The Root Cause Podcast

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1. Diet for Cystic Fibrosis [16:45] Leah says:

Hi Rob and Nikkie,

I am a listener of three years now. I am a current college student who just got married to my high school sweetheart of 6 years. I love listening to your podcast and I have learned so much, that it has enabled me to make my health an act of rebellion. Once I am not a broke college student, I will become a member of the Healthy Rebellion.

Now on to the question. My husband, who is 23 years old, has cystic fibrosis and is interested in changing his diet. However, I think what is a healthy diet for me may not be a healthy diet for him. His entire life he has been encouraged to drink sodas and eat absolute junk food just to meet his daily caloric intake. CF patients on average have been told they need almost double the amount of calories a normal person needs a day (between 2,900-4,500). Because of this many CF patients develop diabetes in their later lives, which we are trying to avoid. (It runs in both our families) Two years ago he stopped drinking soda/coffee or anything with lots of sugar or caffeine, he also does not drink alcohol. He drinks about a gallon of water a day, and since getting married in July he has tried to significantly cut down on his processed carb intake. We have been eating mostly proteins and vegetables with rice, seasonal squash and potatoes. We live in North Carolina and we have some really great farmer's markets that I try to source most of our food from. He lifts weights 3-5 days a week, and we are both service industry workers, so we are on our feet for 6-10 hours a day. Since cutting most of the processed carbs out of his diet, he has lost about 10 pounds that he did not really need to lose. He is 5ft 6inch and weighs about 135lbs. He has since found it difficult to put on muscle, wake up in the morning, and maintain energy through out the day. I am wondering if all of this is because he is not taking in as many calories as he needs? Or maybe it's a lack of protein? With our current diet, he eats about 2,000 calories a day and averaging about 40-60grams of protein a day. He has two high fat snacks of either yogurt or cheese a day in order to take specific medicine he needs. This is in addition to his three meals per day and has often found he will get too full and feels sick if he eats more. How could he increase his caloric or protein intake with out feeling full too fast or eating absolute junk food?

Any thoughts are appreciated, since most diet advice we have been given for people with cystic fibrosis, is to just eat high fat, high carb, and processed foods, and that is a very s.a.d. diet. ;)

Thank you for all that you do to encourage a healthy diet and lifestyle.

You do reach a younger audience! :)

2. Gaining Lean Mass And Inflammation [26:48] Alan says:

Hello Robb,

I have been resistance training consistently since I was 13 years old and I am 29 now. I do not struggle gaining weight when I dedicate myself to it, but I have noticed that when I bulk up, I also increase my symptoms of inflammation, mainly, eczema, skin redness, bloating, fatigue, and difficulty sleeping. I am 6'2", currently weigh 185 lbs, and weight train 3-5 days per week. I haven't measured my body fat in awhile, but I am assuming it is very low judging by what I see in the mirror. The last 2 and a half years I have been following the auto-immune protocol and have tinkered with carnivore as well. I feel the best I have felt in my life, but I have also lost weight, including both fat and lean mass. For the majority of my adult life I hovered around 200 lbs. which is 15 pounds heavier than now. I have tried to increase my calories to gain lean mass while still sticking to the auto-immune protocol, which works in increasing my lean mass, but even though the foods are the same, just the fact of eating more calories in general will almost always increase my symptoms. I tried bulking up while on a carnivore-ish diet, with similar inflammatory results although maybe not quite as bad as when I ate more plants while on AIP. I seem to have a limit of how much food I can eat before symptoms come up, which is at the maintenance level for my 185 lb body. I have also tried different styles of hypertrophy training with high volume and lower intensity, or lower volume and high intensity, both of which don't seem to make a difference in gaining muscle mass as much as dietary or caloric changes. My question is - is there any way for me to increase my calories or gain lean mass without having to suffer the consequences of increased inflammation in the process?

Thank you so much for all your help. I love your podcast.

Alan

3. Slow Metabolism [33:23] Beth says:

Hi Robb and Nicki,

Everywhere I look, there's talk about how to increase your metabolism, how to burn more fat etc. but no one that I can find is asking if this actually makes sense. We wouldn’t want a car that’s an inefficent gas guzzler, why would we want to put more fuel in our bodies than we have to? Even from an evolutionary perspective, I would think having a slow metabolism, a lower basal metabolic rate, would be advantageous.

I get that the majority of the population is overweight and looking to lose it, but even in health and fitness communities I can’t find any information on this. I personally would absolutely love to be able to cook and eat less without losing weight! So my questions are, might it be healthy to have a slower metabolism, and if so, are there any strategies to facilitate that?

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You can find the transcript for this episode when available at https://robbwolf.com/2022/10/28/slow-metabolism-diet-for-cystic-fibrosis-gainz-and-inflammation-thrr128/