Well, I finally got my blood work results and I am not that pleased.
FASTED INSULIN
First, fasted insulin: It came out
13.82 mmIU/mL.
Although it is in the safe zone of 2.60 to 25.00, meaning no insulin resistance, it is way above my usual 5-8 mmIU/mL.
Furthermore, I have no inflammatory problems as my CRP (C-reactive Protein) is 0.03 mg/dL , which is very good.
Why?
- Too much fructose in the morning;
- Too much sitting; and
- Probably the 1-2 glasses of Raki in the evening.
Let’s go over these and what I have started doing to correct / improve the situation.
As you know from my post on “Some Important Points on Disease and Insulin” dated April 15 2016, my usual breakfast was:
- A fruit (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and goji berries) smoothie with turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, ground cloves, black pepper, and chia seeds mixed in a blender with water kefir,
AND
Blueberries, a grated apple, dried black mulberries, walnuts, a tablespoon of coconut oil, a teaspoon of chestnut honey (what makes honey sweet is FRUCTOSE), again all the spices listed above, all mixed into coconut milk.
Ignore the vegetable juice in the background; I now have that with lunch.
Both are very tasty and nourishing, but I won’t even attempt to calculate how much fructose I was getting each morning.
Now, I only have the smoothie in the morning, and once or twice a week the other concoction and no smoothie.
I have also started combining breakfast and lunch, the fruit smoothie at 12:30 and lunch at 13:00. And then I have dinner in the evening. SO, USUALLY, TWO MEALS INSTEAD OF THREE.
I have also stopped ENJOYING Raki every evening; just on social occasions now.
Remember that alcohol is metabolized just like fructose; so it’s exactly like eating sugar. Fructose, to be exact.
INACTIVITY
I’m guessing that another reason for this jump in my fasted insulin could be that I have stopped practicing what I’ve been preaching. Remember my post of March 18, 2015 on “Inactivity”?
In the office, my smart phone was programmed to buzz every 15 minutes and I would get up and do 4 body squats before going back to work. Well, I retired at the end of September 2015 and my regular daily routine was disrupted.
On top of this, we moved to a new apartment in January 2016. Another disruption.
I’m slowly getting back into this habit.
LEPTIN
Here comes the interesting result:
My fasted Leptin is 0.60 ng/mL. Remember that I had said that this should ideally be in the 3-5 ng/mL range in my previous posts? At first, I couldn’t make any sense of this result. Then I learned a new fact: The amount of Leptin your fat cells produce is ALSO A FUNCTION OF YOUR BMI (Body Mass Index).
I thank Dr. Berna Yavuz Aksu for elightening me on this.
It makes a lot of sense.
The reference ranges are as follows:
Women (16-80 years old)
BMI LEPTIN (ng/mL)
14-18 0.5 – 0.7
18-24 0.5 – 7.9
25-29 4,1 – 14.5
30-56 5.5 – 40.4
Men (15-78 years old)
BMI LEPTIN (ng/mL)
18-24 0.5 – 3.2
25-29 0.5 – 14.6
30-56 2.5 – 42.1
Metric BMI Calculation
BMI = (Weight in Kilograms) / (Height in Meters) x (Height in Meters)
My BMI İs:
73 / (1.8 x 1.8) = 22.53. Thus, my 0.60 ng/mL leptin level is GREAT.
BMI RANGES
18.5 – 24.9 NORMAL
25 – 29.9 OVERWEIGHT
Above 30 OBESE
What initially confused me was that, from all my research, I had concluded that INSULIN RESISTANCE AND LEPTIN RESISTANCE WERE CORRELATED. Even though I DON’T HAVE INSULIN RESISTANCE, I probably exaggerated my 13.82 mmIU/mL fasted insulin level; I have a tendency to overreact.
In conclusion, I will continue with corrective measures I have initiated and report to my readers in 6 months.
See you all next week.
