Hack my Labs?

[jlc]

Are you getting enough calories? I struggled with sleep and other issues when I first started trying different diets to improve my health, even Peat style. In my experience, when I consciously started limiting certain foods (Pufa, Wheat, etc) my calories drastically dropped. There's not many things more stressful to the human body than being in a constant caloric deficit even pufa, wheat, or insert any dieatary evil you want. All my issues resolved when calories increased which for me was somewhere around 2800 cals.

 

[Gabriel]

Both Vitamin D and K2 are important for tooth health. Ensure adequate K2 supply.

Drinking a lot of sugary drinks and foods can cause microbial/pH dysbalance in the mouth. Try to rinse your mouth with water each time after drinking or eating a sugary food.

Insomnia is not necessarily related to diet but can be purely psychological.

 

[hanns]

Ensure adequate K2 supply.

How do you get adequate Vitamin D and K2? You supplement Vitamin D, don't you? How about K2? Nutrition or supplement?

 

[Gabriel]

Best for vitamin d is adequate sun exposure. K2 is high in organ meats and fermented cheese (e.g. swiss hard cheese). For both vitamins good (but pricy) supplements are available but I think staying natural is the best way to go. For good supplements checkout the list on this forum or the toxinless list of Dan which are both very good.

 

[Gabriel]

Addendum (as I can't edit my previous post): There is a very informative table at wikipedia (link).

Highest natural source appears to be Nattō, fermented soybeans using Bacillus subtilis. Maybe that's the reason why soybean consumption in asia is associated with good outcomes??

 

[Jenn]

Getting vitamin D from the sun is dependent on the levels of saturated fat vs pufas in the skin. Not enough saturated fat and it doesn't matter if you are a life guard on the beach out 24/7,you may not be making enough vitamin d.

 

[Gabriel]

Interesting, do you have any articles/studies about that phenomenon?

 

[Jenn]

I am old enough to remember sunTAN lotion. Way back when.... it was usually pure coconut oil or coconut oil based. UV rays (radiation) reacting with saturated fat gives you a tan and makes vitamin D, UV rays reacting with PUFAs gives you skin cancer.

 

[Gabriel]

With age comes wisdom :) Wonder if anybody has some data on it as well (interaction of SFA with Vitamin D vs. PUFA). Only found papers associating PUFA with increased skin cancers, nothing about SFA and vitamin d.

 

[j.]

I haven't ever heard the stuff about not being able to generate vitamin D when you have lots of PUFA.

One way PUFA might reduce vit D generation, indirectly, is by increasing sensitivity to the sun and sunburn, thus forcing you to leave the sun sooner.

 

[Mittir]

I remember reading this kind of theory that people with lots of inflammation ,especially from omega 6 have problem making their own vitamin D even when they were exposed to sunlight. There was not any proof but it was a speculation. Celiac patients are known to have very low vitamin D and some people thinks it is due to inflammation.This recent study in Australia explains in details how external factors changes UV contents of sunlight. This explains results of studies that showed people living in California having low Vitamin D. There is another very old study in Poland that found people living in cities having Ricket due to lower Vitamin D.

Australian Study : http://eprints.qut.edu.au/26381/1/Alex_ ... Thesis.pdf

 

[j.]

Australian Study : http://eprints.qut.edu.au/26381/1/Alex_ ... Thesis.pdf

They make an interesting point about ideal vitamin D levels. I can't copy and paste so I will summarize it.

Some propose that the ideal vitamin D level is at the point where any decrease in vitamin D increases the level of parathyroid hormone. Others propose that the ideal level is that at which increasing vitamin D consumption doesn't increase calcium absorption.

Related thread: Vitamin D and PTH

 

[Mittir]

@j
From RP's view PTH definition of vitamin D level makes more sense. In an interview RP mentioned that vitamin D level should be in the middle of normal range, that would be around 52 ng/ml.