I Was Diagnosed With Metabolic Syndrome And Why I Started Keto

medical medium

I had been eating the Medical Medium way for a few years now, and considered myself a pescatarian, ate whole, plant-based foods and ate no dairy, meat, poultry, or eggs.

Diagnosis

6 weeks ago I decided to go see an herbal doctor, Richard Whelan, I had wanted to see him for years but I guess I was not ready to face what he had to say about my health. My goal was to have my high blood pressure alternately seen, and it had not been long since I had been diagnosed with high cholesterol.

Well, I was a bit surprised, he did quite a few blood tests, taking my finger, running it through machines and looking at it under a microscope. Listening to my heartbeat and taking my blood pressure.

He said as soon as he saw me he knew I had metabolic syndrome, which is a combination of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and keeping weight around your midsection that is so stubborn that everything you try doesn’t budge. And she had tried a lot, besides working out. Nothing changed those numbers.

He said it was not a case of if I have diabetes, but when. He considered me prediabetic.

I was speechless, muttering that I thought it was fine and healthy, that I liked refined sugar, but for the most part I wasn’t out of control.

So he gave me some herbs for my liver and some other vitamins and herbs to take, magnesium acetate, chromium, vitamin B complex, St. Mary’s thistle, hawthorn, and reishi.

Keto

She then said she wanted me to eat Keto.

I was like “Keto?????” than????

I was horrified, I said Keto is what I had taken out of my thyroid 4 years ago, going low carb.

So he asked me what I was prepared to do, I told him I was prepared to look into it. And he was happy about it.

Thyroid and Keto

So I had to do some solid research for about a week. He had suggested that I sign up at dietdoctor.com, which I did.

And I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why the keto diet wouldn’t kick my thyroid back out like it had.

Then I set out to find out why it happened.

I had been eating dirty keto. Which is basically eating all the fatty foods like sausages and bacon and meat and eggs, and none of the vegetables.

I spent quite a bit of time exploring vegan keto and decided that it would be too difficult.

So I brought some meat, eggs and other foods, and I threw out most of the things in my cupboards that had more carbs. It was very difficult to throw away my old foods that I considered healthy.

However, I have found that those foods are healthy for some people, just like keto doesn’t work for everyone.

Stomach ache

So, it seemed like I was doing pretty well the first few weeks, I went into keto while my body was adjusting, then I got diarrhea.

I gave up all my vitamins and herbs. After 10 days I went back to my old way of eating to see if maybe it was the fat, maybe I had changed my diet too quickly instead of adding food slowly.

I did food tracking and was about to make an appointment with my doctor when I got in fine.

I was fine for a week and then last weekend it started again. I dissected what I had been eating and was finally able to figure out what was causing it, because it was going to stink if it was the fats.

It was sucralose. The sweetener that was in the powerade zero i was using for electrolytes when i was feeling keto flu. Which was a vicious cycle, because I would think that I would need to replenish electrolytes due to the diarrhea and then drink more.

going forward

I haven’t weighed myself in a few weeks, but I was starting to lose weight steadily, and this morning I measured my waist and I have lost 15.5 cm in a month.

I really like eating keto. It’s very satisfying. I have introduced some dairy but not much. I’m eating mostly chicken, some meat, and eggs. But this time I’m eating a lot more vegetables than last time.

I had a blood test done a few weeks ago and my thyroid is in range and my liver results are also in range, something I haven’t seen in the 4 years I’ve been doing blood work.

I’ll give you updates on how I’m doing from time to time.

PS: 5 months after starting the keto diet, I started having anxiety and had a blood test. Sure enough, what I feared happened: I have early stage hyperthyroidism, have increased my carbs and have an appointment to see Richard in early February 2021. I have lost 12kg.