Ask the Doc: Holistic Approach to Boost Blood, Midnight Hunger Issues, Why You’re Not Losing Weight with LCHF, Testosterone Talk, and More
New episode of Ask the Doc with a new guest expert Dr. Tommy Wood joining the show! Tommy is a medical doctor, with degrees from Oxford University and Cambridge University. He's currently working toward a Ph.D. in neonatal brain metabolism at the University of Oslo, Norway. He is also an athlete, specializes in working with endurance athletes, and he takes the functional approach to practicing medicine for optimal health, wellness and performance. Tommy works closely with our friend, Chris Kelly or Nourish Balance Thrive and to get in touch or consult with Tommy and/or the NBT team, click here.
Mentioned on this show:
-Webinar on "natural blood boosting" with Chris Kelly, Dr. Wood and Tawnee. http://o2boost.nourishbalancethrive.com/
Use the code "O2BOOST10" for 10% off on the webinar.
-Tawnee's blog that links to Tommy's article on walking. http://www.tritawn.com/2015/09/beyond-maf-how-to-add-volume-go-longer.html
-Testing and consultations with Nourish Balance Thrive. http://www.nourishbalancethrive.com/?aff=dcSW72R2PHE4W2RODY4SGWGFP2HM
-Tommy's writing for breakingmuscle.com.
Answers to your questions on:
Blood boost needed
Ultrarunner shares recent blood work that came back that I had low levels in several areas. "My total Iron and Iron Saturation were fine, as was everything else that was tested. As these results are the same as 6 months ago and I don't have any obvious day-to-day symptoms, my primary care doc doesn't seem concerned. But as an ultrarunner who sometimes races at altitude, I've got to think that these low levels could be hampering my performance. What supplementation or other protocols would he recommend to address?"
RBC (Red Blood Cell Count): 3.97 M/uL
HGB (Hemoglobin): 12.4 g/dL
HCT (Hermatocrit): 38.5%
-what are normal levels for these markers in athletes:
RBC: 4.0-4.2 M/ul
HGB: 13 g/dl
HCT: over 40%
-higher the HGB the faster you go
Investigating causes of why the numbers are low:
-sports anemia, blood plasma increases
-TIBC 250-400, ferritin 30-100 - look to see if these are normal
-T levels? saliva, hormone test
-MCV, too high B vitamin deficiency
-B vitamins
-MCH levels
-MCHC levels
-Zinc deficiency?
-gut bleeding
-kidney, creatinine
-hsCRP
Late-night hunger pangs on LCHF
I am struggling with calories and being so hungry at night I wake up nauseous even though I think I am eating all the time.
I am a middle school teacher and recently got a Garmin that has an activity tracker. At the end of the day I had walked up to 5 miles (I was shocked). I also workout 5 days a week; 3 are HITT type workouts for 30-40 minutes of various bodyweight exercises. The other 2 are more traditional weight workouts where I lift heavy. I also run 4 days a week for an hour to 1.5 hours each time.
I was consuming 3500-4000 calories a day and still was waking up around 2 am with that empty nauseous feeling where I wanted to eat an entire pizza.
I am a 165 lb male with 8% body fat and follow a LCHF diet with most of my 100grams of carbs coming at night in the form of sweet potatoes.
Can I eliminate this nauseous feeling without eating more food? It seems that 4000 is a high amount of calories or is the only way to do it to increase my calorie consumption to 4500.
Investigating the underlying issues:
1) eating enough?
2) sleeping enough for total stress? cortisol peaking at night? re-eval goals/training? saliva
3) hypoglycemia at night
4) Carbs & Carb timing:
-are carbs at night the best idea after all?
-Have your carbs at breakfast, it's ok!
-Why carbs in the AM, as well as most calories earlier in day might be a smart way to go.
-Muscle insulin sensitivity higher in AM, put in muscle not fat storage
-Benefits of eating carbs with acids, or lemon juice
5) Is it inflammation, parasite or gut issue?
To find out more:
-gut testing
-track blood sugar!
Struggling with a lower carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet:
1) Not losing weight with LCHF, why???
-focus on body fat not weight
-six packs don’t live longer
-fat loss = need health,
-not healthy? body stores fat
-calorie is not a calorie, but you can eat too much
-chronic stress: ⅓ will lose weight, the rest won’t
-look to life and health
-rule out infections
-high volume exercise, women, prevents weight loss
-reduced T3
2) LCHF but still hungry, why???
-not enough fat yet
-not enough calories once carbs got eliminated?
-not hungry but still not eating enough
-Intermittent fasting (IF): pros and cons
Sex hormones, HRT and naturally boosting testosterone
For the older runners (over 50), endurance efforts may foster low testosterone levels. Since men (and woman) have a mixture of male and female hormones, it may be a mistake for runners to just add estrogen or testosterone to their bodies. How do find out the right mixture? Is this recommended by sports medicine professionals? What is the role of creatine in endurance athletes and how does this enhance hormone levels?
-look at why are T levels low?
-look symptoms of low T: men vs women
-no symptoms? no worries
-men with lower T have increased CV disease
-women with low hormones have increased risk of metabolic issues
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free