My endocrinologists were very surprised when I told them no one in my immediate or extended family had diabetes. There’s no history of infertility either.

The theory the docs and I worked out (because I always like to know why) was that my root cause lies in my sensitivity to prednisone (for asthma). I spent a decade with suppressed or underfunctioning adrenal glands. There’s no way to prove the connection in hindsight, but the adrenal issues are when all the PCOS symptoms started. Prior to the adrenal issues I had maintained an 80lb weight loss for 4 years with low fat/low cal/high exercise. While I was sick, I gained very easily and couldn’t lose weight doing what I did before. Plus I had to limit exercise due to muscle cramps all over my body as well as narcaleptic levels of energy (in fact, sometimes I did have problems staying conscious). I got a diagnosis, got treatment for the adrenals, replenished my B vitamins (which helped with the fatigue immensely) and was fine except now I had full blown PCOS.

Who knows, maybe it was lurking in my genes and the adrenal stuff kicked it into overdrive. But there is no family history, which is unusual.

It’ll be interesting to see what science digs up on PCOS as they become more aware of it. I’m really hoping for some new treatments as I can’t tolerate Metformin or Fortamet.

And now you know more than you ever wanted to about my sordid past

M

Hi Michelle–

Thanks for the elaboration. I’m glad you and your medical team seem to be getting a handle on the situation.

Best–

MRE

On a similar vein, could it be that PCOS is not so much a disease that manifests by itself, but is actually brought about by our highly processed, high HFCS foods? I’m willing to bet that in countries where the majority of women still eat natural foods that PCOS is rare.

Hi LC–

I don’t know about the PCOS and processed food. I’ve never seen any data on it one way or another. That doesn’t mean the data doesn’t exist, it just means I haven’t seen any. If you come across some, let me know.

Best–

MRE

For example, I work with a true-blue vegan. She stays away from grains mostly because products made with grains usually contain eggs, milk, butter, etc. She is a very intelligent PhD but she looks like a dish-rag and constantly complains of being tired and having very high cholesterol. Hmmm, according to all vocal sources, saturated animal fat causes that

The only reason Ornish gets away with his theories is that some of them are good: lower stress, eliminate processed foods, sugar and white carbs, so initially people following his plan, who were following the SAD diet, feel a heck-of-a-lot better. However, as they say in power on-line gaming, the “damage over time” scenario will kick in.

We are very lucky to have a high-profile Doc such as yourself slugging away at all these falsehoods. Thanks again.

Hi Hellistile–

Thanks for the kind words.

I posted a while back (maybe before you started reading ths blog) on the improvements Dr. Ornish found in patients on his program.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/archives/2006/03/three_steps_for.html

Best–

MRE

You know the phrase about brushes.
Very applicable……….. and if he weren’t so tarred up in his identity,his position and the status that’s afforeded him, likely cos of his biochemistry, he’d be smart and admit inconsistencies.
As it is he simply just does bad science with his ‘heed’ in the sand.

Hi Simon–

Not only daft as a brush, he king of looks like one, too.

Cheers–

MRE

When you get a bit of extra time – this site shows, step-by-step, how to filter specific ads:
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/topic.py?topic=154

Also, I know this is out of place, but I have a question about IF for you. Due to my schedule (2 jobs, full time school), and the potential health benefits, I’ve been contemplating giving IF a shot. Thing is, I’m an athlete with a fairly high level of muscle for my height (5’6, 170, around 9-10% bf) and I’m worried about losing LBM.

Right now I eat 4-5 times per day, spread evenly throughout the day, and take in 160-200g protein. My diet is fairly low in carbs, but I eat copious amounts of vegetables and some fruits. I can’t imagine being able to fit all the protein/calories into a condensed eating window, and from what I know (possibly incorrect) going lower on the protein may result in negative nitrogen balance and loss of LBM.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

-Jon

Hi Jon–

Thanks for the techie link. Maybe I’ll screw my courage to the sticking place and give it a whirl.

I plan on posting on the IF and muscle in the future, but just as a preview I can tell you this. The IF produces big increases in insulin sensitivity and in IGF. Both increase protein transport into muscle, and so are good for bodybuilding. The important thing is to eat on eating days. Even if you have to take in nuts, nut oils, cheeses, and other dense calorie/protein sources. You need to make sure to get enough cals and prot to build and maintain muscle mass.

Best–

MRE

I have PCOS and wonder if, before bariatric surgery, docs ever screen women for PCOS. Perhaps I’m an extreme example of PCOS, but nothing other than PSMF allowed me to lose weight. I’ve looked at some bypass sites hoping to find what kind of assessment they do prior to surgery. PCOS is underdiagnosed (in my opinion)and I wonder if there are women having bypass who would do better to try a low carb diet/lifestyle? I ask out of curiosity and because I was close to the 100lb cut off. Do you have any thoughts?

None of my docs spotted the PCOS or recommended LC to me until I started trying to start a family and couldn’t. 10 years of being overweight all because it never occurred to anyone to do a simple blood test or consider a diagnosis beyond ‘fat pig’. I get the feeling I could’ve done a gastric bypass without anyone ever thinking of PCOS–I hope I’m wrong.

I do have your books btw, just didn’t understand the LC point-of-view at first. I had Ornish’s book too, had being the operative word.

Michelle

Hi Michelle–

Glad you found the low-carb diet and glad you found someone to diagnose your PCOS. It’s starting to be picked up on more and more. Sadly, I’m sure that many people go through gastric banding or bypass without ever having been checked for PCOS.

Most of the studies I’ve read show that a low-carb diet is the optimal diet for someone with PCOS, so it looks like you’re finally on the right trail.

Good luck.

MRE

Quick question:
This is not meant to be an attack or insult in any way whatsoever, but given your stance on low-fat diets, the cholesterol hypothesis, and cholesterol lowering medications, why do you choose to allow advertising for products like Lipitor on your site? Allowing big pharma to reach out and touch your visitors seems a bit strange…..

Hi Jon–

Thanks for the kind words about the site.

I signed up for Google ads to generate a little revenue to help underwrite the hosting of the site. I have no control over the ads that Google places on the site. They have some kind of mechanism to search for words and display ads appropriate to the subject matter. I wrote a post a few months back about the terrible experience I had with America West Airlines and, sure enough, I had a half dozen ads for America West on my site.

As I understand it, one can go in an somehow block certain categories of ads, but it is way beyond me minimal techie abilities at this time.

Cheers–

MRE

Not fair, is it?

Hi Walt–

As I’ve always told my children: no one ever said it has to be fair.

Cheers–

MRE

Anecdotal, n=a friend. A 62-year-old male friend of mine began Ornish because his doc wanted to continue to increase his statin meds. This guy refused to do that and so started the Ornish plan. About six months later, his doc told him to get off the diet ASAP because his triglycerides had shot up into the 800 range. In fact, the doctor told him to back off of the carbs and start eating more meat! I think my friend is happier now. He always seemed grumpy on that plan, plus he was forever picking at his wife’s plate of food whenever I had dinner with them – like he was constantly starving!

Thanks again for the informative website.

Hi Baily–

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that same story. It’s a pretty classic case. I once got a call from an orthopaedic surgeon who had heard me on the radio in Ohio. I was on a local PBS talk radio show talking about the virtues of the low-carb diet. This orthopaedist had just had a heart attack and was on the Ornish diet. He told me that he was laughing like crazy at all the ‘nonsense’ he was hearing me spout off. Then I said the magic words: if you go on a high-carb low-fat diet, you’re going to run your triglycerides up and drop your HDL. That got his attention because that’s exactly what had happened to him on the Ornish diet. He pulled to the side of the road, listened to the rest of the show, wrote down the info, got Protein Power, and the rest is history. His lipids normalized and he felt a ton better. He became a huge low-carb disciple and a friend.

Cheers–

MRE

Basically, I don’t understand how two well-educated, obviously intelligent and sensible doctors can “argue” over an issue like saturated fat. If it’s harmless, then it’s harmless right?

Or, is it not that simple. You know better than I that “research” can be used to “prove” just about anything. Because of that, I have been drawn to using more common sense reasoning (ie eat what humans were designed to eat and have eaten for millenia) in determining what is right and wrong nutritionally.

When using that logic (the only logical opinion in my mind) I don’t understand how someone like Dr. Rosedale, or Cordain, could argue against saturated fat. Cordain has even proven to himself that, paleolithically, it was consumed in decent amounts for at least part of the year.

Anyways, if you have a moment, your take?

Daniel Chong

Hi Daniel–

Dr. Rosedale had a saturated fat bias, I think, before he ever started practicing. Consequently, I think he kind of feared putting patients (or himself) on a diet with a lot of saturated fat. I, on the other hand, didn’t have that bias. I, myself ate (and continue to eat) a lot of saturated fat, and I put patients on saturated fats. I watched their lipids closely, and, after many years of such observation coupled with an extensive reading of the medical and anthropological literature, I realized that patients did fine on a fair amount of saturated fat as long as they stayed on a low-carb diet. I didn’t take care of patients on any other kind of diet, so I can’t speak to the issue of saturated fat added to, say, a high-carb diet, for example.

Dr. Rosedale hasn’t had the same degree of experience with patients on higher saturated fat diets, so I think he just feels more comfortable keeping the saturated fat lower.

Hope this helps.

MRE