I'm not a doctor, obviously, but I've looked into Paleo for endurance training because I was cycling 50 miles in one go - which was easily a 3 hour ordeal.
What I learned is that we can't be afraid of carbs in Paleo, but we have to remember that Paleo is not about eating all the bacon we want and living off the fat. It's about eating a lot of vegetables, including root vegetables like carrots, turnips, even potatoes and sweet potatoes. Also, for athletes, they do recommend white rice, to supplement for endurance.
I don't know if incorporating more carbs will help your lipid profile, if you do reduce the amount of fats.
But I did want to post the reminder that veggies are our friends and should be a good part of our diet -- I know its easy to forget that part! You can lower your fat and protein intake and increase your veggies and root vegetables to make up for it, without going off Paleo. Yes, this means that you're probably eating more than 50g of carbs, but women in the Paleo community are arguing that we need between 100 - 150 grams to maintain hormonal health anyway... we shouldn't continuously be under 100 grams.
Thank you for your post... I am definitely coming to believe that 150g of carbs is the way to go for me.... And perhaps 200g + depending on the level of endurance training that I'm looking at moving back up to... For me trying to train in keto-adapted state just wasn't right for me...
Last edited by TripSwitch; 05-24-2013 at 05:03 PM.
I'm sorry, Trip. I'd be pretty bummed about that, too.
I just had a strange thing happen, though, which is that I had a surprise lipid panel (went in for an ear infection!) done yesterday and the results were kinda interesting. I have been doing nutritional ketosis solidly since january and I had been playing with it for a couple of years before that. During a period of deep ketosis a couple of years back and in march of this year, when I was also in deep ketosis, I had similarly poor lipid results for the only time ever. My LDL went up quite a bit (70s to 135) and my HDL went down a bunch (80s to 40). The day before I had my blood drawn this week I went insane with carbs... started off with a low blood sugar and then ate myself into oblivion, a proper binge. And, the test came out much closer to what it used to be LDL was 95, HDL was 48. I am wondering if the high LDL's were just a result of actually burning fat, like it was all liberated and floating around bc I was burning it. And, I imagine, that, if so, it would right itself when I got to a healthy weight and stopped losing. I'm going to have it repeated again in July, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens. With any luck I'll be solidly in ketosis when I have the blood drawn.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rana
but women in the Paleo community are arguing that we need between 100 - 150 grams to maintain hormonal health anyway... we shouldn't continuously be under 100 grams.
I'm curious about why we shouldn't be continuously under 100 grams. I feel so great and I'm eating between 7 and 12 grams most days.
I've decided that I'm really going to try make some changes to my diet... especially where fat is concerned.... And even though I still want to lose some more weight I'm not expecting that to make much of difference, but who knows it might help... And even though I'm planning on ramping up my running as well... I'm not expecting that to make much of a difference either.... But I am definitely going to be increasing carbs to support the increase in running that I'm planning...
Basically I'm going to try everything possible to avoid having to take a statin, especially now with the studies that have been come out linking them with the development of new onset diabetes.... Which worries me more because I have a strong family history of diabetes, but no real family history of heart disease, so to speak of....
Last edited by TripSwitch; 05-25-2013 at 12:07 PM.
Basically I'm going to try everything possible to avoid having to take a statin, especially now with the studies that have been come out linking then with the development of new onset diabetes.... .
Also have you considered plant sterols? I used to take them with a spread for bread but they took it off the market. It did drop my cholesterol. By about 30 pts. They do actually have them in a lot of food, I believe minute maid has an orange juice with them.
I would take a look peruse around the blog. There are other women in the Paleo community that also advocate looking at this from a different perspective (i.e. more healthy carbs for women; low-carb for a set period of time).
Obviously, this isn't saying going back to 300 grams of carbs a day (which I would often hit with no trouble at all prior to getting on a healthy diet), but that carbohydrates aren't evil either -- they are a necessary component for maintaining our health.
Thanks for the link Rana. I think I just lived through all those problems the past months. I truly love the concept of ketosis and what it does in terms of fat loss. It has also so far been the only way to loose for me. But going down in carbs to 40g/day did cause a marked imbalance to my hormones and I had some signs of liver stress and cholesterol accumulation (this on a low fat diet!). So, I think that women who are subclinical hypothyroid like me, there needs to be some caution. I am still trying to find the sweet spot that allows me to lose weight, but without the associated problems. or maybe I just have to take the time and supplement with thyroid hormones.
Does high cholesterol run in your family? Maybe it's not the diet at all, and it's hereditary instead?
I have great cholesterol numbers, well under 200. My HDL used to be alarmingly low at 33 but over the past year I've gotten it up to 49 - not optimal yet but improving. My diet was more along the lines of paleo, with lots of lean proteins and veggies/some fruit and not a lot of carbs, but now I eat more carbs and the numbers (weight, triglycerides, blood glucose, etc.) haven't changed. Some have even improved. I don't prescribe to the view that carbs are bad; just the highly processed carbs that taste so good to me and are so bad for me.
Anyway, my dad was diabetic and had heart problems but he had low cholesterol and normal blood pressure. So maybe if your health stats are like your parents, you don't need to tinker with your food plan.
Eh, most of what that blog is discussing in terms of problems comes from energy restriction, not ketosis itself. Going low carb and too low on the calories is where women get into trouble, and more dramatically than men.
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But women who are experiencing low-thyroid symptoms, menstrual dysregulation, sleep and or mood and mental health related issues may find significant relief from adding carbohydrates back into their diets.
What the blogress doesn't seem to understand (or is ignoring) is that these are hallmark symptoms of anyone under energy restriction, not of using ketosis over glycolysis for ATP
Several of the studies advocating moderate to high carb for fertility, for example, did not adequately control for energy as a whole. Anecdotally I'd say low carb and high/maintenance calories is ideal for fertility - it acts positively on insulin while not placing the body under any physiological stress (ie: perfect for conception).
Different bodies run well on different diets - it's a spectrum of ideal human nutrition. But as for me, I am both extremely energetic AND fertile on about 25 net carbs per day, so long as I'm not eating below my BMR by too steep of a margin.
Last edited by Arctic Mama; 05-26-2013 at 05:14 PM.
And, the test came out much closer to what it used to be LDL was 95, HDL was 48. I am wondering if the high LDL's were just a result of actually burning fat, like it was all liberated and floating around bc I was burning it. And, I imagine, that, if so, it would right itself when I got to a healthy weight and stopped losing. I'm going to have it repeated again in July, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens. With any luck I'll be solidly in ketosis when I have the blood drawn. 
