AF and low carb diet

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An ER dr once told me I was in AF because of low carbs.

Before my ablation my GP put me in 50 carbs a day...lots of AF occurred.

On the flip side, I would get AF after eating a high carb meal. Once 2 slices of gluten free bread, 2 rice cakes and hummus (chick peas/garbanzo beans) put me in AF.

I asked my GP today how much carbs should I have. He doesn’t know now (has a separate degree in nutrition)

So I am confused. I started my diet again (10 pounds to pre kids weight a million years ago) and I am clueless. The past two days I had under 900 calories because I reached 80 carbs (no longer 50) and I didn’t want a fatty almond yogurt just to get to 1000 calories because I had a surplus of fat left available for the day. So I went to bed hungry. I filled up on 10 oz of protein and lots and lots of veggies, broths and a yogurt and a gluten free tortilla and 2 rice cakes during the day.

Seems to me intake of whole foods (including healthy fats to keep a good Omega 3/Omega 6 ratio) that keep your blood sugar level to as close as possible to 83mg/dl (Dr Bernstein, presumably he knows what he's talking about since he will be Type I for 75 years by next year) and protein balance slightly positive.

Especially when initiating a low carb or keto diet, there can be electrolyte disturbances. This can precipitate afib. I've been keto adapted for over 10 years. I've done at least thirty 5-7 day water fasts including nineteen of these over 38 weeks. The only time it was an issue was when I was initially keto adapting. I did a hard step down to 20g/day carbs. I supplemented potassium & magnesium, but not enough. When insulin drops low, it can signal the kidney to excrete sodium. This excretion can be extreme enough that potassium can be excreted, too. Sodium (table) salt supplementation, along with potassium and magnesium can mitigate this risk. Excess carbs can also cause potassium to be excreted in the urine, so a high carb diet isn't a panacea. It is a balancing act.

My diet tends to be mildly ketogenic, but is fairly high carb for someone in mild ketosis: 150-200 g/day. I still test mild levels of betahydroxybuterate (<1 mmol/L). However if I start fasting, by day 3, I'm at >4 mmol/L and my glucose is in the 50's (mg/dL - 3's mmol/L).

As I say, since the two week initial adaptation period (ten years ago) and single afib episode, my dietary exploration have not been an afib trigger.

Indeed extreme values. Suspect many Doctors would get very worried with these numbers?

Quote
Joe
Indeed extreme values. Suspect many Doctors would get very worried with these numbers?

Most aren't aware of the work of Dr. George Cahill at Harvard in the 1960's. This is a retrospective of his career <[thehealthsciencesacademy.org] from p6 "Three very intelligent obese subjects were selected for a five- to six-week starvation study (Figures 1 and 2). Urinary nitrogen excretion fell to 4–5 grams/day, and catheterization of the jugular, as we expected, showed some two thirds of brain fuel consumption to be D-β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate, markedly diminishing the need for muscle proteolysis to provide gluconeogenic precursors (Figure 3). Thus, a normal adult human could survive two months of starvation; an obese person could survive much longer. Were it not for the β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate providing brain fuel, we Homo sapiens might not be here!" In Dr. Owen's studies, they fasted the subjects for 40+ days and then injected with insulin dropping their glucose to 1 mmol/L (18 mg/dL) with no cognitive issues whatsoever. Obviously these subjects were well keto adapted, so that the brain fuel was provided by ketones. The results of this are shown in the figures following p6. For someone who is not adapted, these low glucose values can be fatal. I am not suggesting anyone follow my lead. I've been playing this game for over 10 years and have spent a lot of time reviewing the research before I act and experiment.

To your point, Joe, when I told my neurologist rock climbing buddy of my low blood sugar/gym experience, he said that the only people he'd seen with blood sugar in the 30's were comatose.

It turns out I have a genetic risk for AlzD. Studies of people with my genetics have shown defects in their brain glucose metabolism as early as their 30's (age). By having some betahydroxybuterate running around in my system, it can help offset these glucose metabolism defects as the ketone energy metabolism is done by a different pathway than the one used by glucose.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2019 07:49AM by GeorgeN.