Progress update #6

Joined the gym

I've been mulling this over for a while and have been trying to figure out which gym would be best for me to do weight training. I don't want to massively bulk up but building muscle mass helps to manage blood glucose levels. Muscle tissue is able to absorb glucose and store it as glycogen as well as utilising it during exercise. I'm also conscious of age-related muscle mass loss now I'm into my 40s. Three days clocked up this week of around 35-45 minutes per session and I'm looking forward to going back on Monday.

Million step challenge

I'm doing pretty well with 295,412 steps especially considering I've been resting more the last couple of weeks as I'm trying to sort my blisters out. I'm almost back to normal now. Just over a fifth of the way through the three-month time limit, so I'm happy to be nearly a third of the way there. The cycling machine is helping me get some light cardio exercise in without making my blisters worse - I'm not sure if that's counting my steps on my phone so will check next time I'm on it.

One of the things I'm really enjoying about these walks is discovering new places such as a local farm's egg shop with honesty box on Bradley Fold Road. I didn't get my usual egg delivery this week so it was nice to be able to go and pick some up on a pleasant walk. I also went foraging on the way and got some more nettle and blackberry leaves as well as some fresh blackberries. Fresh, local blackberries are much more tart than supermarket ones so I'm pretty sure they're packing a bigger polyphenol punch.

Blood tests

I've ordered a blood test kit from Thriva and plan to do the draw on Monday to get a baseline of what's going on. It'll be interesting to see what effect my daily natto routine has on cholesterol and triglycerides, although the gym will have an impact as well.

I want to know where my LDL cholesterol is up to before I tell the doctor I've not had any statins for six months. I stopped taking them when I found out a side effect was memory issues. I was experiencing anomic aphasia which is the inability to recall certain words, even though you know them very well. This isn't listed on the information leaflet or any NHS website so I discovered this in a book, Genius Foods by Max Lugavere. This book has helped to reprogram the way I think about food.

LDL cholesterol is needed for neurons in the brain to transmit information, and the statin I was on can cross the blood-brain barrier. Another side effect can be increased blood glucose levels. I'm refusing to take them anymore as I’m doing everything I can to bring my blood glucose down with type 2 diabetes, and I’m not accepting dementia as a side effect at 42 years old.

Natto

I'm making a conscious effort to eat natto every day. The challenge is remembering to prep it and then remembering to eat it a few hours later.

Blood glucose on target

Managed to have a full week in the normal range (the green area on the graph is 3.9–7.8 mmol/L). I’ve finally managed to get my 7-day average back down to 5.7 mmol/L. I think the gym and having a fasting day helped. Next step is to keep it at this level for a few weeks, which takes a lot of focus on meal details and regular exercise.

I’ve brought my average daily net carbs down to 62g this week - a gradual improvement from 71g last week. My target to be in ketosis is 50g per day. I'm not trying to stay in permanent ketosis at the moment, so I’m not too worried if some days creep up to 100g of net carbs.

Sponsored

I struggled to find where to buy non-homogenised milk locally and eventually found The Modern Milkman. Their organic whole milk in my area is non-homogenised so I've been getting milk and eggs from them for two yeas now. Use this link to get 50% off your first two weeks and they'll give me 50% off my next delivery as well. Cheers!