John

I love the vast amount of knowlege you have. You are 100% right that a lot of these documentaries have cherry picked research and when people watch them, they need to do their own further research beyond what is shown in the documentary. The problem with a lot of people is they take what is presented to them at face value and then that's it. They don't do any more research search, they don't expand their knowledge and the quest to learn more stops. I am not one of those, I, like you am constantly asking questions, doing further research and questioning things.

The problem at least in the United States is that many folks do not have access to local farms where their food is untainted by chemicals. They don't have access to raw milk and meat that is not poisoned by growth hormones or feed that has chemicals and hormones in it. Just because the supermarket claims it to be grass fed and organic still makes it to be a BS claim. So in that regard, yes, not all dairy is bad if you are getting raw milk from a local farm, but unless  you live in the farms of say Montana, Idaho or some ruaral area where you have access to that, you aren't going to find it. Nor are you going to know how to get it. The vast majority of Americans are only educated enough to know about the milk they see at the supermarket, the milk that is filled with pus and chemicals and IGF-1, the milk they don't need to be drinking.

"This is why I am a firm believer and staunch supporter of doing your own research and caring for your own health. The government and all its health groups are the worst sources of nutritional advice. Doctors in the U.S. today no longer are taught basic nutrition but they get tons of hours learning symptoms-to-drug diagnosis and matching." You could not be MORE right with this statement. I think you and I agree a LOT more than we disagree on many fronts. and I think if we could actually sit down and have a full conversation on diet and nutrition, we'd find that you and I share a lot of the same beliefs with food. My husband and I were talking and other day, eventually we want to move out of the US and to an island some where, may be the carribbean. I would totally go back to eating fish because I know my food would be locally sourced and caught fresh, not farmed and processed. I would know whats going INTO my food and how its treated. This has a LOT to do with the quality of the food as  you said. But living in the United States, I can't justify eating animal protein the way the government regulates the food industry nor the nutrition industry.

Hi Matthew,

I am glad my posts at least had you do some additional research and thinking and not make an un-neccessary large scale change.

As for food shopping, it is very simple: the majority of all processed food is all in the center aisles. The natural, un-processed food is all at the edges and the back of the store. The food industry pays millions to Industrial Psychologists to understand how food placement affects buying behavior. This is why sugary cereal is at lower levels so kids have easy access and can "influence" their parents to buy it. Humans, by nature, gravitate towards the center of big rooms. By putting all the processed foods in the center aisles you maximize exposure time. Same logic as to why Las Vegas casinos put the elevators at the back of the casino - you have to walk thru the casino before you can get to your room increasing the likeliness that you will stop and hit a one-arm bandit or a Craps table.

As for chicken, when I lived in California I always bought Foster Farms. While the chicken industry has been a little "better" in not using as many hormones and antibiotics as the meat industry, industrialized chicken still has its challenges. An "Organic" product does not mean it is better or safer per se. All "Organic" means is that no GMO or pesticides, anti-biotics, and growth hormones have been used. It doesn't change their living conditions and how they are slaughtered. All-in-all, the choice is yours but there has been no definitive proof Organic is healthier than non-Organic. The only truely "safe" food is to go to a local farm and have your chicken slaughtered there.

As for medical schools and doctors, I too wanted to go into medicine and studied that way all the way until my Sophomore year in college. This is why I have a more than average understanding of how the human body works. You need to remember that American medicine is a BUSINESS. Once you accept that, then everything else makes sense. The pharmaceutical industry funds many university medical programs and the whole teaching process of Western medicine is to match the symptoms to the drug. Chronic disease is a cash cow. There is no incentive to cure outright as there is no long term financial gain. Why do you think there have been no new antibiotics developed yet we have new cholesterol, cancer, and diabetes medicines regularly? Antibiotics are one-and-done. The other drugs must be used for a lifetime or for the period of the prescribed treatment (cancer drugs).

I have written an article here on this topic and shared my views on the Lipid Hypothesis from 1958 which Ancel Keys sold to Congress and eventually became the backbone for the McGovern Report from the early 1970s starting the whole cholesterol/saturated fat hysteria. It is called a HYPOTHESIS because it has NEVER been proven. It is not the Lipid Law. As you know from your medical training, the lining of your arteries is a living thing called the Endothelium. We know that high levels of blood glucose and high triglycerides inflame this layer and cause tiny cracks and tears. The body sees this as life threatening and sends what? - immune cells and cholesterol to "fix" the damage as a burst blood vessel means death. Cholesterol is brought to the site via the normal LDL particle. Oxidation of this particle due to high glucose and triglyceride levels, however, makes this particle small and dense. When you have tears in the endothelium and the body sends immune cells and cholesterol via oxidized LDL to the site, what happens? It goes inside and under the tear and pushes the Endothelium inwards eventually causing a blockage via this underlying plaque. Did cholesterol or LDL CAUSE the problem? The answer is a resounding NO. It was the inflammation from the high blood glucose and high triglycerides. The Lipid Hypothesis logic is like blaming fire fighters for causing fires as they are always at the scene of a fire. It is total logical nonsense. People should ask themselves this: The human circulatory system is a closed loop system yet only the ARTERIES get plaque build up but not the VEINS. How is this possible? Is it that LDL and cholesterol and saturated fat are intelligent and selective and "know" just to block your arteries and not your veins? No, it is because the arteries have an endothelium and are under the highest volumetric pressure due to the pumping of the heart. When tears occur, the body needs to fix the tear ASAP and the "glue" for all living cells is cholesterol carried to the body from the liver via LDL.

We have known this for years however the issue is the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and the laziness of the general population. People want to eat the shit food they are used to and take a pill to fix their ills. The pharmaceutical industry is happy to oblige to the tune of 30 Billion a year. If people just realized that the reason diabetics lose their eyesite, lose limbs, and have a higher incidence of heart attacks is because of their uncontrolled BLOOD SUGAR not their cholesterol and saturated fat levels. HDL INCREASES with saturated fat intake as it is the main constituent of this particle. Dietary cholesterol has a minimal effect on blood cholesterol levels because it is in a form not readily absorbed by the body in the intestinal tract - especially when your meal has a lot of soluble fiber like oatmeal. Blood glucose in high levels is TOXIC to the entire human body. This is why we have a Pancreas to produce Insulin to rapidly get it into the cells and out of the blood. Glucose is also the #1 fuel for all cancer cells that was proven in the Warberg Principle in the 1930s. When they do an MRI for cancer, they look for areas of rapid glucose metabolism. This is also why insulin resistance - Type 2 Diabetes - causes so many problems - including cancer proliferation. These are biological facts that the public should know and understand that are not clearly defined for them so as to help the pharmaceutical industry push its "drugs-only" agenda. The only time you should be watching your cholesterol and saturated fat intake is when you already have Type 2 diabetes as the increased blood sugar oxidizes LDL cholesterol and increases blood triglyceride levels. This causes the domino effect of heart disease, cancer, etc but is not CAUSED by cholesterol and saturated fat they just exacerbate an already bad health scenario. If people honestly realized that 90% of all chronic diseases can be prevented by just eating right, there would be no need for all these drugs.

John

Michelle,

I agree with you 100% and I am not implying you are incorrect on everything you have stated about dairy. My concern is the "fear mongering" all these films cause. There were tons of discussion and videos on social media concerning "What the Health" as it scared a lot of people. All these food documentaries have to provide some sense of shock value to get you to watch it on Netflix or rent it on iTunes. Unfortunately, they use select messaging and cherry-picked science to communicate their message.

I agree that not everyone has access to untainted farmed dairy and we are all at the mercy of industrialized food. The good news is consumers vote with their dollars and the reason we now see organic, non-GMO, no antibiotics or hormone-free meat, and less use of pesticides is because people have told the food industry they don't want these by not buying them. I also agree that food marketers jump on all these fears and desires and try to market their products accordingly leading to some mis-represented claims or all out exaggeration on the labels and packaging. Only an educated consumer who takes the time to do their own research can filter out the bullshit and make intelligent purchasing decisions.

My point in my reponses to you is that as this is an open forum there are lots of people who incorporate dairy into their nutrition plans. Making statements that "all dairy is bad" just propagates all the hype around different food groups. The bottom line is even with 100% non-industrialized food there are still some "icky" ingredients. Have you ever had rice straight from a rice patty? I have as my wife is from Vietnam and we go there regularly. It has tons of rice beetles in it. They are alive and moving around. Locals just cook them in when they prepare the rice and eat it as is. I have had freshly slaughtered chicken. It is not as clean a process as you think and there are still some residual entrails and stuff in the meat. When you cook it thoroughly, there is nothing to worry about. Yes, milk has some pus in it. All milk has some it is just the conditions that industrialized cows live under causes more than what would naturally occur.

In all my years of reading articles, reports, watching food-centric documentaries, etc, I have learned the following things and practice them with my own nutrition:

1) Humans are omnivores - not pure carnivores or herbavores.

2) Our diet must come from a wide variety of foods.

3) The food our ancestors ate is nowhere the same as the food we eat now as the soil is depeleted of key nutrients and the way meat is raised is not the same.

4) The majority of all chronic diseases can be prevented, regardless of your genetics, with proper nutrition.

5) For every group eating a certain way and live to be 100 or more, there are other groups eating the exact opposite that also can live to 100 or more.

6) Don't take nutritional advice from ANY government or government body or organization. The good intent is there but the messaging is influenced by money.

7) And most importantly - only you and you alone are the steward of your health, the food you eat, the doctors or medicine you want to use, and the way you want to achieve health.

John

I hear you. I have become very disillusioned with Western Medicine. I think chemotherapy is the biggest medical scam, next to Statins, imposed on the U.S. population. I bet if you asked most Oncologists off the record if they would ever use these drugs themselves you would get a resounding "No". If you truely believe cancer is a symptom of malnutrition at the micro-nutrient layer versus a disease and understand everyone has cancer in their body everyday yet the immune system handles it you will see why I make this statement. Basically, chemotherapy is injecting "legal" poisons into your body to kill every cell - healthy and cancerous - and supressing the immune system and then hoping that the patient is strong enough to survive this shotgun approach. I now know why they only quote cancer survival rates no longer than 5 years and why cancer more often than not returns. Chemo totally destroys the patient's immune system - the one system designed by evolution and our genome to handle cancerous cells - and then one hopes the patient can bounce back to a normally functioning immune system once the treatment stops. It also doen't help that these drugs cost hundereds of thousands of dollars and cancer gets the majority of the governments billions in research grants from the NIH.

As to your request, this is the article I wrote for this forum a couple years back. If you go to the ARTICLES tab at the top of the site next to WORKOUTS, you can search for and read all the articles Scott and other members have written.

http://muscularstrength.com/article/Cholesterol-and-Fat-Are-Not-The-Enemy

John

I am so sorry to hear about your Grandpa. My Uncle died of this disease. Alzheimers is an interesting topic. There is a new class of research that I have been following and a theory I support that states that Alzheimers is really Type 3 diabetes. A team of doctors and researchers have found that high blood glucose leads to the build up of the plaque in the brain and it is the brains defense mechanism. We already know high glucose levels are toxic to every cell in your body. Another field of reseach which has identified a lymphatic system in the brain (it was always thought for decades that the brain had no lymphatic system but new visualization technologies has uncovered one) believes that this system gets clogged thus not allowing the brain to clean itself out causing a build-up of plaque. Part of what causes the clogging is chronic inflammation which a high sugar diet produces. At the end of the day, the root cause of all major diseases is chronic inflammation not genetic mutations/errors. You can Google these to find out more.

As for Alzheimer's being genetic, I am not 100% convinced. 60 Minutes did a report on a unique family tree in a remote area of Colombia where every family member (over 100) have a rare genetic mutation whereby they all get Alzheimers in their 30s and all die soon after. That is the only time I have seen a strong genetic correlation. I still believe that the majority of Alzheimers is due to bad food and drink and deficiencies in key nutritients. Cholesterol and saturated fat are critical for brain health and we have a nation heavily using Statins and avoiding cholesterol and fats. My Father has been on statins for decades and he now has no short term memory - this is a well known side effect of Statins. You need to rememeber that in the majority of people, cancer genes and other destructive genes are recessive traits not dominant traits. They need a stimulus to be "turned on" which more often than not comes from the food we eat, what we drink, and what we breathe.

Don't feel personally bad about what you do. Your intent is good it is just the methods you are provided that are suspect. We need caring and concerned health care professionals like yourself. For those who choose to follow traditional Western medicine methodologies, they will always need compassionate people to guide them along the way.

John

Do a search on YouTube for videos from a very famous neurologist named Dr. Dale Bredesen. His findings align with what Dr. Mark Hyman has been saying for years under the practice of Functional Medicine about the affect of insulin resistance on the brain. It will really enlighten you to a new viewpoint on Alzheimers and sugar. Tau protein and Amyloid are actually necessary proteins for the formation of new synapsis. Dr Bredesen describes how like osteoporosis when osteoclast activity exceeds osteoblast activity and you get weak bones the same thing happens with Alzheimer's - synaptoclast activity exceeds synaptoblast activity and you get loss of brain neurons and brain shrinkage. Tau and Amyloid can either build new synapsis or break them down based on gene expression. This gene expression is directly influenced by your insulin sensitivity and the amount of glucose in your blood. This further supports the Type 3 Diabetes hypothesis to ALL forms of dementia and cognitive decline.

The reason this theory is not embraced by mainstream medicine is you don't need millions in research grants for exploring the genetic component and then the respective expensive drugs that will be developed to address this one part of the equation. Simple fixes in nutrition are not money makers.

John

It's hard to say. If the synaptic regrowth can be significant enough, then theoretically it should make the brain grow again.

As for NASA trips to the moon, there is extensive research and knowledge we obtain when in a zero gravity environment as well as close exposure to gamma rays, etc that can only be experienced in space. How the human body responds to such an environment over extended time can only be studied in actual space versus a lab. This is the same logic as to why Honda, BMW, Toyota, M-B, etc compete in F1 racing - which is very expensive. Only thru the rigors of the most demanding driving environment can they test new auto technologies which eventually make it to their passenger cars. Things like Anti-lock brakes, traction control and stability systems, use of lightweight alloys in the engine, suspension, and car body are examples of technologies developed in F1 first and then trickled down into passenger cars.

As to Scott's video on Rich Piana, I replied to him that it is excess testosterone via steroids that alters cholesterol metabolism and leads to greater concentration and oxidation of LDL particles. This leads to plaque build-up in the arteries. It is not caused by cholesterol in and of itself but rather the excess exogegenous testosterone and its affects on the liver which metabolizes and produces cholesterol. Again, having high LDL AND high triglycerides AND high blood sugar will lead to artery blockage. The LDL and cholesterol are not causing it by themselves. It is the oxidation of the LDL particles due to high triglycerides and high blood sugar which is CAUSED by insulin resistence and fatty liver disease. Higher LDL and cholesterol in blood with low triglycerides and low blood glucose does not progress to artery blockage.

John

No worries at all. This forum is for friendly discourse and to exhange ideas and information.

For the 46 year old patient, sometimes it is pure genetic and there is a defect in the heart either with its electrical system, its internal valves, or the heart muscle itself. Sometimes these defects are evident and sometimes not - especially with the electrical system of the heart. Arrhythmias are notoriously difficult to catch consistently and can occur any time and cause death depending on the type and your physical condition. You don't always have to have coronary artery disease to have a mycocardial infarction or sudden cardiac death. Plenty of young athletes in their teens and early twenties suddenly die from CA and the autopsy usually reveals a hidden defect and/or that it was brought on by some exogenous chemical like in energy drinks.

Sometimes there just is no explanation. The best thing to do is eat and live as healthy as possible and hope for the best :-)

John

Well I will give you my honest opinion and recommendations based on what I do as I too am very concerned about my health:

The genetic tests are fine. I did the Fitnessgenes test Scott recommends on his site. The key thing is this is just for information. I do not use it as gospel to guide my nutrition regiment. I am not a believer in supplements. I only take two supplements - 2000IUs for Vitamin D3 and Optimum Nutrition protein powders - both whey and Casein.

The bottom line is you don't need any extra vitamins, minerals, or other supplements if you eat a wholesome, nutrient dense, non-processed diet and drink lots of water. I take Vitamin D3 because I have my levels checked every year and at one point I was very deficient - as most of the world population is. Vitamin D is really a hormone called Calcitriol versus a vitamin. It is so critical to so many bodily processes and has proven protection against cancer, heart disease, dementia, improves testosterone production, and protects from other alilments. You need to be at least in the 50ng range and higher to be healthy. The USDA says 20ng is fine. This is totally incorrect.

For you, I would just take Vitamin D3 at 2000 IUs (and make sure to have it routinely checked each year along with your testosterone levels) and dump all the other stuff. If you eat a lot of vegetables, fish, nuts, and meat, your magnesium levels will be fine. Too much magnesium is equally as dangerous as too little. Reservatrol is in all red and purple fruits and vegetables. You don't need it in supplement form. 95% of supplements are not in an optimal form your body can use anyways as they are synthetic. You end up just creating expensive urine and feces as your body will expell most of them. The one exception is Vitamin D as long as it is D3 and not D2. Also, Salmon and other oily fish are the only true natural sources of Vitamin D3 in food. Unfortunately, the fish oil in pills has lower bioavailability than fish oil in fish. If you can't eat or don't like to eat fish, pills are fine as Omega3s are critical but getting them in pill form is not optimal. You could try adding 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed meal to your nutrition plan as it has the highest level of plant-based ALA which is a pre-cursor to DHA and EPA Omega 3's.

As for HIIT, it should NEVER be done more than 2-3 times per week and NEVER more than 15-20 minutes each session if done correctly. It is extremely taxing on your CNS as well as your metabolism. If you feel the way you do after doing it, you are either doing too much or doing it too long. You should feel spent but well - not like you want to throw up. It could also be your macros are off - especially carbs - and you are experiencing a rapid drop in blood glucose after HIIT which would lead to nausea. HIIT uses more glucose than fat unlike traditional cardio. However, it burns more fat as a percentage of calories relative to steady-state cardio because total calorie expenditure both during and after are much higher than regular cardio. Your body, as you know, has great ways of telling you something is wrong if you know how to listen :-)

BTW - What was the cause of your gastritis? You need to find the root cause as that is not something to take lightly and will directly impact your body's ability to absorb nutrients from your food.

John

The example you gave of what you eat is wholesome and nutritonally dense. However, you have to ditch the egg whites and start eating whole eggs. All the vitamins, micronutrients, and half the protein are in the yolk. Without the yolk, you can not fully absorb the egg whites. We already discussed the bullshit that is the Lipid Hypothesis about saturated fat and cholesterol causing heart disease. Eating 2-3 whole eggs a day will not hurt you as long as you don't have metabolic syndrome which you don't. Wholesome, nutrient dense food just means nothing processed and not GMO.

Vitamin D is from the sunlight not Vitamin C. However due to sunscreen and fears of skin cancer, 90% of the world population is Vitamin D deficient. Taking a D3 supplement eliminates this and does not require sun exposure. For me, I add some ground flax into my oatmeal with the berries and cinammon I add. Flax can be added to many foods and tastes great. You don't need more than 2 tablespoons a day. I get your fear of fish but if you buy frozen wild salmon or tuna and cook it when you are ready to eat it you won't face what you faced. Naturally occurring fish oil is still better than pills however taking something is better than nothing to keep your Omega 3's high.

As for HIIT, it clearly is a case of low blood sugar and your body's inability to convert fat to energy in a timely fashion. I would recommend doing some traditional cardio and limit the amount of HIIT you are doing. HIIT is clearly very stressful for you metabolically. While it is optimal, it is not the be-all-to-end-all for losing body fat. A solid lifting program with a solid nutrition plan is all you really need. I am very lean for my age and do no cardio. My workouts are very intense and short (60 minutes) Push/Pull workouts. I burn an average of 800 calories every workout based on my fitness tracker. That and running a 250-500 calorie deficit is doing it for me and I need no cardio.

I would avoid proton pump inhibitors like Prilosec. They have been linked to heart attacks and they mess with your stomach. Ironically, GERD is the result of too little hydrochloric acid not too much - your stomach doesn't produce enough on a regular basis so it over-compensates when you eat causing heartburn. Prilosec provides temporary relief of the burning but does not address the root cause. You need to pinpoint what food(s) you are eating that are causing issues with your stomach. Again in typical Western medicine form, they address the symptom not the cause.

John

Here are my responses:

1) I totally agree. Have your Vitamin D levels checked before taking any supplements. This is not a standard blood test and you must specifically ask for it every time. It is called the 25OHD test. Remember the goal is 50ng and higher not the 20ng to 50ng bullshit the AMA states.

2) Yes, if you have not done HIIT cardio in a while you will need to allow time for a cardiovascular adaptation again which can take 2-4 weeks.

3) Research GERD and look for sites that explain the true cause. Your stomach has no issue producing acid and acid levels actually decline as you age. GERD drugs are also a multi-billion dollar cash cow like Statins so the info available both from doctors and the TV is to convince you it is caused by TOO much stomach acid. Just like they try to tell you too much testosterone causes prostate cancer yet teenagers who have the highest testosterone levels NEVER get prostate cancer. Sample discussion on GERD:

https://chriskresser.com/what-everybody-ought-to-know-but-doesnt-about-heartburn-gerd/

4) Your cholesterol profile is outstanding. The MOST important numbers are your HDL, your Triglycerides, and the ratio of Triglycerides to HDL. All the other numbers - total cholesterol and LDL - are useless. The reasons are: First it is triglycerides that are the measure of fat in the blood. High triglycerides irritate the Endothelium of your arteries and LOWER HDL levels leading to plaque build-up and heart disease. Also, high triglycerides is indicative of low HDL. Second, LDL particle size is more of a determinant of CVR versus total LDL levels. Normal, non-oxidized LDL is large and fluffy. Oxidized LDL is small and hard. High triglycerides and high blood sugar oxidize LDL and make it small and hard. Since LDL carries cholesterol from the liver to the body, when your artery endothelium gets micro-tears from high blood sugar and high triglycerides the body sends cholesterol via LDL to patch the tears. When it is small and dense, it goes behind the tear versus outside the tear pushing the artery wall inwards and eventually blocking it. Third, your total cholesterol number is your HDL+LDL+ 1/5 your triglyceride number. A person with high HDL , high non-oxidized LDL, and low triglycerides could have a higher total cholesterol number than someone with low HDL, moderately high LDL, and moderate trigylcerides. If the ratio of the latter's HDL to triglycerides is more than 1:1 HDL/Triglycerides and their LDL is oxidized, they have a much HIGHER risk of CVD even if their total cholesterol number is lower than 200. Standard lab procedures do not do LDL particle size tests unless you ask and pay for it as it is not covered by insurance.

5) HDL and LDL are lipo-proteins that carry cholesterol thru the blood plasma as it is insoluble in water/plasma. LDL takes cholesterol from the liver to the body and HDL takes unused or excess cholesterol from the body back to the liver. This is why they have the misnomers of "good cholesterol" and "bad cholesterol" These particles are both good and neither are cholesterol in and of themselves. You need both to function optimally for health. As HDL takes cholesterol out of the blood, it is deemed to be heart protective. However, the reason Statin drugs cause so many side-effects is because they lower LDL which is needed to bring essential cholesterol to the body and organs like the brain and the testes which is why so many people are getting dementia and low testosterone levels now. There has been research to suggest that with proper diet that fatty streaks or pre-artherosclerosis plaque build up can be removed by the body. I believe this theory as once you eliminate the irritation and inflammation of the endothelium in the arteries, no tears will form and existing ones will heal such that the cholesterol "patch" is no longer needed and will be removed by HDL. Dr Dean Ornish has shown this clinically with a plant-based diet.

One note of caution: When you increase your dietary cholesterol and saturated fat levels, you will see a slight rise in LDL and total cholesterol. You will also see an increase in HDL as saturated fat helps build this molecule. The amount of change depends on the individual as everyone's response to dietary cholesterol is different. The bottom line is it will NOT oxidize your LDL, it will NOT raise triglycerides, and your ratio of HDL to triglycerides should stay the same or improve. Also, the more fiber you eat with each meal the less cholesterol can be absorbed from food in the small and large intestines.

John

This looks well thought out and is a good nutrition plan - except for the egg whites which we already discussed :-)

You might want to try carb cycling (I am doing it now with great results). Here, you bump your carbs up on workout days and lower fat and lower carbs and bump up fat on rest days. Protein stays the same. Carbs are critical for building muscle which helps burn fat. By cycling, your body never fears it will not be able to replenish glycogen stores so it has no problem using fat as fuel on days with low carbs.

John

1) The 25 OHD tests exclusively Vitamin D levels in your blood. NG is nanograms and MG is milligrams. A nanogram is one thousand millionth of a gram. A milligram is one thousandth of a gram. Vitamin D is very powerful and like testosterone only needs to be in concentrations of nanograms in the body. Your results will be in nanograms and you want to be at 50ng or more. Toxicity does not occur until 100ng and higher.

2) Don't be angry with yourself. You know what you are taught. Western medicine first and foremost is a business. Business needs profits. Matching drugs to symptoms creates more business. While many people in medicine like yourself have good intentions, the industry you are in is not always operating that way. I believe antibiotics and anti-virals are cases where medicine is trying to do good for the sake of good, for example. As they say "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." This is why I believe more in Functional Medicine and how to use proper nutrition to address and prevent illness not drugs. All the studies and recommendations coming from the government and AMA are banking on the ignorance of the general public to trust all they say as gospel truth and that any alternative way of thinking is incorrect. As they say "Ignorance is bliss". If people took ownership of their health, did their own research, and came to their own conclusions, Big Pharma would be in trouble. They therefore have a vested interest to make sure the public stays in the dark as to the true causes of disease and they condition us to look only for symptom relief not cures. Just watch your average drug ad ---- it always ends with "ask your Doctor" and they always try to distract you with pretty music and pretty pictures while they disclose all the side-effects of the medicine which fortunately they are required to do by law. If they had their way, the side effects disclosures would be limited to the insert in the packaging.

3) High triglycerides (which come from fructose metabolism and alcohol metabolism) combined with high blood glucose (which comes from Type II diabetes) is what causes the damage to the Endothelium in the artery AND oxidizes your LDL cholesterol. The actual plaque is made up of cholesterol, immune cells, and clotting factors. This is why LDL and cholesterol get implicated as causing heart disease and artherosclerosis and sold to the public accordingly. By convincing you this is the case, it is easy to sell Statins and Metaformin and all the other drugs they have to address cholesterol and blood glucose issues and which must be taken for life.

High triglycerides lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NFLD) which is the most prevalent liver ailment in the U.S and occurs in people of all ages who eat the typical American diet loaded with high fructose corn syrup and other useless food additives. If your triglycerides are low and your HDL is high, this is indicative of non-oxidized LDL so no real need for an LDL particle test.

The arterial disease can be reversed or at least stopped by changing your diet, exercising, and losing weight. High HDL (above 50) also can help as this brings excess cholesterol or unused cholesterol back to the liver to be processed. The body has the amazing power to heal itself when given the proper nutrients. This is no different than smokers who smoke for decades, stop, and then their lungs return to almost 100% pre-smoking function and capacity. The same can be said for arterial plaque. This is the one case where you do need to limit dietary cholesterol until the situation has been rectified and the body returns to normal cholesterol function and metabolism. This could take up to a year. The bottom line is the body does not need cholesterol from food as the liver manufactures 75% of what is needed. The cholesterol in most foods is not in a form the body can absorb. Eating lots of fiber also aides in preventing over absorption and helps the body eliminate excess dietary cholesterol in the feces. It is not bad to have fiber limit cholesterol absorption. The human body is all about balance and every process has a feedback loop. The liver senses blood cholesterol levels and if they are too high due to dietary intake it cuts back its own production. Similar to how taking steroids shuts down the testes - the body senses high testosterone levels in the blood and tells the testes to stop making any. The rare exception where this cholesterol feedback mechanism doesn't work is with a genetic trait that runs in entire families called "hypercholesterolemia". In this rare case Statins can help because people with this condition continue to produce cholesterol regardless of blood levels.

4) A Vegan diet is healthy but has some limitations - it is very low in B12, low in complete proteins, and low in Omega 3 fats. However, having a diet that focuses more on fruits and vegetables (Mediterranean Diet, Vegetarian, etc) does improve cardio-vascular health for those with EXISTING conditions. A diet composed of non-processed, wholesome foods from all food groups - vegetables, fruit, meat, dairy, nuts, grains - also maintains health and prevents disease states like heart disease and cancer. The choice of what you want to eat is yours but all this fanatical press about one diet being better than another is rediculous. In my view, any diet that eliminates or restricts a wholesome nutrient or food type is not going to be as beneficial from a micro-nutrient perspective. This is why Vegans need B12 supplementation because it can only be had from animal sources and is critical to health. This is why I don't believe Veganism is sustainable. Regardless, it is a personal choice and I have no issue with how someone chooses to eat as long as they don't try to force it on me.

5) Carb-cycling can be done very easily. I do higher carbs/lower fat on workout days and higher fat/lower carbs on rest days. Protein remains constant. It is the easiest way to do it. There are several interations but I find it is just easier and more straightforward to do it as I have described. It does mean you need to not only track your macros but also weigh your food. I bought a food scale on Amazon and it works great.

John

1) Yes this is the range but I will be very surprised if you are anywhere near 50ng. I was 9ng which is extremely deficient. Most of the world population is deficient in Vitamin D. You will need to supplement with at least 2000IUs a day of D3 if you are not at 50ng. I use Carlson Labs out of IL as they have the best D3 on the market. https://www.carlsonlabs.com

2) My mother has Tachycardia. All it means is that the electrical system in your heart is overly sensitive. She can not have any caffeine or stimulants of any kind. As for heart rate, my heart rate is is in the 135 - 165 range when I work out. I also have bradychardia which is "athletes heart" where your resting heart rate is under 60. My resting heart rate is 42. It's a trip as I always set off the alarms on EKGs as they can't handle heart rates under 50 and I can go as low as 39.

3) For you, both exercise and caffeine will exacerbate the tachycardia. Exercise is fine as it is a good stimulus for the heart but caffeine is not. I would switch from coffee to green tea. Someone with tachycardia has to limit or eliminate their caffeine intake. Green tea is very low in caffeine. Coffee is not. You need to avoid caffeine and stimulates as much as possible with your condition.

4) Tachycardia is not an issue unless your attacks happen more frequently, your heart rate goes much higher, and you have other extraneous issues like high blood pressure, heart/artery disease, or anyeurisms. My mother has had attacks where it goes as high as 200 BPMs. She is on medication as a result and has been for many years.

John

For a slightly dilated RV, it only increases the probability not guarantees any outcome. I would not worry. CHF, heart diseases, and artherosclerosis are caused by poor diet choices and lack of exercise. At the end of the day, doctor's can't say anything with 100% certainty. If they could, they would sign a piece of paper stating so and guaranteeing a specific disease or condition. As we know, this is not reality and the human body's reactions to stress and free radical damage vary with the individual, how and what they eat and drink, and how active they are.

As for your coronary arteries, only a test where they inject contrast dye in thru a leg vein into your heart via catheterization can they get a clear look at the state of your coronary arteries. 2D mapping defines the surface only.

Again, I would not worry. Diet and living a healthy lifestyle prevents 99% of all cardio-vascular issues regardless of your genetics. "Bad" genes need to be switched on and the food we eat and the liquids we drink interact with our genes everyday and can turn on or turn off the expression of genes. Eating the right stuff in the right quantities and exercising reduces the chance of these "bad" genes being switched on exponentially. There are no 100% guarantees in life when it comes to diseases but you can stack the deck so much in your favor that the chances of it happening are very low.

John

No worries. Glad all this has helped. At the end of the day, the biggest cause of heart palpitations is anxiety and stress. Everyone is bombarded daily with all these warnings about heart disease and "do this, don't do that" mantras that it can stress you out. The bottom line is if you eat well consistently and exercise regularly you dramatically increase your odds of living a long healthy life and reduce the odds of chronic/acute disease.

As to your questions:

1) I personally am not a fan of tatoos as they are permanent (or at least very expensive and painful to remove) and the dyes use heavy metals which are poisonous to the human body. While the reaction to these dyes and the potential problems they can cause depend 100% on the individual and their specific biochemistry, it is not a risk I am willing to take. Also, I am in sales and the general perception of tatoos is not positive. Be that as it may, they are a personal decision and I don't judge whether people have ink or not.

2) Whenever you it a plateau, it is usually because your body has adapted to your eating patterns and caloric intake. It is unhealthy and undersireable for the body to be at single digit body fat levels year round (unless you were born naturally lean) as it decreases testosterone levels and wreaks havoc on your endocrine system and metabolism. Both males and females need a certain amount of body fat to operate optimally. The absolute minimal amount of "acceptable" body fat is based on gender (males hold less than females) and genetics (some people are just naturally more lean than others). Also, fat loss takes time - sometimes up to a year based on your nutrition plan, workout regiment, and genetics.

To fix this you may try carb-cycling and or increasing your carbs. Sometimes the deficit is not the problem but how you are getting there is. If the body constantly sees very low carbs and glucose on a regular basis, it thinks it is starving and as a response slows down fat burning and your metabolism as glucose is the preferred fuel. With Keto diets, you have trained the body to use fat as its primary and preferred fuel source so carbs are not needed. Carb-cycling alternates between days with higher carb/lower fat intake (workout days) and days with low carbs and higher fat intake (rest days). Protein stays consistent. If you are already doing this, then you may need to either increase your carbs on high carb days or add in one re-feed per week where you eat 2x to 2.5x your normal carb amounts.

3) If you get your D3 levels checked and they are 50ng or higher, keep taking the 400IUs. If your levels are under 50ng, then you need to start supplementing with at least 1000 - 2000 IUs per day until your levels reach 50ng or higher. At that point, you need to keep taking either 1000 or 2000IUs if that is what got your levels up. Food provides D3 (fish, eggs) but sunlight is the quickest and highest way to produce lots of D3. If you are not out in the sun at least 20 minutes everyday and have the majority of your body exposed, then you will need to supplement your D3. The good news is supplemental D3 works and you don't have to risk increasing skin cancer risk by increasing sun exposure.

John