You might find, like Dr. Ede did, that lower protein helps with that highish FBG.

A couple more thoughts on dairy....When I realized I had celiac disease I was a mess digestively, virtually every single food out there bothered me. I gave up gluten and dairy too for maybe 8 or 9 months, can't remember exactly, but I'm guessing everything healed because when I added back limited dairy I had no real problem AND all those other sensitivities went away too.

Now, however, I do get bloated and don't feel so good if I have more than just a bit of dairy, so I'm careful. I love Fage full fat yogurt but can't eat it more than once in awhile. I am conscioius to severely limit dairy, always. And as I said before, I've often broken stalls with my cheesecake....perhaps due to the dose of higher fat I get from it, but given the nice losses I've had I guess it didn't stall me. An interestingly, the cheesecake gives me no digestive issues whereas the Fage Total yogurt does. Go figure!

I saw Mark Hyman on the Oz show and he mentioned dairy being bad because it has hormones. I'd always been thinking it was "added hormones" for the cow's growth and milk production, but that's apparently not the issue according to him. He said the COW produced hormones that went into the milk which were designed for baby calf growth and weight gain. So that's the reason it might not be good for us in the long run. Or at the very least, we should have it in small amounts.

I remember reading about Marilu Henner, who is very nicely slim and who totally avoids dairy. She calls it "bovine sludge". Ugh!

The little villi in your intestines get flattened with celiac disease and they can't process lactose. That's why some people seem to have issues with dairy as well as gluten, when they are celiacs.

I think the issue for me is casein or whey, the proteins in dairy.

That was interesting. I looked up that gene on 23andme and found I am a CT. That means I don't have the best response to either diet. Blah!

To update my brief experiment.

I gave up my cream cheesy eggs for one week and reduced my cheese intake generally. I found I was pretty hungry still and wanted to eat more. I did have some greek yogurt however.

After a week, I've gone back to cream cheesy eggs for my breakfast, and less hungry which is making me happy ! I have not increased my general cheese back to previous levels, and don't have as much yogurt now either.

I've lost a belt loop in size, not weighed myself and had TOM last week during this experiment.

All in all, it's hard to pin point what worked / didn't work. But no bloating / hives since putting cream cheese back in my diet. I'm happy which is the main thing, and 2 people have commented on my slimmer size which is always nice!

PG!

Yes, that's true about villi. When my mom was diagnosed she had an endoscopy, and doctors told her that her intestines were smooth as a billiard ball, no villi left. On a gluten free diet they regenerated within about 6 to 8 months. She has never had issues with dairy, oddly enough. When I got tested thru Enterolab, I got a casein sensitivity test which they claimed was strongly reactive, and they said I should stay away from dairy just as dilligently as I should stay away from gluten. I've actually found it a harder thing to totally eliminate dairy than the gluten. Also, the fact that I can apparently have very limited dairy without obvious digestive consequences is interesting. Of course, unseen damage could be occurring from it, I guess. I'm still thinking of giving it another go to totally eliminate dairy for awhile, just to see what happens. It can't hurt.

I might try lowering protein at some point. I have been wondering if the high fat experiment I tried last year failed because I was relying so heavily on dairy - lots of cheese and cream. I was miserably hungry and weak, and the weight loss was painfully slow - then it stopped altogether. Maybe I would have had better results if I'd tried non-dairy sources of fat.

I think I'll continue for another four weeks the way I've been going.

Lowering protein didn't do anything for my FBG, but I would only try it a few days at a time. I'm beginning to think reversing physiological insulin resistance takes a longer change in diet composition of more starch, more glucose. Like you, the PP readings are fine. But after two years of low carb, my FBG and Fasting insulin are both higher, so at this point, have to accept all this as the explanation.
Interesting about using the dairy when you tried a high fat diet previously.

It is really hard to do high fat, lower protein, when you don't use dairy.

It's been 8 weeks today since I started my dairy free experiment. I've lost a total of about 12 pounds - from 236 to 224. Most of that, however, was at the very beginning, and I suspect it had more to do with tightening up my diet (reducing carbs) than eliminating dairy.

I feel good. Not hungry. No mood or energy issues. I've been hovering around 224 with no effort for about 3 weeks now. So I intend to go for another 4 weeks without making any other changes.

My fasting blood glucose remains elevated - higher than it was elevated on a low carb diet that included dairy.

I wanted to stop in and report my progress over the last month. It's been 12 weeks now on my dairy free experiment

I fully expected when I made my last report that I'd be telling you that I'd stalled at 224 and would be gradually adding dairy back in, starting with butter. However, to my surprise my weight started dropping again shortly after my last post, and I'm now at around 216. So, about 8 pounds lost over the third four week period. 20 pounds over the course of the 12 weeks.

Full disclosure: in early April I increased my focus on eating grassfed beef and bison. This wasn't new in my diet, but I've made a point of eating only grassfed beef, avoiding grainfed. Also, I greatly increased my intake of chia seeds - from approximately 1 T to 3 or 4 T per day. I don't know if either of those made a difference in weight loss, but I thought I'd mentioned it in case it was a factor.

My fasting blood glucose has dropped. My blood pressure is currently the same as it's been for years - slightly elevated. But there was a period of about a week in early April when it dropped to normal - something I haven't seen since I started monitoring my blood pressure almost a decade ago.

My energy level is decent, and I'm not feeling ravenously hungry as I did with some other experiments.

My mood has been okay until the last week when I've felt depressed. I'm also sleeping very badly. Maybe a coincidence - although I can think of no reason for either problem.

I intend to stay the course for another four weeks.

Wow! that is great news. You must be very happy to be so near your goal. So you haven't even added back any butter in 12 weeks? Do you know without butter, cream or other dairy if your fat % is lower?
I occasionally make a chia seed pudding as a dairy replacement, but it is not a regular part of my diet. How do you eat that amount? Thanks for updating us and sharing your tips!

I always set my goal a bit lower than my current weight. It's too depressing to set it where it really needs to be.



I haven't been tracking my food, so I can't say for sure what my ratios are, but I suspect my fat percentage is lower. I believe I'm also eating more carb than I normally would while trying to lose. I'm eating a lot of chili with beans. I'm snacking on nuts. I'm even having a pint of coconut milk ice cream once a week.



I've been eating a pudding made with 1 c unsweetened chocolate almond milk, 1 T splenda, and 3 T chia seeds.

I also throw some in my chilis and stews, but the bulk of it is in that pudding.

What an awesome outcome!

It can take a while for these nutritional experiments to really kick in, I believe. Patience is key!

Thanks. I'm pleased - and surprised - by the results so far. I'd pretty much given up hope. I agree that it can time for your body to adjust to these nutritional changes. The cool thing about this one is it's sustainable. I'm happy with what I can eat. I'm not feeling weak, hungry, or deprived.