Coffee Chemicals, Chomping Teeth, Vegan and Low T | THRR043

The Healthy Rebellion Radio

Ketogenic diet with fasting; Pseudo-vegan with Low T, T3, and RBC; Can you clarify something in your book?; Coffee Chemicals?; Chomping teeth at night

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Show Notes: ---- News topic du jour:

Researchers examine food supply chain resiliency in the Pacific during the COVID-19 pandemic

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1. Ketogenic Diet with Fasting [14:43]

Brian says:

Robb,

I've been on a paleo ketogenic diet for roughly a month now, and fasting from Friday nights until Sunday afternoons or Monday mornings. Started with fasting blood glucose of 95, elevated liver enzyme, and bad cholesterol. I'm not able to test the liver enzyme and cholesterol for improvement until my doctor determines I need another test, but my fasting blood glucose is down considerably. During the week, I'm eating at or close to a caloric balance, and using the weekend fasts to create caloric deficit. Thus far, I've dropped 10-15lbs, with no loss of strength, leading me to believe the weight loss is primarily fat. That said, while fasting this weekend, my blood sugar went as low as 53mg/dL. I felt fine, and had no symptoms associated with hypoglycemia (energy levels were normal; mental function was unimpaired; heart rate was steady), but since I can't find any credible information on blood sugar levels during fasting and ketogenic dieting, I don't know whether I should be concerned and reduce or eliminate the fast. Can you point me in the direction of any research that may help me to understand whether what I'm experiencing is normal, or if I should be concerned?

2. Pseudo-Vegan with Low T, T3, and RBC [22:23]

Tamas (pronounced like Thomas) says:

Hi Robb and Nicki!

I recently discovered Robb's work from the JRE podcast, and I have been wired to listen (haha) to your wisdom ever since. I am 5' 10", 190 pounds and about 15% BF, and I take levothyroxine, B12, and iron supplements. As a rower in college I was able to stay relatively lean and athletic but my energy levels were horrible, so I tried a vegan diet from sophomore to junior year. When that didn't work, I finally decided to get a blood test, and my results were: testosterone, 123 ng/dL; T3, 2.1 pg/mL; T4, 0.9; TSH, 0.98 mIU/L; RBC, 4.15 Million/uL; and hematocrit, 39.7%; all of which were below or on the very low end of the ideal range. I continued a vegan-ish diet while adding very small amounts of dairy, eggs, and poultry as well as an Iron, B12, and levothyroxine supplement. My senior year, my lab results didn't improve much, but I decided to ignore because I was performing and looking OK. Now, 23 years-old, out of college, and still eating primarily vegan, I'm gaining BF and still weak, but I want to eat sustainably and healthily, which led me to you and to realizing the veganism may not be the answer. What is the best way I can improve my health while also supporting the right food system? Thanks so much, and I think you and Nicki are leading one of the best health platforms out there. - Tamas

Sorry, this is adding to my previous message to add some more context. I track my macros and over the past month I've been averaging 100/100/450 (P/F/C). I get my protein from nuts, legumes, and some vegan meats, but I'm not considering going back to meat because I'm still always hungry. My goal is to be healthy and sustainable and to get down to 175-180 lbs range, and I've been getting more and more confused with the ongoing high-carb vs. low-carb as it seems there are experts, MDs, PhDs, etc. on both sides. I'd appreciate your guidance. Thanks! And sorry for the double email.

3. Can You Clarify Something in Your Book? [36:36]

Pamela says:

You make a statement in the book that I do not understand. After describing all the anti-nutrients in plants, you state "even though plants can be difficult to digest and contain some antinutrients, we feel it's important to incorporate a large variety of plants in your diet, as tolerated." You say that eating raw plants allows one to preserve certain enzymes, antioxidants and water-soluble vitamins and there are certain plants that can be cooked, fermented or sprouted to break them down for digestion and help inactive antinutrients. So this all just confused me. I feel like this contradicts the whole section on antinutrients. I mean, why go through the process of trying to make it edible and doesn't raw veggies have the said antinutrients? I'd love some clarification! (P.S. I am a huge fan and my kids and hubby also practice BJJ ;)

4. Coffee Chemicals? [43:04]

Carl says:

Hey Robb, im wondering if you know of any chemicals in coffee that could be causing weird symptoms and why most everyone can drink coffee without these symptoms.

When i have even a sip of coffee (black, mct oil, butter, lions mane coffee, doesnt matter) i get very agitated and have the worst anxiety, almost feel psychotic if i have a full cup. Where as if i were to drink an energy drink containing much more caffeine or take caffeine pills i feel just fine and get none of those weird symptoms, is there a chemical in coffee that could do this?

Thanks Robb i love the content.

5. Chomping Teeth at Night [45:45]

Kevin says:

Love the show, I will try and make this brief so I don’t waste your time.

About three years ago I started to have nasty gut issues and bad periodontal disease just to name a few of many issues. I’ve been on a health journey using the ancestral model these past three years. I have greatly improved but I still have a long way to go to fix myself.

Recently a new issue has popped up and has me at a loss on how to solve it. I know everyone is stressed more than usual right now, but my anxiety has been through the roof with no known cause to contribute it to. Coinciding with the surge in anxiety has been an issue with chomping my teeth as I start to fall asleep and through the night, and extreme dry mouth at night. I have been trying to manage stress to help this, but I’m starting to think that the lack of sleep from the grinding is causing the anxiety.

I have had my sense of smell decline over the past several years and have found that I have some difficulty with nasal breathing.

It’s possible that I had a mild case of covid but did not get a test. I had some difficulty with breathing during exertion during this possible covid time.

Do you have any info on this chomping issue? Could it just be that I’m stressed and need to do some more Ziva meditation?

Quick bio:

Male

38

5’8” 155 lean/muscular

Moderate exercise with running and heavy lifting 3-4 days a week

Paleo diet with non strict keto

2 young kids

Construction worker

Sponsor:

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Transcript:

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