Please don’t beat me with a stick…
What if you just went on a high protein and high fat diet or fasted for a few days?
It may be the 1 thing you haven’t tried but high protein and fat diets are known to clear up chronic skin conditions among other chronic health issues. Fats in general, should be more important than carbs due to the very small amount of carbs required to build protein and cortisol response.
I know you’re frustrated; I know you want a magic bullet…this might be it.
I’m 5 days in on a water/electrolyte and bone broth (day 4) fast and I don’t have ANY of the prediabetic symptoms I was having, my skin is cleaner, less greasy and more clear, I sleep better, more flexibility (less inflammation) etc. My knee joints hurt day 3 (and only day 3) which is interesting bc I don’t normally have knee pain but when looking at oxalate excretion mentioned in the video below this makes A LOT of sense.
I was done with this post on your topic (I wasn’t going to bother you anymore about food)…But when chronically high cortisol levels were mentioned in this video, I thought about you and this thread…
Here’s another video on fats in the blood
And maybe I was wrong earlier but I’d check out this video too
Maybe try these macros?
P: (40%)
C: (15%)
F: (45%)
Or cut carbs out completely to 0% for faster better results but I don’t know what those macro percentages would look like…
I’ll be honest, these macro numbers seem stupid. But I don’t think you’re in a “standard situation,” I get it, me either. Your liver will monitor your blood sugar and make what you need so your concern about “needing carbs” might not be as important as you think.
All in all, if I was in your situation, I’d try it for 2 solid weeks and eat some fatty protein, some more red meat, steaks, salmon, chicken thighs, chicken / turkey drums, pork ribs, beef ribs, etc.
Give me that option over eating carbs and I’d def try it for 2-3 or 4 weeks. I was at the same exact macros that you’re currently on for the first time in a long time and ended up with unbearable prediabetic symptoms within 2-3 weeks of 35% carb macros (I’ve been eating clean and strict macros for over 6 months now…month 7 was the reason I’m seeing prediabetic symptoms in the first place…my fault…).
I don’t think you’ll have any issues cutting (swapping your macros for higher Protein & Fat) because your caloric requirements will remain until you lose weight (and have to reconfigure to prevent plateau).
So idk, 5 days in fasting, I don’t miss carbs and with solid electrolytes, I don’t miss eating/food as much in general. Low sodium/salt diets increase appetite and I’m experiencing this now supplementing with this powder. I feel a lot better and I feel a lot different. This is talked about towards the end of the CATO video (like a Ted Talk) below.
So idk, I feel like (in a way) I’m fighting with you more on your thought process vs helping you find a solution but I guess I’m still trying bc I care and genuinely believe this crazy idea might help your specific situation AND I want you to find the root of the problem so you’re not on a problematic drug that creates dependance.
You said you had acne for a long time…
So the root of this issue can go back decades (like me) when you weren’t eating clean…just a thought in a “critical thinking exercise”
YOU already know that taking higher amounts of test worsens this already persistent acne problem…but you’re not willing to make changes in that department (lowering dose or cutting it out all together) even though you know it will help…(I’m not blaming you btw, I wouldn’t either, I think the root of the issue is elsewhere as proven by your early age acne).
You want a pill or solution to the problem, RT_Nomad suggested hyaluronic acid (I’d try it more than 2x/wk), antimadder & blshaw suggested accutane, asmonius suggested head and shoulders, mnben87 suggested finasteride and benzoyl peroxide, more will come. There are hundreds of dermatologists on youtube and TikTok with solutions of this type.
With all the above, you have to understand or at least open to the possibility that there’s something else at play causing this issue if it requires involving a hard-hitting chemicals.
Carbs (in general) (low fat) can negatively impact bacteria, internal gut bacteria, hormones, cortisol levels, insulin levels, blood sugar levels, etc…
Another “outside of the box thought” maybe blood tests “in range” for everyone else isn’t “in range” for what is optimal for you. The BIGGEST problem with blood test is that no one gets them BEFORE they encounter issues so no one really has a solid baseline for their own “optimum levels.”
All in all, I would try giving carbs a break for 2-3 solid weeks. And maybe that’s not a long enough time to run a trial…but it’s not a long enough time to negatively impact you either.
I think a test like this with someone with your background and details would be fascinating and I think this community would be better, more optimum and better educated with a solidly documented test like this out there.
So, it’s all obviously up to you. I personally HATE the idea of all the KETO crap…I hate it…but it’s because they think protein should be low (15%) and I don’t agree with that, nor do I agree that all vegetables are bad…but that’s assuming that none of the fruits and vegetables are engineered or contain things that prevent our bodies from working properly. The apples on my counter (almost 2 weeks) should have gone bad by now…but they haven’t yet…interesting…I don’t think that’s not exactly natural (sound like McD’s fries anyone?) I’m not saying meat is “super clean either”, just flipping what we’ve been told to think about food on it’s head. SO many people who only eat meat end up with MUCH better digestion, cleaner skin, less illness, less auto-immune related issues, etc…
I would try something different diet wise, drink filtered water (watched a pro bodybuilder who installed a water filtration system in his house and it improved sleep, skin, digestion, energy etc.), get better sleep, etc…
Feel free to try one or 2 different types of suggested meds tho, I hope they can actually help. Where I’m coming from is the possibility that your dependance on those drugs may decrease if you change what you eat since we can establish that injecting testosterone was not THE cause of your acne.
From one of your previous post, I’m definitely not here to argue either, I put too much time into this to “argue” (I should be at the gym but…I’m going in 10 minutes), I hope someone “if not you” can read through this, watch the video’s I linked, learn or at least “hear” something new, think a bit more critically and try something different…something new and maybe find a solution to this brutal acne issue.
Best of luck buddy! Lots of respect for you and all here!
12/25/2022 Edit:
I thought it might be worth mentioning that fasting for 6 solid day’s no food, working out as heavy as possible everyday and using the steam/dry sauna, I didn’t notice much as far as face/body oils go so I have to assume it was a “normal” amount which was expected without eating.
After only eating meat/high fat for 2 days, I thought it was weird that my face feels “different” and it’s a little hard to explain because it’s not “dry” but it’s not greasy either for how much fat I’ve eaten. I’ve had bacon, sausage (0 carb), eggs, pork ribs, chicken thighs/legs, oils, butter in stupid amounts, etc.
After eating foods literally dripping in grease, I thought my face / temples would feel greasy but that was simply not the case. In the past, after eating, say, a cookie (food made of mostly carbs & some fat), my cheeks, temples and forehead would become greasy and I could feel it pouring out of the skin in my face in the most gross way prompting me to want to wash my face / take a shower no less than 4 minutes after consumption.
If this feeling is related directly to excess dirty AF carbs or just carbs in general, then it makes sense why the leading cause of male pattern baldness is insulin resistance; caused by the consumption of excess sugar.
This is what I found:
Source:
Correlation between sweat glucose and blood glucose in subjects with diabetes - PubMed
There is an inverse relationship between insulin resistance and high levels of DHT, meaning there’s likely another mechanism at play that I’ll research later.
Thanks!
