As a matter of precaution before starting taking rapamycin and acarbose, I had blood work done recently. Everything looks good, except is seems my triglycerides are kind of high for my age. Instead of being < 90 mg/dL, my levels are around ~110 mg/dL. My other lipid levels are good, but still on the higher end:
I know taking rapamycin is known to disregulate lipid homeostasis, so I was concerned about this. I will probably build up to 3mg/week rapa and do another blood test in a year.
I don’t eat a lot of meat most days (instead mostly eggs) because I don’t like handling meat while cooking lol. But not vegetarian.
Keep in mind afaict they discriminate early 20s levels of these biomarkers against adult biomarkers (I’m in my early 20s), so what could be a healthy level later in age might not be healthy for me right now if that makes sense.
Cut down on your carbs, if your glycogen stores are full all the carbs you eat are converted to triglycerides. You could also add in some hiit (you carry around 2000 kcal worth of glycogen so that’s a lot of exercise ) and/or fasting to empty your glycogen
This is great information! I’ve never heard that carbs can become triglycerides. My triglycerides are a little high but I do have a sweet tooth.
Tangentially on that point, I’ve heard that appetite can be affected by the gut microbiome—that you think you’re hungry for something, but it’s the gut bacteria that are hungry and are sending signals to your brain.
On that theory I’m consuming a lot more probiotics, mostly from food but also in capsule form from time to time. Also lots of fiber, both from food and powder.
Hopefully this will help lower my hunger for carbs, lower my carbs and maybe triglycerides too.
By taking acarbose I’m hoping it indirectly lowers my triglycerides and other cholestrol markers since it prevent the breakdown of complex carbs into glucose, but there is probably some biological context I’m missing here right?
Our bodies do not like to waste anything but as storage of carbs is limited to around 400g (100g in the liver, the rest in your muscle) the rest gets converted to fats. Amino acids of course too but they are virtually impossible to overeat
For probiotics try finding some real kefir grains, kefir is very easy to make, very satiating and has the best probiotic culture
Good news– my doc said that my levels are normal and could be dependent off of the food I ate the day before. Now I’m less worried!
Thinking this through… some people get raised triglycerides while on rapamycin. If Rapa tells cells to ignore the nutrient rich environment and to clean-up and repair instead of growing and building, then people who eat normally on rapa days may end up with excess calories in the system that are turned to fats. Does this make sense? Seem likely? Does this suggest that we should eat less on dosage days?
wouldn’t necessarily jump to that conclusion. in the ITP both rapa and control groups of mice were fed the same way and there was still the lifespan effect. It might not be the calories that matter, but what you eat instead*
*I would read some of these papers that are in the following link before I state anything remotely conclusive. Haven’t read any of them myself but seems like they offer differing viewpoints to whether or not rapa increases cholestrol/triglycerides: https://elicit.org/search?q=does+rapamycin+increase+fat+stores&token=01GJFRW5KGGCZA4N228A43X4FJ
Citation? I know the opposite. If you eat carbs alone, it will not get converted and stored as fat.
That’s common knowledge in physiology and just the only explanation possible in the light of the laws of thermodynamics: we don’t excrete glucose normally and we can only store 400g of them so the rest we must store otherwise
Not sure what you mean by this. Is Glycogen Glucose?
Common knowledge is not good science. What is assert without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Lots can happen with carbs after ingestion, like trafficked as trigs.
Do TGs even damage the cell, especially if they are elevated in isolation? FFAs are worse.
Also doesn’t the composition of TG matter (eg olive oil)?
Closing the loop on your kefir comment, I did go out and purchase some kefir grains. Thank you for the suggestion!
Here’s my experience for those who may be interested:
I went to a few different websites and decided to go with Yemoos for the grains purchase. Kefir (kay-feer) grains are the starter culture. They look like tough gelatin marbles. The grains are the actual colony of beneficial yeasts and bacterium.
I purchased the intermediate kefir kit, which included 1.5 tablespoons of grains, a strainer, a wooden spoon, and a cotton topper for your kefir jar, which lets air through as the milk ferments. I also supplied myself a large red funnel, which fits the strainer perfectly and lets me pour the kefir into a glass. Otherwise you must strain into a bowl. I also supplied a large glass jar.
The kefir grains came quickly. Opening the package they smelled like beer, fresh bread, and sourdough bread.
I mixed the grains with 1/2 cup pasteurized “natural” milk from a local farm (they don’t sell raw milk) and 1/2 cup ultra-pasteurized, which is what the kids tend to drink normally.
So the jar of grains and milk mixture with the cotton cap on top went into a low kitchen cabinet for 24 hours.
The next day the milk was fermented! It was slightly less than 24 hours, because I wanted to establish the 24 hour schedule as the morning, but the grains had arrived the previous afternoon.
They say your first few batches will be a little off as the cultures recover from being mailed and as they become accustomed to the new milk.
This first batch was tangy. I wasn’t sure I liked it. I only drank a little to let my gut get used to the new microbes.
The kefir has three parts: the whey which is clearish liquid that pours through the strainer first, the curds which are soft and push right through the strainer with some pressure from a wooden spoon, and the grains which are rubbery and tough and would never press through the strainer no matter how hard you pushed.
Today is my second day and the kefir was much more delicious today than yesterday!
I poured off the whey and drank it first with some honey mixed in. It was like an effervescent drink of watered down apple cider vinegar. It was delicious.
Then I poured the true kefir, which is the curd particles, into my oatmeal. They only hold together loosely, so it’s easy to mix them with a spoon into a creamy drink. I sipped it before putting it in my oatmeal an it was also very nice with an air of potency. Fresh, crisp, slightly tangy. It was like a cream soda.
Some people take this kefir and put it in an airtight container to sit for another day. This will make it carbonated like a champaign. Make sure you burp it once or twice a day so it doesn’t explode from pressure.
All in all I’m very happy with this experience. The current grains ferment about a cup of milk every 24 hours into kefir and whey. It’s a satisfying routine, nice taste (will tomorrow taste even better I wonder?) and honestly, it feels amazing to be working with the natural world this way. I feel a connection to the kefir culture. I help it and it helps me.
I’m still a newbie. It I’d be happy to answer any questions people might have. No connection to Yemoos, by the way; I just thought they seemed like good people.
Nice, just one remark and a tip:
First the remark, it is kay feer pronouncing ke as kee is something only English speakers would do due to the English vowel shift, the rest of the world kept their vowels
And as a tip, use Jersey A2 milk for the thickest creamiest kefir. Raw milk adds a different flavour which will keep for a few batches so I alternate between A2 and regular raw milk
Thanks on both accounts! I edited the post to say Kay-feer. Also I’d never heard of A2 milk. In Michigan A2 is a reference to Ann Arbor, so I naturally assumed it was a Michigan company. But I see A2 milk actually refers to a different protein in the milk. I’ll check it out
It might actually be the Jersey milk but there is only A2 Jersey milk in the store (they also make a1), regular holsteiners frisians always make a1
