How the Keto Diet Helped This 69 Year Old Control His Weight, Cholesterol, Diabetes, and Blood Pressure

Pierre Van ZylDigestion, Heal, Health Awareness, Healthy Aging + General Wellness, Men’s Health

Share www.GetCollagen.co.za

A lot of popular diets have come and gone through the years, but today there’s only one diet on people’s minds – the keto diet. It’s the most popular diet right now, and for good reason. It really works! There is one man in particular who can attest to this fact, and his name is Anthony.

Anthony is a 69-year-old man who had a plethora of health problems including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, type 2 diabetes, and 4 stents (1). He constantly experienced aches and pains in his run-down body (1). That is until he decided to start the keto diet on May 22, 2017 (1).

Anthony’s keto diet results include a 53 pound weight-loss and the reversal of conditions he’d been suffering from for many years (1). Anthony’s lipid panel cholesterol levels also greatly improved due to his lifestyle change (1).

What Is the Keto Diet?

What Are Lipid Panels?

Lipid panels give detailed information on the presence of cholesterol and other fat particles found in your blood (2). Doctors commonly measure lipid panels to assess your risk of cardiovascular disease (3). Anthony’s lipid panel measurement after going on the keto diet drastically improved, with his May 2017 total lipid panel measurement at 212 and his September 2017 total lipid panel measurement at 170 (1).

Anthony also had his HbA1c measurements drop from 7.2% to 4.9% after adopting the keto diet (1). The HbA1c test, also known to as the glycated hemoglobin test, tells you your average blood sugar levels over a 2-3 month period (4). People with diabetes need to take this test regularly and levels above 6.5% indicate you have diabetes (4). Since Anthony’s measurement after going on the keto diet was 4.9%, he was able to successfully reverse his type 2 diabetes!

Keto Diet Results – One Improvement Leads to Another

Yet another life-changing result of Anthony going on the keto diet was that his aches and pains completely went away (1). Anthony’s reduced pain levels can be attributed to the fact that the keto diet has been proven to guard against inflammation (5). The ketone-based metabolism associated with a keto diet produces fewer reactive oxygen species, which contribute to inflammation (5). Anthony feels so much better that he is now able to walk 2-3 miles a day, something he couldn’t do at all before (1).

Long Term Effects

While the keto diet worked wonders for Anthony in the first few months of his journey, it’s difficult to gauge how sustainable this diet will be for him. A follow-up appointment in April 2018 revealed an increase in LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) to 150, which was higher than his initial LDL cholesterol levels of 131 (1). However, all of Anthony’s other measurements continued to show improvement and his HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) levels rose (1). Anthony did admit that a 3 month vacation in Florida, which saw him eating a lot of lobster and shrimp, could be to blame for his April 2018 measurements (1).

Like with any diet, it’s difficult to know the exact lifestyle factors that contributed to Anthony’s measurements. The long-term results of a keto diet must be monitored closely before any conclusions can be reached about its long-term effectiveness. With that said, Anthony’s story does show that the keto diet could have a number of short-term benefits.

If you’re somebody who’s looking to lose weight, manage your type 2 diabetes, or control your triglyceride levels, the keto diet may be for you. Be sure to visit a doctor to seek medical advice before starting the keto diet. Read this next to learn more about the benefits of adopting a keto diet.

Sources:

(1) Akesson, A. (2018, May 9). “Keto saved and changed my life�. Retrieved from https://www.dietdoctor.com/keto-saved-and-changed-my-life

(2) Cholesterol Testing and the Lipid Panel. (2017, February 26). Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/guide/tests-for-high-cholesterol-lipid-panel#1

(3) Lipid Panel. (2018, May 15). Retrieved from https://labtestsonline.org/tests/lipid-panel

(4) Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) Test for Diabetes. (2016, October 26). Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/guide/glycated-hemoglobin-test-hba1c

(5) Masino, S.A., Ruskin, D.N. (2013, August). Ketogenic Diets and Pain. J Child Neurol., 28 (8), 993-1001. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4124736/

 

The post How the Keto Diet Helped This 69 Year Old Control His Weight, Cholesterol, Diabetes, and Blood Pressure appeared first on The Hearty Soul.