Hi!

I'm a 21 year old medical student with a passion for anti-aging
medicine. Right now:

1) I fast 18h every day


[Very interesting! From what time to what time do you fast,
at what times do you eat during your 6 hours ON period... I
suppose at the beginning and at the end, so that is at least
two meals... and WHAT DO YOU EAT? - Ellis]


2) I eat a high fat & high protein diet (ie low carb, but not very
low carb as I eat a lot of vegetables and some fruit)

[That is PERFECT... just don't eat A LOT of fruit in one
serving... MEASURE YOUR BLOOD GLUCOSE with a glucose meter
and I think you will find it is usually below 100, probably
always close to 85 or 90... And avoid BREAD and POTATOES and
SPAGHETTI and SWEETS and CEREALS...

But... also eat a BAD MEAL sometime just "for the sake of science"
and measure your blood glucose... if it goes above 110 or so,
then you are on the road to diabetes... You might get there 30
or 40 years from now, but once you know it, you might decide to
advance very slowly by eating correctly, in which case you might
never get there while you are alive...

If it does not rise above 110, you still have a brand new
pancreas... keep it that way!

See my page: http://www.rajeun.net/assess.html

also see my page:

http//www.rajeun.net/glucose.html

and

http://www.rajeun.net/HbA1c_glucose.html

- Ellis]


3) I take a host of supplements including curcumin, garlic, coq10,
iodine, magnesium, cinnulin, etc.

My blood sugar, after typical meals rises to about 5.6mmol/L
(101 mg/dl), dropping back to 5.1mmol/L (about 91 mg/dl) after
2.5 hours.


[Well... you are not diabetic, that's for sure! - Ellis]


However, my basal fasting blood sugar is always around 4.9-5.1mmol/L
(88-92), it doesn't drop below that.


So, basically it appears like I just have slightly too much sugar
produced continually via gluconeogenesis.

Would basal insulin be optimal for life extension/quality purposes?

Paul


[Hello Paul... the problem seems to be your glucose meter, not
you, or your diet. There is no real problem with your glucose
meter, it is just calibrated a little higher than a lab glucose
meter, so you would probably get a lower reading in a lab
glucose meter... I suggest you should go and take an HbA1c
in a lab, and I predict you will probably get less than 5.0

HOWEVER... you ask if taking a dose of basal insulin would be
OPTIMAL for life extension/quality purposes...

To answer this, I have to know to what extreme are you willing
to go, to get near to perfect results, because if you continue
to eat as you do, I think you will get to age 90 WITHOUT using
insulin, and you will not become a diabetic until past age 110...

But you are not getting PERFECT results right now...

I would say you are getting a B+, or an A-...

So... you are asking if getting an A+ would be better for life
extension/quality purposes than getting an A-... I don't know...
Do you want to get to age 120? You might need an A+, starting
now, or starting later... but NOBODY KNOWS, and nobody can
know because nobody has ever tried it before!

So do you want to be the first? Be my guest. In theory, YOU
WILL improve your health and live longer and in better health
because you will lower your average blood glucose...

However, it is NOT EASY to be a perfectionist, as Dr. Bernstein
is, or as I wish I would be but am not...

BUT... in any case... IF YOU DON'T MIND getting into the
habit of injecting a little long-lasting Lantus perhaps in
the morning and also a little at night, and if this will not
inspire you to eat a little more carbs, and if you don't mind
getting Lantus on the black market because no doctor in his
right mind will give you a prescription to buy it... (oh, but
you are a medical student... so maybe you can convince some
very far-out doctor to give you a prescription...)

Then...

Yes... I am sure Lantus would be good for an OPTIMAL life
extension program, even if you are not a diabetic, and even
if you are only 21 years old, because I am 100% certain it
would lower your average blood glucose perhaps 10 points on
YOUR home glucose meter... which means it is also lowering the
average in the laboratory standard blood glucose meter...
Which means you would probably lower your HbA1c from
about 4.9 to perhaps 4.5 WHICH IS WHAT DR. BERNSTEIN
GETS.

And that would result, theoretically, in LESS LOSS OF NEURONS
in YOUR BRAIN and in ALL OF YOUR BODY.

DR. Bernstein is a really strict practitioner of what he
preaches. He says that he keeps his blood glucose at
83 before, during, and after eating. That means he injects
insulin in anticipation of a future need for insulin in his
blood, because there is a time lapse of about 45 minutes between
the time you inject insulin and the time it is taking action
in your body.

And he really measures and chooses the food he is going to
eat. It must be a bit tedious, but his life depends on it
which is why he does it, and mine doesn't, but I do it
anyways... but I do it in EASY MODE...

Too bad he didn't learn to do that when he was 12 years old.
I am sure he would be in much better physical shape today than
he actually is, because his body suffered because of his
diabetes 1 for perhaps 40 years, until he learned what DOCTORS
assured him was impossible: to control his blood glucose.

I am not so strict myself... On the other hand, I am much
more strict than perhaps 99% of everybody on planet earth. But
in the first place, I am not a diabetic so I don't have to
be so strict, yet...

But... I also know I am well on the road to diabetes because
my blood glucose goes up to 160 with a large glass of orange
juice... I think yours does not... YET...

So... Do you want to start to take really strict care of your
blood glucose, starting at age 21? If you do, congratulations.

But you are not a diabetic... where are you going to get a
prescription for Lantus from, assuming you live in the U.S.A.?
(I am in Mexico, Thank You-Know-Who...)

If you decide not to take Lantus, which is MUCH EASIER and much
less hassle than to try to control your blood glucose with good diet
(which you are already doing) and exercise... I understand you.

But... IF YOU DECIDE TO control your blood glucose with
something, then I say: let it be INSULIN and not METFORMIN...

Why? Because INSULIN is what you should control your blood
glucose with... You shouldn't control it with cinnamon, or
with metformin, or with fiber, or with anything else than
INSULIN... (my humble opinion... I know most doctors will
disagree, but... I also know I am right.)

So... for the moment, I suggest you get an HbA1c test, and
then decide what you want to do... If it comes out about a 5.0 or
less, then the EASY way is to keep on eating correctly, and do
exercise... MEASURE YOUR BLOOD GLUCOSE often, so you keep a check
on what you are eating...

That way, you won't upset everybody who will think you are
nuts.

But I wish I would have known when I was 21 what I know today
about diet and about diabetes and about insulin, and I wish that I
had been able to use Lantus ever since I was 21 years old...

Today, the world would have had somebody who has used Lantus for
40 years to avoid getting diabetes. And I know it would have
been great for my health, as it is great for my health that I
am using it today, long before I am a diabetic, because it helps
me to avoid loss of neurons.

I know I would have used it. I probably would have gotten to
age 52 (which is when I looked at myself in the mirror and I
said to myself... "oh, oh... I look OLD... I have to do
something about this!") in much better shape than I did, which
was not so bad anyways, but it could have been better.

In any case... READ my pages: Using insulin and Using Lantus:

http://www.rajeun.net/usinginsulin.html

and

http://www.rajeun.net/usinglantus.html


Thanks for writing...

Great Post! three stars!

- Ellis