Question: What is the most effective tool available to help you lose weight?
A pedometer (walk 10,000 steps, etc.)?
A treadmill?
A bicycle?
No. None of the above.
The most important tool you can use to achieve weight loss is your glucose monitor:
carbohydrate consumption makes Lp(a) a more aggressive cause for atherosclerotic plaque. The situation can be made worse by exposure to vegetable oils, such as those from sunflower or corn, which increases production of apo(a).
Also, more than other people, Lp(a) people tend to show diabetic tendencies with consumption of carbohydrates. Eat "healthy whole grains," for instance, or if a marathoner carb-loads, he/she will show
diabetic-range blood sugars. I have seen long-distance runners or triathletes, for instance, have a 6 ounce container of sugary yogurt and have blood sugars of 200 mg/dl or higher. The extreme exercise provides no protection from the diabetic potential.
Because carbohydrates are so destructive to the Lp(a) type, it means that people with this pattern do best by 1) absolutely minimizing exposure to carbohydrates and vegetable oils, ideally grain-free and sugar-free, and 2) rely on a diet rich in fats and proteins.
The perfect diet for the Lp(a) type? It would be a diet of feasting on the spoils of the hunt, devouring the wild boar captured and slaughtered and eating the snout, hindquarters, spleen, kidneys, heart, and bone marrow, then eating mushrooms, leaves, nuts, coconut, berries, small rodents, reptiles, fish, birds, and insects when the hunt is unproductive.
Capable hunter, survivor, consumer of muscle and organ meats: I call people with Lp(a) "
The Perfect Carnivores."
The NPR Health Blog contacted me, as they were interested in learning more about health strategies and tools that are being used by individuals without their doctors. The Track Your Plaque website and program came up in their quest, as it is the only program available for self-empowerment in heart disease.
Several Track Your Plaque Members spoke up to add their insights. The full text of the article can be viewed here.
How's Your Cholesterol? The Crowd Wants To Know
Mainstream medicine isn't in favor of self-analysis, or seeking advice from non-professionals, of course. And anyone who does so is running a risk.
But there are folks who want to change the course of their heart health with a combination of professional and peer support. Some are bent on tackling the plaque that forms in arteries that can lead to heart disease. They gather online at Track Your Plaque, or "TYP" to the initiates.
"We test, test, test ... and basically experiment on ourselves and have through trial and error came up with the TYP program, which is tailored to the individual," Patrick Theut, a veteran of the site who tells Shots he has watched his plaque slow, stop and regress.
The site was created in 2004 by Bill Davis, a preventive cardiologist in Milwaukee, Wisc. Davis is also the author of Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health, which argues that wheat is addictive and bad for most people's health. Davis recommends eliminating wheat from the diet to most new members of Track Your Plaque.
"The heart is one of the hardest things to self-manage but when you let people take the reins of control, you get far better results and far fewer catastrophes like heart attacks," Davis tells Shots.
Doctors typically give patients diagnosed with heart disease two options: take cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, or make lifestyle changes, like diet. It's usually far easier for both parties — the doctor and the patient — to go with the drugs than manage the much more difficult lifestyle changes, Davis says.
"Doctors say take the Lipitor, cut the fat and call me if you have chest pain," he explains. "But that's an awful way to manage care."
TYP has members submit their scores from heart CT scans, cholesterol values, lipoproteins and other heart health factors to a panel of doctors, nutritionists and exercise specialists. Then they receive advice in the form of an individualized plaque-control program. But the online forum, where users share their results with other members and exchange tips, is where most of the TYP action happens.
The community currently has about 2,400 members who pay $39.95 for a quarterly membership, or $89.75 for a yearly membership. Davis says all proceeds go towards maintaining the website.
Ilaine Upton is a 60-year-old bankruptcy lawyer from Fairfax, Va., and a TYP member. At a friend's suggestion, Upton decided to get a heart CT scan in July. Her score was higher than it should have been (22 instead of 0), so she decided to get her blood lipids and cholesterol tested, too, and sent a sample off to MyMedLabs.com.
She learned that her LDL particle count was over 2,000 ("crazy high," she says), and she posted her results on TYP. Davis advised her that a low-carb diet would reduce it, so she decided to try it.
Since July, she says she has had "excellent results" with the program, and her LDL counts are coming down.
"It would be nice to have a [personal] physician involved in this, but [my insurer] Blue Cross won't pay if you are not symptomatic, and I am trying to prevent becoming symptomatic," says Upton. "I feel very empowered by this knowledge and the ability to take better control of my health by getting feedback on the decisions I make."
This is about as decadent as it gets around here!
Here’s a recreation of an old-fashioned coffee cake, a version with a delicious chewy-crunchy streusel topping.
I’ve specified xylitol as the sweetener in the topping, as it is the most compatible sweetener for the streusel “crumb” effect and browning.
Variations are easy. For example, for an apple pecan coffee cake, add a layer of finely-chopped or sliced apples to the cake batter and topping.
Additional potential carbohydrate exposure comes from the garbanzo bean flour and molasses. However, distributed into 10 slices, each slice provides 7.2 grams “net” carbs (total carbs minus fiber), a perfectly tolerable amount. Be careful not to exceed two slices!
Yield 10 slices
Cake:
2½ cups almond flour
½ cup garbanzo bean flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
Sweetener equivalent to ¾ cup sugar
Dash sea salt
3 eggs separated
3/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 ounces butter, melted
Juice of ½ lemon
Topping:
½ cup almond flour
¼ cup pecans, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
½ cup xylitol
1 tablespoon molasses
6 ounces butter, cut into ½-inch widths, at room temperature
Preheat oven to 325º F. Grease bread pan.
In bowl, combine almond flour, garbanzo flour, cinnamon, baking soda, sweetener, salt, and mix.
In small bowl, whip egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. At low speed, blend in egg yolks, vanilla, melted butter, and lemon juice.
Pour liquid mixture into almond mixture and mix thoroughly. Pour into microwave-safe bread pan and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Remove and set aside.
To make topping, combine almond flour, pecans, cinnamon, xylitol, and molasses in small bowl and mix. Mix in butter
Spread topping on cake. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick withdraws dry.
If you miss peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, you’re going to absolutely love these peanut butter and jelly macaroons!
Not everybody loves the taste or texture of coconut. This issue is solved by the first step: toasting shredded coconut, then reducing them down to a granular consistency. This yields a macaroon consistency without the dominant coconut taste, replaced instead with the flavors of PB & J.
I’ve specified liquid stevia as the sweetener, but this is easily replaced by your choice of sweetener. Note that, regardless of which sweetener used, they vary in sweetness from brand to brand and the quantity required to equal the ½ cup of sugar equivalent can vary. It always helps to taste your batter and adjust sweetness.
Also, I used Swerve in this recipe, the erythritol-inulin mix that enhances texture, but its use is optional.
As written, each macaroon contains just over 3 grams “net” carbohydrates (total carbs minus fiber), meaning you can have several before doing any damage!
Makes 24 macaroons
3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
¼ cup coconut flour
¼ cup dried unsweetened cherries (or other unsweetened berries)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
¼ cup natural peanut butter, room temperature
2 egg whites
½ teaspoon liquid stevia or sweetener equivalent to ½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons Swerve
Preheat oven to 300° F.
In large bowl, combine coconut, vanilla and almond extracts, and mix.
Spread mixture on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very lightly browned. Be careful not to burn. Remove and cool. (Leave oven at 300° F.)
When cooled, using food chopper, food processor, or coffee grinder, pulse coconut mixture until coconut reduced to consistency of coffee grounds. Pour back into bowl. Stir in coconut flour.
Place cherries or other berries in food chopper, food processor, or coffee grinder and pulse until reduced to small granules or paste. Remove with spatula and add to coconut mixture. Set aside.
Place egg whites in bowl and whip until frothy and stiff peaks form.
In small microwave-safe bowl, combine coconut oil and peanut butter and microwave in 10-second increments until warm (not hot) liquid. Stir in egg whites, followed by stevia and Swerve, and blend thoroughly.
Dispense dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet using a 1 ½-inch cookie scooper or spoons.
Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Why would I say such a thing? Well, a number of reasons. People with lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), are, with only occasional exceptions:
--Very intelligent. I know many people with this genetic pattern with IQs of 130, 140, even 160+.
--Good at math--This is true more for the male expression of the pattern, only occasionally female. It means that men with Lp(a) gravitate towards careers in math, accounting, financial analysis, physics, and engineering.
--Athletic--Many are marathon runners, triathletes, long-distance bicyclists, and other endurance athletes. I tell my patients that, if they want to meet other people with Lp(a), go to a triathlon.
--Poor at hydrating. People with Lp(a) have a defective thirst mechanism and often go for many hours without drinking water. This is why many Lp(a) people experience the pain of kidney stones: Prolonged and repeated dehydration causes crystals to form in the kidneys, leading to stone formation over time.
--Tolerant to dehydration--Related to the previous item, people with Lp(a) can go for extended periods without even thinking about water.
--Tolerant to periods of food deprivation or starvation--More so than other people, those with Lp(a) are uncommonly tolerant to days without food, as would occur in a wild setting.
In short, people with Lp(a) are intelligent, athletic, with many other favorable characteristics that provide a survival advantage . . . in a primitive world.
So when did Lp(a) become a problem? When an individual with Lp(a) is exposed to carbohydrates, especially those from grains. When an evolutionarily-advantaged Lp(a) individual is exposed to carbohydrates, more than other people they develop:
--Excess quantities of small LDL particles--Recall that Lp(a) is a two-part molecule. One part: an apo(a) made by the liver. 2nd part: an LDL particle. When the LDL particle within the Lp(a) molecule is small, its overall behavior is worse or more atherogenic (plaque-causing).
--Hyperglycemia/hyperinsulinemia--which then leads to diabetes. Unlike non-Lp(a) people, these phenomena can develop with far less visceral fat. A Lp(a) male, for instance, standing 5 ft 10 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds, can have as much insulin resistance/hyperglycemia as a non-Lp(a) male of similar height weighing 50+ pounds more.
Key to gaining control over Lp(a) is strict carbohydrate limitation. Another way to look at this is to say that Lp(a) people do best with unlimited fat and protein intake.