New Book -- Free Preview!

OH MY GOODNESS, EVERYONE!

My new book is almost done! The text is entirely written and it’s all laid out and formatted. Just waiting for my designer to put the final touches on things so we can make sure it's ready to go.

WHAT? I wrote a new book? Yes, sir, I did! And you can download a free sneak peek right here. (Download of the pdf will start immediately when you click that link.) 

As you can see, it’s called The Stall Slayer, and in case the title doesn’t make it abundantly clear, it’s about breaking fat loss stalls on ketogenic/low-carb diets. This is the most common reason people write to me for help – “Why am I not losing weight?” So, rather than write out the same email reply eighty-six thousand times (just kidding...not quite that many people have written to me), I decided to put it all in a book. But if you’ve been reading my blog for a while and you know I tend to over-deliver information (for better or worse), then you probably already figure the book is chock-full of helpful information that goes far beyond roadblocks to fat loss and what to do about them. 

What about fasting? What about exercise? What about thyroid problems? What about alcohol?!All in the book, along with lots of other helpful information and education on SIMPLIFYING things and doing what I've come to call “keto without the crazy.”™ Do you need to count macros? Do you need to measure ketones? Should you use MCT oil? If so, why, and if not, why not? 

I was tempted to post the table of contents so you could see all the juicy details, but...well...I’m kind of paranoid and didn’t want anyone stealing the ideas. I’m hesitant even about posting the cover and title here, but my excitement is outweighing the paranoia. 

The preview pdf here has one error...on page 2, my Twitter handle is @TuitNutrition, not @AmyBerger. (This will be corrected for the final version, but I couldn’t wait to get this posted for you and I knew you wouldn't mind this one little snag for now.) 

I hope to have the book out before the end of the year, but there’s a chance it won’t be available until January. That’s not a bad thing, though: considering the avalanche of people who’ll be looking for fat loss tips after the new year, maybe that’s actually the perfect time. *Shrug.* It’ll be available as a pdf, plus a Kindle version, and there’ll also be a print-on-demand option for people like me who still, in 2019 and beyond, prefer to hold a physical book in our hands – one we can highlight, fold down pages in, and simply have the tactile sensations that come along with reading a hard copy. (But remember, if you buy the pdf, you can always print it out at home or have a store like Staples or Office Max print it for you -- much faster! I assume there are similar printing services at office supply stores outside the US as well. [Pro-tip: If you go this route, consider having the store print it in black & white -- much cheaper that way, and even though I love the images in the book, you won't lose anything critical if you don't see them in full color.] )  

Special thanks to my designer, Sterre de Jager, without whom this would not be happening. (Y’all know I can write, but graphic design is not my forte! Exhibit A, this website!) How did I get connected to Sterre? I’ve actually never met her person. Her father is a fan and follows me on Twitter – all the way from the Netherlands! I tell you, friends, the world is a strange, beautiful place. You can find out more about this amazing serendipity in this video, in which I introduce the book.  

I hope you enjoy the preview, and of course, I’ll be making plenty of buzz when the final version is available for sale, so don't worry about missing it.

THANK YOU, as always, for your support and readership!   

Use this link to download your FREE sneak peek of my soon-to-come book, The Stall Slayer: Get my free preview! (Download of the pdf will start immediately when you click that link.) 

Disclaimer: Amy Berger, MS, CNS, NTP, is not a physician and Tuit Nutrition, LLC, is not a medical practice. The information contained on this site is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition and is not to be used as a substitute for the care and guidance of a physician. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links.

Alzheimer's Talk: Amyloid, ApoE4, Insulin, and More

Hey everyone,

Since it’s going to be another couple of weeks before I’ll have time to write a new in-depth post, I wanted to share another video with you. I know some of you aren’t into videos and much prefer to read, so if that’s you, just hang tight; I’ll start writing “for real” again as soon as I can. For the rest of you, though, here’s the talk I gave about Alzheimer’s disease at Low Carb Houston just two weeks ago. I had 30 minutes to give a talk that I normally give in 45-60 minutes, so I had to cut a few things out. (Also had to speak quickly!) If you want the full version, I covered a little bit more during a talk at KetoCon back in June.  

If you’re interested in Alzheimer’s disease as “type 3 diabetes” or “diabetes of the brain,” I think you’ll find these talks very educational. Even though the Low Carb Houston talk was a little shorter than the one at KetoCon, it was a bit more in-depth on the science specifically surrounding beta-amyloid. I added in some aspects that I don’t normally include, because continuing medical education credits (CMEs) were being offered for the event, so I felt like I should step things up a bit and include some of the technical details I usually leave out for an audience that’s mostly laypeople. (Turns out Houston had a big mix of everyone, so it was fine either way.) If you’re especially interested in amyloid and why I don’t think it’s a cause of Alzheimer’s and, in fact, is more likely a protective thing, you’ll want to watch the Houston talk.

The KetoCon talk includes some details on cholesterol that I skipped over in Houston due to time constraints, and also because Dr. David Diamond, Dr. Nadir Ali, Dr. Maryanne Demasi, and Dave Feldman had all spoken before I did, and they covered cholesterol and statin drugs better than I ever could have. (Good thing, because it helped that I was able to skip the cholesterol details…freed up time for looking more closely at amyloid.)

You can find more of my presentations and articles on Alzheimer’s here. I haven’t had a chance to update it in a while, but I’ll do that soon. (Need to include the Houston talk for sure!)

And don’t forget about my shiny new YouTube channel. I know many of you (me included!) prefer reading to watching videos, but for those who might enjoy watching me remind people to keep low carb and keto simple and sane, please consider checking out the channel. Topics already addressed include an intro to why I started the channel, my personal history & background with low carb, how keto works, and measuring ketones. Upcoming topics include the Keto Police™, food quality, protein (and gluconeogenesis), weight loss stalls, and thyroid function. (I see probably 2 clients a month who have unrecognized/undiagnosed hypothyroidism, and it is a major roadblock to fat loss.) If you have a specific topic you’d like me to address, feel free to suggest it in the comments.

Disclaimer: Amy Berger, MS, CNS, NTP, is not a physician and Tuit Nutrition, LLC, is not a medical practice. The information contained on this site is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition and is not to be used as a substitute for the care and guidance of a physician. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links.

I Started a YouTube Channel!

I started a YouTube channel!

Yes, dear readers, if you enjoy my writing, you can now go a step further and see and hear me. You can get “the real thing,” instead of trying to picture my voice or demeanor in your head. Some of you will be happy about this development; others might be thinking, “Why would I ever watch videos of her?” If you prefer reading blog posts, stay here on the blog. If you like videos too, please subscribe to the channel and keep reading the blog. Definitely don’t abandon the blog! (More on this later.)

Why did I start a channel?

People are hungry for a voice of reason, sanity, and simplicity.

I see people making keto so complicated. I see people convincing folks who are new to this that they need powdered MCT oil for their coffee, or that they have to use exogenous ketones to transition to keto. I see people pricking their fingers and peeing on test strips without the slightest clue of how to interpret what they see. (Okay, I don’t actually witness people peeing on strips, like, in person, but you know what I mean.) I see people plugging in their anthropometric data and getting “macros” spit out to them by calculators that have no idea how much body fat they carry (as opposed to total weight), or whether they have a thyroid problem. I see people following arbitrary macro percentages and loading up their food with extra butter and oil because some app told them to, not because they’re hungry for more fat.  

I see people who are confused and overwhelmed, and they’re not getting the results they want. They’re either so confused that they never even start a low carb way of eating, or they do what they think is the kind of low carb or keto diet they need, but they’ve been given so much inaccurate and potentially harmful information that whatever they were looking to accomplish, they’re actually going backward.

I see people misguidedly emphasizing “keto” instead of low carb. I see people bashing the Atkins diet, as if that isn’t a perfectly effective option for most of us. (And as if “keto” isn’t really just the 46-year-old Atkins induction phase wrapped up in a shiny new bow.)

For a long time, I’ve been trying to figure out who I am in the low carb scene. What do I have to contribute? Do I offer anything unique? Anything valuable? Am I saying anything a zillion other people aren’t already saying, and saying it better than I am?

Well, I think I’ve finally found my niche. After having been at this for a few years now (I published my first blog post way back in 2012), it’s happened organically – my “voice” has emerged over time, as the writing has grown. I want to help people see how simple this is—when we let it be. I’m the one who says, no, you don’t have to eat exclusively grassfed meats and organic vegetables. No, you probably don’t need to measure your ketones (but some people do benefit from it). No, you’re not going to die immediately if you use regular store-bought salad dressing, made with soybean oil. And no, you don’t have to have a PhD in calculus to figure out what and how much to eat.

In a world—including the keto community—that is increasingly polarized with warring factions shouting at each other from their entrenched camps, I’m okay with NOT being a zealot. I understand that there’s more than one way to get healthy, more than one way to lose weight, more than one way to lower blood sugar, and more than one way to be a decent human being who enjoys his or her food. I think I’ve gotten a reputation for being low-carb and keto-oriented, but also open minded and accepting of other ways of doing things that work for people. Maybe it’s only my perception, but I think I’m getting this reputation, and I like it. I think it’s needed. I look forward to new people finding me and my message of sanity and simplicity. I sincerely hope it helps them navigate low carb/keto as calmly and effortlessly as it should be navigated.

Now, about the videos:

As you know quite well if you’ve been around the blog awhile, brevity is not my strong suit. My posts tend to be really long. I plan to keep the videos short: aiming for about 10 minutes, give or take a few minutes. Some might be a little shorter; others will likely be longer (the first two already are, but they are intros to me and the channel, and are not typical of what I plan to be talking about in future videos), but I plan to make them all short enough that anyone who clicks on the links won’t be put off by the length.

I have friends and colleagues who have their own channels and put out lots of video content regarding LCHF/keto. And while I respect them and agree with most of what they say, I’ve found myself taking issue with a few things here and there. And I realized that if I’m not satisfied with how other people are explaining keto, then I need to get in the driver’s seat and do it myself.

So I have.

Please join me and subscribe to the channel, if you are so inclined.

As I’ll explain in my second video (in which I share my own history and how I got into low carb and eventually transitioned to being a nutrition professional), I am nearly helpless with technology. I’m an embarrassment to my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University. It’s one of the top computer engineering schools in the world, but I’m lucky if I can even figure out how to plug in my laptop. It’s a bit of a miracle that I have a blog, a Twitter account, and now, a YouTube channel. See, I majored in creative writing, not computer engineering, or anything else having to do with 1s and 0s. So that’s why the writing here is kinda-sorta okay, but the site itself is a disaster. (Working on getting help with this soon! Planning a major overhaul of the site over the next several months. Yay!)

So bear with me as I learn how to improve the quality of my videos. I’d like to learn how to embed links and add images and text to the background. I know there are programs and apps that make it easy to do this. On the other hand, I’ve gotten feedback from people that simple is best. No need for anything fancy & flashy. If I’m saying something valuable, something people need to hear, then that’s enough. (Still, when I refer to blog posts I’ve written or to relevant scientific papers, I’d like for people to be able to click right on the link. That seems like the least I can do.)

And in case you’re wondering, yes, yes, YES, I will most definitely still be writing blog posts. Writing is, always has been, and likely always will be my first love. I’m adding YouTube to the mix only because it seems like you kind of “have to” be there to make a dent in things these days. Many people who are put off by the length of my posts would be happy to watch a 15-minute video (never mind that it would take them less than that to read even some of my longest posts). And some old-school folks (like me!) prefer reading and would sooner read a long post than watch a short video. So now I can reach more people, both the readers and the viewers, and everyone’s going to get pretty much the same message: keto doesn’t have to be complicated, confusing, or expensive. You can enjoy absolutely delicious food while improving your health and/or losing weight, and your way of eating doesn’t have to become an adventure in theoretical physics. You don’t need an advanced degree to lose weight, lower your blood sugar, get rid of your acid reflux, improve your PCOS, and say goodbye to joint pain, migraines, and gout. You just need to ditch the carbs.

See you on the screen!

P.S. Do you have any preference as to the frequency of new videos? I’m thinking twice a week, maybe every 4 days or so. I haven’t dived into YouTube analytics yet to see if there’s a “best” day to post, when more people are likely to watch. I’ll probably do what I do on the blog, which is follow my heart: write what I want to write, in the way I want to write it, and post it when I want to post it. It’s worked so far. I’m happy with the loyal readership I have here, and I’ve built it honestly and genuinely: no gimmicks, no false promises, no emphasis on whatever’s trendy just for more likes & shares. I plan to do the same with YT. Here’s hoping the people who need it find it.

P.P.S. Sorry for the decrease in blog posting frequency over the past several months. I have 2 or 3 long posts in the works, all in various stages of completion. I’ve had a bunch of speaking engagements the past few months and have 3 more coming up before the end of November. Once those are done, I’ll be able to focus on finishing these posts and hopefully resume putting out sarcastic and snarky educational content here. (And I'll publish shorter posts before then if I can.)

Disclaimer: Amy Berger, MS, CNS, NTP, is not a physician and Tuit Nutrition, LLC, is not a medical practice. The information contained on this site is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition and is not to be used as a substitute for the care and guidance of a physician. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links.

Let's Talk About Thyroid -- My Personal Story (Pt. 3/3...for now)

The first post in this 3-part series explored thyroid function in general, including what the different thyroid-related hormones are, the signs & symptoms of hypo- and hyperthyroidism, and what should be included when you have your thyroid hormones measured. (Reminder: TSH and T4 are not enough!) In part 2, we looked at the potential effects of low carb diets on thyroid function. As promised, here in part 3, we’ll do a deep-dive into my own personal experience with hypothyroidism. 

We’ll get into the gory details soon. But as Sam Beckett said in the final episode of one of the greatest TV shows of all time, Quantum Leap, “Instead of ‘once upon a time,’ let’s start with the happy ending.’” I started thyroid medication in January 2017 and here’s what’s happened since then: I’ve lost 17 pounds. My chronic constipation is gone. My hair no longer falls out in alarming clumps daily. My severe, longstanding, and unremitting depression is 89% gone.

This medication has been nothing short of life-changing for me. I still have a ways to go in several respects, but let’s just say that the reason I’m writing about thyroid at all is because, having gone through this experience, it is now almost like a religious mission to me to provide whatever information and help I can to people who are currently, right this minute, feeling as awful as I felt until recently. And I kind of hate saying that. I am as far from a religious (and low carb) zealot as a person can be. And yet, I now feel a compulsion to educate people so they can help themselves. As passionate as I am about the myriad benefits of low carb, and as much as I sometimes want to grab people at the grocery store and talk some sense into them, that is now far eclipsed by my fervor for proper thyroid assessment and treatment.

There’s so much to cover, I don’t know where to start. If you come to my blog for sensible information on low carb and ketogenic diets and don’t give two hoots (or even one hoot) about my thyroid odyssey, skip the rest of this post and wait until next time, when I’ll be back to posting my usual fare. On the other hand, if you suspect you have a thyroid problem, or you know you do and your medication is not getting you where you want to be, this is for you, my dears. You’re not alone.

Let's Talk About Thyroid -- Low-Carb or Ketogenic Diets and Thyroid Function (Pt. 2/3)

I left off last time saying we would look at the effects of low carb/ketogenic diets on thyroid function. Thyroid function is a hotly debated topic in the low carb world. While most people typically experience fat loss, better energy levels, and improved overall vitality on a low carb diet, in some individuals, measurements of thyroid-related hormones suggest that a low carbohydrate intake might be having adverse effects on the thyroid gland. Is it possible that a way of eating that has such wonderful benefits for so much of the body could be harmful for the thyroid?

The effect of low carb diets on thyroid health is quite the controversial issue. Some people following a low carb or ketogenic way of eating find that their T3 decreases after a while. At first glance, we might take this to mean that low carb causes a slowdown in metabolism, or maybe it has other negative downstream effects. On the other hand, physicians and researchers who’ve spent decades improving the lives of their patients with low carb and ketogenic diets have not reported adverse effects on thyroid function. So what’s the deal?

Let's Talk About Thyroid -- Intro: Thyroid Function & Testing (Pt. 1/3)

Long time readers of this blog know that I have been dealing with a low functioning thyroid for quite some time. Even longer than I, myself, realized, now that I look back and think about how long I’ve been plagued by the signs and symptoms. It’s been about five years that things were noticeable, including two and a half during which they were downright unbearable, but in evaluating back even further, individual symptoms popped up here and there going back longer than that. (Why did I let things go on for five years? Details on that in part 3.)

Being that I have far more personal experience with this than I wish I did, and being that I’ve had several clients with thyroid issues, it’s time for me to write in detail about thyroid function. I’ll start off with a general overview of thyroid function and how to properly assess the various hormone levels. In part 2, we’ll look at the potential effects of low carb or ketogenic diets on thyroid function, and in part 3, I’ll talk specifically about my own history and what I’m doing now. Those of you with no interest in any of this, move along; nothing to see here. (I do feel like I write too much about myself, but I think sharing my personal experience can be informative for those who are dealing with similar problems and who’d like to see the struggles and stumbling blocks I encountered, and how I emerged on the other side feeling much better. So yeah, part 3 will be about me, but my hope is that it will be helpful for others.)

On with the show!

What's in Store: Changes are a-Comin'!

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the delay in new blog posts. (But hopefully the cute picture of the eggs on the previous post makes you smile when you see it.)

There’s a reason I haven’t posted anything new in the last couple of weeks. I’m redoing the site and it’s best if I don’t add anything new until the transition is complete. Sometime in the next week or two, the site will look completely different. Don’t be confused! You’ll be in the right place, even if everything is unfamiliar. It’ll take me a while to settle on colors and fonts that I like, so you might continue to see some changes there until I’m happy with the appearance, but since I don’t want to keep you (or me!) waiting on new posts, I’m going to go for it and sort out the details later. As much as I’d like everything to be pretty and shiny and well-organized right away, if the rest of my life is any indication, making things pretty, shiny, and well-organized is not my forte, so if I’m going to wait for that to happen, you all are going to be waiting a looong time for new posts. And since writing is my forte (or so I’m told)—not to mention I like doing it and sharing with you all the cool things I learn—I might as well just jump into the new setup and take you all with me without waiting for things to look perfect.

Here’s a sneak peek at what’s in store on the site in general, and the blog, specifically. Some of the blog posts will happen sooner rather than later, but they all will happen eventually. (Sadly, it’s looking like another entire year will pass before I crank out another post in the series on the metabolic theory of cancer.)

Coming up:

Obesity is (mostly) a Hormonal Issue: Let's Stop Pretending it's Solely About Calories

When doctors or nutritionists see someone with gigantism or acromegaly, is their first thought, “Clearly, that person just needs to grow less and shrink more”? No. Obviously not. Because it is clear—like, crystal clear, beyond-the-shadow-of-a-doubt, smack-you-upside-the-head clear that these conditions result from hormonal irregularities. You can no more control what results from the hormonal effects of a pituitary tumor hemorrhaging human growth hormone than you can control what results from the hormonal effects of a fourteen year old boy who found a special magazine hidden away in his dad’s nightstand. (Do kids still do that these days, or do they just find it on the interwebz instead?)

People with gigantism or acromegaly aren’t abnormally tall or large because they want to be, or because they somehow willed themselves to be. They are at the mercy of hormones. Like I said, to anyone with half a brain, this is obvious. No one questions this. No one blames these individuals for needing custom-made clothing or other accommodations. No one says, “Well, if they had just not grown so much…if only they hadn’t let themselves get so tall, they wouldn’t be in this situation.” “They'd be fine if they were just less tall and more short.” No one says idiotic things like this because people understand that this is not within someone’s control.

So why, then, when it comes to the outward, rather than upward, expansion of the human body, does it all of a sudden become about willpower, discipline, and “calories?” Why is not more widely recognized that the horizontal growth of the body results from hormonal irregularities just as the vertical expansion does?

Why do so few people get this?

Back to Basics (a.k.a. Things I Didn't Learn in Nutrition School)

Hey all!

Didja catch the news story not long ago about the kid who subsisted solely on graham crackers and chocolate milk, and whose doctors ran a kazillion expensive and fancy-schmancy tests only to finally, finally figure out this poor little guy had scurvy? SCURVY, for crissake. In the United States of America, circa 2016. This didn’t happen on some British Royal Navy ship 200 years ago, where all the sailors started having bleeding gums and a ship’s doctor realized lemon and lime juice seemed to put a quick & easy end to that. It happened here. Now. (All I know is, as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, the second I saw “bleeding gums” in the headline, I said to myself, “scurvy.” I read the whole article only to confirm what I already knew.) I can only imagine if this boy’s diet was so absolutely devoid of vitamin C to the point that he landed in the hospital with freaking scurvy, that there are probably several other essential nutrients he’s deficient in. I would love to write a scathing post about child nutrition someday, but that will have to wait. (Plus, since I don’t actually have any children, I sort of figure I’d be attacked like crazy for daring to even suggest that I have thoughts on the matter, so I’ll hold off for now. [But really, what does that even matter, anyway? What makes someone an “expert?” There are lots of male OB/GYNs. They don’t even have vaginas! But I digress…])

Since we’re on the topic of the most basic, obvious, fundamental aspects of nutrition, let’s talk about something I am an expert on: ME!

Funny story:

I am a proud carrier of O-negative blood, which makes me a “universal donor.” This means that anyone with any other blood type can receive my blood and be good to go. (Unfortunately, the reverse is not true: O-negatives can receive only O- blood. Heaven forbid I were in some sort of accident and needed blood, stat, if I got any kind of A, B, or AB blood, I would quickly face some seriously fatal juju. As an O-, my blood is in serious demand in blood banks, hospitals, and vampire drive-thrus. (Also, mosquitos. Those things love me. My blood must taste something FREAKING DELICIOUS to them, because if I’m outside for more than four seconds without being covered in a protective coating of industrial-strength DEET, I will receive no less than 8 to 10 mosquito bites. But I digress. Again.)

My point: I am a regular blood donor at the American Red Cross. As someone who is not routinely engaged in heroic acts nor generally doing anything positive whatsoever for mankind (unless ranting on my blog counts), donating blood is probably the single most important and satisfying thing I do. (Plus, as they say, “The life you save could be your own.”)

SO: I went to donate a blood several weeks ago and I got rejected because my hemoglobin was too low. (Not hemoglobin A1c, just regular hemoglobin.) This was the second time this has happened this year, and probably the third or fourth time overall. According to the Mayo Clinic, the “normal” range for hemoglobin in adult women is 12.0 to 15.5 g/dL. In order to be eligible to donate blood, the American Red Cross requires that you be at or above 12.5 g/dL. During this attempt to donate, the first reading was 12.0. They ran it a second time, taking the blood from a different finger, because, well, the human body is just funny like that sometimes. The second reading was even lower: 11.5.

Seriously?

Seriously?   

Me?

Low hemoglobin?

Um, it’s not like I’m a vegan or anything. I eat plenty of red meat. I don’t eat a ton of it, but I certainly don’t avoid it. So I was pretty stunned when I left the office with all my blood still inside me, and without my free cookies and juice. (KIDDING, of course. I usually just take water and then leave. No need to load up on liquid glucose when you’re pretty well fat-adapted. [See here.]) As far as I knew, I had no signs or symptoms of low hemoglobin, but considering it had happened a few times before, something had to be up, and I wanted to know what that something was.

"Calories Out" -- A Rant

I don’t like that I post so many rants, but what can I say? The nutrition world gives me lots to rant about. Lots. And if I may say, many of the emails I get from you, my beloved readers, specifically mention how much you enjoy my sass and snark. So, if sass and snark are what ye seek, then sass and snark are what ye shall receive! Especially when it comes to today’s topic.

I’ve written before about the complete and utter crapstorm that is the very concept of “calories.” (That post is from April 2014. I’ve acquired a lot of new readers since then, so if you’ve never read that one, do click on over and give it a whirl. It’s a good one, if I do say so myself.) 

Okay, so, calories.

When it comes to losing weight fat loss, we’ve heard over and over again that it comes down to one thing: calories in, calories out (CICO). (Or is that two things?) Or, rather, it comes down to weight loss reduced adiposity being the result when someone takes in fewer calories than they burn. People are so stubbornly wedded to this idea that “Woo” famously calls them CICOpaths, CICOphants, or CICOtards. (With apologies to the reader who took me to task for my “Don’t Be a Ketard” series title, which has been renamed “Being Fat Adapted Versus ‘In Ketosis.’”)

As you know, I try to be careful about how I phrase things. (Case in point: the crossed out stuff in the preceding paragraph.) Part of this comes from me being an English major and language nerd, and part of it comes from knowing that when we phrase things incorrectly, they may not even be relevant. For example, I try to say “accumulate adipose tissue” more often than I say “gain weight.” Because gaining weight and accumulating adipose are not the same thing. If you gain weight, that might be water, muscle, bone, or, for the truly crunchy/hippie among you, a pounds’ worth of leg and armpit hair. And I try to say lose body fat rather than lose weight, because you can lose water, muscle, bone, etc., and when the vast majority of us talk about “weight loss,” what we really mean—and what we really want—is fat loss.

The reason why I’m such a stickler for saying things a certain way is because saying them more precisely/accurately helps us frame discussions in a certain light. And the reason why I’m explaining to you why I’m such a stickler is because we are going to frame today’s discussion in a certain light. One that I don’t think gets anywhere near enough attention in the nutrition and health world (except from me). As far as I can tell, I am one of the only people writing about this particular thing in this particular way. (If I’m wrong, tell me in the comments and share links to relevant stuff you find.)

What the heck am I talking about? What is the point that’s taking me so much prep work and blathering to get to?

Chronic Constipation (a.k.a. The Poop Post!)

Since I write a lot about nutrition and health, I mostly talk about what we put into our bodies: food, beverages, supplements, etc. Today, let’s change gears a bit and talk about what comes out of our bodies. Or, rather, what doesn’t come out. Yes, that’s right: we’re talkin’ chronic constipation. It’s the poop post!

Well, not really all the poop. Just constipation. It is beyond the scope of one lil’ post to cover all the details of what does or does not happen in the small and large intestines (and the gallbladder!) that could result in diarrhea, gas and bloating, steatorrhea (“fatty stools,” a.k.a. science-speak for oily poop), black or tar-colored stool, or even clay-colored/whitish stool. (Yikes!) If you want to learn more about different kinds of stool and what they mean, start with the Bristol stool chart. You can find modified versions of it in two of my favorite health books: Paul Chek’s How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy, and Diane Sanfilippo’s Practical Paleo, in which she paid homage to Chek’s version, which was the inspiration for her own.

We’re going to leave all the other poop stuff aside and just talk constipation. I have to assume that if you’re reading this, you experience chronic constipation or want to help someone who does. So there’s no point in me going on about diarrhea or “ideal stools” anyway. If you had either of those, you wouldn’t be wasting your time with this blog post. Unless, of course, you just enjoy my writing and would read anything I write (in which case, thanks! [And you obviously have good taste]), OR, you have an odd fascination with difficult defecation, even when you, yourself, don’t experience it (in which case…well, perhaps I’m not the blogger for you; there are lots of other people who specialize in freaky fetishes, hehheh).

Why Am I Not Losing Weight on LCHF? (Pt.3b - Thyroid)

Testing & Interpreting Thyroid Hormone Levels

If I really wanted to do justice to the topic of testing and evaluating lab values for thyroid and associated hormones, I could write approximately 85 posts and probably still not cover all the nuances. So we’re going to do the quick & dirty overview, and then I’ll point you toward some resources for more information.

Remember: the reason we’re taking some time to delve into thyroid function is because we’re exploring reasons for difficult (seemingly impossible) fat loss, even on a good LCHF diet. And thyroid dysfunction is very near the top of that list.  

It is a freaking travesty that so many doctors run one test, and one test only, when a patient requests a thyroid test. This is for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), which, as I mentioned in the previous post, is not a thyroid hormone at all, but rather, a signaling molecule produced by the pituitary gland. The reasoning behind testing TSH is, if TSH is elevated, then something is wrong with the thyroid gland, because if the thyroid gland were responding normally to TSH, then TSH wouldn’t be elevated.

If your TSH is high, a doctor might put you on some sort of thyroid hormone, without ever digging deeper to try and ascertain WHY your TSH is high, and without ever testing other hormones. They will give you medication without actually trying to solve the problem. (Modern medicine is profoundly excellent when it comes to trauma and emergency care. But when it comes to this stuff, it is somewhere in the realm of COMPLETELY USELESS.)

Better than 80/20 - Supplements

Hello again!

Welcome to the first of three posts wherein I detail what I’ve been doing differently that has me feeling better than I have in years. As promised last time, today’s installment: supplements.

I call myself a nutritionist. So why am I starting off talking about pills, and not food? Well, things started getting a little better when I cleaned up my diet, but what has really made a difference—a huge one—is my new supplement regimen. (And yes, the word we want for this is regimen. Not regiment, which is a military unit, and not regime, which is a political entity [usually a dictatorship], as in, “the Pinochet regime.” [Okay, actually, that last one can be used in the same context, but it’s weird. Don’t do it.] Regimen. Regimen. But none of my intelligent readers is saying “regiment” or “regime” in comments and on forums like the great grammatically unwashed, right? Right. The same way you never talk about how “your” not “loosing” weight.)

I am eating a bit differently than I was back when I posted about 80/20 being a step up from where I was, but in my somewhat educated opinion, I think the supplements are having the biggest impact. Well, no, not exactly. I think the changes to my diet and movement are having a big impact on my body, while the supplements are working their magic in my head.

So back to the pills: Sure, real, whole, unprocessed foods are generally the way we want to go, but when you’re already doing pretty well in that area and you feel like things are still a little off, it’s entirely possible that your healthy diet is falling short somewhere. This is especially true in 2014 America, where we’re chronically stressed, chronically worried, chronically sleep-deficient, and chronically joy-deficient. Sometimes our bodies—and even more so, our minds—need a little somethin’-somethin’ that even the best diet either isn’t providing at all, or isn’t providing enough of.  

When this is the case, there is no shame in supplementation. No shame. Better to admit that you need a little help than to resign yourself to feeling less-than-optimal because you think your sauerkraut, bone broth, and cod liver oil “should” be getting you all the way there. News flash: sometimes they don’t.

Being that the way I’ve been feeling for a few weeks now is like night and day from where I was a while back, clearly my body—and mind!—are now getting something—probably multiple somethings—that they were desperate for.