n=1 – BJJ Caveman

Book Review: The Carb Nite Solution By John Kiefer

Posted on November 1, 2013February 18, 2015 by BJJ Caveman

Carb Night Solution

The Carb Nite Solution: The Physicist’s Guide to Power Dieting

I first came across this author while listening to Jimmy Moore’s Ask the Low Carb Experts Podcast and then a few days later on Robb Wolf’s Podcast.

What John Kiefer had to say about the ketogenic diet and how he found the best way to optimize it for fat loss was very interesting, so I took the plunge and picked up his book.

Since amazon doesn’t offer a kindle version, I actually picked up the e-book version of it directly from his website.… 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

Apparently I’m Still Ketoadapted

Posted on October 3, 2013October 9, 2014 by BJJ Caveman

It’s been a hectic stretch the past few weeks in my life including my wedding, a funeral and most recently my honeymoon and the switch of my work to some pretty rough hours further exacerbated by jet lag.

With all of these stressors, I estimate that in the past few months my diet in terms of carbs has ranged anywhere from 50 – 150 gm of carbs per day. I haven’t been keeping a food log so I can’t be entirely sure.

During my honeymoon I vaguely tried to pay attention to diet, but since I was in a foreign land I wanted to enjoy and experience as much of the country as possible, I wasn’t too strict. … Read More

The Effect of a Ketogenic Diet on Thyroid Hormone Part 2

Posted on June 15, 2013October 9, 2014 by BJJ Caveman

In light of the recent discoveries during my n=1 experiment with nutritional ketosis regarding my cholesterol (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), thyroid hormone (Part 1), and skin rash, I decided to take a break from nutritional ketosis to see what would happen.

We’ve already seen that the addition of carbs back into my diet made my rash go away (it’s been a few months out and still no rash, yay!).

I took another blood test to see if my thyroid hormone levels would change. … Read More

The Effect of a Ketogenic Diet on Cholesterol Part 3

Posted on April 6, 2013November 6, 2014 by BJJ Caveman

As you can see with my cholesterol numbers, despite cutting back on my saturated fats for 3 weeks by restricting the amount of coconut oil and grassfed butter that I typically eat, my LDL-C and Total Cholesterol have continued to go up!

Here is a brief summary of potential explanation as to why LDL and total cholesterol can be elevated in people who are in ketosis from Part 2:

Increased consumption of saturated fats -> Increased liver production of fats -> High serums cholesterol
Deficiency in certain micronutrients such as choline and copper -> Through some unknown mechanism -> High serum cholesterol
Natural response of the body being in ketosis is to mobilize more fat for energy -> Higher serum cholesterol
Chronic low carb -> Hypothyroidism (low T3) -> Decreased expression of LDL receptors in the liver -> Higher serum cholesterol

So it looks like I’ve eliminated #1 as a potential explanation. … Read More

90 Days of Nutritional Ketosis

Posted on March 16, 2013November 7, 2014 by BJJ Caveman

After 90 days of nutritional ketosis, I managed to reach a new low in weight, only to see it bounce back up. I’m now only 1.6 lbs down from my starting weight of 180.0 lbs. Seeing a graph like this really shows how variable daily weights can be!

In the past 30 days, I spent 21 days over the minimal cut off of 0.5 mmol which I’m happy with. This is a little worse compared to days 31-60 where I was in ketosis for 25 days. … Read More