I asked my dentist, who rides. He said he wasn’t concerned about liquid with a lot of sugar. He was more concerned about chews and things that could stick to teeth for a longer period.
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This was exactly my first thought: unrepresentative test result.
For your true cholesterol to double in 6 months, then just as quickly go completely back to normal and with such a small lifestyle change is unbelievable. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
You had one unrepresentative test result (the high cholesterol) and the lower ones were actually representative. Why was the result unrepresentative? I don’t know, could be human error, a problem with the equipment, your cholesterol was actually that high but only temporarily due to some factors that change regardless of diet, etc.
Anytime I get my blood work done the doctor asks if I was fasted for it as instructed. This is because eating affects blood sugar and will throw off the results (I’m presuming for diabetes diagnosis but maybe other tests as well). Similar for testing positive for an infection after getting a vaccine for that same virus.
I’m a mechanical engineer and I get bad test data way more often than one would think using testing in a lab with calibrated equipment. Human error and equipment failure happen. I always have to consider the possibility of bad data and need to verify anything that doesn’t make sense.
Shame on your doctor for trying to push the meds without a second test result to confirm such a improbable result. The only course of action should have been to wait a few weeks and test again.
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The problem is that there are any studies that I’m aware off where they control for energy balance. Maybe one can get away with massive amounts of carbs in the context of energy balance or small deficits.
Care to expand on this?
If you’re implying that since I’m not a medical professional, I should not judge the doctor, fair enough.
My point was, I work with data a lot so I know how misleading it can be. Both medicine and engineering are scientific fields requiring rigor with data.
Again the famous saying “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”. Before believing that his numbers had suddenly changed so dramatically and then deciding to recommend using statins based on that number, the doctor should have re-verified the number or recommended a different intervention with less side effects, such as lifestyle changes.
There’s another famous saying, “Do no harm”, which this doctor needs to remember. Critical thinking is required whenever interpreting data.
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I hope there are no family medicine, internal medicine, or “GPs” on here - because this is some insanity right here.
There are some VERY intelligent physician’s who don’t want to do orthopedics or dermatology for lucrative careers but want to do this practice. Most of whom probably keep up with the latest evidenced based medicine. Also some really “bad” doctors who go into lucrative and specialties that require high test scores.
This reminds me of people and patients who ask if I ever want to go to medical school to become a doctor as if being a medical doctor is “better” than being a Physical Therapist because our society has created a hierarchy of prestige. I never even wanted to become a medical doctor.
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I deleted my previous two comments, they were inartfully expressed and not appropriate for the thread. My only point was you should advocate for yourself and not automatically accept what your GP says. My apologies for the distraction.
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I am very overweight as well. 5’7" and 230 lbs again 
. I almost never eat on the bike. I never eat while on the bike indoors. Outside if its under a few hour ride I usually just take water and maybe some electrolyte tablets.
I have done up to 16 hour rides with no food and only water and electrolytes.
Ftp has been as high as 292 and I am rebuilding right now after 5 months off and am back at 257. I only club race and then do multi day bike packing races and some gravel. When I am doing gravel races I eat a mixture of real food, (bacon, sausage and perogies offered at rest stops), honey stinger chews/waffles and the odd gel. I have never felt under fueled and actually had my best showing 2 years ago beating my next best time by almost an hour and I rode it fasted other than some bacon and eggs in the morning.
I have food issues and carbs seem to make me even hungrier. I do eat and enjoy carbs but try to keep it lower than most people and WAY lower than cyclists.
I am carrying at least 60 lbs of stored sugar on my body. I could ride for a couple months without eating and it wouldn’t effect me lol. In fact I rode 1500 km in 8 days a few years ago and ate next to nothing.
I have no issues with the sugar craze and the 90-120 grams per hour but I dont want to do it OFTEN and know that its not the best course for me. If I was younger, lived in an area where there was lots of crits and racing like SO CAL I would get on the band wagon. But up here I have access to our old man club races and a few other events a year.
In some ways I see no difference between Fueling with sugar water, gels or chocolate bars. As people have said a carb is a carb is a carb. However when you change the composition of what you stick in your body and add fat, protein or fiber it can completely change how THAT PERSONS body deals with the carb.
As for N=1 I applaud the OP for posting his story and I believe he is totally on the right track in how he is dealing with it. Seems a cause and effect to me and I am glad he will get more testing.
This post has not been sponsored by Big Sugar or the Carnivores or anyone else. As my wife is fond of saying I am wrong 99% of the time.
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Just had another thought on this. In the podcast it is often discussed that we are not pro’s, we don’t get paid to cycle.
If that is the case then can we really expect to eat the same way a pro athlete would and then expect our bodies to react the same way as those athletes? I think not.
This is less a n=1 story than a n=pro cult.
Just my 2 grams of carbs.
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I actually like the carb cult and am in a different situation than you so fueling with lots of carbs works well for me but I am actually not a really sure that the pros fuel with 100g of carbs per hour. I also don’t think they do lots of training with TR. 
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Agree that this is an important point. Numbers get thrown around on how many carbs/hr you need to consume, but that really varies by individual, their level of fitness and the effort they are putting in. As a recreational endurance rider, I don’t need 100g of carbs per hour, which is one of the numbers I’ve heard frequently mentioned. We also don’t have team cars waiting to keep us fueled.
However, the discussions have helped me realize that I was underfueling on the bike. I was fine on fluids and electrolytes, but not enough carbs for multi-hour rides. To get back to my house, many of my outdoor rides require me to do some mild intensity but longish climbs to get home. I’d either start to bonk on the climbs and/or get a headache and feel crappy after the ride. As I’ve started to increase the carbs on the bike with gels/maple syrup, I’ve noticed a positive difference during and after the rides.
I’m now planning for how many carbs I’ll consume, I make sure that I have extra carbs with me just in case and I try to be deliberate on when I take those carbs during the ride. I did a 3+ hour ride on Sunday, averaging about 60g of carbs per hour and I felt good afterwards.
Like most of these discussions, YMMV and this is my n=1.
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I totally agree with you. All our bodies are different and so are our needs. I am 54, and cant do a lot of the races talked about here as I would have to drive many hours to find a race. A lot of people here are doing explosive crit’s and such putting out mega amounts of power over and over and may need that type of fuel!!! However there are people here that are unable to utilize that type of fuel in that way and it could cause issues.
I just didn’t like the responses the OP received on the n=1 issue and how it almost couldn’t be the carbs doing it. The OP had a effect and a possible cause. It could be the sugar as we all react differently.
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as per many comments here I am neither a physician, nor biochemist, but the thing is that the pathway from sugar to fatty acids that then become the bad fats is complicated and can be affected by all sorts of thing including viral infections. (source: De novo lipogenesis in health and disease - ScienceDirect)
If you are taking in more calories than expending as sugars (not just during exercise) I suspect then you tip you metabolic balance towards the pathway for lipogenesis. It may be also many factors at play that are quite individual as per the above citation, if you happen to have insulin resistance for instance? So though there are a ton of things that can affect the balance and your case could be an indication of a unique biochemistry or some other issue. I think in the general it is hard to be certain and extrapolate from an individual response to a population. The situation and correlation you drew may be correct in your case? but there is the potential for excess sugars to lead to the pathway to generate bad lipoproteins and thus elevated cholesterol. Hope that you find the right options for your situation.
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Same for me. I’ve definitely underfueled for many longer rides and races. I’ve tried doing liquid only nutrition and it’s never really worked for me as I often don’t drink enough unless it’s very hot. So I started going the route of adding about 40g of carbs on liquid form sipping every 10 minutes. Then every 20-30 minutes I eat something. If temps are cooler and I’m not drinking as much I lean towards eating more. I still aim towards drinking a bottle per hour but I don’t stress about it. I think I’d have a hard time getting 100g per hour down.
I enjoy the podcast and their tips but in the end I need to sort out what works for me and not what works for cyclists 20+ years younger than me who are way fitter, faster , and putting out much more power than I am.
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Well, I just went to my dentist yesterday. He and the hygienist both came to agree that the 100g of sugar I was drinking was not the cause of my tooth pain. Since I am not adding an acid, I just need to clean before and after. Sugar water is neutral and salt water is actually basic.
So, brushing/rinsing before and after, washing it down with some water, and maybe chewing some gum and I’m doing ok!
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