Saturday, October 5, 2013

Kurt Harris was right, too

A discussion i had this morning with Sidereal inspired me to dig out an old Masterjohn post, which led me to a study about the effect of dietary polyunsaturates on thyroid function (PubMed, BTW, is closed down right now thanks to the Republican Party), which inspired me to re-read Archivore's "no such thing as a macronutrient -- fats" post.

Ya know, just reading this article gives me a good opinion of Harris' insight.  It's only when i read his comments on other blogs that he irritates the hell out of me.

Speaking of the components of our diets in terms of macronutrients IS bullshit.  To put corn oil and red palm oil in the same category is just plain ignorant.  To equate tryptophan, tyrosine, taurine and glycine, ditto.  And to compare whole-wheat flour and swiss chard (silver-beet to my international friends) is madness.

***

The evidence, then, that i hoped to show Sidereal is eluding me right now; i can only pass on the bare "fact" and save the discussion for a later day.  :-(  A rodent study looked specifically at how different dietary fats affected thyroid use in tissues.  The "receptivity" of the cells was best in the presence of saturated fats, lower with monounsaturates, and SIGNIFICANTLY poorer when those hearthealthypolyunsaturates were fed.  

It hardly matters how much T3 is in your blood, if it can't get into the tissues to work!  

And again -- your starting point determines how much improvement you'll see when you make a dietary change.  I suspect this is why some people feel they get a metabolic boost from coconut oil while i never observed it particularly.  If you go from a high-omega6 "SAD" or Atkins diet straight to CO, yes -- i imagine you'll get a huge boost.  I came to LCHF via Atkins, but have never been a fan of vegetable oils.  I started using butter, olive oil and bacon drippings when i abandoned low-fat, and so the metabolic advantage i experienced with the lowered sugar and starch, and the raised saturated and monounsaturated fats came all at once.

I feel that my thyroid production, conversion and usage are optimal when i'm getting LOTS of grassfed beef and lamb fat.  I feel GOOD when i fast (ie, my body is burning my own stored saturated fat), but the reduced food intake causes my body to downshift my thyroid.  

I think this is where a lot of people get confused!  A LCHF diet reduces the appetite, because one gains access to one's own fat for fuel, BUT the body senses a reduction in intake whether it be via leptin, FIAF or something else, i don't know.  The "food scarcity" signal lowers thyroid production.

It is NOT that "low-carb reduces thyroid function" -- I CAN'T SAY THIS ENOUGH!!!  It's that an "underfed" body lowers thyroid production.  A carb-fed body requires more thyroid hormone to burn that potentially-harmful fuel flooding the bloodstream, so a euthyroid individual ramps up production.  An individual with a "weak" thyroid may not be able to meet the challenge.  THIS is why a low-carb-high-SATURATED-fat diet is so important to my well-being.

20 comments:

  1. That is one of the differences between a "weight maintenance" condition and a "weight loss condition" also. On a LCHF diet, the weight loss condition does not leave one as energy depleted as a SAD diet, but some of us still notice a big energy difference between maintenance and weight loss.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unfortunately, I grew-up on a sunflower oil, which was everywhere and considered to be a healthy alternative to everything else.
    From culinary point of view I like Tom Naughton's idea of mixing bacon fat with a vinegar and pouring it on a salad together with still-warm bacon as a dressing. I like bacon drippings, but watch it with a suspicion - it could be loaded with O6s like a duck fat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. no doubt, conventional pork is even more O6 laden than pastured pork, which is "bad" enough.... it's STILL better than the corn oil i grew up with, though.

      Delete
  3. I really enjoyed this tess ... I do notice I feel warmer eating Sat fat , much more energy from cream and brie relative to mayo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks, Wooo! have you tried making your own mayo? the technique i told Kim about recently is INCREDIBLY easy and delicious, and you only need an immersion blender....

      Delete
    2. Tom Naughton even managed to make mayo with Carson fish oil. I am too cheap for that. What I like about homemade mayo - it could be many variations in a flavor , like last time I used a vinegary liquid from marinated hot yellow peppers instead of vinegar.

      Delete
    3. ooh, that sounds good!

      like you, i think using Carlson's is ridiculously expensive. i've started using MCT oil in my mayo, though -- it adds the good saturated fat, but tastes more neutral than coconut oil.

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. :-D ...not the smooth-flowing logical exposition i hoped to produce, but given my discombobulation with the inaccessibility of my source ... i made three new points and restated an old favorite!

      Delete
  5. "THIS is why a low-carb-high-SATURATED-fat diet is so important to my well-being."

    And to ours

    Kind regards

    Eddie and Janet

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. there are SO many special conditions for which this eating-style is therapeutic, and it's SO wholesome for most "normal" people too, it's a horrible shame it's so resisted and villified by those who are trying to sell "neolithic agents of disease"!

      Delete
  6. This is a very interesting post! Especially since I am hypothyroid and taking ever increasing amounts of Synthroid. I've never even thought of looking at things this way but I'm going to look more into it now.. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As most people with under-active thyroid, I have such condition because my immune system attacks my thyroid. It looks for me in US it is not routine to test for thyroid anty-bodies because it doesn't have any practical use for a doctor, whose job is to prescribe the amount of a thyroid replacement which will make your TSH number within recommended range.

      After I started a LC diet many of my autoimmune issues got better or disappeared, and I am still on the same dose of the natural desiccated thyroid, which works way better than Synthroid because it contains several thyroid hormones, not only T4 (part of which is supposed to be turned into T3, but many bodies are not efficient at that ).

      Sorry, if my comments about low thyroid sound like a repetition, but I am outraged about the amount of people who suffer from the issue - doctors ignoring the autoimmune side of it, prescribing an inefficient medicine, and I hope my comments could inspire others to get more help.

      I think that in my case avoiding grains, especially gluten , and eating a LC diet in general, made the most of positive impact. Right fats are important, but if I had to choose between (1)avoiding gluten/limiting carbs and (2)avoiding O6, I would choose #1.

      Delete
    2. The "thyroid dance" that conventionally-minded doctors go through assumes that the system stands in isolation. It doesn't!!! Not only is there the autoimmune, as Galina says, but all kinds of nutritional aspects!

      The body sends prompts to the thyroid to raise and lower metabolism CONSTANTLY. If we're ill, wounded or suffering infection, our bodies gear down so we'll rest and recover. If we're stressed, the same thing happens. If our nutritional needs aren't being addressed properly, ditto. Conversely, if our diet is replete and sufficient, in quality AND quantity, the signal goes from gut/brain to the various systems that all is well and it's safe to rev up again.

      Of course, this makes it tricky to lose weight if one has a less-than-perfect thyroid function! One has to be "perfectly" nourished, getting enough food to stay "revved" but still needing to pull fat from storage for burning. Therefore, it's essential to have a low chronic insulin reading or lipolysis isn't going to happen.

      Extrapolating from euthyroid athletes to hypothyroid (and frequently fatigue-suffering and middle-aged) women is completely LUDICROUS. It makes me furious that self-proclaimed experts and professionals insist that what works for them WILL work for us. Either they're incredibly stupid, or just friggin' LIARS.

      Delete
    3. ...and thanks/you're welcome, TL! :-)

      Delete
  7. For me the proof is in the pudding when it comes to oils, I can drink a few tablespoons of EVOO, nice, no burping no bloating. I tried it with MCT, bloating and gerd, fish oil bloating, ¼ stick butter, bloating, ½ pound grass fed burger, nice, Wendy’s ¼ pounder, all day bloat. ¼ pack bacon, not so bad. Sesame seed oil, real quick weight gain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :-) yep, on top of the things we can generalize about fats, we get to individual tolerances (which can be broad).... it makes it easier to have a simple diet for awhile, so we can observe ourselves with fewer variables to confuse the issue.

      i find i have to be moderate with the MCT (more is not better). ...really, you have trouble with butter? :-( i'm sorry!

      Delete
    2. We indeed have individual problems, I could probably digest nails without any symptoms of unhappy GI system, but it is very easy for me to have an allergy in the form of asthma or a skin reaction.
      For some people their GI tract is the most sensitive part of their body - besides food, it reacts on stress, lack of sleep, wrong chemicals like pills. My husband is like that. Who knows why that bloating is going on there ? It could be a bacteria overgrow of their small intestine, GERD, spasms due to an irritation of some sort, holding extra water in order to get rid of the food body wants to reject .
      May be butter contains enough of lactose to be a problem for a person who is very intolerant to it?

      I even cheap for MCT oil. I live in a hot climate, our AC thermostat is set in 77-78F, so when I bring a new can with a coconut oil home from a store, only part of it gets liquid, some stay solid, I separate the liquid coconut oil, mix it with a smaller amount of olive oil imported from Spain and use it for my mayo.

      Delete
    3. i usually use about equal parts MCT, avocado and olive oils. that way, my mayo tastes neutral. depending on what special dish i might be making with it, i've been known to use part bacon drippings too -- on the rare occasion i make potato salad, it's WONDERFUL. :-)

      Delete