His book awakened my critical thinking and after stumbling across your site and TYP well, it just dominoed from there. I found resource after resource and incorporated the evidenced based research into my life health plan and it is turning into a rebirth of sorts.

Currently, I am looking into exercise techniques since my body just naturally wants to do more (I didn't do any for the weight loss.) It looks like HIIT or PACE, some cardio, resistance training, and being bare foot as much as possible are now part of the plan.

One interesting thing occurred during my low carb/sugar transition (about the time of wheat elimination), I became very dehydrated. I drank plenty of fluids but it persisted for nearly two weeks. I later learned that my food elimination was acting as a diuretic not only for water but also for sodium. I then tapered myself off my Atenolol (and onto supplements) and now have a baseline BP of 110/75. It was 145/95 on the medication. The rapid heart rates I have been experiencing for the last ten years have completely gone (not sure of the association yet).

Sleep apnea gone, hunger cravings gone, chronic fatigue gone, most back and body aches gone, wow! The dietary principles and supplements when applied properly are very powerful. Through careful evaluation, research and follow up, I am looking forward to applying these principles in my practice.

Your site is amazing.I am very impressed to see this,i want to come back for visiting your site.Keep doing Good as well as you can..

Ha, Peter!  That was funny.
Char

Bling, I have had a similar experience to yours. I've read several of the books and understand the low-carb/high-fat science, but my body refuses to lose weight after the first 10-15 pounds. No matter how low carb I go or how much exercise I do.

Worse, I also have a weird hypoglycemic response to induction. I get extreme hunger and carb cravings when I absolutely should not -- after eating plenty of protein, fat and fiber. I can eat an avocado or nuts or meat and vegetables with butter and still feel like I'm going to pass out from hunger.

It's so frustrating and I'm still looking for a way off this roller coaster.

Kali

"It's so frustrating and I'm still looking for a way off this roller coaster."

Kali, I beat my head (entire physiology really) against low carb diet for 9 long months.  Followed Bernstein's max 6 g carbs for breakfast and 12 g each for lunch and dinner.  Felt constantly more and more tired, irritable, brain fogged.  Mild exercise would leave me exhausted for 2 days...  Finally tried McDougall's diet and it helped but was having high sugar spikes.  Ended up w/ Fuhrman's Eat to Live diet, beans instead of grains. The combo of a bit higher fat that he allows from nuts/seeds and resistant starch in beans and that is working for me. Some bodies I think just do not work well in ketosis or near it for prolonged periods of time.

My local news just profiled a Diabetic who had a stroke.
In their "advice" comments from an RD, she advised that it's okay for him to have....are you ready ?...
Up to 75 grams of Fructose a day.

A Diabetic patient... 75 grams a day of Fructose ?
Do he or his doctors actually understand the grave condition of his health ?
If he listens to them, he might as well buy ownership in a Dialysis Center.

Do the schools that teach and graduate RD's have any clue at all ?
Or are they this corrupted ?

Kellgy--

Fabulous!

Please be sure to come back and update us on your progress.

Hi there,
I've been e-mailed by a friend telling me about a juice that can lower cholesterol and blood pressure if taken twice daily.
If you wanna know more go to the following links :

http://aeonlineclinic.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/lower-your-cholesterol-and-blood-pressure-naturally/

OR:

http://online-health-shop.blogspot.com/2010/09/lower-both-your-cholesterol-and-blood.html

I'm sure you'll find that information helpful. Just give me your feedback.

Thanks..
Amr.

i have read that non alcoholic fatty liver disease can be reversed by vitamin e supplementation.  

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0907929

Geoffrey - did you eat high fat? Simply cutting out carbs results in undernourishment. Your body will shut down to save it's energy stores. You still need to feed it sufficiently. Watch Gary Taubes' latest videos http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/ims-lecture-with-slides-and-qa-why-we-get-fat-by-gary-taubes/8971

Anon - Atkins is not high protein; it's high fat.

Dr. Amr - Acai Berry = Spam. Actually Spam is much healthier than that juice crap.

"Love handles" are an indicator that you have significant amounts of visceral fat???  I'm a female, with a 26 inch waist and 21% body fat.  Yet, I have love handles.

To my knowledge, the best indicator of visceral fat is a waist circumference.

@Anon - I think you missed the point deary.

Hips are always desirable on a woman but that roll of fat above them that sometimes accompanies them on overweight women may be a marker of the visceral fat problem.

But I agree with you about waist measurement seemingly being a better indicator. "Waist" measurement on a woman is different to a man. One health leaflet I saw was saying that the "waist" meaurement is around the belly button level, which for a woman is obviously wrong.

But take note, when guys have "love handles" it just ain't right.

Give the guy a break! LOL He was trying to post a semi-humorous blog title to get people's attention. If you wrote as many long, detailed and useful posts as this guy (or had half the readership he does) maybe you'd try out an almost funny title now and again.

Joker. hahaha

Thanks for the info, I really enjoy reading it!

Such a very nice post.........

@bighippedlady

Mine are definitely above the hips.  Trust me, it's not attractive.  I just don't see how this subcutaneous fat is indicative of visceral fat on someone like me.

@Anon what is "someone like me"?

Let's not forget correlation is not causality. The big deal about abdominal fat (whether it be around the true waist or around the belly button - just around that area) is that's the first palce weight goes when you have insulin problems (usually caused by blood sugars).

If you have a bit you can pinch then don't worry about it, but when it gets bigger and bigger really easily (10 month pregnant look as hyper lipid calls it on men) that's when you have a blood sugar/insulin problem.

They have found visceral fat and other problems are "indicated" by increased in waist measurement probably because it is all a marker of insulin resistance and a trip down type 2 road eventually.

So forget about pinching this fat or that fat on your body and assessing whether your flab's attractive or not. If you are overweight, mainly around the belly area, then get your blood sugar checked. And when the doctor says is "fine, nothing to worry about", don't believe him until you have seen the numbers yourself.

Better still, get a blood sugar monitor (very cheap) some pure glucose (from the chemist or the baking aisle in the supermarket) and conduct your own mini glucose tolerance test, starting from fasting and then measuring every 15mins after consuming 50g of pure glucose. Do some googling and you'll soon see if you are normal.

This is the stuff that counts. Do it and save your life. If there is anything remotely higher than normal about your glucose tolerance test then read Jenny's sites blooodsugar101 and get a good book like diabetes diet by Bernstein. Go low carb. Monitor your glucose tolerance at intervals. Watch out for your liver giving you a morning effect or a blood sugar dump which may mess up your figures.

Do note that if you are already low carb you will get a truer reading if you carb up for a few days before taking the test.

Also note that if you are severely overweight you will probably pass the test for "insulin resistance". Your doctor won't care about it and continue to call your "normal" unless your blood sugars reach the lofty heights of official diabetics. But acting sooner rather than later (i.e. by avoiding carbs) can prevent you from developing type 2 and essentially cure your insulin resistance. This is the basis of what low carb diets do and why you loose weight.

I went off on one. Praise the Lord for low carb.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting!

I absolutely had no idea that visceral fat is that dangerous! You see, after giving birth to my youngest, I have had no restrictions on my food intake hence, my weight doubled. Tomorrow, I'm definitely going to consult with my doctor about having laser liposuction. Los Angeles, where most cosmetic surgery centers are located, luckily, is only a few miles away from my house. Anyway, after all that is done, I'm probably going to need to remove the excess skin through tummy tuck. Los Angeles and other cities need to help people with obesity and weight problems.

Well Terry, I take it that after giving birth you've had many sleepless nights taking care of the baby. In my case, that was the aftermath of my last child birth. I just opted for blepharoplasty. Florida seems to be the happening place for that kind of surgery at that time, so I asked my husband to accompany me there.

But going back to the topic, what concerns me here is the fructose part. I'm an avid cola drinker, and it looks like I'm gonna have to change my lifestyle.

We can't eliminate starch amd wheat thus carbohydrates !

I think we are allowed to eat 150 grams of carbs a day . SO !!! We can eat starch and wheat after all.


I think eating more than 150 grams of carbs a day it raises insulin and then we come to the conlculsions about visceral fat.

I am having trouble with these "love handles" The rest of me looks great. I am now back on the ground chicken and veggie diet with a side of crazy cardio!