Two Years Four Months Keto

This is a short report on my Keto journey.  I have been Keto for two years and four months now.  I have had several people ask me about the topic and here is my impression about it. 

smoking a beef brisket

The first thing people generally want to know is 'how much weight have you lost.' I must qualify this by saying weight loss was not a prime factor in my going Keto.  The main reason I went Keto was to heal from a stroke, but weight, specifically fat around one's mid section, is a related issue. 

I have lost 47 pounds. I do not look much different, as I was never obviously over weight or 'fat.' I was what is called a TOFI... i.e. thin on the outside fat on the inside.  This is a real medical phenomenon that sometimes manifest in those with metabolic syndrome.  Having said all that, I do like not having those 47 pounds on me. My clothes fit wonderfully and my tummy is flat.  

Two years and four months into Keto has many benefits in addition to aesthetic ones.  I feel good, I get up in the morning fully rested with no aches and pains, no inflammation, etc. My memory and cognition are excellent, which is the primary reason I began Keto, i.e when one is healing from a brain injury, cognition, memory, brain health, are the most important goals.  But, as I mention the two things are connected, i.e. weight loss and brain health. Losing the weight, and we are talking fat here, is a integral part of brain health. 

My protocol is simple, I keep my carbs to circa 20 a day.  Sometimes I might go up to 30 or 35 and other days I will be under 20 and as low as 0 to 5.  I am normally in ketosis.   I used to monitor my ketone levels often, but I do not do this any longer. At this stage, I just know when I am in ketosis.

Spanish Manchego cheese

I enjoy the food I eat. I eat a lot of beef, grass fed when I can get it and afford it, but I also eat a lot of fish, pork, eggs, and my favourite food, Spanish manchego cheese (made from sheep milk). I do eat vegetables, but all low carb ones... brussel sprouts, green cabbage, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower,, collards, green salads, etc., things of that nature.  I also will eat some berries, such as blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc. I do not eat any high sugar fruits however (such as apples, bananas, oranges, etc.). 

Another frequent question... do I drink on Keto?  Well, yes I do. Though, it is selective drink, it has to be a low carb beer, of which there are many brands that I like. With wine, I only drink dry reds, the type and brands I get are normally under 1 carb per 5 oz.  Very doable.  Of course,  I enjoy whiskey a lot, and it has No Carbs at all. Those that know me, know I like Jameson, Tullamore Dew, and several other Irish whiskeys, and like a good rye occasionally.  

Jameson neat

Next question often asked... how do you stay on it?  That one easy, Keto allowed me to heal from a stroke and has radically reduced my chances of having another one. Strokes are caused by metabolic syndrome. I enjoy being healthy, fit, and at the top of my mental function.  It is that simple, I like that more than I like ice cream, potatoes, junk food, etc. 

ancient Celts

I call my Keto 'ancestral eating'  meaning I eat the way my tribe, my ancestors, ate.  Metabolically, I am a northern European, my ethnic classification is Celtic. My father's family Gaels from mid Argyll, my mother's family Gaels from western Ireland. Going back prior to ethnic classification, I am of Yamnaya (Steppe herding folk) in paternal ancestry and northern European Hunter Gatherer in my autosomal DNA. This Yamnaya-European Hunter Gatherer folk are also known as the Bell Beaker folk in pre history. They are the ancestors of northern Europeans. My people settled in the Isles 4,000 years ago. This is not speculation, rather data gathered from extensive Y chromosome DNA testing I have participated in. Since paleolithic times well into modern times, my people ate low carb. In short, I do better with a diet high in protein and fat, very low in carbs.  It comes down to evolutionary biology.  While we are on the topic, yes I do have some Neanderthal DNA, as do most northern European people.

Our ancestors ate low carb

I lost 47 pounds with no dieting and eating as much as I wanted, I only changed what I ate. I eat like my ancestors, and now I feel and look like them.  

© Barry R McCain 2020

Mi Dieta Paleo

the Ouachita Mountains © 2018 Barry R McCain

Estoy en la dieta Paleo durante siete días. Estoy haciendo esto como parte de mi projecto Neurogénesis, pero diré, me encanta cómo me hace sentir. Mi pensamiento es muy claro, mi memoria es muy buena. Tengo buenos niveles de energía. Es una buena cosa.  Un efecto secundario, perdí nueve libras en una semana. No tengo sobrepeso cuando comencé el protocolo ... sin embargo, ahora soy más refinado y más pequeño.

Omega 3s and Blueberries

Five months and two weeks, feeling well, in Bright Sun

El sol está brillando hoy. Tenemos un clima muy agradable.  Tá an ghrian ag soilsiú inniu. Tá aimsir an-deas againn.

I am five months and two weeks into recovery from two strokes I had in late September.  It has been an interesting road I have travelled in recovery.  As all stroke survivors and neurologists will tell you, every stroke is different and the recovery can be different as well.

I begin this blog post in Castellano and Gaeilge (Gaelic) as prior to my stroke I used both of these languages.  I could not use them, or English for that matter, after the strokes.  I had aphasia.  Aphasia is the inability to formulate and comprehend language due to an injury to the brain, in my case from a blot clot in the base of my brain.  Due to the correct decision being made by my son Conar and then the medical people attending me, the treatment and care I was given allowed me to recover well.  I would characterise the recovery as rapid. Within a couple of weeks my speech and language comprehension came back.  Three months into recovery I hit a plateau... but slowly, it is finally all coming back.  I can function again in three languages.  I focused, for obvious reasons, on English, but I am now spending more and more time, using Castellano and Gaeilge. 

Doing Well!

 In the last five months I have studied neurogenesis.  Neurogenesis is the process of birth of neurons generated from neural stem cells.  This is a new field of science.  As recently as 1998 the phenomenon was not known and in the old paradigm there was a belief that one could not grow new brain cells.  This was incorrect however.  In the last eighteen years the research on neurogenesis has made great progress.  The process is now well documented and there are methods and protocols in place that encourage the neurogenesis process.

In short, there are things one can do to greatly enhance brain function.  The neurologists have identified how to improve and increase neurogenesis and conversely, they know behaviours that decrease the process.  One's diet, nutrition, sleep habits, exercise, and other factors, greatly enhance and speed up neurogenesis.  These last few months I have consumed truck loads of Omega 3 fish oil supplements, blueberries, cold water fish, and other items to feed my old hippocampus.

Now this is good news for anyone with a brain injury, be it stroke, concussion, a head blow, and even age related cognition issues, such as Alzheimer's and dementia.  These medical issues can be treated and in some cases there is a complete recovery... and even recovery to the point of being better before the problem developed.  Alzheimer's for example, often is a form of Diabetes III, this type of Alzheimer's responds well to treatment.

back when the old beard was Red

Neurogenesis is a complex topic and is still a relatively new field of medical science.  Much too complex for me to write about it on my McCain's Corner blog.  I do encourage anyone interested to read on the topic.  There are some very good video talks and lectures on neurogenesis on Youtube.   A good place to start is with Dr Brant Cortright and Dr Sandrine Thuret.   This is good data to have even if you are in the pink and Bristol fashion... and just want to make sure the ole brain stays hummin' along.  It is in short, it is Good Stuff.

I gave myself six months to recover.  This is only two weeks away now.  I am doing well.  I am writing again and doing a lot of research reading, for my next projects.  I can say, with confidence; estoy de vuelta en la sillín de nuevo, el sillín del escritor que es.

the tea... Darjeeling, my fave

© 2018 Barry R McCain

Neuroplasticity and Me

7 Feb 2018 hard at work doing neuroplasticity

The word for the day is neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.  This ability is especially important if one has a brain injury, such as a stroke.  In neuroplasticity the neurons (nerve cells) in the brain can and will compensate for injury and disease.  These nerve cells will  adjust their activities in response to new situations.

It is not unlike pruning a tree or bush.  You whack a part off and you get new shoots popping out everywhere.  The white coats call it ‘axonal sprouting.’   Undamaged axons grow new nerve endings to reconnect to neurons with links that are damaged, severed, or dead.  These axons can reconnect to the nerve endings.  New pathways are made to allow your damaged brain parts to function.  One gets better over time. 

There is a catch though... you normally have to work at it.  If you do not work at it, then you may not recover your lost brain function, this includes both mental and physical abilities.  This is very serious stuff and you want to ‘work at it’ like an über-mensch.  But, it is necessary, if you want to recover from a brain injury, and be at a level equal to, or even beyond, your pre-stroke level.

nerve endings at work and play

I am recovering fairly well.  My recovery has come with an interesting phenomenon. As I recover I have had very intense, metaphysical, dreams. In these dreams, I have been visited by relatives and family that have passed on, i.e. the dead talk to me in my dreams.  I know the nature of consciousness is wildly complex.  Not there is a silver lining to a dark cloud of a stroke, but as I recover I have an awareness of consciousness that was not there pre-stroke.  It awakened me in a way. Something has changed in me, mentally, or a better way to say it is, with my consciousness, and my awareness of the universe. 

Dr Jill Bolte Taylor is a brain research scientist.  She had a devastating stroke in 1996; this was while she was a brain research scientist.  She has written a book of her recovery which I find remarkable in that she had metaphysical experiences, and a change in her thinking, or awareness, of consciousness, not only her consciousness, but that of the universe as well.  She used her stroke, or it allowed her to perceive, a connection to the universe.    By-the-way, it took her many years, but she did recover, and returned to work as a brain research scientist and wrote a best-selling book about her stroke and recovery.  Her book is My Stroke of Insight.

So the word for the day is Neuroplasticity.   Use it. 



© Barry R McCain 

Big White Beard Update 30 Dec 2017

30 December 2017

First and foremost... I send a sincere thank you to the many, many, people that have sent me notes of support and prayers.  All very appreciated and to be frank, humbling.  There was even a 'prayer group'  organised for me.  Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. 

Three months ago today, I had my stroke.  Three long months of recovery from a brain injury.  Not a lovely thing to have to do, but there was no avoiding it.  I am still recovering.  Some of the major symptoms have subsided.  The severe headaches have gone away and now I have only low grade versions of them, about a 2 on the pain scale.  I occasionally still have moments where my thinking feels 'fuzzy.'   That is not a medical term I know, but anyone that has had a brain injury knows of what I am speaking.  My vision has not recovered much at all.  This means I still can not drive.  I lost the peripheral vision in my right eye, which damn it, was my 'good' eye.  I have a largish blind spot on my right side and I have trouble syncing my two eyes.  The latter issue makes reading hard and fatiguing.

In December I started to work again, or try to do so.  When the stroke happened I was working on my third book.  I am trying to get back my writer's edge.  I want to make sure I can still write professionally.  The book I am working on is the third in a series on Irish history from the province of Ulster.  The first two books are The Laggan Redshanks and the second is Finding the McCains.  The book I am working on now is on Scots-Irish folklore and is about the Scots-Irish and the Faerie Faith.  The book was supposed to be finished by this time, but the strokes brought a sudden halt to the work.  I hope the book will be out by Spring and I will keep everyone informed of the release date.  

I have two more books scheduled for 2018.  It is a lot of work, one is a collection of Scots-Irish essays, some of them collected from my talks at the Ulster American History Symposiums, both in County Tyrone and in the USA, over the years.  If you like Irish history, Scots-Irish history, folklore, tales, etc., you will enjoy the book.  It does not have a working title yet.  

Book three on my work list will be my first fiction effort.  Being a non fiction writer is much different than being a fiction writer and I am looking forward to having a go at it.  For those of you not in the writing business, you see fiction books make more money.  It is a math issue and that is the long and short of it.  Fiction sells better, and, I like telling tales, so going into fiction is a natural progression to me.  Now I must decide on a genre, perhaps mixed genres.  Then to decide between contemporary or a historical fiction, etc. 

Ouachita Mountains in western Arkansas

I have been reading and researching the year 1835 in the old southwest, meaning Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, etc.  I am tempted to place a story in that location and time period.  I am reading journals, letters, newspapers, etc., from the mid 1830s, including the correspondence of David Crockett as he travelled through the Arkansas Territory to San Antonio, in Mexican Texas. There was a lot of Irish men in the area and an in-group preference among the Irish on the frontier.  This might provide an interesting canvas for a period fiction work.  Like all my work, there will be an Irish, Scottish, Celtic, connection.  But, I might get a wild hair and do a contemporary book, romance/mystery, and set it in the Ouachita Mountains.  You know that Jan Karon has a good gig going....!!!

The Big White Beard had a couple of inches trimmed off early December.  I did not want to do this, but during the worst days of my stroke recovery I had a difficult time grooming myself.  But, 2018, will be the Year of the Big White Beard.  I plan on letting it grow and flow the entire year. 

the 1978 version of the ole beard, Red as a Ferrari back then

That is my update; beginning to work at writing again, hoping and praying, my vision returns back to normal, and with luck will have out three books in 2018.  I hope all of y'all have a wonderful New Year and wish you all Peace and Prosperity.

 

Christmas Sale... Finding the McCains!!! & New Book News

Finding the McCains

A Christmas Sale! The story of an Irish family that left for the New World in 1718 and one descendant who returned to Ireland reunited the family after three centuries of separation.  A biography, a history, a travelogue, a mystery solved using DNA testing.  In Time For Christmas!!!   Available on Amazon!  

 A postscript of sorts... I am working on the new book now, which is about the Scots-Irish and the Faeries.  I had hoped to have it out this year, but my health issues required me to delay work on the book for a few months.  However, recovery going well, and I am back at my desk, writing.  Looking forward to the New Book coming out. 

Merry Christmas & Happy Yuletide Greetings!!! 

Big White Beard, Christmas 2017

Continuing to recover from the stroke.  Almost, two full months into the recovery now.  I have started writing again.  I am working in Gaelic language again.  I am doing hill hikes in the trails in Oxford... and last night late, walked the Oxford, Mississippi, Square.  I had several Coeds give me 'hugs' and took photographs of me, etc.  They asked me where I was from, I replied, 'the North Pole.'   Interesting, the effect a Big White Beard has on people.  

It was a quiet night in ole Oxford town, as it was a Tuesday.  A number of students were out at the clubs on the Square.  The weather was coolish and nice. 

The Big White Beard

The Big White Beard

Today I had the first visit to the neurologist since the strokes.  That is, the first visit since I left the hospital.  The doctor had examined me in early October while I was in the ICU at the hospital in Memphis.  At this point, recovery is a waiting game, as the doctors do not know when and how the recovery will unfold.  I have regained a small bit of my vision in my right eye, which is a good sign and better than nothing, but I still can not drive and that is frustrating of course.  

I have days where I feel like I can do this, then other days where I feel like I am lost.  Since my strokes, I have communicated with several other stroke survivors.  I realise that I am very fortunate, as many with strokes have more health problems than I do.  I hear their stories of how hard the work at recovery and how patient they are with their struggles.  They have inspired and encouraged me. Patience, recovery is slow.  

I am writing again.  I have several 500 word days done over the last week and I feel like that my skills are coming back.  I was working on a book about the Scots-Irish and the Faeires when the strokes happened.  I was over one half finished with the book. Once, I get into a regular routine of writing I will regain my focus on the topic, I hope that is.  I have also started assembling research notes for the next project, which will also have a Irish theme.  I am drawn to the subject.  

The mug, is an almost empty one, of one of my favourite teas, Darjeeling.  I am a tea drinker.  Darjeeling, Russian Caravan, and Prince of Wales, my three favourite teas.  They are soothing.    

One Month Out From Stroke

post stroke, slightly shorter beard, and the ole brain at 80% or so...

It has been one month, one week, and several days since my stroke.  Actually, I had two strokes and the ‘big’ one was on 30 September. 

What does one do for one month while recovering from a stroke?  My vision was damaged during the stroke.  This is a fairly common event in a stroke.   Initially, I could not really read or see well at all.  At one month out, I can read some now, and I am back in the reading and research business.  Some formats, such as Kindle, are more readable to me.  Other formats are difficult to read for me.  My eyes do not ‘team’ well now, which is a reason the reading is a challenge. I lost my peripheral vision on my right side, so no more driving for me until that comes back.

The doctors do not have a clue how much, if any, of my vision shall return.  It is a very individual thing.  Strokes are like that and each case is different.  I may get the vision back tomorrow, or... I may never get it back.  I have talked to many people with strokes now and read testimonies from stroke survivors, and some recover fine, some do not.   So, I am in a wait and see (no pun intended) mode.

The rest of the recovery seems to be going ok.  I still have crashing headaches and a lot of fatigue.  During the day I take several naps.  Of course, I am on meds to insure no more blood clots, which caused the strokes.  I am told, I do not have any obvious ‘triggers’ for a stroke.  I do not have high blood pressure, I am fit, I have normal blood sugar level, do not smoke cigarettes, etc., so the reasons and causes of the stroke are a mystery at present.  I still have more doctor visits, so something in the way of a cause may turn up as they examine me. 

The last month was a blur.  Time had little meaning for me.  A day, a week, a month, it all seemed the same.  I kept my mind busy.  I developed an interest in several topics which  I listened to on my Ipad.  I studied the Desert Fathers of the early church, I studied quantum physics, gravity wave theory, paranormal phenomenon, I listened to medieval chants. In the last week in October I began to read again.  Reading a book was difficult, but I persevered.  The book I read was by Louis L’Amour, one of his Sackett series books, this one called Galloway.  I enjoyed the book.  I do not often read fiction, but the L’Amour book was entertaining and soothing to me.  I suppose just reading anything at this point is good exercise for my wounded eyes.

There is humour in even tragic events sometimes... my stroke happened on 30 September, in Oxford, Mississippi.  I was taken to a hospital in Oxford.  There, it was apparent that the stroke was serious, so there was a decision to place me on a helicopter and fly me to Memphis Tennessee.  Now at the time, I could not talk, I barely knew my name as I had aphasia.   The decision was made to move me to Memphis and as I say, I could not talk, but in the midst of the doctors and family around me I said in a very clear well-spoken voice, ‘I do not want to go to Memphis.’   Despite the grim scene going on around me, this did bring smiles and chuckles. 

One other note to you ALL... learn the symptoms of stroke.   If you think you have any symptoms, immediately get medical help.  If you attend the symptoms in a rapid manner, you can avoid having the stroke and save yourself a tonne of pain, trouble, and problems, not to mention expenses.  Learn the stroke symptoms; get medical help if you have stroke symptoms.  There are new techniques, new drugs, that work miracles, if you get medical help quickly.