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John C's avatar

"LDL only matters is the particle size is small"

You are checking all the boxes on the contrarian 'food influencer' playlist. I'll get my saturated fat advice from the American Heart Association ( <6% of daily calories ).

I didn't ask about 'VLDL'. I will assume that your total LDL is well above conventional health guidelines (>100 mg/dl).

Any arrhythmias, a common side effect of extreme athleticism?

Any concerns regarding the studies that find that bodybuilders have significantly shorter lifespan than the general population?

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Brian Erb's avatar

I think European diet guidelines are every bit as valid as the AHA if not more. I was just in France. More saturated fat, less high glycemic carbs and sugar in everything. My total cholesterol is well under 200 but there is plenty of evidence that complicates the idea that cholesterol on its own means anything. I could do a lit review for you but that is sort of what I get paid for. Plenty of docs I worked with at Nebraska Medical Center didn't buy saturated fat phobia or the reliance on cholesterol as an independent risk factor.

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John C's avatar

I've been to France too.

Their 2011 health guidelines recommended <10% saturated fat calories.

The 2019 dietary guidelines in France say :

Recommends moving towards:

--organic foods, seasonal and locally produced foods

--starchy foods (pasta, bread, rice, semolina, potatoes), which can be eaten every day, by favouring complete starchy foods

--fish, twice a week including one oily fish (sardines, mackerel, herring, salmon)

...

Recommends limiting:

--the consumption of meats, while favouring poultry and limiting other meats (pork, beef, veal, mutton, lamb, offal) to 500 g per week

--the consumption of processed meat, to 150 g per week

Is your 8 ounces of grass-fed meat per day 3X the French guideline?

Glad to hear your LDL (not stated) is <200.

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Brian Erb's avatar

I said 8 ounces of meat a day. I didn't say it was all red meat. Sardines, chicken too (I'd eat more sardines if my wife didnt complain - its my mother in law that got me into sardines!”. I've lately eaten more eggs instead of some meat. People dont get fat or die from sardines and eggs. And the French vastly exceed those guidelines and smoke! Weird to see the French still smoking, though not nearly to the degree as when I studied there in the late 80s.

What do you think of the expert recommendations on medicalization of youth gender distress? Another great example of a non consensus being made a consensus when disconfirming research evidence was ignored for other reasons. Of course “trust expert consensus” is generally the least costly error than “do your own research” but nutrition science is a very contested field among experts. And many experts have animal welfare motives driving the nutrition train (understandable!).

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Brendan B's avatar

Very interesting conversation, guys. But compared to the average American, you're both eating way healthier and exercising way more. The difference between animal protein and plant protein will be a small difference in comparison and not matter to the bigger conversation, but of course continue to explore.

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Brian Erb's avatar

Yes, I have indeed had afib from years of endurance sports. Athleticism combined with height "I'm 6'4". Height (and bring male) seems to be a huge factor with this because we start out with large hearts. I am.in the first properly large cohort of masters athletes to be guinea pigs on this. I've been electrocardioverted twice un the cath lab, once with flecanide, but not any issues since ablation in 2020 (and I've toned it back some since hallux rigidus/Achilles injury derailed running which was my original sport. I dont recommend what i do for all around health. I lean into endurance because it's what I excel at, but I mostly row now (just started that in March( after a decade of riding. I'd recommend others lift more and just modest endurance.

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