BioSignature Results.

Diet and Nutrition
1

Howdy, haven’t posted much but have followed a few topics on T-Nation for a while now.

Short history: Long-time off-and-on recreational lifter diagnosed with Type II Diabetes in January of 2010. Basically it was caused by a crappy diet, not enough of the right exercise and too much of the typical modern chronic stress we all have, so in my case this was truly a lifestyle disease although genetics probably played a role also. Dropped 60 lbs to my lowest weight 3 months ago, but am now 50 lbs down from the highest weight (hopefully gained - or gained back - 10 lbs of muscle since being at my lowest weight).

I’ve stagnated at my present body fat level, and quit gaining “quality” weight back, so I wanted to avoid the shotgun approach and get some guidance on diet and supps and therefore thought I’d give BioSignature a shot.

Even though I went into the BioSignature session pretty skeptical, I came out super impressed with the guys knowledge AND how the results seemed to correlate very well with my health history. I should note that I purposefully did not share any of my health history or other observations or opinions with the practitioner prior to the measurements. I’m now a believer.

I only paid for an hour of the guys time (still a great investment) so with the other dietary and supplement topics we discussed, we didn’t get the time to go over the results in detail. I’d much appreciate if knowledgeable guys here (maybe even Thib?) would help me fully interpret my BioSignature results. Here they are:

Male, 5’6", 172 lbs, 47 y/o, Northern European decent.

1/13/2011 (all measurements in mm)
Cheek: 8.0
Chin: 4.6
Tricep: 4.0
Pectoral: 3.4
Midaxillary 8.0
Subscap: 16.2
Suprailiac: 17.4
Umbilicus: 11.8
Quadricep: 5.6
Hamstring: 9.8
Knee: 4.2
Calf: 5.6

Total: 98.6

Bodyfat %: 12.3

Thanks for any input on these results!

2

im not a bio-signature practitioner, but i have had it done and have talked a lot with several pracs.

You are very lean in every site except for the insulin ones (supra-iliac and subscap).
What is your diet like? Bio-signature would say that your diet is to high in carbohydrates and your insulin response it to high.

If that true, you could try taking out some carbs from your diet and adding things like cinnamon, apple cider vinegar etc… to improve insulin sensitivity.

if you can give an example of your diet im sure myself of some of the actual practitioners on this site can give you a hand.

3

Thanks for the info. My diet breaks down to about 60% fats, 35% protein and 5% or less carbs each day except for maybe once per week where I will have a bowl of ice cream for a “cheat treat” after a meal to limit the insulin spike. I say 5% or less but in reality I usually don’t eat more than 30g non-fiber carbs per day. I don’t eat any wheat or other grains. A fair amount of the fat is dairy, for which the practitioner mentioned cutting that out is probably the next step along with maybe some supplements to help w/ insulin sensitivity.

My training is generally 2 - 3 times per week depending on how I recover, HIIT followed by short, intense weight training.

Any recommendations for supplements that would help w/ insulin sensitivity?

[quote]tork94 wrote:
im not a bio-signature practitioner, but i have had it done and have talked a lot with several pracs.

You are very lean in every site except for the insulin ones (supra-iliac and subscap).
What is your diet like? Bio-signature would say that your diet is to high in carbohydrates and your insulin response it to high.

If that true, you could try taking out some carbs from your diet and adding things like cinnamon, apple cider vinegar etc… to improve insulin sensitivity.

if you can give an example of your diet im sure myself of some of the actual practitioners on this site can give you a hand. [/quote]

4

As an aside, how did your diabetes change after losing 60lbs, or did it?

5

Fade:
Plugging your results into my system your top 3 priorities came back:

  1. Supra
  2. Umbilical
  3. Calves

So besides a dietary love for insulin you probably are not sleeping well. Even if you think “eh, I sleep pretty well” tells me you dont actually sleep well. BOth the cortisol and insulin problems bleed into each other. Something else is going on diet wise and or sleep wise. Im not sure exactly what you are asking (its early though for me) you seem to be looking for a supplement way out. Your pract should have nailed everything down for you. Going over the results doesnt mean as much as laying out a plan. I am a pract and just met with another pract who is way ahead of me and he gave me a fair amount of detailed homework and direction. What did your pract suggest? If you want PM me.

6

[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
As an aside, how did your diabetes change after losing 60lbs, or did it?[/quote]

It has helped greatly, or at least the low-carb diet that I used to lose the weight helped. My HbA1c dropped from 6.7 to 5.8 and my fasting blood glucose is currently 100 - 110 down from 145 - 155. I’ve not used any diabetes specific or other drugs (well, with the exception of some OTC AI’s I tried for a short time to see if they’d help me lean out, ending 14 months ago). Also, my BG pretty much stays bracketed between 90 to 130 throughout the day on this diet. Probably a fairly healthy range for anyone from what I’ve been reading.

Do I think I could tolerate a more standard, higher-carb diet any better now than before? I doubt it.

7

[quote]hipsr4runnin wrote:
Fade:
Plugging your results into my system your top 3 priorities came back:

  1. Supra
  2. Umbilical
  3. Calves

So besides a dietary love for insulin you probably are not sleeping well. Even if you think “eh, I sleep pretty well” tells me you dont actually sleep well. BOth the cortisol and insulin problems bleed into each other. Something else is going on diet wise and or sleep wise. Im not sure exactly what you are asking (its early though for me) you seem to be looking for a supplement way out. Your pract should have nailed everything down for you. Going over the results doesnt mean as much as laying out a plan. I am a pract and just met with another pract who is way ahead of me and he gave me a fair amount of detailed homework and direction. What did your pract suggest? If you want PM me. [/quote]

Thanks for the info! The sleep angle makes a lot of sense to me and I’ll have to cogitate on that a bit, and do some more research… I’ve suspected for a while now that I don’t sleep deeply enough and probably not long enough either, usually. Cortisol and insulin feeding into each other makes sense in my case as well - I actually get the results of a 4 sample ASI tomorrow. I’ll post what that has to say when I get the chance.

I only had an hour w/ the practitioner (“you get what you pay for”) and he seemed very knowledgeable if only b/c he confirmed a lot of the research I’ve been doing independently (certainly more knowledgeable than any MD I’ve seen, and at about 1/3rd the rate too). We did cover a lot of ground in that hour – I started this thread just to learn more to apply before my next eval.

As far as something else going on diet-wise, the practitioner did mention that I should try eliminating dairy, with the possible exception of quality butter or ghee (they are not insulinemic and don’t cause the usual dairy food sensitivities).

The supplement discussion came more as an afterthought and really he gave me the impression that they were the least important factor in the overall equation. I’m not looking for an easy way out with supplements so much as things to look into that can assist in my goals.

You’re right tho, he didn’t give me any sort of detailed plan to follow but I’m not sure I really paid for one either, to be perfectly honest.

8

That hour bullshit bothers me. I had a client for an “hour yesterday” spent about 89 minutes with her, with another client waiting. I understand time is valuable, time tables, being time efficient but its about the client at least in my book.

9

I am preparing for a trip to Maui next month, along with a wedding in May (not my wedding, just going to it), and am back on an insulin and estrogen protocol. Going with Fenuplex, Insulinomics, Fish Oil, Dim 2.0, Calc D-Glucarate, and Uber Zinc. Diet wise, low carb, lots of green veggies, green tea with cinnamon and lemon (yuck I know but hey, this fat loss thing is war for me). So far so good, leaning out, fucking love handles will be gone, lower back should be leaner, and glutes/hips less meaty.

I have been working out with weights since I was 13, and been athletic in sports since I was 4. I have seen plenty of shit come and go, but fewer things have been more effective than Poliquin’s stuff. People call him batty, I say to them, try it, he probably is a little batty, but the shit works.

10

[quote]MaximusB wrote:
I am preparing for a trip to Maui next month, along with a wedding in May (not my wedding, just going to it), and am back on an insulin and estrogen protocol. Going with Fenuplex, Insulinomics, Fish Oil, Dim 2.0, Calc D-Glucarate, and Uber Zinc. Diet wise, low carb, lots of green veggies, green tea with cinnamon and lemon (yuck I know but hey, this fat loss thing is war for me). So far so good, leaning out, fucking love handles will be gone, lower back should be leaner, and glutes/hips less meaty. [/quote]

Good to hear of the progress. Have fun!

[quote]
I have been working out with weights since I was 13, and been athletic in sports since I was 4. I have seen plenty of shit come and go, but fewer things have been more effective than Poliquin’s stuff. People call him batty, I say to them, try it, he probably is a little batty, but the shit works. [/quote]

Yeah he says some off the wall stuff but I’m convinced that the BioSignature diagnostics are right on based on my results and what I know from other tests. For example a BodPod 15 days before had me at 13.1% BF while BioSig was 12.3% and I was subjectively leaner and a few lbs lighter at the time of the BioSig so I think overall BF% was spot on. And without the pract knowing my history the BioSig indicated genetic insulin resistance, high cortisol and poor sleep, all accurate.

11

[quote]FadeIntoBig wrote:
Cortisol and insulin feeding into each other makes sense in my case as well - I actually get the results of a 4 sample ASI tomorrow. I’ll post what that has to say when I get the chance.
[/quote]

Summary of the Salivary 4-sample ASI test (http://tinyurl.com/6wg7lek):

  • “Inverted” Cortisol Curve
    – Below range in morning
    – In range at noon
    – Above range before evening meal
    – Very top of range at midnight.
  • Top of range Free DHEA: 9 (3-10 ng/mL).
  • Mid-low Fasting Insulin: 6 (3-12 uIU/mL).
  • Mid-low 17-OH Progesterone: 34 (22-100 pg/mL).
  • Depressed Total Salivary SIgA: 9 (25-60 mg/dL).
  • High Gliadin Ab, SIgA (Saliva): 26 (< 15 U/mL).

Also should note that the day I took the samples happened to be less stressful (at work, commute) than normal.

For the most part, looks like it jives with the BioSignature results regarding elevated cortisol and also adds confirmation to a long standing suspicion of problems w/ wheat.

Fasting Insulin levels look OK though (considering I’m a Type II Diabetic).

[quote]FadeIntoBig wrote:

[quote]hipsr4runnin wrote:
Fade:
Plugging your results into my system your top 3 priorities came back:

  1. Supra
  2. Umbilical
  3. Calves

So besides a dietary love for insulin you probably are not sleeping well. Even if you think “eh, I sleep pretty well” tells me you dont actually sleep well. BOth the cortisol and insulin problems bleed into each other. Something else is going on diet wise and or sleep wise. Im not sure exactly what you are asking (its early though for me) you seem to be looking for a supplement way out. Your pract should have nailed everything down for you. Going over the results doesnt mean as much as laying out a plan. I am a pract and just met with another pract who is way ahead of me and he gave me a fair amount of detailed homework and direction. What did your pract suggest? If you want PM me. [/quote]

Thanks for the info! The sleep angle makes a lot of sense to me and I’ll have to cogitate on that a bit, and do some more research… I’ve suspected for a while now that I don’t sleep deeply enough and probably not long enough either, usually. Cortisol and insulin feeding into each other makes sense in my case as well - I actually get the results of a 4 sample ASI tomorrow. I’ll post what that has to say when I get the chance.

I only had an hour w/ the practitioner (“you get what you pay for”) and he seemed very knowledgeable if only b/c he confirmed a lot of the research I’ve been doing independently (certainly more knowledgeable than any MD I’ve seen, and at about 1/3rd the rate too). We did cover a lot of ground in that hour – I started this thread just to learn more to apply before my next eval.

As far as something else going on diet-wise, the practitioner did mention that I should try eliminating dairy, with the possible exception of quality butter or ghee (they are not insulinemic and don’t cause the usual dairy food sensitivities).

The supplement discussion came more as an afterthought and really he gave me the impression that they were the least important factor in the overall equation. I’m not looking for an easy way out with supplements so much as things to look into that can assist in my goals.

You’re right tho, he didn’t give me any sort of detailed plan to follow but I’m not sure I really paid for one either, to be perfectly honest.
[/quote]

12

Sounds similar to what I am doing. I am doing a program from the book target your fat spots - by a nutritionalist called max tomlinson. will let you know more when i have finished.

13

[quote]dee7364 wrote:
Sounds similar to what I am doing. I am doing a program from the book target your fat spots - by a nutritionalist called max tomlinson. will let you know more when i have finished.[/quote]

Cool, an update would be great.

14

Quick update: Heard back from my pract mid last week and he suggested the insulin protocol: Fenuplex & Insulinomics (on top of my base supplement protocol which was already pretty much spot on going into BioSig).

I will also test for zinc and HCL deficiencies and add those if/as needed. I plan to start that the 1st week in February, setup another BioSignature eval in early March, and keep this bookmarked for update. Vitamin D was at 53 ug/L @5000 IU/day over the last few months so I’ll bump that up a bit also.

Aside, along with dropping most dairy, I also started the “Meat and Nut Breakfast” (http://tinyurl.com/4dau5ao) on Jan 15th and feel this has already made a difference. Mood improvements are outstanding over the egg centered breakfast I was eating and subjectively I seem to be burning fat like crazy. The mood improvements alone would make it worth it. Another case of going into something skeptical and being impressed by the CP advice. I wasn’t able to find all of the more “exotic” meats in the article, so just rotate beef, pork and chicken and will add salmon and talapia. The nuts are all available at places like Trader Joe’s.

I hate to overlap a change in diet w/ new supps but regardless I think I’ll be able to tell if the supps are effective for me or not.