My Carnivore Insomnia Fix - Finally Found the Cause | It Took Me 6 Mos. of Tracking

as some of you know I started eating carnivore about a year ago as an experiment and an Elimination Diet a few years prior to that I was eating a mixture of Keto to ketovore so I've been eating low carb for a very long time now done a couple of videos about disrupted sleep on Carnivore and keto and this is where I wake up between midnight and 3:00 a.m. I know that hundreds to thousands of you out there are dealing with the exact same issue due to all the comments on my past videos some people will tell you that it's totally normal and that we should be sleeping in a biphasic manner many of us don't have the ability or the time or the interest to sleep in that way which involves breaking up your sleep into two segments and taking a nap again later in the morning that is not for me [Music] personally so some of you out there are older and you may have assumed that your sleep issue is just related to your age and I just received a comment like this from a man who's in his 70s and then he realized that there were all of us younger people as well dealing with the same issue so it obviously seems to be diet related I have really struggled with doing this video because this situation is so complicated but many of you have commented on my previous videos asking if I found a sleep solution I've spent the last 6 months tracking myself like a crazy person documenting every single aspect of my day and night from food intake to blood sugar levels ketones cortisol other hormones and other lab work to try to figure out what in the world is going on with my sleep and other issues I am also working with an excellent doctor and I'd personally like to consult with a couple of other experts because I still have some questions I believe I know what my issues are and before we get into it number one I am not a doctor and this is not at all any type of medical advice this is just my theory based on my personal experiences lab work and extensive research I'm going to put links to studies Down Below in the description I also have a forum on my website where we can chat this topic and these issues are complex but I'm going to do my best to try to condense things down here I believe that I am dealing with insulin suppression a term introduced by Dr cus who is well known in the keto and carnivore communities he has years of clinical experience helping patients with their metabolic health and he specializes in low carb keto and carnivore diets prolonged low carb eating can lead to excessively low insulin levels he says that it looks like insulin resistance but it's actually insulin suppression an insulin suppression where you haven't had a carbohydrate response for such a long time that the glp1 system is not actively able to release insulin so insulin suppression even when you eat glucose so if you take a a person who's a lean mass Hypes carnivore is insulin suppressed and you give them 75 gram of glucose to eat which is a standard oral glucose tolerance test their blood sugar goes screaming up and stays up for a long time but if you measure the insulin by definition it's flat it's below 30 units of insulin at a peak which we call a craft pattern five which is equivalent to type 1 diabetes because the system is as broken in a different way as it is with um uh with your insulin suppressed insulin resistant patients insulin is a hormone that has multiple functions other than Just Energy control the concern though is that you don't have insulin so your protein synthesis your autophagy all of those things are failing and become problematic when you don't have insulin we need that insin so those folks should be consuming a little bit more sugar and when they trigger insulin when they're producing insulin that very very high cholesterol comes down we've seen that every day in my office as we put people on our carbohydrate carnivore diet I make sure that there's a little bit of carbohydrate in my diet to trigger insulin and yes my cholesterol is high it's 240 but it's not 34500 I'm not sure if you noticed this but he mentioned the term lean mass hyperresponders or L mhrs I know that some of you have heard this term before and others may not have but Dr cus Associates it with those who are insulin suppressed I actually just received lab work results this morning from a new doctor and the results show that I am a lean mass hyper responder it's basically a phenotype or a group of people which includes someone who has been eating low carb for a very long time and they present with a very unique and unusual set of cholesterol lab numbers I'm going to share all of my labs shortly my doctor seemed pretty concerned he diagnosed me with Hyper lipidemia which has never happened before and he recommended a change in diet or statins there is research on this topic of lean mass hyperresponders and also an excellent video by Nick norwitz and I will share a link to that down below I am not against carnivore by the way not at all I think it can be an ideal option for some people I think it's important to keep in mind how very different we all are and what works for one person may not work for another in the same way when we drastically change our way of eating we are essentially experimenting on ourselves and it can have far-reaching implications your body will always strive for homeostasis to create a balance but in the process you may have some struggles I received a comment recently by a lady who said she thought her hunger hormones were completely haywire and I am experiencing that as well understanding insulin's role is so important when you eat carbohydrates Ates your body releases insulin to Usher glucose into your cells for energy but with minimal carbohydrate intake over time the need for insulin diminishes this is where a problem may arise for some people if you're lean and Insulin suppressed from long-term carbohydrate restriction some people end up with issues like what I'm dealing with which I'm going to share in this video I'm also going to address the Sleep issue but first I want to talk about Hunger signaling problems and a big problem that I'm personally having I've seen this topic brought up repeatedly by people who are eating carnivore and experiencing unbelievable insatiable excessive hunger so I saw this post on Reddit recently where a guy was experiencing this excessive hunger related issue which I also have and many people seem to have I noticed in the comments and the replies some people were consuming upwards of 4,000 calories per day and still saying you know you have to just keep eating until you're full but the problem is a lot of people are not experiencing that sensation of fullness like they were previously and so this can become extremely expensive and extremely difficult to have to eat so much and you know it's also very distracting when your mind is consumed with eating and eating and eating and that seems to be what happens when you have this type of ravenous hunger so it really is a problem and I don't think people understand it this can happen for several different reasons first first he needs to make sure that he is consuming enough fat with his food let's say that he was consuming enough fat then I believe this can also happen due to low insulin levels and changes in your hunger and satiety hormones gin is released actually from the GI tract its main role is to increase your desire to eat now the signal for gin is reduced glucose levels in the blood [Music] [Music] for most people after eating their insulin levels will increase triggering a feeling of fullness there was a fascinating study on this shared by the channel physionic the researchers of the study recruited four men and two women that were diabetic and another four men and two women that were non-diabetic and then these individuals had insulin administered to their bloodstream by infusion the researchers had five conditions they tested but we'll only focus on a few of them condition one included no previous manipulation of the diabetic group just fasting overnight condition two the diabetic participants were primed with insulin overnight before the study or measurement period began condition three the diabetic participants were primed with insulin for 67 hours before the measurement period Then the researchers had a control group including the healthy non-diabetic individuals that were given insulin only during the experimental period and the final group was the healthy participants given only saline so no insulin here we're looking at gin again the higher the Gin the association with greater hunger or said differently reduce gin implies less hunger as we see the insulin Administration to the healthy non-diabetic individuals led to a steady decline in Gin this was also observed in the diabetic individuals but the effect was significantly delayed the same was not true for any other diabetic condition that involved priming with insulin before the experiment this data implies that healthy individuals experience reductions in Gin when they are exposed to insulin and that diabetic individuals might as well but the sensitivity to insulin is reduced leading to a dampened effect this is interesting because it means that on a purely insulin Centric basis through gin diabetics get less dampening of their hunger after an equal meal potentially there's another hormone you may have heard of and it's called glucagon like peptide 1 or glp1 I'm sure you've heard of the drug OIC the reason OIC works so effectively at helping people to lose weight is because it makes them feel like they're not hungry this is done by activating glp1 a hormone that makes you feel full and satisfied as well as delaying gastric emptying how does this relate to insulin glp1 is what triggers the release of insulin so it's very important it is primarily released from the intestines in response to the ingestion of carbohydrates as well as certain types of fats certain types of fats from meat may not elicit glp1 secretion as effectively as others this has been shown in research for example saturated fats which are abundant in some cuts of beef have been reported to have a relatively weaker effect on glp1 secretion compared to unsaturated fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats a 2021 research review showed that unsaturated fats like those in olive oil are better at stimulating glp1 release than saturated fats like butter research shows that eggs especially the whites trigger glp1 quite effectively glp1 is also important as it slows gastric emptying leaving you feeling full for longer and allowing proper nutrient absorption you want it to be at a normal rate for absorption and to maintain proper blood sugar levels after you eat your meals this study investigated the rate of gastric emptying on a high fat diet versus high carbohydrate subjects consuming a high-fat diet had a significant acceleration of gastric emptying whereas eating a high carb meal had no impact on the normal emptying patterns this is just one study but it is insightful because once you experience quicker gastric emptying your gin or hunger hormone will be released and you'll be hungry again very soon after eating I've looked into this because it is something that I'm personally dealing with and what I've been experiencing since starting carnivore for example I can eat a very fatty ribeye and as I nearly finished eating it my stomach feels even emptier and I feel hungrier as I'm finishing my meal it honestly feels like I ate absolutely nothing or my all meat meal it just like disappeared after I ate it right away and it's really unusual this has become a big problem for me because it's disruptive to my daily life when I feel like I need to kind of obsessively plan and cook a lot of food and eat a lot of food I have monitored the amount of fat I'm taking in also because it's very very important to get enough fat and even though I am consuming a fat I still have this issue and I think the ribey is a good demonstration of that my theory is that glp1 is low and gin is obviously High according to research gin the hunger hormone increases when you have an empty stomach or low blood glucose grelin is also thought to be involved in the sleep wake cycle regulation process studies show that shorter sleep duration is associated with high grin Levels by adding in certain carbohydrates whether during the daytime to alleviate issues during the day or at night I found it to really help with the incessant hunger issues and this is supported by research it takes longer for the food to digest when consuming some carbs so it slows down digestion a bit keeping you full longer and having an impact on glucose levels I've noticed a pattern related to my early wakeup on the nights when I managed to sleep longer my glucose levels tend to hover around the '90s in the morning although sometimes they're also in the 80s during periods of the worst and shortest sleep I often find myself with lower blood glucose levels I also find that I wake up feeling unbelievably hungry here you can see my levels were in the upper 70s to low 80s very early in the morning between midnight and 3:00 a.m. so if I continue to sleep the numbers will probably continue to lower and I believe my body is waking me up before the glucose gets too low I've had episodes of hypoglycemia when my glucose was in the upper 70s prior to carnivore I would not eat very soon after waking up I could go very long time and I didn't have excessive hunger because I think my blood sugar levels were very stable and so this whole experience is quite new to me as a result I now am so hungry I have my first meal within a few hours of waking up and I try to wait as long as possible I've done numerous tests and tried many of your suggestions to help me get better and longer sleep and a couple of the things that I've done have actually helped out quite a lot even though it may work now it doesn't mean that it's a solution for everyone or that it'll even work for me tomorrow or next week because things seem to be changing all the time for better sleep I eat my last meal 2 to 3 hours before bed I've learned that eating some carbs with that meal helps me to sleep better by stabilizing my glucose levels overnight I then tend to wake up with my glucose levels in the '90s although sometimes it's also in the 80s at times when my sleep has been really bad it's sometimes associated with me being in deeper ketosis and having lower glucose levels I've found that adding in small amounts of carbs during the day also helps with the hunger issues that I mentioned after eating that meat Rich meal I then eat a few organic carrots this is what's worked for me recently these contain some carbohydrates and different nutrients on the days when I have done this I have slept so much better and I've woken up very refreshed it feels like it helps to slow down the Digest Ive process or gastric emptying because it's a harder substance with fiber and it takes longer to digest I'm eating it raw it seems like this has a very positive effect on my blood glucose level so that they don't get too low when I'm sleeping and they tend to be higher when I wake up some people don't like that but I need that right now also I know people highly dislike the word fiber and I do too I have never understood why doctors push the topic of fiber so much they tend to push it and recommend grains and vegetables and things things that I can't eat at this point though I do understand why they can be helpful I've also done an experiment with making chili with ground beef this was a super basic chili that included ground beef cooked with a little onion I then added a can or two of tomato sauce or pasta sauce with no added sugar had lots of seasonings to make it taste like chili I can't tolerate beans so I didn't add any of those I also added avocado to it that night I slept 9 and 1/2 hours and I woke up at 5:00 a.m. it was amazing GL glucose was in the '90s the next morning and even though I sometimes sleep longer I am still struggling with my 3:00 a.m. wakeup because my body clock has become very accustomed to waking up at that time I'm also working out more and getting in more steps because I've noticed that this can also really help with fixing sleep issues I also added a/4 cup of rice recently with a meal and I slept almost until 5:00 a.m. this just happened this week and for those who are concerned about being kicked out of ketosis of course everybody is different with their metabolic Health but the following morning when I ended up testing my ketones and glucose my Ketone levels were at one even though these little tweaks are helping I still haven't added in that many carbs yet because honestly I'm really not used to it but I am going to work on triggering insulin more by adding in more carbs than what I have right now but it's going to take time if you're introducing things in after having very few carbs for a long time you you want to be really careful not to cause blood sugar spikes or reactive hypoglycemia certain foods can do that to you and certain ways of eating can really contribute to it for example if your stomach is empty and you have something high in sugar like a banana that could cause a great spike in your glucose levels and it could potentially cause you to have reactive hypoglycemia I've tested this out on myself with honey on an empty stomach I was totally fine with one teaspoon of honey no terrible reactions but testing the effects on my glucose and ketones when I consume two teaspoons on an empty stomach which is equivalent to 12 grams of sugar I had reactive hypoglycemia later as a result and it was not fun I experienced shortness of breath my heart was racing dizziness confusion I was a bit panicky felt very weird and my face felt very fuzzy and my tongue almost felt numb it was pretty bad and the glucose levels were were low for me my Baseline glucose was 84 and ketones were 1.8 about 4 hours later my glucose was 79 and the ketones were two that's when I experienced my worst hypoglycemia symptoms the whole thing about me being in ketosis also is kind of a confusing thing so if you have any thoughts on it please let me know down below hypoglycemia is often associated with glucose levels lower than 70 but mine was at 76 and on numerous other occasions I've had symptoms when my levels were in the upper 70s one way to avoid this is to consume those car carbs right after eating your protein and fats if I do that in the evening as an example by the next morning I'm in ketosis with a level of one often times this of course depends on what you've eaten and how your body responds but that's just my experience right now if you're experiencing any similar issues to what I've mentioned here I recommend getting some blood work done you can test your insulin levels fasting blood glucose and C peptide to get a really good overall picture of what is going on also hba1c also get your cholesterol levels and complete blood count done as well if it's possible according to Dr cus some people with insulin suppression will notice other changes in their lab work such as increased cholesterol levels a rising triglyceride level and bu I've also heard of some people dealing with hormonal issues like low testosterone I believe Dr saladino had that problem and after adding in some carbs he added in a lot of carbs uh his levels have normalized when tested my insulin was 3.7 glucose 82 and C peptide was 1 1.1 my hba1c went from 4.9 on keto to 5 on Carnivore still pretty low on Carnivore my cholesterol was 377 triglycerides 116 HDL 95 and LDL 242 here you can see my very latest cholesterol Labs on the top I just received these from my new doctor and it looks like I've had some slight improvements because I've been trying to add some foods back in I was mostly concerned with my triglycerides being high at the last test so I'm glad that's now fixed I am not overly concerned about these numbers but my doctor definitely is these numbers seem to fluctuate so much depending on what I'm eating at the time and when I used to eat very unhealthy these numbers were considered way better and much lower the current Labs show that I am a lean mass hyper responder which I mentioned earlier in the video I'm going to continue working with my doctor on all of this and I'm also slowly and carefully adding some carbohydrates back in I'm intolerant to many vegetables but I haven't had any real issues with the carrots if you've eaten carnivore for more than a couple of months you will be sensitive to foods that you add back in and that is totally and completely normal it might be frustrating because you're going to need to possibly add them in very slowly in order to regain your ability to digest them easily that's my situation anyway I've added in avocados which used to help me with having that feeling of being full prior to eating carnivore they help to trigger glp1 it seems that the effect that used to have doesn't really work anymore it's very dampened but I'm still eating them hoping that it'll help some carnivores are against eating all vegetables and I find more of a problem with vegetables than with fruits for example tomatoes olives cucumbers and avocados are actually all fruits and not everybody knows that for me those things don't cause me any stomach problems to eat them but if I want to have something more difficult to break down in my stomach with more fiber I'm going to go for the carrots in order to slow down the gastric emptying or to help help trigger glp1 to help me feel full after eating I'm going to focus on trying to add in some type of food with my meal stuff like carrots avocados some nuts Etc things that help with glp1 I also like to eat organic blueberries a few times a week after my meal but I try to do that earlier in the day not with my last meal just by adding in such small amounts of carbs with my meals I'm finding that I am not ravenous and I'm waking up and not feeling as insanely hungry as I did before and I enjoy eating more of a variety of foods doing this experiment has made me really really appreciate other foods and I understand that for some people this is out of the question because they have food addictions and if they eat a little of something they end up binging or eating really unhealthy I understand why those people want to stay strict carnivore and for them it works really well I also understand that food quality is not great but I do my best to buy the best quality that I possibly can so for me I'm still meat-based and still in ketosis but in order to fix my health and improve my symptoms I'm finding that these add-ins are making a great difference for me so far please share your experiences Down Below in the comments section