About 6 minutes of reading time.
What is an NMR Lipoprofile? It isn’t a good idea to get your news by reading only the headlines; it is best to read the whole story. Let’s think of the basic lipid panel/cholesterol test as a news headline.
NOTE: This page is a supplement to my “managing cholesterol” article in order to keep that one easier to read.
A Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) test counts the particle numbers and measures sizes can then be thought of as being most of the story. This particular one is performed by LabCorp. You may find similar ones from other providers. Look for a “Fractional Lipid Panel” type of test if this is not available to you.
How did I get exceptional cholesterol particle sizes and counts?
It happened by accident as a side effect of contracting THE virus. I instantly realized that my training was going to take a hit, so I immediately started consuming fewer carbohydrates. I even quit eating the morning oatmeal that I LOVED! (Remember this.) I didn’t want to get my triglycerides elevated as a result of training less. Since I wasn’t doing much of anything those first few days, I watched a lot of videos and did a lot of reading. I dug deeper into the whole “low carb” side of things. I wanted to make sure I was still getting the necessary antioxidants, flavanols, and many other nutrients that I had been getting.
Going low-carb was eye-opening!
Long story short as this article is already long enough, 🤣 I decided to keep this low-carb thing going after I recovered from that pesky virus. I was feeling GREAT! I haven’t measured my testosterone, but signs were pointing to something going on with that in a positive manner! Through all this reading and such, one of many things I stumbled on and learned was that healthy LDL is a component of Testosterone and other hormones and functions! There isn’t a lot of information out there to show this and I don’t know why but here you go and here is a good read on how LDL and HDL can be used to make steroid hormones including testosterone, estrogen, and more! Remember reading above about small LDL lacking affinity for LDL receptors? Well, that means we can’t be making testosterone out of damaged LDL!
Then my logical side kicked in and I asked myself, “Why on earth am I taking medication (statin) and all these experts so adamant on reducing something that is so crucial as to making Testosterone?!” So what if I was still on a high dose and my T levels were low? Would they then give me Testosterone injections? Probably and that’s almost as illogical as giving T2 diabetics more insulin to fix their insulin resistance. It wouldn’t be fixing the root cause of the problem!
Ok so that was my eye-opener, but what did I actually do and what was the result? I went further with this and broke many “rules” and literally went “against the grain” if you will.
HELLOOOOOO EGGS & BACON! 🤣
Nutrient-dense with a different macro split.
Keeping the quality of foods high in nutritional value, I went for a higher-fat / low-carb approach (but absolutely not KETO because I STILL don’t believe in it). My daily intake of carbs is between 20-25%, my fat intake is around 55%, and my protein is around 30%. I didn’t measure or log food all the time, but I got a good idea of where I was in the beginning few weeks and rechecked if I changed much of the routine. Measuring out all the food is a waste of time, but it is good to do at the beginning of any stage of change to know about where you are. I also QUIT using avocado oil or any “healthy” oil to cook with! I used REAL butter from grass-fed cows! Now I’m not saying you must adhere to this macro split for these results, but it is what I did. My carb intake used to be about 50% prior to this.
High-fat and long-lasting breakfast
Typically breakfast is pasture-raised eggs cooked with grass-fed butter and black pepper, strips of Uncured Certified Humane bacon, strawberries, and blueberries. Sometimes I would put some guacamole on top of my eggs. BTW, DO NOT DRINK ORANGE JUICE OR ANY FRUIT JUICE WITH BREAKFAST IF YOU ARE TRYING TO GET HEALTHY! It’s not healthy and is a big common misconception about being healthy! We can’t blame the eggs and bacon for what the juices, biscuits & gravy, and toast does!
Simple lunch but normally I wasn’t very hungry.
Lunch would usually be light as that breakfast kept me full for a long time! It would be meat of some kind such as wild-caught seafood, pasture-raised/certified humane chicken, or just a bunch of low-starch/carb veggies (LOTS of broccoli!) cooked in grass-fed butter. Sometimes it would just be some whole milk full-fat Greek yogurt and berries!
Simple low-carb, high-fat, ample protein, and tasty dinners.
Dinner would be along the same lines as lunch, but I would also use some frozen low-carb convenience items that had minimal ingredients. The downside is that some of them had some oils, but hey, at least I wasn’t cooking with them anymore and they appear to be low on the ingredients list. I’ll make an article sometime of these items. There are some decent ones out there, but I definitely had to be choosy. I’d add meats to it and of course grass-fed butter, garlic, guacamole, etc. I’d also add in some kimchi/sauerkraut too. Fermented foods are good for the gut which helps the body in many ways!
Ice cream & tasty treats? Yes, please!
I used to eat a LOT of ice cream back in my unhealthy days. So I experimented with this full-fat thing even more and most evenings I often ate a serving of the KETO brand ice cream (I wish I could find some icecream made with creamline grass-fed cream and monkfruit!) AND added a dollop of whole milk full-fat greek yogurt and raspberries or blackberries. Such a tasty treat!
Speaking of treats, I also continued to eat dark chocolate (low sugar) every day, and sometimes several times a day! I also learned about and fell in love with these macadamia nut bars !!! I eat at least one a day!
A welcomed blast from my past… coffee!
I brought black coffee back into my life because of the antioxidants and started experimenting with C8 MCT oil for racing. It supposedly prolongs the buildup of lactic acid when racing and I will say that I believe that! (There are mixed reviews/studies on this and you can poke holes in them.) I can run harder and longer without my legs fatiguing as badly in a Half marathon race. However, you can’t just start taking it. You have to gradually start taking it otherwise it’ll give you digestive issues. It’s like you have to ween yourself onto it. There are some other health benefits to it, so I put some in my coffee… I don’t do this BEFORE training though because you still want to train that lactic threshold and the C8 will not allow you to effectively do that. I mention it because it’s the ONLY oil that I use, aside from the Omega-3 algae oil supplement .
All that high-fat consumption felt “odd” but yielded great results!
So lots of high fat, QUALITY foods. It felt weird eating all of that because it’s like “taboo” or something. All that saturated fat and such… oh my! 😆 However, people are doing great things with this and I thought I have to give it a whirl. I’m glad I did!
Can you believe that? November’s results (GREEN) were absolutely INCREDIBLE! All of that QUALITY high-fat and nutrient-dense foods did the trick! The types matter a great deal and DO NOT let anyone tell you otherwise! GRASS-FED butter, PASTURE-RAISED eggs, etc. I’ll go into depth about this in another article.
SATURATED FAT SEEMS TO POSITIVELY AFFECT LDL PARTICLES! (Clearly, I experienced this in my own results.)
Comparing a month later with adding oatmeal back but for lunch!
I was on cloud nine! So I ran another test. The ONLY difference between November and December is I added back in the daily oatmeal, EXCEPT it was for lunch! That’s right! Why? I learned that consuming things in this order is important for controlling the insulin response. Fiber > Fat/Protein > Carbs. That should go for the day as well! Starting breakfast with all that fat and protein didn’t spike insulin/blood sugar first thing in the morning and kept me full well past lunchtime too. Carbs can also help promote a feeling of hunger too, EVEN GOOD ONES. BTW, did you know that protein actually causes a small rise in insulin? It does. So if you’re on a HIGH PROTEIN diet, be careful……
I altered the recipe for my oatmeal too. I’ll post it soon, but its basically made with 100% Coconut BUTTER (not oil), Creamline A2A2 whole milk, soaked chia seeds, flaxseed, Ceylon cinnamon, a dollop of whole milk full-fat Greek yogurt, and a few drops of monkfruit extract. IT IS SO GOOD!!!
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