Blood testing before starting sway - Ca, Sodium, etc

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Originally Posted by aintnocinderella

so what would be the point of a low sodium diet? i am currently doing the low everything diet and sodium the the most difficut for me and if i do slip up its always with junk food which is low nutrition but obvioucly high in calories and salt. i would love to have my testosterone levels etc too

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The point of keeping to the low sodium restriction is that a) it's relatively easy for people to do b) better for your health overall anyway c) sodium was the one thing that BOTH the Oxford study and the FGD agreed on - women who ate less sodium had more daughters. It may have been a coincidence because moms who ate less CALORIES had more daughters and if you eat less calories, you get less sodium by default, kWIM?

My thinking on the sodium is, it's good for you anyway, can't hurt, may help, let's leave it in in case there is some benefit to be had. But if you have to cheat, I suspect that a sodium cheat is the "best" cheat because people all aroudn the world eat massive amounts of sodium and still have boys and girls 50-50.

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Originally Posted by NeedAGirl!

The point of low sodium diet is that we think we want sodium to be low in the fluid in the tubes and in the CM. Because sodium levels are so tightly regulated in the blood, if you are not eating much sodium, your body will draw sodium out of the other fluids in the body making them lower. For instance, the urine will have lower sodium. In the Dutch study, they also measured 24 hour excretion of sodium in the urine before and after the diet. Also, I believe that calcium probably sways. Excretion of calcium is tightly linked to sodium excretion. When you eat more sodium, your body needs to keep the blood levels within the normal range so excessive amounts are lost in the urine and it takes calcium with it.

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Sounds great but unfortunately not supported by real world facts. Africans and African Americans are genetically predisposed to retain high levels of sodium in the blood and the vast majority of adult African/AA are lactose intolerant and eat very little dairy. They have the most daughters of any ethnic group on the planet.

i have to say what got me thinking was that there is a girl at my work has three daughters. she is a little larger in frame and eats a ton of junk food including loads of mcdonalds. since working with her before lunch she will likely eat a packet of crisps, a cup a soup, chocolate bar and if someoen is going to the bakery a pastry too. What do we think could be the cause of so many girls for Africans and AA then?

I also recently had a comprehensive panel done, and will have another at the end of April - right before I TTC. I'm also taking the recommended supps from the Dutch Study (actually FGD, I think they are the same as far as supps go?), and doing a sort of FGD/LE hybrid (restricting calories, protein, fat, sodium, potassium, watching glucose, but still eating meat occasionally and dairy).

Here are my current numbers:

Sodium 140 mmol/L (ref. 135-146)
Potassium 3.9 mmol/L (ref. 3.5-5.3)
Calcium 9.2 mg/dL (ref. 8.6 - 10.2)
Magnesium was not tested.

My diet before this swaying adventure was moderate in calcium, moderate/low in potassium and high in sodium, so these numbers look pretty "normal" for my typical diet.

Also, just because I am curious, I'm also listing my lipid profile (I've read that low-sodium diets can raise cholesterol, and I have really good numbers typically):

Total Cholesterol: 215 mg/dL (ref. 125-200) This is high because I eat a primal diet, a lot of animal protein with a lot of saturated fat.
Triglycerides: 51 mg/dL (ref. <150)
Cholesterol, VLDL: 10 mg/dL (ref. <30)
Cholesterol, LDL: 102 mg/dL (ref. <130)
Cholesterol, HDL: 103 mg/dL (ref. >=46)
Cholesterol/LDL Ratio: 2.1 (ref. <=5.0)
LDL/HDL Ratio: .99 (below average risk - avg. risk is 2.35-4.12)

Will be interesting to see what it reads after a few months on pretty much the OPPOSITE diet of what I usually eat!

Edited To Add:
(fasting) glucose: 92 mg/dL (ref. 65-99) FYI, my family has a history of diabetes, so I have to watch this.

Interesting note: I remember I drank a cup of coffee about 2 hours before I tested here with about 2 tbsp of half & half, so for anyone interested, even the tiniest amount will raise your glucose. Another test around the same time (yes, I had more than one done, long story LOL) had my fasting glucose at 73 mg/dL, that time I had NOTHING in my tummy.

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Originally Posted by aintnocinderella

i have to say what got me thinking was that there is a girl at my work has three daughters. she is a little larger in frame and eats a ton of junk food including loads of mcdonalds. since working with her before lunch she will likely eat a packet of crisps, a cup a soup, chocolate bar and if someoen is going to the bakery a pastry too. What do we think could be the cause of so many girls for Africans and AA then?

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A lot of people will not agree with me on this but the FGD can't explain the discrepancy.

My take is that I think both very high and very low salt intake sway pink and I also think that low calcium intake also sways pink. Since people of African heritage have more sodium in their bodies to start with and are almost all genetically inable to eat dairy and so have lower calcium intake, this is a 1-2 punch of more sodium, less calcium = more girls. Blue swayers can get away with the high sodium intake of the TTC boy diet because they increase their potassium and potassium counteracts some of the negative effects of high sodium, and also because when you decrease cal/mag thru diet, your body simply takes whatever it needs from your bones and teeth to make up for it and the levels in your blood do not change one iota. If the levels of cal/mag in your blood actually changed outside of a very narrow range, you would DIE.

Thanks for sharing this info Ribbons!

Did you happen to have Vit. D tested??

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Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush

Thanks for sharing this info Ribbons!

Did you happen to have Vit. D tested??

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I didn't!! I wish... I thought that they were going to test for it b/c I have had low levels in the past (hence why I was taking CLO), but for some reason it wasn't on there. I am going to ask for it next time though.. even though we won't have a basis of comparison, it's better than nothing. I am going to surmise that it would be normal or high however, I was taking a LOT of CLO and eating a LOT of full-fat raw dairy at the time of the test.

Oh, I am going to add my glucose # above too, forgot about that!

Hi,

I have two boys and planning on having one last child and naturally Id like pink. I came across the Dutch study too and I am planning on having the blood tests done too. Are you following Annets diet? I wish I knew what exactly was it. I left message on her mobile and I also emailed her but no response. Do you have more info please?

How are you finding your sway sofar and when are you TTC?

xx

I joined the members team and I read all about now x

I have my blood tests from about 7 months ago (after conceiving a baby boy) and the set I got a few weeks ago (newly pregnant with gender unknown) and there were some marked differences, I thought.

I know this thread is super old but its still stickied so maybe some more results in here could tell us something in the long run.

OK:

Calcium went from 9.2 up to 9.8 (truly a mystery as i eat ZERO dairy)

Sodium went from 139 down to 136.

Potassium went from 4.3 to 3.8

Glucose was 80 on both. (non-fasting)

Other levels improved such as iron and blood clotting factors which makes me happy but did likely improve my maternal condition.

SO...if I have a boy, those ttc a boy can take comfort that having high calcium levels in blood and eating very little sodium will not be a dealbreaker :) And as far as potassium, I rarely eat potatoes or bananas or tomatoes and I already have conceived 5 boys :)

I don't know what made my levels change, I wasn't doing LE diet more of a "life circumstances diet" such as from losing a baby etc.