There are 3 macronutrients that are essential to health and survival within the human diet. These macronutrients are carbohydrates, fat, and protein.
There are several reasons that people cut macronutrients from their diet. Some reasons are improving health parameters, aesthetic goals, prevention and management of diseases, intolerances, and dysphagia (difficulty chewing and swallowing).
The macronutrient I chose to remove from my diet was carbohydrates. Eliminating carbs from my diet was intended to manage my PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) as well as to improve my insulin resistance which I was diagnosed with within my 20’s.
My dietary changes started back in 2015 when I adopted a paleo diet. For the past 6 years, I have been gradually transitioning to keto.
During the fall of 2018, I decided to experiment by increasing my coconut oil consumption. This was the only thing about my diet that I changed, and I wanted to see if it would influence my LDL. Call me curious. Call me a scientist.
I had been on a keto diet for 3 years at this point and was anxious to see where my cholesterol and blood sugar levels were at.
My results indicated blood sugar was optimal at 4.8 mg/DL. Still, as for LDL levels, they had skyrocketed to 130 mg/DL in the last year.
With that understanding, cutting out a macronutrient for the long term was not sustainable to my biochemistry. By doing so, I improved and reversed many of my symptoms. Still, by taking my diet to the extreme and implementing keto, my cholesterol levels became dangerously high. And now I am playing around with incorporating carbohydrates in amounts that my insulin output can keep up with.
That said, I believe balance is essential to a healthy diet and a healthy relationship with food. There is no one food that is essentially bad for us and it's important to make them so. By removing a macronutrient that is the source of 1/3 of our diets means we compensate by increasing consumption of another macronutrient- In my case it was fat in the form of coconut oil (saturated).
I also think it is necessary for health to get a full blood panel done annually to check for nutrient deficiencies, blood sugar, hormone levels, and cholesterol.
My biggest takeaway from this experiment is to pursue all aspects of health with an air of moderation and keep in mind that balanc
e truly is the source of longevity and health.
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Blessings
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