Low Carb Diet has led to hearing improvement!

Hearing Loss
#1

I suffered through SSNHL last november … went through the ENT etc and ended up with a hearing aid primarily because it made such an improvement in my tinnitus.

I got my aid in February, loved it and was very happy with it.

In mid march i began a low carb diet … and have dropped close to 20 lbs (from 225 - hoping to get to 190). Well about 5 weeks into it certain things started to seem loud to me and it got to the point i had to turn my aid down three clicks for it to be comfortable.

I used to be ale to rub two fingers together next to my left ear and not hear a thing … well i did that and i could hear it clear as day.

I called my audi, had my hearing retested and both my bad left ear and my good right hear had noticeable improvements … the tinnitus is dramatically reduced and i turned my aid in prior to the end of my trial.

Anyone else heard of such a thing?? … i have googled it and found other instances with similar results

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#2

Read the Harper’s article on fasting. Drug companies and a lot of other groups do not like these kinds of remedies.

I started fasting when daylight savings started and have now adapted a pretty much fruit/veg/broth diet. When I get my BMI down to the center value for my height I’ll build muscle using protein/carbs/fat.
Went from 180 to 167 and have a chunk more to go.

With your stats you should hear quite a difference between your left ear and your right with YouTube’s 8 kHz tone. Thanks for the finger rubbing idea.

freq…R…L…diff
8000 -55 -75…20

#3

Maybe. Is it low carb or low sugar? A neurotologist who treated me for otosclorosis started all patients off with a battery of blood tests. If your glucose absorption was abnormal you got put on a very low sugar (and that includes carbs) diet. He claims it helps the inner ear function in half of patients with abnormal sugar absorption, but it was not the case with me.

I stayed strictly on this diet for 6 months. I could snack away on a 2 pound bag of peanuts but was not allowed to have an apple. I did lose a few pounds on it (even with the bags of peanuts, LOL).

#4

Low carb diets have a pronounced anti-inflammatory effect and are known to clear up many chronic conditions.

#7

No special foods … lots of eggs, chicken, venison, fish, cheese etc.

By definition low carb is low sugar … all carbs have the same impact on the body as sugar … it raises your blood sugar level and your body produces insulin to reduce the level.

#8

That actually is my pre diet audiogram … i had a new one done but was not given the results.

I did look at them and i improved at several frequencies … and my right ear improved as well :smiley:

#9

That would mean low starch too.

#11

Start by cutting just five foods out of your diet: sugar, bread, potatoes, pasta and rice.

#12

damn… I would starve without Italian and Chinese food!! Not to mention powdered donuts.

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#13

It is hard to avoid both rice and bread I eat regular rice. I use whole wheat bread and pasta. I use organic honey for sweeting my hot drinks. I spend like $100 every 1-3 months. I don’t drink sodas or any processed juices just water and fruits. I cook 99% of meals at home. Not trying to improve hearing, just trying to eat healthy.

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#14

whatever floats your boat…

hell we spend $100 a week at the grocery and eat out 3 or 4 nights a week. I do use organic honey on my buttermilk biscuits. Actually, I have a nice assortment of honey. The guy up the road has his own hives where I get a big chunk with the comb. Same guy has maple syrup in the spring. tried a few at whole foods but the best by far is organic Hawaiian white. I even buy green coffee beans from the local roaster and roast my own.

#15

I meant I spend $100 every 1-3 months in organic only. For honey I tried different brands and flowers, right now I have sourwood raw honey which is the best in the U.S. Once I bought 1.5kg of active mgo 550+ Manuka honey from New Zealand for like $300. I want to have my own hive at some point.
~I have green coffee right now, but only roasted it once. Back home people only buy green coffee and if they want to drink coffee 3 times a day, they have to roast 3 times a day fresh for every time.

#16

they have to roast 3 times a day fresh for every time.

I’m not that hard core… once a week works for me.

If you’re up for trying some of the best coffee you get get check out this guy… (only a happy customer)
http://mattscoffee.com/index.php?cPath=21&osCsid=fe84c5e66b5065ea6dac5744b9ed2f19

#17

I was on No carbs diet for more than 6 months unfortunately my hearing stays the same:(

I lost 25 pounds though:D

#18

It is great to hear this news from you. Finally, u have made an improvement in your hearing issue. I believe that Low Carb Diet is a healthy diet for treating many illness in our body. I would suggest people to go for Low Carb Diet program to stay healthy.

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#19

I’m eating a much healthier diet than five years ago, but my hearing continued to slowly deteriorate and my tinnitus increase through this period. So as always, YMMV.

We’ve got people posting here that low carb diets are healthy. Yes, sugar is a carbohydrate, but many other carbohydrates are very nutritious. A truly low carbohydrate diet that increased the proportion of protein and fat to carbs is risky and kind of a faddish diet that would not be recommended by most mainstream nutritionists. The human body would not function well without sufficient carbohydrates and would be very prone to constipation. Carbs are a necessary source of energy and dietary fiber. Fruits, vegetables, and legumes (a mix of protein and carbs) are all examples of healthy carbohydrates that most people should be eating more of (though of course with some degree of moderation and as long as they’re prepared without added sugar or fat). Healthy carbs are also lower-density in calorie count than fats and proteins and so help with weight loss without a feeling of starvation.

The carbs that many Americans need to reduce in their diets, as others have pointed out here, are the highly glycemic carbs such as sugar, white flour and pasta, white rice, and potato. Fruit juices are also highly glycemic and have fallen out of favor with many nutritionists. Glycemic foods are those that spike blood sugar high very rapidly and then lead to a carbohydrate crash. If you find yourself getting drowsy two hours after a meal, you might suspect a problem in this area of your diet. I ignored it for many years. Those who are not glucose intolerant or diabetic and who are physically active may be able to eat limited amounts of highly glycemic foods all their lives without being overweight or plagued with inflammatory diseases. Others need to be much more careful.

Five years ago, my doctor warned me that I already had high blood pressure and glucose intolerance and based on deteriorating bloodwork results over time was probably six months away from being diagnosed as a Type II diabetic with metabolic disease. He sent me to a diabetic nurse/nutritionist who put me on a much healthier diet. I would have said I had too much of a sweet tooth to give up this stuff, but it actually wasn’t that hard to do. (I was motivated by several people in my family who have been ravaged by diabetes. In my family experience, this is a disease you want to avoid if you possibly can.)

I still eat more carbs than protein or fat, but they’re whole grain and other low glycemic carbs including fruits, vegetables, and legumes. I lost 25 pounds (I was only a little overweight five years ago–now I’m thin) and have much healthier and more stable blood sugar levels. I’ve stayed on the diet and have enjoyed many benefits from it. I have not become diabetic. But again, it did not help my hearing; note that my hearing loss and tinnitus have been induced by exposure to high noise levels.

For those that have it, one benefit of reducing dietary-induced inflammation may be improved cognitive function of which improved speech comprehension may be a component. Your audiogram may look the same, but more may be getting through. And I can certainly see that someone who had a lot of inflammation in the ear canals could get a better audiogram with an improved diet and reduced inflammation. It just may not do much to repair nerve damage if that’s why you’re here.

#20

Of course the mainstream health industry is anti low carb … they need us to continue down our path of destruction to insure their livelihood. :eek:

The fact of the matter is that our bodies thrived on a low carb diet for thousands of years … we ate meat and gathered berries etc… that was it.

And every carb you put into your body, even veggies and fruit cause a spike in your blood sugar level and your body creates insulin to reduce it … and insulin promotes the storage of fat and causes numerous other problems.

The concept that you need carbohydrates is absolutely incorrect … i eat less than 30 grams every day yet i ride my bike, play baseball at the age of 49 and am very active with tons of energy.

But after all that i will explain that my diet (protein power by the Drs Eades) is low carb to start and then once you reach your target weight it becomes restricted carbs.

For a 200 pound male i can go up to 100 or so grams of carbs per day in the long run which will allow me to eat fruit with my eggs, salads and veggies with my steak etc.

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#22

No carbs at all in meat cheese and eggs :smiley: not to mention bacon :cool:

Low carb is considered 30 or so grams a day or under … restricted carbs for me would be around 100.

Once you hit your target weight the restricted carbs will stop you from becoming insulin resistant again yet it lets you eat a more balanced diet.

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#23

Same here. After about only three weeks of sticking to a Keto diet (low carb), I suddenly heard the ticking of the wall clock in my office! My relatives had asked me over the past six years to consider buying hearing aids since I head real trouble hearing clearly where others have had no trouble. This result is so unexpected since I started the diet for weight loss reasons. I googled to see if anyone else had a similar experience and Google pointed me to this post. I am so amazed that this helps! (I am not a member of any dietary club, I only follow the rule to eat very few carbohydrates - there is lots of scientific information on the ketogenic diet on the internet.)

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#24

I thought that I would respond to this topic as I have done some fairly extensive research over the last few years on this.

Bear in mind, this is my opinion based on what I have read, not scientific fact!

Keto or Low Carb Diets are not recommended long term - depending on what people mean by low carb eg 30 grams is low carb and essentially almost starving your body of vital nutrients. 100 grams is still low carb by today’s modern diets and seems to be recommended long term.

Keto may be good for quick weight loss and getting rid of toxins in your body quickly, but long term causes problems as you need more carbs.

Based on my research, I feel that a diet called The Perfect Health Diet is actually the right way to go. I especially like their Food Apple Diagram. Just googe it. However, I don’t follow their advice 100%

I feel that you need to completely cut out the following foods:

Sugar - anything with sugar
Sweetners - they are worse than sugar
Grain - breads, pasta etc. Flour is no longer what it used to be and we have far too much grain in virtually everything in the modern diet.
Coffee and Tea as a daily drink especially if you need sugar to have this. Rather move to Japanese teas and other drinks.
Alcohol
Vegetable Oils

Having said that, I don’t completely cut out beer or ales - that in moderation is not really that big an issue. Cutting out sugar alone will solve a lot of people’s health problems, providing you eat more vegetables and fish.

This is based on Perfect Health Diet, Atkins Diet, Paleo Diet, Weston A Price and other things that I have read.

I have learnt to avoid the mistakes made by some of the people listed by not buying artificial vitamin supplements such as fermented Cod Liver Oil and other vitamin supplements on the basis that we just don’t understand the body well enough to be able to create supplements that work in harmony. All these people recommend supplements but I think that mother nature knows best.

Over the years, I have found little of everything and in moderation seems to work best and I think we need to eat far more vegetables and fish as a nation.

I can well believe that you can improve hearing and eyesight by eating a well nourished diet. There have been many cases of people saying that their muscles, walking mobility etc has improved when having a lot of bone broth, eyesight being improved by having a lot more vegetables etc.

If you take anything away from this comment, it is that I would not recommend Keto as a long term diet. More and more people are being diagnosed with things like kidney problems etc as a result of not getting enough carb. The key is not to cut out carb, but to replace simple carbs like donuts with complex carbs like spinach, carrots etc. Also you need starch such as potatoes.