Transcript:
My dad died of heart disease. He had his first heart attacks when I was 7, proceeded to have another one a couple of years later, and managed to survive several decades longer despite a poor prognosis and, in retrospect, doing so many things wrong. He had a quadruple bypass and a pacemaker, later a pacemaker defibrillator. I think later in his life he got an artificial valve. He took the drugs he was prescribed and ate a standard western crappy diet. He wasn’t active and had a generally unpleasant outlook on life.
My mom has an equally miserable attitude and her own set of health challenges, and she inexplicably continues to survive despite doing all the wrong things as well.
If nothing else this gives me hope that something in his genome kept him alive and that he passed it on to me. (Hello, FOXO3!) At the same time, since I know my genome, I have at least 3 pathogenic alleles that could trigger congestive heart failure. This means I’m going to control for all of my other risk factors so I don’t flip those CVD switches.
I’m already sold on the health benefits of keto. It keeps blood glucose and insulin low and reduces inflammation when done right. It helps to create a more favorable hormone and neurotransmitter balance, and I don’t get as hungry on it. Keto has a unique way of limiting the amount of water that we store in our bodies. Since congestive heart failure is essentially caused by excess fluid buildup in the kidneys and lungs, perhaps keto is a way to reduce this effect. I have no scientific reason to think that, it’s just an idea and I want to explore it more.
I’m specifically talking about avoiding the curse of congestive heart disease, but the concepts can more broadly be applied to all types of heart disease, including atherosclerosis, for a number of reasons, primarily through inflammation and autophagy.
Now, what am I, a 41-year-old, 190lb, 35% body fat female doing to optimize my health and longevity, specifically in the context of cardiovascular health and body recomposition?
For starters, I’m tracking my food. I’m using Cronometer, the free version, and I may upgrade to gold in the future. But, even with the free version, I can set it to Keto mode, and set specific nutrient goals. I have my protein set to somewhere around 130g per day.
I’m shifting my diet to a more Mediterranean-style whole foods diet that focuses on vegetables, fish, and eggs. It’s easy for me to rely on cheese, nuts, meat, loads of saturated fat, and processed foods. And I know that’s not the best for my health. Can I blame childhood habits and a desire to make meals easy? Sure, but it doesn’t matter what I blame if I don’t get a different result. So, I change.
I’ve read too many benefits about time-restricted feeding to ignore it as well. I don’t want to fast. I want to eat when I’m hungry. And yet, that sort of luxury is one of many that has gotten us into this mess. I will be restricting my feeding window to 8 hours, 11 am to 7 pm, and I’ll be using the Zero app to have a button to push to keep me accountable.
I haven’t had health insurance for a number of years, and when I did have it I didn’t use it. The healthcare system in the US is a mess, and comes from the perspective of treating disease instead of preventing it. I now have health insurance and have an appointment to see a longevity-centric physician. We will get baseline lab values and discuss a number of additions to this plan, such as a continuous glucose monitor and certain prescriptions that have shown promise in the lab at extending healthy lifespan and enhancing physical and cognitive performance, and maybe even making my body recomposition goals easier.
I grew up eating shit food and was mostly sedentary for the majority of my life, and have been overweight for as long as I can remember. I didn’t even start working on my mindset until my 30s, because I didn’t even know it was a thing until then. The biggest change you or I ever have to make is what happens between our ears. Decide what you want and believe that it’s possible for you. It’s simple, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. But once you do, the rest of the pieces in your life will fall into place.
I’m excited for these next steps on my journey, and I look forward to hearing the healthy habits you’re adopting so you can live as long as you want to.