GDM and the Ketone Boogeyman

This was posted yesterday to a Facebook group to which I belong:

Gestational Diabetes. Sister in law is 32 weeks pregnant. Doc is telling her she needs 150-250 carbs per day. Yet her glucose is still high pretty much all day and especially in the morning. She is doing finger pricks like 4 times a day and if she doesn't get her levels below 130, consistently, she will have to have other interventions. I know this can be helped with food...

Being of personal and professional interest to me, I went searching for resources and got busy with some synthesis. The trouble is, ancestral health (AH) sciences have not had a chance to penetrate into the corners of human health conditions yet, meaning the vast majority of relevant published literature focuses on AH issues in adult men, or CW methods of addressing obstetric conditions. There's also a long-standing tradition in medicine to view the adult male as the default physical model, leaving women - and heaven forbid pregnant women - as de facto pathology cases. Combining that conceptual substrata with the diabetic disease state sets off any number of ringing bells and blinking lights that promptly summon the heavy pharmaceutical artillery.

But if we took a step back and changed the underlying assumption to one more in line with AH, and accepted that the female also functions, and that pregnancy is a normal aspect of female physiology, what would we find?

Quick Thoughts on Vitamins D and K

Do you bruise easily? Did you suffer from "shin splint" bone pain as an adolescent? Were you or your children born by caesarian section due to cephalopelvic disproportion (baby's head too big for mother's pelvis)? Trying to conceive (maybe having trouble)? Are you dark-skinned and diabetic? At risk for osteoporosis or hardened arteries? Get your vitamin D levels checked.

Fats, B12 and Dementia

I can't think straight if my house is messy (so imagine how incredibly stimulating my posts would be if only I cleaned instead of blogging!), but no one can think straight if their belly's empty. What is in it is far more important - as you most certainly know - than how much. But have you ever sat down to investigate specifically what your doctor or friendly public health professional meant when they said that taking risks now would have consequences later?

Fun Stuff About Diabetes

No, diabetes is NOT fun; I'm not suggesting it is. I had two family members with the disease, and now I have one. No, the other was not cured. However (how's THAT for a depressing blog intro!?) I am a geek, and I find facts that connect dots to be fun. So when I recently went googling about for academic articles on the science of diabetes, and came up with some results I hadn't expected, I was so excited I had to share. Perhaps you will be surprised too, and perhaps that will trigger some rabbit-hole reserach of your own. If so, let me know what you find! I'm always good for an "oooh! Cool!" when another tidbit falls into place and a picture grows more complete - or a whole new panel opens up.

The Health Hydra (3 of series): Chelation

This is part 3 of a 3-part series. The other posts are here and here.

Most people give their advice and then remind us that they are not a doctor and we should seek qualified help before applying thier suggestions. I'm going to put that right up front. DO NOT attempt to self-diagnose a heavy metal toxicity via Google; get tested, get advice, by all means check that advice against what is said on the web, including here. As with the previous post in this series, this article on heavy metal chelation is a collection of information  that I have gleaned with personal research on websites of various types. I am not a doctor; I haven't even spoken to a health professional of any stripe about ths stuff. I just find it fascinating, and thought you might agree.

The Health Hydra (2 of series): Hormonal Roulette

This is part 2 of a 3-part series. The other posts are here and here.
 
The more I read, in search of illumination on my path to better health, the more I encounter the same words: Hormones. Gut flora. Toxins. Thyroid. One leads to the other, and back again, a hydra chasing its tails.

The Health Hydra (1 of series): Common Environmental Hazards. Like Doctors

This is part 1 of a 3-part series. The other posts are here and here.

I'm always cruising the web, looking up this or that, falling down link wormholes into wonderous new worlds, and generally looking for concise, clear, supported statements on things of interest to me. In a comment string somewhere paleo-diet-related, I came across a reference to Bee Wilder and her Natural Healing Diet. I'd never heard of it. Now you have.

Autumn Muffins (grain- and dairy-free)

I can deal with dietary restrictions; I've had them most of my life. I can walk past whole stores and grocery aisles without a quiver of regret or longing. What sneaks up on me sometimes is a craving for a certain mouthfeel - malted milkshake, for example, or cakey brownie. Being dairy- and grain-free makes it a bit hard to cater to those whims without causing serious and lasting ill-effects that totally negate the pleasure of the indulgence. (The next time someone asks me if I can't just "lighten up" and have something "just this once" I'm going to give them a details run-down of why, no, I can't. Those of you reading this now have fair warning!)