HbA1c Update September 2016: I finally figured it out!

Posted on December 5, 2016July 30, 2017 by BJJ Caveman

Since the beginning of my career documenting my self experimentation on this blog I’ve been dealing with a borderling elevated HbA1c.

Here’s the first post on my HbA1c from March 2013 while doing my ketosis experiment:

The Effect of Nutritional Ketosis on HbA1c

Background:

Before I go further, for newer readers to the site and those unfamiliar with what an HbA1c actually is, I’ll copy and past what I wrote from that initial post:

Everyday your body makes new red blood cells (RBCs) and breaks down old RBCS at an equal rate so you have a constant number of RBCs (assuming you are healthy).

I Stopped Taking Bergamot And Here’s What Happened To My Cholesterol

Posted on December 14, 2015December 29, 2016 by BJJ Caveman

Brief Summary

I had normal cholesterol, went low carb, and then ketogenic, and saw that my cholesterol started to go crazy. I tried a host of things to bring it down including raising my carbs and taking various supplements to no effect. I finally saw a lipidologist, did some more research, and came up with a 12 point gameplan which surprisingly worked!

I’ve received some fair criticism for doing things in this manner because I essentially added so many variables at once which can make it hard to conclude anything at all. … Read More

Reviewing the Labs My Lipidologist Ordered

Posted on September 21, 2015September 28, 2015 by BJJ Caveman

In my last post I shared the notes I took from my consultation with the lipidologist. During that initial meeting she ordered all the labs we discussed and many that we didn’t.

After a week the results came back and we discussed them over the phone. Unfortunately there was a lab screw up and a bunch of the insulin resistance labs she ordered weren’t processed.

I of course took diligent notes that I’ll share below. As a warning, like the past couple of posts in this series, things do get a bit dense and technical, but I’d rather give you more information than less. … Read More

Cholesterol, CRP, Fasting Insulin, and HbA1c Update: October 2014

Posted on November 24, 2014February 18, 2015 by BJJ Caveman

As you can probably tell with my recent spate of cholesterol focused posts exploring the thoughts of Dr. Dayspring as well as the role of Apo-E and alcohol in high cholesterol… cholesterol has been on my mind of late.

It’s been about 6 months since my last blood test and a lot has happened since then like:

Trying a Carb Nite / Carb Back-Loading experiment that sort of fell apart and ended up with me gaining weight.
Doing a bit of traveling to Germany and Croatia where I ate a lot of good carby gluten filled foods causing me to gain weight.

Cyclic Ketogenic Diet and Blood Glucose, HbA1c, Fructosamine, and Insulin

Posted on January 5, 2014February 18, 2015 by BJJ Caveman

Cyclic Ketogenic Diet and Blood Glucose, HbA1c, Fructosamine, and Insulin

Brief Summary:

Recently I completed a 10 week experiment doing a variation of a cyclic ketogenic diet called the Carb Nite Solution, which basically entails eating strict low carb (less than 30 gm per day) with one 6-8 hr window of massive carb loading per week. At the end of this experiment, before going on a trip to Italy, I had a series of fasting labs drawn.

So far we’ve looked at my:

Now I want to go over the labs reflecting my glucose control.… Read More

The Effect of a Ketogenic Diet on Cholesterol Part 5

Posted on October 13, 2013October 9, 2014 by BJJ Caveman

As you know, the past couple of months have been a bit of a whirlwind. During this time I wasn’t trying too hard to eat low carb… unlike the militant way I was counting carbs during my initial n=1 experiment. I know there were a some weeks when I was definitely eating very low carb and spent at least a few of those days in ketosis (I hadn’t been testing my blood ketones these past few months), and there were other days when my carb intake increased due to social situations as well as my desire to avoid the keto-rash: prurigo pigmentosa.… Read More