High cholesterol on a lchf

holmesi34

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Hello and good morning,I was diagnosed as T2 in October 2015 and started a lchf diet much to the objections of my doctor/diabetic nurse refused Metformin .HBAC1 was 73 Cholesterol 5.9 January 2016 Hbac1 was 49 Cholesterol had shot up to 7.9 they wanted me to go on stations again I refused the mess, I had also lost about 8kgs April 2016 Hbac1 is now at 36 cholesterol is still 7.9 and I have gained 2 kgs, my question to the forum is how to get the cholesterol down on a lchf diet,I do eat/drink a lot of single/double cream sometimes looks like a small dairy in the fridge!!My carbs are somewhere between 20-50 g per day. Any ideas .Thanks
Holmesi34
 

SunnyExpat

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Saturated fats do that to me as well.
Try having non-saturated.
 
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Daibell

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HI. Your total cholesterol figure isn't that relevant. The surgery should have been discussing your LDL, HDL and Trig ratios with you and they should know that. Next time ask for the breakdown and look at the good ratios mentioned on this site. Having a fasting blood test next time should make the breakdown and total results a bit more reliable.
 

zand

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Saturated fats had a good impact on my cholesterol level, however I'm a woman. It's becoming more and more apparent to me that men need to be more careful with sat fats, so I agree with @SunnyExpat that unsaturated fats would be best for you.

I was in the middle of posting when I noticed Daibell had beaten me to it. Yes definitely look at all your cholesterol figures because as he says the total cholesterol figure doesn't tell you anything.
 

holmesi34

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Hello again,thanks for the info,I do have the breakdown latest is triglycerides 4.7,serum 0.9 hdl 6.9 lol cannot be done trips are too high
 

Brunneria

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Saturated fats had a good impact on my cholesterol level, however I'm a woman. It's becoming more and more apparent to me that men need to be more careful with sat fats, so I agree with @SunnyExpat that unsaturated fats would be best for you.

I was in the middle of posting when I noticed Daibell had beaten me to it. Yes definitely look at all your cholesterol figures because as he says the total cholesterol figure doesn't tell you anything.
Hi @zand

I am not disagreeing (I simply don't have the data to agree or disagree) about whether men and women have different reactions to saturated fats.

But I AM interested. Particularly because my dear Mr B is developing quite a taste for MY double cream.

Do you have any sources for this?

I know that Ken Sikaris has some excellent you tube videos (well worth a look) on interpreting cholesterol results.

@holmesi34 This one (below) may be useful in the context, but I am not sure that he mentions any differentiation between men and women (but it is a while since I watched it so he may have)

I would recommend ALL his videos to people, especially when our health care professionals are so behind the times that they look at total cholesterol rather than ratios and trig levels!

 

phil1966

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Hello and good morning,I was diagnosed as T2 in October 2015 and started a lchf diet much to the objections of my doctor/diabetic nurse refused Metformin .HBAC1 was 73 Cholesterol 5.9 January 2016 Hbac1 was 49 Cholesterol had shot up to 7.9 they wanted me to go on stations again I refused the mess, I had also lost about 8kgs April 2016 Hbac1 is now at 36 cholesterol is still 7.9 and I have gained 2 kgs, my question to the forum is how to get the cholesterol down on a lchf diet,I do eat/drink a lot of single/double cream sometimes looks like a small dairy in the fridge!!My carbs are somewhere between 20-50 g per day. Any ideas .Thanks
Holmesi34
Well done on your weight loss and blood sugar results. Losing a lot of weight may lead to a temporary increase in cholesterol as all the stored fat is used for energy. See this article for an explanation: http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2012/06/i-lost-weight-and-my-cholesterol-went-up/
 

Brunneria

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Hello again,thanks for the info,I do have the breakdown latest is triglycerides 4.7,serum 0.9 hdl 6.9 lol cannot be done trips are too high
was that a fasting test? It tends to make a big difference to the triglyceride levels, because that particular figure is affected by our last meal.
 

TorqPenderloin

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My cholesterol was largely unchanged 2 months into my low-carb diet. However, I got my results back yesterday after 6-7months in and the results were pretty dramatic. Note: I'm in the US and converted these numbers for all of you so hopefully i didn't make an error:

Total cholesterol- 5.8 (December 2nd) to 4.4 (April 25th)
Calculated LDL- 3.6 to 2.4
HDL- 1.6 to 1.2
Risk Ratio- 2.29 to 1.96
Triglycerides- 1.49 to 1.1

A1c also went from 42.1 down to 35.5

Notes about my diet:
-I do NOT regulate my saturated fats and my fridge has 30+ pounds of meat in it.
-I eat less than 50g of carbs a day and currently around 30-35g
-I have a very high protein intake of around 200-250g a day (1g+ per pound of body weight)
-I eat a ton of chicken and lean meats, but also things like bacon and cheese.
-my total cholesterol had stayed in the 5.8 range for about 2 years until most recently.
-high cholesterol and t2 both run in my family so they're things I need to keep an eye on.
 

holmesi34

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was that a fasting test? It tends to make a big difference to the triglyceride levels, because that particular figure is affected by our last meal.
No it wasn't, the surgery says that you don't have to have a fasting test anymore,wish I had known about the triglyceride level would not of eaten those scratchings!!!!!!
 
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Brunneria

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No it wasn't, the surgery says that you don't have to have a fasting test anymore,wish I had known about the triglyceride level would not of eaten those scratchings!!!!!!

Yeah, pain isn't it? I understand that the non-fasting ones are simpler, or cheaper, or something. I have to ask specifically for a fasting one nowadays, and the nurse always implies that I am being a little unreasonable! lol.

Have a read up, because I can't actually remember where I got the information about fasting/nonfasting and trigs from. It was probably one of the Ken Sikaris videos, to be honest, but it was a while back.

Please, always do your own checking! We are just online internet weirdos, and might not be handing out the right info! :D
 

holmesi34

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Think I need to have a rethink on fats/carbs can drop lower than where I am
My cholesterol was largely unchanged 2 months into my low-carb diet. However, I got my results back yesterday after 6-7months in and the results were pretty dramatic. Note: I'm in the US and converted these numbers for all of you so hopefully i didn't make an error:

Total cholesterol- 5.8 (December 2nd) to 4.4 (April 25th)
Calculated LDL- 3.6 to 2.4
HDL- 1.6 to 1.2
Risk Ratio- 2.29 to 1.96
Triglycerides- 1.49 to 1.1

A1c also went from 42.1 down to 35.5

Notes about my diet:
-I do NOT regulate my saturated fats and my fridge has 30+ pounds of meat in it.
-I eat less than 50g of carbs a day and currently around 30-35g
-I have a very high protein intake of around 200-250g a day (1g+ per pound of body weight)
-I eat a ton of chicken and lean meats, but also things like bacon and cheese.
-my total cholesterol had stayed in the 5.8 range for about 2 years until most recently.
-high cholesterol and t2 both run in my family so they're things I need to keep an eye on.
that's great wish mine would come down in stead of going up
 

noblehead

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No it wasn't, the surgery says that you don't have to have a fasting test anymore,wish I had known about the triglyceride level would not of eaten those scratchings!!!!!!

I had this argument with a practice nurse about 3 years ago, she said that a cholesterol check where they are looking for a full lipid breakdown didn't need to be fasting one, I said she was wrong and on checking with my Endo they said it needed to be a fasting one, mind I'm not sure what the procedure is if it's just for a Total Cholesterol check.

Anyway, the following are the target cholesterol levels that they want people with diabetes to be aiming for:

  • Your total cholesterol level should be below 4.0mmol/l.
  • LDL levels should be less than 2.0mmol/l.
  • HDL levels should be 1.0mmol/l or above in men and 1.2mmol/l or above in women.
  • Triglyceride levels should be 1.7mmol/l or less.
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Monitoring/Testing/
 

holmesi34

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Yeah, pain isn't it? I understand that the non-fasting ones are simpler, or cheaper, or something. I have to ask specifically for a fasting one nowadays, and the nurse always implies that I am being a little unreasonable! lol.

Have a read up, because I can't actually remember where I got the information about fasting/nonfasting and trigs from. It was probably one of the Ken Sikaris videos, to be honest, but it was a while back.

Please, always do your own checking! We are just online internet weirdos, and might not be handing out the right info! :D
It,s alright I think I am already an internet weirdo obsessed with not taking meds and finding a natural way around health problems.When I went on that xpert course on controlling diabetes I was made to feel as though I had materialised from outerspace .My ideas to them seemed quite radical on low carbing.My apologies on any previous posts with some words and spelling as that auto text thing was on ,seems it knows better than me what I am trying to write!!
 

Daibell

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Yeah, pain isn't it? I understand that the non-fasting ones are simpler, or cheaper, or something. I have to ask specifically for a fasting one nowadays, and the nurse always implies that I am being a little unreasonable! lol.

Have a read up, because I can't actually remember where I got the information about fasting/nonfasting and trigs from. It was probably one of the Ken Sikaris videos, to be honest, but it was a while back.

Please, always do your own checking! We are just online internet weirdos, and might not be handing out the right info! :D
I just setup my phlebotomist appointment or turn up at the hospital path lab first thing in the morning having not eaten for 10-12 hours so the test becomes a fasting one anyway.
 

Daibell

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I had this argument with a practice nurse about 3 years ago, she said that a cholesterol check where they are looking for a full lipid breakdown didn't need to be fasting one, I said she was wrong and on checking with my Endo they said it needed to be a fasting one, mind I'm not sure what the procedure is if it's just for a Total Cholesterol check.

Anyway, the following are the target cholesterol levels that they want people with diabetes to be aiming for:

  • Your total cholesterol level should be below 4.0mmol/l.
  • LDL levels should be less than 2.0mmol/l.
  • HDL levels should be 1.0mmol/l or above in men and 1.2mmol/l or above in women.
  • Triglyceride levels should be 1.7mmol/l or less.
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Monitoring/Testing/
My DN specifically asked me to do a fasting test to get better cholesterol breakdown results so your nurse wasn't quite with it.
 

noblehead

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My DN specifically asked me to do a fasting test to get better cholesterol breakdown results so your nurse wasn't quite with it.

The nurse I seen wasn't a DN or a DSN, she was just a practice nurse who takes bloods.
 

zand

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@Brunneria no I don't have any sources. I am just aware that some men on here have said that sat fats make their cholesterol worse. The first post I read on this was by someone that I had told about my own improved cholesterol results. I felt a bit guilty that what I said may have influenced him to do what was the wrong thing for him. Since then there have been other men on here saying the same thing. I feel I have a duty to mention it as I would hate to cause harm to someone by not mentioning it, that's all. It's simply a trend I have noticed here. I don't look for studies or proof of anything, I don't particularly trust them. I don't need to be proved right or wrong just to flag up potential problems so others can make up their own minds.

Sorry that reply sounds a bit curt. It's not meant to be, I'm not explaining myself very well today, too much going on. Apologies.
 

Brunneria

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No worries! I don't feel you have been curt. :) i am just aware how quickly an idea becomes cemented into urban myth. :)

I think i would be wary of linking cholesterol to sat/unsat fat by gender without very firm evidence - especially as we have seen others @donnellysdogs and (maybe?) @Kristin251 (sorry if i have you wrong, ladies) who have found lower sat fat works for them too.

Sending out a gender message could be misleading in both directions.
 
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Avocado Sevenfold

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I just setup my phlebotomist appointment or turn up at the hospital path lab first thing in the morning having not eaten for 10-12 hours so the test becomes a fasting one anyway.
This was my understanding too. I thought the test was fasting if I was fasted and that it was not a different lab test.