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PeriScope: Weight Loss, Gut Health & Pond Scum…In The New Year

Good morning from Arizona.  I’ve had a few people ask about how gut health relates to a ketogenic diet.  This is a great question and one that I think can be answered best by taking a closer look at my natural koi pond and learning a little about pond scum.

So, sit back and look at the similaries between your gut and how nature balances a pond system: Katch.me

Or you can watch the video below:

The four tenets of health that we touch on above that are essential to understand before you can understand gut health:

  1. The body is a unit and works as such with all parts enhancing the whole
  2. The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health-maintenance
  3. Structure & function are reciprocally interrelated
  4. Rational treatment of the body must be based upon understanding the principles above and assisting or augmenting those principles

Keys to gut health and pond balancing that we touch on:

  1. Remove the toxins from entering the system like:
    • Antibiotic overuse
    • Caffeine
    • Artificial Fat
    • Artificial Sweeteners
  2. Repair the system and it’s ability to balance the system
    • Takes time
    • Provide structure for the bacteria to which it can bind
    • Provide essential vitamins and minerals like KetoEnhance & Omega-3 fatty acids
    • Periodic Fasting
  3. Restore the bacteria or flora of the system
    • Prebiotics (fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, Japanese natto, etc.)
    • Probiotics like Dietary KetoBalance (can be purchased in the office)
  4. Replace the salts and pH balance where necessary
    • Replace electrolytes
    • Limit things that shift the pH balance

Hope this gives you a starting point for your New Year!!

Why Your Oatmeal is Killing Your Libido

Have you noticed that there are a large number of advertisements in the media about checking your testosterone or “Low T” Syndrome?  It seems like this is the new advertising trend on the radio and late night TV.

Suddenly, everyone’s testosterone is low and men are complaining about their libido,  . . . or are they?

Low testosterone
Benefits of Testosterone Optimization. (Image Credit: ArtOfManliness.com)

If you practice medicine long enough, you’ll see a trend that seems to have arisen as our waistlines have expanded.  About half of the men in my office with insulin resistance, pre-diabetes or diabetes have low testosterone levels.  But this shouldn’t be a surprise.  Type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance are all driven by an over production in insulin in response to a carbohydrate load in the meal. Patients with these conditions produce between two to ten times the normal insulin in response to a starchy meal. A number of studies both in animal and human models demonstrate that insulin has a direct correlation on testosterone suppression in the blood. This has been demonstrated in both men and women.  In fact, glucose intake has been shown to suppress testosterone and LH in healthy men by suppressing the gonadal hormone axis and more predominant testosterone suppression is seen in patient with insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome.

Image Credit: http://www.townsendletter.com/July2012/metsyndrome0712.html
Image Credit: www.townsendletter.com/July2012/metsyndrome0712.html

In fact, to put it simply, insulin increases the conversion (aromitization) of testosterone to estrogen in men (it does the opposite in women).  Interestingly, Leptin resistance has a similar effect.  I tend to see the worst lowering of testosterone in men with both insulin and leptin resistance.

How to you improve your testosterone?  Supplemental testosterone has been shown to help, but it comes with some risks, including prostate enlargement and stimulating growth of prostate cancer.  The most natural way to improve your testosterone is to change your diet.

A low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet turns down the insulin production and allows the testosterone to be available for use by the body. A ketogenic diet has the effect of reducing leptin resistance as well through weight loss.  A simple dietary change of this type is frequently seen in my office to increase testosterone by 100-150 points.

KetoOS
KetoOS – Drinkable Exogenous Ketones

What is a ketogenic diet?  It is a diet that restricts carbohydrates to less than 50 grams per day, thereby causing the body to use ketones as the primary fuel source.  So, for breakfast tomorrow morning, hold the oatmeal (1/2 cup of Quaker Instant Oatmeal is 31 grams of carbohydrates) and have the bacon and eggs.  And, rather than have the cheesecake for desert this evening, have an extra slice of steak butter on your rib-eye and hold the potato.