I dont know your whole story but here it is. Plant Chix nuggets are chemical compounded junk, Avoid them at all cost. It sounds like your carb loading with your carbs with the pea protein shake with all your adding to it. Pea protein in itself can be higher carb. Coconut is sugar and carbs. Combining all the ingredients carbs and sugar very well may be an issue for you. I am diet controlled Type 2 diabetic. I can eat a slice, or a half of slice ezekial bread and be fine. If I try it again, bam! MY sugar spikes. I feel for you, in the cold, carbs seem to help but our bodies dont seem to like them, sugar included. I encourage you to try equal low carb vegetables and meat/poultry. Thats it. Maybe an occasional apple or half an apple for the sweetness. Using a bit of Almond butter with apple is very tasty and very filliing. It surely can't hurt and most likely will be beneficial. Try and avoid those shakes, what are all the ingredients in the powder? Or brand so I can look it up. I am curious.

Do you happen to have an oil filter wrench? It's basically a flexible metal band with a handle. The band tightens around the filter and the handle gives you leverage to turn. It would be perfect for someone with limited dexterity to loosen and tighten the lid on your shaker cup. See if you can borrow one to test. It should work great!

Our body's can only handle very small amounts of sugar at a time. Anything more than 4g of sugar begins the glycation cascade. Thats a bite of an apple or 1/5 a slice of bread. Your liver makes the small amount of glucose we need forour brain and retina. There's no such thing as an "essential carbohydrate."

Merry Christmas Dave

Hey Dave! Hope you're doing well. Just about everything you mention can still be attributed to elevated blood sugar, which is probably 100x more common then issues like glycation, etc. High blood sugar can cause leaky blood vessels behind the eyes, and temporally distort the eye's lens. This usually happens on one or both sides (mine often alternate between left and right). This is very common among pre-diabetics. High blood sugar also causes reduced circulation, which can lead to the feeling of coldness in extremities (the feet are furthest from your heart) as well as hands, ears, etc. Neuropathy is a more advanced condition, usually occurring after many years of elevated sugar levels. Regarding glycation, I am only familiar with the term when proteins and sugars combine in a way that can be harmful. Think of chicken wings (protein) fried in barbeque sauce (sugars) under high heat, which can be very inflammatory.to the body... more dangerous than the barbeque sauce by itself. Stay warm dude!

Have you experimented with guar gum powder? Only about 1 teaspoon will give your shakes a McDonalds thick shake consistency, but it really helps if you have a blender. You can try just stirring it in, but it's designed to be whipped at a higher speed. Guar Gum is often used in making ice cream and yogurt; gives it a creamy/thick consistency.

Hey Dave. I also take Benfotiamine, along with B6 and B12 (I'm Vegan). I find Benfotiamine works better than regular B1 (Thiamine) because it stays in the body longer. Since Benfotiamine is fat soluble, you'll want to take it along with those beef patties or else it won't be absorbed by the body. And unlike Thiamine B1, you won't pee it all out a few hours later. Supposed to work well in preventing damage from neuropathy.

need to look up how keto/carnivore depletes b2 riboflavin - etc complex 2 runs off FAD2 and it is made from b2. I'm praying for you David, I'm in the same boat with damage to my body after years of not doing right, I'm just now getting an idea of what has happened and is happening. I know you may not be a religious person, but Jesus will heal our bodies, mind, emotions, but He wants to use us for His purpose. We have to call out to Him because the health issues are like being trapped in a pit, on He can deliver us

Hey Dave. Hope all is well. I learned about the difference between pea protein powder and pea protein isolate. The latter goes through additional steps to filter out more of the non protein components like sugars, starches, etc. Because of this, it's smoother and doesn't have that gritty pea aftertaste you described. I use the Terrasoul brand on Amazon to make my chocolate protein smoothies. Hope this helps. I'm interested to hear how you make your choc powder.

The endotoxins will also drive the inflammation and insulin resistance

Endotoxins, inflammation, eyestrain... Pseudomyopia; saturated fat will trigger inflammation, as does endotoxins... this will combine with ciliary spasms, dealing with a lot of the same. About to have a bad tooth removed thats been a source of endotoxins

Hey David. Good job trying the plant based protein. I think you'll like the Walmart version even better when it's in stock (I tried Orgain and a few others) and found the Walmart to be smoother, thicker and less gritty. Their chocolate flavor also taste more authentic. Some of the other brands contain only pea protein, while Walmart uses both pea and quinoa. Quinoa is said to be a more complete protein than just pea protein alone. Funny you mentioned the improvement in your eyesight. I also found that to be true. I thought it might be the small amount of caffeine in cacao, (caffeine can dilate the blood vessels behind the retina and allow for more blood flow) but the same was true for the vanilla version. So maybe it IS the protein, like you mentioned, or some of the amino's found in quinoa and peas. Either way it seems to be temporary, but certainly an improvement so I'll take it. I figured out how to make my own chocolate muffins using a scoop of the choc protein powder, ground flax seeds, an egg, and one or two other ingredients. I think it's possible to make a "mug" version of this in the microwave as well. All I can say is it's awesome, has lots of protein, and I actually eat one every day. I haven't had any negative effects from it like I do with regular chocolate muffins. Let me know if you want more info on this. Take care.

Dr. Bikman has a video on uric acid, inflammation and insulin resistance - uric acid is made by the body but purines and especially fructose can drive it up. Keto/carnivore is high purine - ketones can suppress the inflammation turned on by uric acid but after you eat on keto your insulin goes up and typically you switch into beta oxidation and that will re-ignite the inflammation. I went to a high carb low fat/protein diet but I let my sucrose and fructose intake go up too much and that is another pathway, sucrose is a half molecule of fructose. If your body is in distress from not eating enough you will produce a lot of uric acid as well. Dig into the uric acid topic, it's big and it may crack open your metabolic issue.

Thank you for sharing

Hi David - I notice you had your comments turned off - look into uric acid, it really drives inflammation; could be a problem with purines and uric acid building up

Yes I had tendinitis in my foot good job thank you for sharing

Your pantry is starting to look like mine. Good job adding flax seeds to the protein shakes. If you buy your protein in powder form next time, you can make the shakes as thick (filling) as you like. I get the Equate Plant Based (Pea and Quinoa) Chocolate protein powder. One 32 oz tub makes about 38 shakes (when you do 1 scoop). I mix mine with water, ice, chia seeds, flax seeds, unsweetened coconut flakes, avocado, apple, and some canned pumpkin. I also add a scoop of nutritional yeast with gives me all the B vitamins. Doing the protein powder is more economical, easier to carry, and gives you better control of the finished density. If you buy the 'ground' flax seeds, you can mix that with an egg and some water and make pancake batter. Flax pancakes are awesome and have no carbs. It will also keep the eggs from getting boring, since your food items are very limited.

Do your best to lay out in the sun on sunny days when you can. Low thyroid will make parathyroid high and leach calcium. My main complaint about keto/carnivore is it is high cortisol and adrenaline, thats why people like it. High cortisol equals low thyroid and a body that can't repair stress.

New friend look forward to following your journey

I don’t know if it has a name, but I bet you’re referring to the fleshy part of the apple that surrounds the core. I believe it has the highest sugar content in the entire apple.

My favorite protein is eggs, but they cause me hellish problems - and this has not always been the case. I suffered a hip injury late 2021 and the pain was so bad I had to take NSAIDS to sleep, and I did lots of those on and off. I started developing blurry vision end of 2022 and full on hyperglycemia beginning of this year, but it was probably around for some time. The inflammation will make you insulin resistant and throw your whole system off. I believe the NSAIDS and glyphosate I've been eating all these years tore my gut lining up. And the problem really began to manifest after that. Sardines seem to do the same thing, milk, liver... I'm still trying to find out if there is any food that is not causing me the issues. Citrus fruits seem to be very good and don't cause me the issue. Salads, greens, sweet potatoes seem to be good. Kombucha and fermented foods seem to help. I'm stabbing around in the dark mainly. I fasted for 16 days at the beginning of this year and my vision became amazingly clear, clearer that it had ever been. I could read gas station signs from over a mile away but I broke the fast with 5 boiled eggs to start my keto diet and the next day my eyes were blurry as before, explain that one!

I have similar issues to you - I notice that most animal proteins cause me issues and I think it has to do with leaky gut and autoimmune conditions. Each type of animal protein that gets across the gut lining will cause a distinct problem. There are things that destroy the good gut flora that keep the tight junctions intact, there are things that destroy or degrade the lining and there are things that get across the lining and cause inflammation. I believe all this stuff starts in the gut. I've done the high fat keto/carnivore and had really bad inflammation, especially after eating. Coincidentally when fasting most of my issues resolved, but came back when I resumed eating. This weekend I have been eating mainly fruits and vegetables and plant based and inflammation has been very low, I had a little milk for creamer in my cacao. Ginger tea, moringa, cacao... these all help me with inflammation. Start looking into leaky gut resolutions.

Unsaturated fat is the main thing screwing up your thyroid. Another problem with carnivore is that it is high phosphate to calcium, and that also screws up thyroid function

Hey David! I don't mean to sound like an alarmist, but if you're like me, you probably try to avoid doctors and blood tests due to the expense and inconvenience. Your recent comment about hand tremors (along with some of the other symptoms you described in the past) would make me want to rule-out something like Parkinson's or MS. Chances are you're only dealing with some type of metabolic dysfunction, but if t was me, I would want to be sure. Just sayin'. Regarding Visible, I made the switch from Verizon to Visible almost 3 years ago and never looked back. Like you said, as long as your mostly self sufficient, Visible is a great company. Last month I took a trip to Western Massachusetts and Southern Vermont (where I eventually want to live) and my cell service was awesome, even in some really remote places. Since you asked, I was born in NY and currently live in FL. Sort of the opposite of your story. I guess the grass is always greener somewhere else lol.

Your body will need 200-300 grams of carbohydrate per day. If you don't eat any the liver will produce it from other sources mainly muscle tissue, this will keep cortisol elevated. Also in fat burning mode you will be rapidly depleting b2, something to keep in mind. It will also downregulate thyroid and metabolism, like a hibernation type state. Fat burning is 30% less oxygen efficient than glucose burning and it is the stress metabolism and will make you more insulin resistant. The seed oils not only get in the fat stores but becomes part of cell structure and be a pernicious source of inflammation that way due to lipid peroxidation

Throw the shakes in the toilet. Monday: Eat a 4 egg omelette cooked in butter and bacon for breakfast. Cook some chuck steak in a slow cooker for dinner. Tuesday. Grilled sardines for breakfast. Pork belly slices cooked in an air fryer for dinner. Wednesday. 4 fried eggs cooked in butter for breakfast. Chicken thighs/drum steaks for dinner. Thursday: Fry in butter some fish of your choosing for breakfast. Lambs liver and Lambs kidney for dinner.(add some curry paste) for flavour. Friday: 4 poached eggs and bacon for breakfast. Ribeye or Sirloin steak for dinner. Saturday: Grilled sardines for breakfast. Ground beef at 20% fat for dinner. Sunday: 4 boiled eggs and avocado for breakfast. Oxtail stewed in a slow cooker for dinner. Drink EVERYDAY 1.5 Litres of spring water. I eat the above week in week out and it cured all my health issues plus a 15kg weight loss within 3 months. No longer a diabetic. Blood pressure normalised. BMI smack bang in the middle of the green healthy zone. Visceral fat around my waist nearly all gone. Man's boobs gone. Skin condition cleared.

I am 71 y/o who eats a diet of 90% beef and beef tallow. I also eat eggs, butter and some aged cheese. I also make my own Kefir and I drink some of that every day. I drink water with some apple cider vinegar. Fermented foods have benefits with zero carbs. You need to cut out all that crap you are eating and go on a beef and tallow elimination diet for at least 6 months. Stop giving in to your addictions. Stop eating broccoli. Stop eating all that processed crap. I have experienced amazing health benefits from my zero carb. diet.

Chuck all the junk.just eat meat, eggs, butter, maybe some cheese and heavy cream. Ditch the Broccoli, or then go back to it to check how it makes you feel.

BS… carbs should be 20 or lower … beans potatoes are starches they will raise insulin

Inflammation................ Super cure. No one talks about it. But i will. Inflammation is most likely from salty foods. So Read the ingredients. But as for the cure to inflammation and swelling on feet, elbow, back pain. Its best to find a Hmong (southeast asian) friend. Someone whom can get access to a Hmong medical herbal store. So this product is made from herbs and roots. It has no name because the name of it is written in thai. On the front of the package, it has a root. Turn it upside down, it looks like a tree. Below it is G/2554. One tablespoon of it in hot water. When its drinkable hot to warm. Chug the whole thing. Itll taste earthy to buttery so its not bad. 3 to 6 hours. And your inflammation start going down from the time drinking it. The problem is.......... Lack of supplies. Hopefully your hmong friend will take you to the store to look for this product. Good luck.

You have to be active.................... Period. Dust your house until its spotless........... As maybe our American medical hass been teaching a lot of wrong things.

Your diet is awful! Bacon n eggs for breakfast beef patties for afternoon! Ditch the shakes etc! Seed oils? Really?????

I looked up ingredients, it has sunflower oil powder along with a long list of stuff. Seed oils are just as bad. Best to not consume anything with a list 3 inches long. Remember "why ant Johnny read" commercial for Breyers ice cream? Kudos to you for recognizing this.

Hul?

Try eating some Sweet potatoes and cabbage, you need to not be afraid of carbs, if you are type 2, the more you lower fat and protein the better you respond to glucose, give it a shot

Keto will make insulin resistance worse. You need carbs for thyroid functioning, see ray peat and mastering diabetes channel. Keto is not good, you become low oxygen, acidic, insulin resistant

The lectins in legumes can cause gut permeability and systemic inflammation and that definitely is a driver for insulin resistance. I love legumes but i had to let them go as well because of similar issues. Unsaturated body fat reserves drive insulin resistance as well.

Exercise is free insulin, so when you eat your glucose do some lifting or cardio. You are going to be more resistant in lipolysis, so when you eat carbs after waking start light and mix it with fat, protein and other low glycemic carbs. Time restriction on eating lets insulin levels come back down

Try chicory root coffee with stevia or xylitol, very satisfying, no caffeine and feeds akkermansia which strengthens gut lining. Sucralose destroys it. Im suffering massively from leaky gut.

Also possibly coming out of lipolysis helped with vision as being in lipolysis you are releasing some nasty stuff your liver can get overwhelmed and it can mess with vision.

Sounds like leaky gut, i kills gut bacteria and messes with insulin signaling

Hey David. Take a look at the Equate Plant based protein shake powder from Walmart, also in Chocolate. It's 5 net grams of carbs (two scoops) and has a real legit chocolate flavor. You were getting 45 grams at one time with Huel, and they say you should never drink your carbs! This tends to really spike the blood sugar as opposed to 45 grams over the course of the day. I do the Equate with one scoop, once in the AM and another in the PM. It does have some sucralose but its the very last ingredient and I haven't had any issues with it. Hope this helps!

Hey David! Your comment on food variety really hits home. I spend a lot of time trying to reimagine the same menu items I know I can eat, just to have some variety in my menu. For example, the ground beef you mentioned used to make burgers can be made into meatballs or meatloaf with a few additional ingredients. I usually end up making things from scratch, just so I have a say in what goes in. Pizza is a good example. I haven't found any low carb pizza that I really like, so I'll make my own using sourdough bread, homemade pizza sauce from tomato paste, olive oil, spices, and chia seeds, and sliced mozzarella. It comes out great in the air fryer or oven, and it's almost always less expensive. And no crappy preservatives and additives. BTW, Chia seeds are a great hack for us pre-diabetics. Since most people count net carbs, you can reduce the carb load on things like sauces, soups and gravies, by adding chia and subtracting the fiber from the total carbs. So a serving of tomato sauce with 5 grams of carbs from natural sugars, becomes zero grams when you subtract the fiber from chia. Your body has to expend more energy to digest (pass) the fiber, which essentially helps negate the carbs. As a bonus, as chia absorbs the sauce, it makes it thicker and takes on the flavor of the other ingredients, so there's no real down-side. I'm always looking for things like this.

Hey Dave. I wanted to mention something that I thought might be helpful. I have been following your posts from the beginning as our journeys are similar. When my insulin resistance was at its worst, I would wake up starving every day. My doctor explained that this is the very definition of IR, as the cells are unable to take in nutrients properly, and then signal to the body for more food. This is especially true after periods of fasting (sleeping). Now that I have a handle on my IR, my energy is more even and I rarely get that hungry. I doubt the starving sensation has much to do with building muscle. If you think about it, body builders are said to eat by schedule and never get all that hungry, and their primary objective is building muscle. You mentioned in prior posts that you don't know your fasting blood sugar or A1c. If you're like me, you may not like doctors or can do without the expense of lab tests. I discovered Ulta Lab Tests online. You make an appointment w/o seeing a doctor and have your blood drawn from a local facility (i.e., Quest). You then get your results online in a few days. And it's cheap! The regular glucose test is about the cost of a frozen pizza from WalMart. ($4.95) I have been able to use this information to make changes to my diet/lifestyle based on my actual numbers. Trying to guess your numbers based on how you feel, symptoms, etc. can be pointless. At least I've never been able to do this accurately. I hope this helps.

Thanks for the update again. Also enjoy the general talk.

Thanks for the update. Have you ever thought of seeing a neurologist for the neuropathy?

cant hear you at ALl

Hahahaha

So you don’t really have any food “rules” per-say? Like you consume dairy/gluten etc as long as it falls within your carb count?

I was going to ask if you had cheat days but that answers my question! Do you regret them?