Insulin question for Wayne and others

Suzy · Post by **Suzy** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 1:09 pm

Hi Wayne and all.

I eat relatively low carb (generally 100 grams a day or less) for the GERD I got from a PPI which I took for gastritis (I'm off all acid blockers for 3 months, 8 months off the horrible PPI). The only grain I eat occasionally is white Jasmine rice. No other grains, no legumes, no dairy (except occasional ghee), no sugar, no flour, very little fruit.

For several months during PPI rebound I ate extremely low carb (ie keto, 25 grams of carb a day or less) but found it made me too skinny, anxious and generally unwell, so I recently added back more healthy carbs (potatoes, white jasmine rice, winter squash, bananas) to gain weight, which thankfully worked.

I'm still dealing with daily chest pain and heartburn, which is improving as my LES slowly recovers from the PPI. I also think my anxiety contributes to my pain (I believe I have Mind Body Syndrome, also called TMS).

One issue I'm facing is my A1C keeps going up. It was in the 5.7 range before I ever took a PPI two years ago and was vegan (high carbs, lots of grains, low fat). Now that I"m eating the opposite way -- lower carbs, higher fat/animal protein, no grains -- for Gerd, my A1C has crept up to 6.0.

I think eating more fat/animal protein is somehow raising my A1C, but eating vegan high carb & grain/low fat isn't good for my gut or Gerd.

I absolutely do not want to take a pharmaceutical for this after my horrific PPI experience. I don't trust drugs. I'd prefer to treat my blood sugar with food and supplements.

My magnesium, by the way, was low on last count....4.4 RBC in December. My vitamin D at the time was 42.30. I'm working on bringing both up with supplements.

Do you think raising my magnesium will lower the A1C? Any other ideas to bring the A1C down? Do you think this is a healthy way to eat for gut health/GERD/insulin resistance (ie: no grains or dairy, mostly healthy vegetable carbs, protein, fat)?

Thank you!

Post by **tex** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:29 pm

Suzy,

Yes, both anxiety and insulin resistance are very common symptoms of magnesium deficiency. And yes, that's a healthy way to eat. Have you ever read this old article from the 1930s? At the time, the medical community could not dispute the results, but then they continued to ignore it when making diet recommendations to patients. (You can lead a doctor to the truth, but you can't force them to use it when advising patients).

Eskimos Prove An All-Meat Diet Provides Excellent Health

Have you read the chapters on magnesium deficiency (chapter 2) and on diabetes (chapter 3) in my Pancreatic Cancer book? You can download a digital copy free of charge at:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/665808

Amazon sells printed copies for less than 4 bucks. Those chapters contain information that should answer your questions.

Tex

Suzy · Post by **Suzy** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:54 pm

Thank you!

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 8:14 pm

High fat diets do not cause a rise in A1C. High carb diets are the usual culprit. Protein is a player in raising A1C but not nearly as much as carbohydrates. I understand that you are trying to balance a variety of issues which is always difficult. Do you have a blood glucose meter? Using one to test how foods effect your blood glucose reading could give you a better idea what effect different foods are having. I normalized my A1C from 5.7 to 4.9 by keeping my carbs much lower than yours. For a long time I ate only 20-30 gms of carbs a day. Now I eat around 50 a day, that's total carbs not net carbs. I eat no grains and no fruit and only low carb veggies. I've been eating this way, for the most part, for over a decade. Eating this way got rid of the gerd that plagued me for years and for which I took a ppi daily. Dr Richard Bernstein who wrote "The Diabetes Solution" suggests increasing protein to gain weight.

Jean

Suzy · Post by **Suzy** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 8:47 pm

Thanks Jean. I tried gaining weight with protein and fat but couldn't put it on until I added more carbs -- above the 50 gram mark. Can you give me an idea of what a typical day's food looks like for you? Maybe I'll try one more time getting my carbs back down to 50 grams and see if that helps.

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:14 am

Suzy - I don't think how I eat now will help you because I can now tolerate vegetables and I eat only twice a day but previously I relied on ground meat, either ground lamb, ground pork or ground venison. I always cooked the venison in coconut oil since it is so lean. The other meats had a high fat content. I ate 12-16 ounces a day plus small quantities of well cooked vegetables like kale or cauliflower with lots of either coconut oil or olive oil. There is no doubt that carbs can cause weight gain since excess carbohydrates are converted to fat for storage. When you say you tried increasing protein how much were you eating?

Jean

Suzy · Post by **Suzy** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:02 am

Hi Jean. Thanks for your info.

When I was eating very low carb (keto) I was eating about 12-18 oz of protein a day, plus lots of olive/avocado oil and ghee, and only about 24 grams of carbs. Unfortunately I dropped down to 108.5 pounds (I'm 5'6"), couldn't sleep, had a racing heart and lost a lot of hair.

Once I added in about 75--100 grams of carbs per day (potato, sweet potato, rutabaga, winter squash, white rice, 1/2 a banana sometimes) my weight went back up to 123. Still not where I want it to be (125 or more), but getting better. I'm sleeping better and looking better.

It's such a conundrum. I think for my insulin resistance and GERD the extreme low carb (less than 50 grams a day) might be better. But my weight gets too low and my cortisol too high when I eat that way and I just feel unwell (mentally and physically).

I'm hopeful that with the magnesium and vitamin D supplements my insulin resistance and GERD will improve.

Post by **tex** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 4:07 pm

Suzy wrote:Unfortunately I dropped down to 108.5 pounds (I'm 5'6"), couldn't sleep, had a racing heart and lost a lot of hair.

Those are symptoms of magnesium deficiency (and possibly other vitamin or mineral deficiencies), they're not symptoms of excess protein, or carbohydrate deficiency. The extra vegetables boosted your magnesium intake significantly. That's why the carbs helped. You can't gain weight if you are severely magnesium deficient. When my magnesium deficiency finally got to a point where it was critical, I was losing 2 pounds every week, week after week, no matter how much or what I ate.

Jean is right on target, IMO. To accomplish your originally-stated goal, you need more magnesium, and more protein (balanced with healthy fat intake). You can gain weight on protein, but you have to eat more protein in order to do that. Gaining weight as mostly muscle is healthier than gaining weight as mostly (or all) fat.

Tex

Suzy · Post by **Suzy** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 4:48 pm

Thanks Wayne! I'm trying to take in 800 mg of Dr's Best magnesium glycinate daily plus topical. And I'm adding 4000 iu of vitamin D. I hope that does the trick. I lost levels of magnesium when I was only taking 600 mg and no vitamin D, so hopefully this will work.
Do you know if adding baking soda and/or boron to epsom salt foot baths helps the body absorb more magnesium?

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 4:58 pm

Suzy
Epsom salt foot soaks /baths are a great way to get topical magnesium.
not sure that the boron/baking soda helps magnesium absorption, more so it makes the skin softer, and the water softer so you don't get residue in the bath

from the reading I have done - 1 cup of Epsom salts and 20 minute soak will provide at least 200mg of elemental magnesium.

for me and my combo of health issues/ the rate my body uses Magnesium etc, it took me 6 months of high dose magnesium to resolve my deficiency, (above 800mg per day) my maintenance dose is about 400mg-500mg per day.

Suzy · Post by **Suzy** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:02 pm

thank you Gabes. i just hope my insulin resistance doesn't impede my absorption of magnesium too much.

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:07 pm

so long as you pace/spread the oral and topical applications through the day

keep in mind that the eating plan changes and the magnesium intake will change things a bit as your body adjusts.
one of the main functions of magnesium is to help clear toxins so you may experience some changes with urine output and BM's
have you read the post ' why taking magnesium can make you feel worse? '

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19921

Suzy · Post by **Suzy** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:17 pm

I'm a little confused by item 6. Will the 4000 iu of vitamin d slow down my magnesium uptake? I think the reason my magnesium dropped recently is because I stopped taking any vitamin D, so I added it back when I saw how low my magnesium and D were on my latest blood draw.

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:33 pm

if you are taking 4000iu of Vit D3 then I don't think there will be an issue

if you are taking high doses of Vit D2 than that is when there could be issues on Magnesium usage in the body
Vit D2 in once a week high doses is the type of supplementation recommended by doctors etc

Suzy · Post by **Suzy** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:37 pm

It's D3 so I should be ok. Thanks Gabes.