bloodwork recommendation

[jedinmd]

Hey Jordan,

As part of a routine physical I had a standard fasting lipid panel done. The numbers aren't all that bad, but the Dr. was somewhat concerned. I tend not to be too worried, but was just curious to get your take (doc of course recommended lots of whole grains, LSD cardio 4x/week and lowering fat intake, esp. sat. fat.) I requested an NMR profile to get a finer point on these

TC: 266
trig: 117
HDL: 41
VLDL: 23
LDL: 202

We eat paleo"ish"--almost no wheat, few grains, lots of meat, veg and fruit + dairy and some beer. I typically try to hit 300 Pro/250 CHO/100 fat /day, currently running 5/3/1, avg. 1 session of HIIT rowing, sprinting, prowler, etc. per week.

I know this might be a little out of your realm of expertise, but I'd appreciate any thoughts or pointers in the right direction of further reading/experts that you think are worthwhile.

Thanks

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Hit the conditioning hard and fast 2x per week with 15-30s work intervals and 1-2minute rest periods (can be light activity). I'd also lower the carbs down a touch and put the bulk of them in your periworkout window on training days and on non-training days take them down a bit lower and bump the fat up a touch. I think low carb, in general, can do some pretty good things for blood metrics, but to my knowledge there is a lot of poorly understood relationships between triglycerides, lipoprotein levels, etc. I think most would agree that we'd expect your HDL to be touch higher on a Paleo-ish diet and it would be nice to know the size of your LDL, as when taking into consideration your triglyceride/HDL ratio, it may suggest having predominantly small, dense LDL.

You might also get some mileage out of doing r-ALA and L-carnitine tartate with your pre and post workout meals.

[jedinmd]

Thanks a lot. Yeah, that's why I requested the NMR, to get a better idea of particle # and size. So for carbs, you think ~200 on training days, 150 off? If I start losing excessive weight or lacking energy, increase the fat 10-20g/low carb day?

I'll look into the supps.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Not a bad place to start in my opinion.

[ColoWayno]

HMB might also help lower cholesterol if I remember correctly. Maybe that's covered in the sups you mentioned.

[quikky]

What is your typical day like, food-wise? It's hard for me to imagine getting 250g carbs on Paleo, unless you really deliberately go after that number.

[jedinmd]

That's why I said "ish"--not really much gluten or sugar, but some dairy and grains like oatmeal, rice or quinoa on occasion. I have been tracking and going after those #s for the past couple months. Typical day roughly looks like:

Wake
2 Whey+waxy maize or banana

Train

Breakfast
eggs (~6)
bacon
potatoes
full fat greek yogurt
1 qt milk
once in while, a piece of fruit.

2 Whey + BCAA + creatine

Lunch --either salad w/ meat or veg w/ meat

mid afternoon -- 2 whey, creatine, BCAA

Dinner--meat + veg + starch (ususally some type of potato or rice), usually a beer or glass of wine w/ dinner

before bed--2 whey (once a week or so a small bowl of ice cream at night).

Jed