Concerning Blood Work - What Am I Doing Wrong

[nbznj]

your diet is full of junk I'm sorry. The sky high triglycerides show that your liver is completely overwhelmed with very poor nutritional choices.

My number one concern with some of the interpretations of a "Peat" diet here:
- way too many fluids
- far too much calcium
- far too much fructose
- way too many supplements
- a low or non sufficient emphasis on animal food quality

Go back to square 0.

Drop these:
-Thiamine 300mg, every day
-B-complex 100, every day
-Magnesium complex every night
all 3 unneeded with a proper diet
-I eat a good amount of beef every day it seems (try to pair it with gelatin when I can) >> Consume grass fed organic only animal that never ever got in touch with a GMO grain or a CAFO. Unhealthy animal = unhealthy liver and body. Stick to flesh once to twice a week only (liver is better plus that would lead you to discard vitamin A)
-I eat at chipotle a good bit (try to go low pufa as possible) that's junk food, far too many calories per meal
-other random, low pufa meals made at home they still add up. Keep the sat fat / pufa ratio as high as possible at all times
-Peat approved fruit though I do still eat bananas drop the bananas
-Lots of 1% milk and lots of coffee moderate amounts at best
-A good amount of orange juice and coke, though I try to drink that with meals yeah fructose with meats that's even worse. Drop all fructose rich drinks
-Hagen Daz (however you spell that) ice cream 5 nights a week on average junk food


Eat non packaged foods only. Try liver supplements such as milk thistle and/or citrus bergamot. 400 to 800iu per meal that has too many calories.

How is the general state of mind?

 

[Wagner83]

Like the above poster said, Ray would probably suggest you drop all supplements. Usually if you have no idea what you are doing and supplement things (like steroids!) at face value with clear bad results, don't do it.

Haidut Email Advice Depository
Haidut talks about iron here, I'm not sure if your case is in there but he may have other posts on iron, Ray may have some articles too. But who knows right, sometimes everything normalizes off unnecessary supplements.

 

[Jsaute21]

your diet is full of junk I'm sorry. The sky high triglycerides show that your liver is completely overwhelmed with very poor nutritional choices.

My number one concern with some of the interpretations of a "Peat" diet here:
- way too many fluids
- far too much calcium
- far too much fructose
- way too many supplements
- a low or non sufficient emphasis on animal food quality

Go back to square 0.

Drop these:
-Thiamine 300mg, every day
-B-complex 100, every day
-Magnesium complex every night
all 3 unneeded with a proper diet
-I eat a good amount of beef every day it seems (try to pair it with gelatin when I can) >> Consume grass fed organic only animal that never ever got in touch with a GMO grain or a CAFO. Unhealthy animal = unhealthy liver and body. Stick to flesh once to twice a week only (liver is better plus that would lead you to discard vitamin A)
-I eat at chipotle a good bit (try to go low pufa as possible) that's junk food, far too many calories per meal
-other random, low pufa meals made at home they still add up. Keep the sat fat / pufa ratio as high as possible at all times
-Peat approved fruit though I do still eat bananas drop the bananas
-Lots of 1% milk and lots of coffee moderate amounts at best
-A good amount of orange juice and coke, though I try to drink that with meals yeah fructose with meats that's even worse. Drop all fructose rich drinks
-Hagen Daz (however you spell that) ice cream 5 nights a week on average junk food


Eat non packaged foods only. Try liver supplements such as milk thistle and/or citrus bergamot. 400 to 800iu per meal that has too many calories.

How is the general state of mind?

Though there are some good points made here, your post comes off as pretty orthorexic. Orange Juice is not "junk food." I would argue mexican coke isn't either, as long as one eats adequate minerals and is active. It is extremely unhelpful to tell someone they are overloading on junk food without having the courtesy to suggest better options for them. Should he be drinking fluoridated water instead of fresh squeezed OJ? Is Fairlife skim milk "junk food" too? How about if he wants to have sex with his wife? Is that off limits as well? Give me a break.

 

[nbznj]

Though there are some good points made here, your post comes off as pretty orthorexic. Orange Juice is not "junk food." I would argue mexican coke isn't either, as long as one eats adequate minerals and is active. It is extremely unhelpful to tell someone they are overloading on junk food without having the courtesy to suggest better options for them. Should he be drinking fluoridated water instead of fresh squeezed OJ? Is Fairlife skim milk "junk food" too? How about if he wants to have sex with his wife? Is that off limits as well? Give me a break.

I'm sorry you can't read English and feel offended on behalf of other people, let's review what was false in this post. I appreciate that you started polite but you clearly ended up too aggressive.

- I never said orange juice is junk food, I said excessive fructose with a meal is bad (in the context of excess fructose consumption)
- it seems to me that "eat non packaged foods only and liver" is a very reasonable suggestion. Like you know, fruits, veggies, tubers, liver. Same goes with "healthy animals only". Free range eggs from the local farm only. Dairy from animals that roam around freely. Same goes with the basic supplementing recommendations
- he can buy a filter for his water, it costs nothing on Amazon. Drink that water. He can squeeze his oranges or blend all that in a food processer.
- Fairlife is junk I can't really understand anymore, why people think it's okay to drink commercial dairy anyway. There's enough information everywhere about this industry
- what you're saying on sex shows you have...zero clue?? OP suffers from weaker erections, so yeah it's time to go back to the basics as I was saying. Poor vascular function, just like hair fall are signs of underlying vascular problems if he doesn't stop this right now

It sounds like you're very easily triggered by people who preach a better lifestyle than whatever you can achieve. It's not that hard, understand that 99% of the foods in store are trash and especially low quality animal products. Swallow the red pill and fight your unhealthy habits instead of being aggressive for nothing.

I'm not against TRT by the way. It's probably the only way to have consistent hormonal levels 24/7 so unless his e2 is out of range it should be fine. Plus it would allow him to train harder instead of bodyweight only.

 

[stsfut]

Though there are some good points made here, your post comes off as pretty orthorexic. Orange Juice is not "junk food." I would argue mexican coke isn't either, as long as one eats adequate minerals and is active. It is extremely unhelpful to tell someone they are overloading on junk food without having the courtesy to suggest better options for them. Should he be drinking fluoridated water instead of fresh squeezed OJ? Is Fairlife skim milk "junk food" too? How about if he wants to have sex with his wife? Is that off limits as well? Give me a break.

I have to agree. I’m not purposely eating ‘junk food’. I came off of a very strict low carb paleo and felt like ***t. I found Peat’s works and started following his theories. At this point I really have no clue what to est or drink besides liver and gelatin. After reading his/her reply I feel like I either have no idea what Peat recommends or this person is on this forum despite disagreeing with everything that Peat believes.

 

[Fractality]

Does the chocolate you eat contain SOY LECITHIN?

 

[nbznj]

if you guys can't understand that extremes aren't a solution I can't help. Of course you felt like **** on a very strict low carb paleo diet. I bet you were eating so many wrong things in abundance.

Peat is spot on in nearly all articles. Nutritionism among forumers is wrong, as shown in blood test results above. Eat whole foods, mostly plants, only healthy animals not too often, prioritize sat fats, avoid PUFAs. Don't be afraid of lactose and fructose but don't go crazy drinking massive amounts of those. Everything else fixes itself when you eat real foods. Mg/Ca, Na/K, e2, prolactine, LDL/HDL/TG if they aren't all in check then the diet is wrong. I'm sorry if that's not politically correct.

 

[Jsaute21]

I'm sorry you can't read English and feel offended on behalf of other people, let's review what was false in this post. I appreciate that you started polite but you clearly ended up too aggressive.

- I never said orange juice is junk food, I said excessive fructose with a meal is bad (in the context of excess fructose consumption)
- it seems to me that "eat non packaged foods only and liver" is a very reasonable suggestion. Like you know, fruits, veggies, tubers, liver. Same goes with "healthy animals only". Free range eggs from the local farm only. Dairy from animals that roam around freely. Same goes with the basic supplementing recommendations
- he can buy a filter for his water, it costs nothing on Amazon. Drink that water. He can squeeze his oranges or blend all that in a food processer.
- Fairlife is junk I can't really understand anymore, why people think it's okay to drink commercial dairy anyway. There's enough information everywhere about this industry
- what you're saying on sex shows you have...zero clue?? OP suffers from weaker erections, so yeah it's time to go back to the basics as I was saying. Poor vascular function, just like hair fall are signs of underlying vascular problems if he doesn't stop this right now

It sounds like you're very easily triggered by people who preach a better lifestyle than whatever you can achieve. It's not that hard, understand that 99% of the foods in store are trash and especially low quality animal products. Swallow the red pill and fight your unhealthy habits instead of being aggressive for nothing.

I'm not against TRT by the way. It's probably the only way to have consistent hormonal levels 24/7 so unless his e2 is out of range it should be fine. Plus it would allow him to train harder instead of bodyweight only.

I am actually not easily triggered by healthy people, since i am one. I am 29 years old, 8-9% BF and a former professional lacrosse player. What i am triggered by are healthy folks that rudely dismiss someone's lifestyle on a forum that is designed to help people. The OP has politely and intelligently voiced his situation. Being told he eats nothing but junk food is probably just going to make him feel like ***t about himself right? 90% of Americans eat worse than the OP, and 50-70% of those people probably feel better than him, so lazily associating all of his issues to his diet is ignorant. I am not contending with your knowledge base for the most part, I just found your initial post rude and unhelpful. I come across tone like this often when i come on here lately, and i find it frustrating to see. Sometimes tone can be misread, so i apologize for my sarcasm. I just found your post to be orthorexic and negative in nature. I also think you fail to acknowledge individuality in your post. I don't find commercial dairy to be extremely unhealthy. I run into no problems with any form of milk, and feel much better since incorporating it back into my diet. I drank almond milk a couple of years ago when i myself was an orthorexic, and felt like crap on it. I don't touch carageenan or crap fillers. I could probably eat a bit healthier, but i am already probably far too invested in my food choices considering my busy work and social life. Balance is important my friend. Once in a while i even have a slice or two of pizza. Crazy I know.

 

[stsfut]

Does the chocolate you eat contain SOY LECITHIN?

It does, unfortunately. I eat such a small amount each day that I just kind of looked past it. I used to get raw cocoa powder and use that, I need to order some more.

 

[stsfut]

Imgur[/URL] Estradiol is kept in check pretty well but prolactin has been a lingering issue.

 

[stsfut]

Well I screwed up that last comment. Anyways the link to all my labs including test/estradiol is in there.

 

[nbznj]

@Jsaute21

then great that we're both 29 yo and 8-9% bodyfat (actually 9.2 according to my last DXA) and giving advices to people with issues. I'm sorry but anyone with 330 triglycerides is far above what you usually see in the standard American people. Like, twice as high. So that's totally a matter of concern and a smoke signal from the liver which needs to be addressed right now.

@OP

Ok thank you for your labs. Am I reading right that your TSH is 0.007??? What the heck? If you can confirm this then you'd need to see an endo.
Prolactin would be better in the single digits so maybe go for vitamin E and/or P6P.
Your T, e2, SHBG numbers are great though.



I also received a PM asking me to give a detailed list of my diet so here we go - this is for 4 days since then it's not fresh anymore. 12,000 kcals total, low fat 90% saturated, moderate/high carbs low starch and moderate/high proteins to go with the weightlifting activity.

- raw kombucha, 2 bottles
- 4 fruits, 1 a day
- 4 brazil nuts, 1 a day
- 2 bags of frozen "smoothie mix" basically those frozen berries and greens. I blend that with oats, nutritional yeast, chia seeds and shredded unsweetened coconut for a thick smoothie. Use a water filterer, about a quart a day. It's a much thicker smoothie than what's found in store
- 6 eggs, 10oz of mixed leafy greens, 90% chocolate
- 4x skim goat milk, drunk during my workout with whey isolate (cold processed unflavored etc.) and MCT oil. Second quart of fluid per day.
- grass fed organic beef liver and wild caught salmon for my "meat" day, every 4th day then
- beets, yams, carrots

- nothing else.... supplements: plant based liver support, GMO-oil free vitamin D and E

If I'm hungry which seldom happens on this diet, then I'll cheat on the "meat" day with a double dose of Vitamin E on that day. Then I let my body "recover" for 3 days going vegetarian, then another meat+cheat day and so on.


Going full on Peat with high fluid intake and high fructose got my trigs >100 and TSH >2 for the first time in my life. So even if his ideas are sensational, the idea of a "Peatarian diet" needs to be tailored according to blood tests.

You see trigs >300 you act right away. His TG/HDL ratio is 8 for christ's sake.

 

[stsfut]

@Jsaute21

then great that we're both 29 yo and 8-9% bodyfat (actually 9.2 according to my last DXA) and giving advices to people with issues. I'm sorry but anyone with 330 triglycerides is far above what you usually see in the standard American people. Like, twice as high. So that's totally a matter of concern and a smoke signal from the liver which needs to be addressed right now.

@OP

Ok thank you for your labs. Am I reading right that your TSH is 0.007??? What the heck? If you can confirm this then you'd need to see an endo.
Prolactin would be better in the single digits so maybe go for vitamin E and/or P6P.
Your T, e2, SHBG numbers are great though.



I also received a PM asking me to give a detailed list of my diet so here we go - this is for 4 days since then it's not fresh anymore. 12,000 kcals total, low fat 90% saturated, moderate/high carbs low starch and moderate/high proteins to go with the weightlifting activity.

- raw kombucha, 2 bottles
- 4 fruits, 1 a day
- 4 brazil nuts, 1 a day
- 2 bags of frozen "smoothie mix" basically those frozen berries and greens. I blend that with oats, nutritional yeast, chia seeds and shredded unsweetened coconut for a thick smoothie. Use a water filterer, about a quart a day. It's a much thicker smoothie than what's found in store
- 6 eggs, 10oz of mixed leafy greens, 90% chocolate
- 4x skim goat milk, drunk during my workout with whey isolate (cold processed unflavored etc.) and MCT oil. Second quart of fluid per day.
- grass fed organic beef liver and wild caught salmon for my "meat" day, every 4th day then
- beets, yams, carrots

- nothing else.... supplements: plant based liver support, GMO-oil free vitamin D and E

If I'm hungry which seldom happens on this diet, then I'll cheat on the "meat" day with a double dose of Vitamin E on that day. Then I let my body "recover" for 3 days going vegetarian, then another meat+cheat day and so on.


Going full on Peat with high fluid intake and high fructose got my trigs >100 and TSH >2 for the first time in my life. So even if his ideas are sensational, the idea of a "Peatarian diet" needs to be tailored according to blood tests.

You see trigs >300 you act right away. His TG/HDL ratio is 8 for christ's sake.

Thanks for the reply and detailed diet plan. I agree that trigs are insanely high. They were only 100 back in November. I definitely went crazy with the fructose but I’m going to cut back on that now. Yeah TSH is completely suppressed, I have already cut back on my thyroid meds goong forward. Just by cutting out the coke, ice cream and greatly reducing the OJ I expect trigs to come back down. I also realize now I need to cut way back on the meat.

 

[stevrd]

@Jsaute21

Going full on Peat with high fluid intake and high fructose got my trigs >100 and TSH >2 for the first time in my life. So even if his ideas are sensational, the idea of a "Peatarian diet" needs to be tailored according to blood tests.

You see trigs >300 you act right away. His TG/HDL ratio is 8 for christ's sake.

Good points. I have found that high fluid intake increased my TSH as well and cutting back on fluids/eating more solid foods have been probably the most effective thing I have done with my health. I get it tested several times per year. I notice that it usually goes up in the winter and falls in the summer time, which is normal. But when I increased fluid consumption, it went up to 3, which is the highest I've ever had. It subsequently came down when I stopped drinking all the fluid and now I only drink when I'm thirsty.

Why people can't see that forcefully drinking lots of fluid is a bad thing is beyond me. It's a diet that cannot be maintained. Matt Stone was onto something years ago when he promoted RBTI.

To the OP, what is your waist circumference? You mentioned that you gained 10lbs in the past couple of months. I would wager that that would be a significant reason for increase TG. I see it all the time in the patients I work with. Now if you are on TRT it may be that you gained some muscle. But still, at 6" and 200#, your BMI is 27, which is overweight. While BMI does not mean everything, unless you are a solid 200# and your waist circumference is not greater than 50% of your height, I would suggest losing weight. I find it more effective to strive for proportional goals rather than weight/BMI goals. This is why I consider waist circumference to height ratio a more important index to health. Ideally, you're waist circumference should be between 45-50% of your height. Outside of this range people tend to see metabolic problems.

Now even on a shitty diet if you lose some weight your cholesterol and triglycerides can improve. This has been shown in studies/experiments comparing "healthy" food with "junk" food. When controlled for calories, weight loss itself seems to be the beneficial aspect, not the type of diet per se. But in the long-run the composition of your diet does matter. In the long run, PUFA will cause destruction and has been shown to induce cancer at higher rates than other diets. And nbznj is right that you can get all the nutrients you need from diet without supplements. I think people run into problems when they go into the rabbit hole of orthomolecular medicine. For one thing, the observational data we have from healthy populations do not involve supplements. The traditional okinawans, arguably the healthiest population ever studied, had good testosterone and good sex drive/function oftentimes into their 90s.

Focusing on the minutia of nutrients is not what got them there, but a whole foods, plant-based diet with a full spectrum of nutrients. They also unknowingly focused on good lifestyle factors like light gardening in the sun (light physical/cardioprotective activity), a low-stress lifestyle, and adequate sleep.

What can be frustrating is how long it can take to recover from a lifetime of poor nutrition and lifestyle. I'm not going to lie, it can take years. I had hypogonadism years ago, and it took several years before I got to a point where I am now- waking up with morning erections every day.

 

[Wagner83]

12,000 kcals total, low fat 90% saturated, moderate/high carbs low starch and moderate/high proteins to go with the weightlifting activity.

- raw kombucha, 2 bottles
- 4 fruits, 1 a day
- 4 brazil nuts, 1 a day
- 2 bags of frozen "smoothie mix" basically those frozen berries and greens. I blend that with oats, nutritional yeast, chia seeds and shredded unsweetened coconut for a thick smoothie. Use a water filterer, about a quart a day. It's a much thicker smoothie than what's found in store
- 6 eggs, 10oz of mixed leafy greens, 90% chocolate
- 4x skim goat milk, drunk during my workout with whey isolate (cold processed unflavored etc.) and MCT oil. Second quart of fluid per day.
- grass fed organic beef liver and wild caught salmon for my "meat" day, every 4th day then
- beets, yams, carrots

- nothing else.... supplements: plant based liver support, GMO-oil free vitamin D and E

How do you eat 3000kcal a day on low-fat with such a diet? Do you eat loads of oats and yams? Is there a type oats you tolerate better?

What can be frustrating is how long it can take to recover from a lifetime of poor nutrition and lifestyle. I'm not going to lie, it can take years. I had hypogonadism years ago, and it took several years before I got to a point where I am now- waking up with morning erections every day.

Did you stick to the same diet over this timeframe? This is something I have been wondering about, if a decent diet for someone in poor health will transform into greater and more consistent effects overtime. I find the ups and downs frustrating but perhaps they are just part of the recovery process. Either this or the diet is not optimal, I think Ray said people should see good improvements pretty quickly on an easily digestible and nutritious diet.

For one thing, the observational data we have from healthy populations do not involve supplements. The traditional okinawans, arguably the healthiest population ever studied, had good testosterone and good sex drive/function oftentimes into their 90s. Focusing on the minutia of nutrients is not what got them there, but a whole foods, plant-based diet with a full spectrum of nutrients. They also unknowingly focused on good lifestyle factors like light gardening in the sun (light physical/cardioprotective activity), a low-stress lifestyle, and adequate sleep.

Who has access to such a lifestyle, landscape and quality air?

 

[stevrd]

Did you stick to the same diet over this timeframe? This is something I have been wondering about, if a decent diet for someone in poor health will transform into greater and more consistent effects overtime. I find the ups and downs frustrating but perhaps they are just part of the recovery process. Either this or the diet is not optimal, I think Ray said people should see good improvements pretty quickly on an easily digestible and nutritious diet.


Who has access to such a lifestyle, landscape and quality air?

It probably in total took me 4 years to recover from hypogonadism (verified by blood tests along with improved physical signs). Two of those years were trying other diets like BS paleo/keto protocols, which only made things worse. The other two years were following Peat. But I bought into the idea that I needed thyroid supplements to increase my temperatures even though my TSH and free T4/Free T3 were completely normal. I bought into the stop the thyroid madness crowd as well. Then I tried high liquid Peat for a while based off of people asking him what an ideal diet would be and he claimed 2 quart of milk/1 quart of OJ. People can say that other's take him out of context or whatever, which is partly true, but when you have a good percentage of people who follow Peat's work drinking copious amounts of fluids, you have to wonder if it is all just a misinterpretation or if some of what Peat "recommends" is really not optimal for some individuals.

Tailoring my diet to whole nutritious foods and fluids only when thirsty was the best thing I've ever done. Also focusing on sleep and sunlight. My point in writing about that it can take so long to recover has to do with the fact that we have a multitude of factors keeping us down and troubleshooting all of these/finding what works for us can take a long time. Often times it is not just one factor, but many factors that cause stress and poor nutritional status. Some examples: PUFA stores that can take years to deplete, our lifestyles are poor (too much working under fluorescent lighting and not enough sunlight), poor air quality, constantly conflicting evidence in nutrition that may make us sway wildly from one strategy to the other, etc... Oftentimes diet is not the #1 factor bringing somebody's testosterone levels down. I know a guy who had low T and tried everything, every kind of diet, etc. Simply quitting his corporate office job to work as a laborer and be outside all day tripled his testosterone levels, and he confirmed that his libido/function improved as well.

Every one of us has responded to the OP's thread with some good suggestions, but that doesn't mean that those suggestions will work for him. It is going to be up to his own experimentation and patience finding what works for him. And that can take time. This is why I think he has a lot of thinking to do for whether or not he should come off of TRT. Regardless of whether his diet is optimal or not, there are a number of reasons why it may take a long time for his levels to come back to normal.

 

[stevrd]

Who has access to such a lifestyle, landscape and quality air?

Manual laborers, fisherman, farmers, etc... It may not be the same environment/climate, but you can get pretty darn close. And we have the access to any food we can ever imagine in first world countries. Many of us cannot quit our office/corporate jobs (me being one of them), but that doesn't mean we can't do everything we can to improve our health, even if it won't be optimal. I know my health will never be optimal since I don't live in a bubble or fantasy land, but I'm OK with having great health, I'll take that.

 

[stsfut]

It probably in total took me 4 years to recover from hypogonadism (verified by blood tests along with improved physical signs). Two of those years were trying other diets like BS paleo/keto protocols, which only made things worse. The other two years were following Peat. But I bought into the idea that I needed thyroid supplements to increase my temperatures even though my TSH and free T4/Free T3 were completely normal. I bought into the stop the thyroid madness crowd as well. Then I tried high liquid Peat for a while based off of people asking him what an ideal diet would be and he claimed 2 quart of milk/1 quart of OJ. People can say that other's take him out of context or whatever, which is partly true, but when you have a good percentage of people who follow Peat's work drinking copious amounts of fluids, you have to wonder if it is all just a misinterpretation or if some of what Peat "recommends" is really not optimal for some individuals.

Tailoring my diet to whole nutritious foods and fluids only when thirsty was the best thing I've ever done. Also focusing on sleep and sunlight. My point in writing about that it can take so long to recover has to do with the fact that we have a multitude of factors keeping us down and troubleshooting all of these/finding what works for us can take a long time. Often times it is not just one factor, but many factors that cause stress and poor nutritional status. Some examples: PUFA stores that can take years to deplete, our lifestyles are poor (too much working under fluorescent lighting and not enough sunlight), poor air quality, constantly conflicting evidence in nutrition that may make us sway wildly from one strategy to the other, etc... Oftentimes diet is not the #1 factor bringing somebody's testosterone levels down. I know a guy who had low T and tried everything, every kind of diet, etc. Simply quitting his corporate office job to work as a laborer and be outside all day tripled his testosterone levels, and he confirmed that his libido/function improved as well.

Every one of us has responded to the OP's thread with some good suggestions, but that doesn't mean that those suggestions will work for him. It is going to be up to his own experimentation and patience finding what works for him. And that can take time. This is why I think he has a lot of thinking to do for whether or not he should come off of TRT. Regardless of whether his diet is optimal or not, there are a number of reasons why it may take a long time for his levels to come back to normal.

Thanks for the comments man. I am guilty of having an office job. Been in an office job since age 18 now 26. I have often times wondered if that was a major player in my health issues. So thyroid made you feel worse? I am currently supplementing it and I feel like it does help matters. Also, regarding TRT, I have considered coming off of it but am worried about a long transition period waiting for it to come back (if it ever will). Are there really any downfalls with using TRT if the cost and the annoyance of having to inject yourself are non-issues? I keep a close eye on all my bloodwork to make sure things like estrogen don't creep up and that my blood doesn't get to thick. I think if I could lose 15-20 pounds and get my diet/triglycerides back to good status I will feel 100%. Need to cut down on the fructose/meat big time I know.

 

[stevrd]

Thanks for the comments man. I am guilty of having an office job. Been in an office job since age 18 now 26. I have often times wondered if that was a major player in my health issues. So thyroid made you feel worse? I am currently supplementing it and I feel like it does help matters. Also, regarding TRT, I have considered coming off of it but am worried about a long transition period waiting for it to come back (if it ever will). Are there really any downfalls with using TRT if the cost and the annoyance of having to inject yourself are non-issues? I keep a close eye on all my bloodwork to make sure things like estrogen don't creep up and that my blood doesn't get to thick. I think if I could lose 15-20 pounds and get my diet/triglycerides back to good status I will feel 100%. Need to cut down on the fructose/meat big time I know.

What is your waist measurement? That has a lot to do with triglyceride levels. Losing weight may help you a great deal. I am going to let you in on something that I learned through my journey of health. That is, the thyroid is not the only thing that governs temperature and sex hormones.

You see many men erroneously focus on testosterone and other steroid hormones and neglect the thyroid, metabolic rate, etc. The thyroid is responsible for activating the LDL "receptor" so that cells can take up cholesterol. Studies have proven in animals and humans that thyroid supplementation improves cholesterol uptake into the leydig cells. This is why somebody can try all the test boosters they want and try to increase their testosterone through many different means without any success. Without increasing the thyroid production, you are short-changing your ability to produce steroid hormones. But the story doesn't just end there.

Carbohydrates and insulin secretion is needed in the process as well, since insulin is a mediator for thyroid hormone production and cell uptake. This is one reason why many people who draw labs on low carbohydrate diets often have low testosterone and low Free T4/Free T3. In vitro experiments in the liver shows that there is an activation energy needed for the conversion of T4 to T3, and this is impaired by having inadequate liver glycogen, oftentimes from low carbohydrate intake. So carbohydrate is the substrate needed for the energy of thyroid hormone conversion in the liver. And T4 to T3 conversion in the liver, along with adequate vitamin A from a good diet, and cholesterol (from the liver's production along with dietary factors to increase it) will produce pregnenolone, and then you can have the hormones cascade down to progesterone, dhea, testosterone, and if the diet is good and you are taking measures to keep estrogen in check (eating easily digestible foods, ensuring that your gut health is good, and that you are getting enough protein for liver health), then you should see a noticeable increase in testosterone and subsequently have the physiological effects from that.

So yes, ensuring that liver glycogen levels are high is a good way to ensure adequate production of the active thyroid hormone, T3, and subsequently adequate pregnenolone and other hormones downstream.

Inadequate insulin is thus a signal to the body of short-term energy depletion. But it goes even further... Leptin, the long-term energy availability hormone.

In studies of bodybuilders who were cutting to sub 10% body fat levels, at a certain point (it is highly individual) like 7% body fat or lower, the body senses the effects of starvation and decreases it's production of Leptin. In case you are unaware, leptin is a hormone found in fat cells and it signals to the hypothalamus when energy availability is low or high. Now Leptin is a funny hormone. It is similar to insulin in the sense that, too low and it is a sign of poor calorie availability (like in starvation) and too high signals that there is too much energy being consumed (the theory of leptin resistance may or may not be true, research is inconclusive). It seems pretty clear that leptin levels (like insulin) should be balanced in an ideal range, and what we see is that at about 8-20% body fat (for males) leptin levels are pretty well regulated and signal that you are getting enough calories (but not too much) and that your body is ready for fertility. Leptin communicates to the HPT axis to stimulate LH/FSH.

If you have an excessive amount of adiposity, weight loss should be your first priority. As you may know, estradiol levels are typically higher in overweight or obese individuals due to higher aromatization potential. It also seems that initially losing weight when very overweight or obese, does not seem to significantly lower metabolic rate, but does improve testosterone levels and the T/E ratio (which is arguably more important than the total amount of T). It is only when you start severely restricting calories to the point where you're losing weight too fast or you body fat percentage becomes too low, that your leptin levels will be low enough to limit hypothalmic production of hormones. But by losing weight slowly (about 1-2# per week at the most) you can ensure that your metabolism is less affected.

So it should be your overall goal to increase the metabolic rate, since the metabolic rate is intricately involved in the production of steroid hormones. But as you can see, there are many factors involved in the metabolic rate, not just thyroid hormone. Getting more sleep, more sun, and being in a warm environment helps with preserving metabolism while you lose weight because these factors lower the need for calories to prop up the metabolic rate.

But I would say slowly losing weight while eating an overall healthy diet that is primarily plant-based with good vegetarian sources of protein like cheese and some eggs along with occasional liver and meat should ensure that you have all the nutrients needed for steroid production and minimal amounts of things that block it (like excess tryptophan in relation to large aromatic amino acids, etc).

 

[Jsaute21]

What is your waist measurement? That has a lot to do with triglyceride levels. Losing weight may help you a great deal. I am going to let you in on something that I learned through my journey of health. That is, the thyroid is not the only thing that governs temperature and sex hormones.

You see many men erroneously focus on testosterone and other steroid hormones and neglect the thyroid, metabolic rate, etc. The thyroid is responsible for activating the LDL "receptor" so that cells can take up cholesterol. Studies have proven in animals and humans that thyroid supplementation improves cholesterol uptake into the leydig cells. This is why somebody can try all the test boosters they want and try to increase their testosterone through many different means without any success. Without increasing the thyroid production, you are short-changing your ability to produce steroid hormones. But the story doesn't just end there.

Carbohydrates and insulin secretion is needed in the process as well, since insulin is a mediator for thyroid hormone production and cell uptake. This is one reason why many people who draw labs on low carbohydrate diets often have low testosterone and low Free T4/Free T3. In vitro experiments in the liver shows that there is an activation energy needed for the conversion of T4 to T3, and this is impaired by having inadequate liver glycogen, oftentimes from low carbohydrate intake. So carbohydrate is the substrate needed for the energy of thyroid hormone conversion in the liver. And T4 to T3 conversion in the liver, along with adequate vitamin A from a good diet, and cholesterol (from the liver's production along with dietary factors to increase it) will produce pregnenolone, and then you can have the hormones cascade down to progesterone, dhea, testosterone, and if the diet is good and you are taking measures to keep estrogen in check (eating easily digestible foods, ensuring that your gut health is good, and that you are getting enough protein for liver health), then you should see a noticeable increase in testosterone and subsequently have the physiological effects from that.

So yes, ensuring that liver glycogen levels are high is a good way to ensure adequate production of the active thyroid hormone, T3, and subsequently adequate pregnenolone and other hormones downstream.

Inadequate insulin is thus a signal to the body of short-term energy depletion. But it goes even further... Leptin, the long-term energy availability hormone.

In studies of bodybuilders who were cutting to sub 10% body fat levels, at a certain point (it is highly individual) like 7% body fat or lower, the body senses the effects of starvation and decreases it's production of Leptin. In case you are unaware, leptin is a hormone found in fat cells and it signals to the hypothalamus when energy availability is low or high. Now Leptin is a funny hormone. It is similar to insulin in the sense that, too low and it is a sign of poor calorie availability (like in starvation) and too high signals that there is too much energy being consumed (the theory of leptin resistance may or may not be true, research is inconclusive). It seems pretty clear that leptin levels (like insulin) should be balanced in an ideal range, and what we see is that at about 8-20% body fat (for males) leptin levels are pretty well regulated and signal that you are getting enough calories (but not too much) and that your body is ready for fertility. Leptin communicates to the HPT axis to stimulate LH/FSH.

If you have an excessive amount of adiposity, weight loss should be your first priority. As you may know, estradiol levels are typically higher in overweight or obese individuals due to higher aromatization potential. It also seems that initially losing weight when very overweight or obese, does not seem to significantly lower metabolic rate, but does improve testosterone levels and the T/E ratio (which is arguably more important than the total amount of T). It is only when you start severely restricting calories to the point where you're losing weight too fast or you body fat percentage becomes too low, that your leptin levels will be low enough to limit hypothalmic production of hormones. But by losing weight slowly (about 1-2# per week at the most) you can ensure that your metabolism is less affected.

So it should be your overall goal to increase the metabolic rate, since the metabolic rate is intricately involved in the production of steroid hormones. But as you can see, there are many factors involved in the metabolic rate, not just thyroid hormone. Getting more sleep, more sun, and being in a warm environment helps with preserving metabolism while you lose weight because these factors lower the need for calories to prop up the metabolic rate.

But I would say slowly losing weight while eating an overall healthy diet that is primarily plant-based with good vegetarian sources of protein like cheese and some eggs along with occasional liver and meat should ensure that you have all the nutrients needed for steroid production and minimal amounts of things that block it (like excess tryptophan in relation to large aromatic amino acids, etc).

Great post.