Introduction and Help With ApoE4 Diet

Newcomer introductions, personal anecdotes, caregiver issues, lab results, and n=1 experimentation.
sabby123456789
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Re: Introduction and Help With ApoE4 Diet

Post by sabby123456789 »

Thanks SBee,

I'm still going through the ApoE4 wiki. A lot of information. I have also been watching Nicholas Norwitz videos and he has posted several of them about ApoE4.

Sabby
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SBee
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Re: Introduction and Help With ApoE4 Diet

Post by SBee »

sabby123456789 wrote:Thanks SBee,

I'm still going through the ApoE4 wiki. A lot of information. I have also been watching Nicholas Norwitz videos and he has posted several of them about ApoE4.

Sabby
Sabby,
Thanks for your additional posts. I am not familiar with Nicholas Norwitz but definitely interested in viewing his videos.

Also, just wanted to let you know that when you respond to a post, it may be helpful to click on the quotation mark (") in the upper right hand corner of the post before you respond. This will send that person a notification that someone has responded to their post. The How-To Guide offers tips on how to navigate forums and respond to posts. In addition, it shows how to use the Search function for topics, and how to subscribe to topics of interest in the forums.

Take care and thanks for your continued participation on the forums :)
Warmly,
Sue
SBee
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sabby123456789
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Re: Introduction and Help With ApoE4 Diet

Post by sabby123456789 »

SBee wrote:
sabby123456789 wrote:Thanks SBee,

I'm still going through the ApoE4 wiki. A lot of information. I have also been watching Nicholas Norwitz videos and he has posted several of them about ApoE4.

Sabby
Sabby,
Thanks for your additional posts. I am not familiar with Nicholas Norwitz but definitely interested in viewing his videos.

Also, just wanted to let you know that when you respond to a post, it may be helpful to click on the quotation mark (") in the upper right hand corner of the post before you respond. This will send that person a notification that someone has responded to their post. The How-To Guide offers tips on how to navigate forums and respond to posts. In addition, it shows how to use the Search function for topics, and how to subscribe to topics of interest in the forums.

Take care and thanks for your continued participation on the forums :)
Warmly,
Sue
Thanks for letting me know SBee.

Sabby
Always caring, Sabby, ApoE4/E3
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Julie G
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Re: Introduction and Help With ApoE4 Diet

Post by Julie G »

I do not want to start disease in my coronary arteries, but I really do not like the ApoE4 foods. My triglyceride to HDL ratio as of my most recent lipid panel is 1.9, which means that I am insulin resistant and have pattern B LDL, so I should keep my cholesterol and LDL low.
Hi Sabby! Overall, your lipid panel and glycemic markers (HbA1c = 4.9) seem pretty good to me. I'm not seeing any overt signs of insulin resistance. If anything your LDL-C and overall cholesterol seem low. Your zero calcium score and excellent glucose control should offer you reassurance. How are your inflammatory markers, like hs-CRP, homocysteine? Have you checked advanced lipids, oxLDL? HOMA-IR?
For egg yolks, I watched a video where Thomas DeLauer went through the foods that ApoE4s should not eat and eggs were one of them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXrwpotTzEE

I have cholesterol hyperabsorption and according to Dr. Thomas Dayspring, those with this problem should decrease egg intake.
Thanks for sharing your sources. Both presuppose that the diet-heart hypothesis is correct and the ultimate goal is cholesterol lowering. I question that model and tend not to worry about overall cholesterol in the context of low inflammation and glycemic control (with low oxLDL and good cholesterol ratios.) FWIW, I personally think that pastured eggs (with yolks) are one of the healthiest foods that E4 carriers can eat because they are so rich in choline, the precursors to acetylcholine, necessary for memory formation. If you choose to abstain from them, you may want to consider a choline supplement. Women need 425mg per day and most of us are deficient.
I also do not want to eat so much fish due to the contaminants in them. I am aware that mercury can be offset by the selenium but what about the PCBs, PBDEs, dioxins, and chlorinated pesticides. Although I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I came across this page from the Washington State Department of Health in which they recommended no more than 2 to 3 servings of fish from the green category and to avoid the skin and fat because that is where all the toxins store up. https://www.doh.wa.gov/CommunityandEnvi ... yFishGuide
Understood. I think that sourcing matters. I eat seafood at least 4x a week or more and my heavy metal testing has always been low. I focus on low mercury wild-caught seafood, favoring wild-caught Alaskan salmon.
For omega-3s, I take a krill oil pill.
Krill oil is an excellent omega-3 for E4 carriers but may not be enough to get your omega-3 index to >10% to provide optimal neuroprotection. You may want to test to check out your status.
I do not do much physical activity as I am always feeling very tired. I do eat two meals a day but mostly with a 10 hour eating window rather than 8 or less.
I'd love to learn more about you. How old are you? What's you BMI? Any other health concerns? Have you explored a mindfulness or meditation practice? Instead of focusing on your cholesterol panel, you may want to pay attention to how you feel — your energy level, mood, and quality of sleep. These all reveal how well your chosen diet may be working. I question your extraordinarily low amount of carbohydrates and strong focus on avoiding SFA. I can't help but wonder if easing up on all of your dietary restrictions may help you feel better and provide your body with the nutrients it needs to optimally perform.

I recently came across a really interesting Chris Kresser interview entitled Re-Evaluating Cholesterol and It's Effect on Our Health that introduced me to a new framework called the homeoviscous adaptation to dietary lipids (HADL) model, which challenges the diet-heart hypothesis and the mainstream approach to reducing cholesterol, preventing heart disease, and defining a “healthy” diet. I haven't fully absorbed the information but think it may be important to our community.
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Re: Introduction and Help With ApoE4 Diet

Post by Quantifier »

sabby123456789 wrote:
TheHormonePharmacist wrote:
To those looking for more variety: One thing you can do is vary preparation techniques. If salads are getting old, try stir fry (with the protein of your choice thrown in), or oven-roasted vegetables.

If you miss a specific food that is on your 'not OK' list or your 'eat very sparingly' list, one thing you can do is to seek recipes for a substitute from an eating pattern that also exclude that food. For instance, years ago, at a potluck, I had the chance to sample a very convincing vegan 'egg salad' that was made mainly from cashews.

If you don't like the 'fishy' flavor, one thing you can try is good quality sashimi (of low mercury species). (Just notice sabby, you mentioned sashimi already, but that it's not affordable for you, sorry!)

I am seeing a lot more soy products at the supermarket these days, with the right technique and flavoring they can be good protein sources. Whenever I have too many greens that are about to go bad I toss them into a big batch of tofu scramble flavored with garlic, turmeric, pepper, and nutritional yeast. But you can do something similar with many other vegetables. I see bacon-flavored tempeh for those who miss that flavor. Or perhaps try foods from cuisines that use a lot of spices such as Indian or Thai.

Also, for those following Dr Gundry's recommendations, I understand he has a cookbook (or two?) designed for that purpose.
sabby123456789
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Re: Introduction and Help With ApoE4 Diet

Post by sabby123456789 »

Hi Julie,

I haven't posted here for a while. Been dealing with a lot of stress and poor sleep.

I recently bought a bunch of tests through Dave Feldman and Siobhan Huggins' OwnYourLabs website.

My LDL-P, LDL-C, Lp-PLA2, and oxidized LDL were all really high. My small LDL-P, large VLDL-P, HDL-P were also not in the green zone.

For the past few months, I ate:
Simmered chicken drumsticks without the rendered fat.
Lean stew beef.
4 fish oil capsules totaling 1,012 mg of DHA and 2,588 mg of EPA.

Five days before the blood tests, I:
Incorporated cream cheese.
Reduced protein to 50 g.
Restricted calories between 800 to 1600 cal.

My triglycerides went down and my HDL-C went up. I have always wondered how to get my triglycerides down and HDL-C up and even went so far as to eat nothing but avocados and fish, but with no improvement. Maybe this time, it was the fish oil that helped? My triglyceride/HDL ratio is now less than 1.

I don't think the the chicken or beef because raised my markers because I did not eat their fat, unless they somehow had too much fat in them still.

I will definitely have to get rid of the cream cheese though, since I do not want to start plaque development in my arteries.

I have been eating sardines and herring recently, but I have to stop because I seem to have watery stools because of it. I get them in cans from Trader Joe's and Safeway. I'm not sure if it is scrombroid food poisoning.

About avocados and olive oil, I just cannot get myself to acquire the taste for them. Is it necessary to include them? I may be ApoE4/E3, but I have Southern Chinese and Dai ancestry (according to 23&Me), and avocados and olive oil were never available in those regions. Fish would have been. My father and grandmother, who are both ApoE4/E2s, grew up in Hong Kong and never tasted olive oil or avocados until they were in California. My father even said that avocados never became popular until he was well into his adult years.

Here are my values.

LDL-P - 2482 nmol/L

LDL-C (NIH Calc) - 226 mg/dL

HDL-C - 90 mg/dL

Triglycerides - 67 mg/dL

Cholesterol, Total - 325 mg/dL

HDL-P (Total) - 30.8 umol/L

Small LDL-P - 118 nmol/L

LDL Size - 21.6 nm

Large VDL-P - 2.0 nmol/L

Small LDL-P - 118 nmol/L

Large HDL-P - 15.2 umol/L

LDL Size - 21.6 nm

HDL Size - 9.9 nm

LP-IR Score <25

Lipoprotein (a) - 43.9 nmol/L

Oxidized LDL - 76 ng/mL

Lp-PLA2 Activity - 195 nmol/min/mL

Sabby
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Re: Introduction and Help With ApoE4 Diet

Post by CAngelS »

sabby123456789 wrote: Tue Feb 15, 2022 1:30 pm I haven't posted here for a while. Been dealing with a lot of stress and poor sleep.
I’m so sorry for a difficult season, and I hope you’re finding your way. It seems like you know you’d like to flex your diet to something more sustainable, but I wonder if exercising a tight control over what you eat has felt like at least something you can do to fight back against the 4/4 news. (And if so, I totally get that.)

We all have to wrestle with a desire to exert control when we feel otherwise helpless. (Which is more challenging even when our efforts to control seem to be “working” — at least in some ways.) Severe limitations can be harmful, though, both medically and psychologically, so it’s worth looking at overall stress levels, too. Our systems can only “white-knuckle it” for so long.

I thought Julie’s comments and questions were great ones to consider, so I wanted to highlight them again. (bold is mine)
Julie G wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 8:02 am Hi Sabby! Overall, your lipid panel and glycemic markers (HbA1c = 4.9) seem pretty good to me. I'm not seeing any overt signs of insulin resistance. If anything your LDL-C and overall cholesterol seem low. Your zero calcium score and excellent glucose control should offer you reassurance. How are your inflammatory markers, like hs-CRP, homocysteine? Have you checked advanced lipids, oxLDL? HOMA-IR?

…. Thanks for sharing your sources. Both presuppose that the diet-heart hypothesis is correct and the ultimate goal is cholesterol lowering. I question that model and tend not to worry about overall cholesterol in the context of low inflammation and glycemic control (with low oxLDL and good cholesterol ratios.) FWIW, I think that pastured eggs (with yolks) are one of the healthiest foods that E4 carriers can eat because they are so rich in choline, the precursors to acetylcholine, necessary for memory formation. If you choose to abstain from them, you may want to consider a choline supplement. Women need 425mg per day and most of us are deficient.

…. I'd love to learn more about you. How old are you? What's you BMI? Any other health concerns? Have you explored a mindfulness or meditation practice? Instead of focusing on your cholesterol panel, you may want to pay attention to how you feel — your energy level, mood, and quality of sleep. These all reveal how well your chosen diet may be working. I question your extraordinarily low amount of carbohydrates and strong focus on avoiding SFA. I can't help but wonder if easing up on all of your dietary restrictions may help you feel better and provide your body with the nutrients it needs to optimally perform.
It takes time for all of us to work out how we want to tend and lead our own health, but I hope you’ll find a sustainable, life-giving path that works well for you!
"If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else?" (Matthew 5:47)
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