I read a book recently about niacin called Niacin - The Real Story, by Abram Hoffer, and Andrew Saul. It supported high dose niacin, in some cases 3000 mg per day. There were numerous conditions they felt this would help, one of them being rheumatoid arthritis. So I decided to try it.
Niacin in large amounts causes something called the niacin flush. I was horrified the first time this happened to me and quit niacin for a while, but there was actually no harm caused by the niacin flush, so after a while I tried it again. This time I was expecting it and didn't feel frightened by it. It actually did help me, and I was especially surprised a couple of months later when I had routine medical tests done that showed an improvement in cholesterol and triglycerides, all the way down to normal levels. My HDL was 91, which was not how it had been in the past. I wasn't much concerned about cholesterol, but it seemed important to have perfect triglycerides.
About a year ago I had heard of another form of niacin called NMN. It stands for a long chemical name. There is another form like it called NR, nicotinamide riboside. They both have about the same effect, which is to improve the energy output of the mitochondria of the cells, resulting in higher NAD levels, which is an important long named component of the blood. It is something people would do well to have more of, so I started taking NMN.
At first I didn't feel well from taking NMN, so I gave up on it. But then I found out that the NMN sold on Amazon was actually not NMN at all. Just some expensive fake which was documented to not contain NMN by lab testing. I had tried a couple of brands, both times with the same bad results, but also, both bought on Amazon. Then about two months ago I bought NMN from a company called DoNotAge which is certified NMN. The third time was a charm, and I was able to tolerate a one gram dose with no problem.
My experience with NMN was really surprising to me. My energy levels have been higher and I just feel like doing more things. So this was wonderful.
A couple of other things I started doing lately are quitting dairy, except some butter and goat cheese, and taking 5000 mg of glycine at night for sleep. Glycine is an amino acid, and I noticed that it helped me with better sleep. Along with the glycine I started taking NAC, N acetyl L cysteine. Why? Why not? I had seen it recommended by Dr. Alan Green in a video on Youtube.
So, niacin, NMN, quitting dairy for two months now, and taking glycine along with NAC before bed. That's most of my magic lately.
One other improvement that has surprised me is that usually in the norming I take a fasting glucose level with a glucose monitor. I had been shocked a few months ago to discover that my levels were around 108 which is what caused me to start checking every morning. No amount of low carb dieting seemed to shake this number. Then suddenly in the past few days my numbers have been 91 - 94. So that's almost normal, down from pre diabetic. And I've lost 12 lbs. Nice. The only change in my diet was to quit dairy, well, pretty much quit dairy. In addition to that, the sleep problems have been much better. Everyone knows I'm not a morning person, and yet sometime in the last few months I've regularly started getting up between 7:00 and 8:00 am.
That's how life is in Paradise today.
No comments:
Post a Comment