Cholesterol: cue the violins

[SJC]

Hi AnnieC
Sounds pretty much like my diet ( I rarely ate red meats in the last few years). My weakness is lamb and I do like a lamb curry now and again! I am just trying to work out which yoghurt to buy as I love my yoghurts.

 

[Pipp]

Peacetrain stay on the cheese eggs and cream. Fat in your diet does not cause increased cholesterol in your blood. Losing body fat causes elevated triglycerides, so it's a symptom of a Good Thing. The lipid ratios that matter are worsened by eating carbs, not eating fats. VLDL increases, which are the worst kind, are entirely caused by excessive carbs. VLDL is created when the body has too many carbs and has to try to convert carbs to fat for storage.

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I think I am a prime example of this. After gaining some weight following an accident some 20 odd years ago, and following advice of medical professionals to have half my food intake as 'good' carbs I kept gaining weight, and cholesterol levels kept rising. This sort of advice is still being dished out. They are poisoning us and making us diabetic.

 

[Pipp]

As for Benecol, in my opinion it should be banned.

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Maybe, Spiker, but it has been one of the things that has worked for me. I am aiming to get all medication to the absolute minimum. If I can get off statins by using Benecol I will.

 

[SJC]

So does this Flora product reduce cholesterol?http://www.nutraingredients.com/Reg...ad-Flora-cholesterol-claims-rules-ad-watchdog

 

[Indy51]

All the reading I've done over the past 2 years has convinced me of two things: (1) it's called the lipid "hypothesis" for a reason - if they'd been able to prove it, it wouldn't be a hypothesis any more and (2) higher cholesterol is protective for women as they age. Although doctors won't ever tell you, low cholesterol is very risky - especially for cancer. If I have to choose between cancer and heart attack, I know which one I prefer.

 

[SJC]

All the reading I've done over the past 2 years has convinced me of two things: (1) it's called the lipid "hypothesis" for a reason - if they'd been able to prove it, it wouldn't be a hypothesis any more and (2) higher cholesterol is protective for women as they age. Although doctors won't ever tell you, low cholesterol is very risky - especially for cancer. If I have to choose between cancer and heart attack, I know which one I prefer.

It's beginning to be more evident that sugar 'feeds' cancer too!

 

[Indy51]

It's beginning to be more evident that sugar 'feeds' cancer too!

Exactly - and even more reason for me to persist with a LCHF ketogenic diet. The less glucose in my body, the less there is to feed cancer cells.

There's a really interesting book I've got on my list to read called "Cancer as a Metabolic Disease" by Dr Thomas Seyfried.

 

[SJC]

........and then you know of the elderly who are still frying with lard in their eighties and making their beloved rich fruit cakes, jam tarts as they have been doing for decades. There are so many factors at play in this life. Short of going off into a monastery, eating only your own grown foods and keeping goats ( and then you may still get an inherited disease,) there is only so much a person can do.

Fear/stress/anxiety can also play a big part.

 

[Indy51]

 

[Heathenlass]

Short of going off into a monastery, eating only your own grown foods and keeping goats

I already do all of the above, except it's not a monastery

I crochet my own yoghurt too...does this mean I'm safe ?

Has anyone else tried taking plant sterol tablets as an alternative to statins or Benecol type products ? I did, purely as an experiment to see if they did make any difference to cholesterol following the GP's insistence that mine was higher than it should be (but still within "normal" parameters ) and that I SHOULD continue with statins despite horrific side effects which they seem to believe were all in my mind anyway. For me, they did work, but having established that they did and showed the GP that my hippy ways worked, I stopped as I'm not at all convinced that my cholesterol needed adjusting in the first place.

Signy

 

[Heathenlass]

Brilliant, Indy51 !

Signy

 

[SJC]

I already do all of the above, except it's not a monastery

I crochet my own yoghurt too...does this mean I'm safe ?

Has anyone else tried taking plant sterol tablets as an alternative to statins or Benecol type products ? I did, purely as an experiment to see if they did make any difference to cholesterol following the GP's insistence that mine was higher than it should be (but still within "normal" parameters ) and that I SHOULD continue with statins despite horrific side effects which they seem to believe were all in my mind anyway. For me, they did work, but having established that they did and showed the GP that my hippy ways worked, I stopped as I'm not at all convinced that my cholesterol needed adjusting in the first place.

Signy

I will fight tooth and nail not to take statins and to handle it with diet and exercise.
Off to find my crochet hook............

 

[peacetrain]

Peacetrain stay on the cheese eggs and cream. Fat in your diet does not cause increased cholesterol in your blood. Losing body fat causes elevated triglycerides, so it's a symptom of a Good Thing. The lipid ratios that matter are worsened by eating carbs, not eating fats. VLDL increases, which are the worst kind, are entirely caused by excessive carbs. VLDL is created when the body has too many carbs and has to try to convert carbs to fat for storage.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

Yes I probably will. HDL went up but so did Trigs and LDL. Trigs are still within the range but LDL is 0.4 above the range. Thanks everyone.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[SJC]

I already do all of the above, except it's not a monastery

I crochet my own yoghurt too...does this mean I'm safe ?

Has anyone else tried taking plant sterol tablets as an alternative to statins or Benecol type products ? I did, purely as an experiment to see if they did make any difference to cholesterol following the GP's insistence that mine was higher than it should be (but still within "normal" parameters ) and that I SHOULD continue with statins despite horrific side effects which they seem to believe were all in my mind anyway. For me, they did work, but having established that they did and showed the GP that my hippy ways worked, I stopped as I'm not at all convinced that my cholesterol needed adjusting in the first place.

Signy

Signy? Do I use low fat or high fat yarn and can I get it off eBay? lol

 

[Pipp]

I stopped high fat a few days ago because it's not agreeing with me and laying very heavy in my stomach. I wondered and fretted after that in case I should have persvered for the sake of putting off full blown diabetes. After all that was my goal. I decided to do some Googling on LCHF to see if I could persaude myself to go go back to the 'right' fats. I wasn't ready for two separate reports I read. One was damning the LCHF which didn't entirely surprise me, but when it came to a detailed report of higher increases of heart attacks in Sweden (might have said Scandinavia, can't remember), since the LCHF took off, I decided to stay off high fat and stay on my low fat diet.
I am telling you this because we all need to make informed choices. I am thrilled for all those who have got their BG down, cholesterol down etc. It's personal choice at the end of the day which route we take but it is very pro LCHF on the forum and easy, when you have just been scared by a diabetes diagnosis, to try almost anything to put it right. I jumped straight in out of desperation so I know how it feels.

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I think the most important thing is to find something that works for each individual. There are so many different combinations of factors that are causing us to have diabetes, and it is probably about peeling back the different layers, and adding something in and taking something out as appropriate to each individual. The difficulty is finding what works, as something that was good for one might be harmful to another. For example, I find the idea of high fat appealing, but know that I cannot tolerate it because it makes me feel sick. It is not because I have gallstones. I got rid of my gallbladder a while ago. Also, the very low calorie diets such as Newcastle have, it has been suggested, contributed to gallstones. ( mine wasn't as gallstones were before Newcastling). Also can diets etc work differently on T1 and T2? As a T2 I always feel a bit guilty, as media portrayal suggests we are to blame for causing our diabetes through being lazy and greedy.
I think we need to be careful not to be seen by new folks to the forum, many of whom are newly diagnosed to be promoting a particular regime over another to allow people to make informed choices.

 

[Pipp]

I'm going to try LCHOO diet. High olive oil. I like the acronym ;-)

Seriously my cholesterol has gone up in the 3 months since LCHF. All elements up. I've posted elsewhere so I won't detail it here. I will continue with the diet but forget the butter. I added it when I never have spread of any kind. I've also overdosed on cheese so I'll watch that. I use a lot of OO and it can do the job of butter in my case. Essentially, I'm a LCHF fan with OO in it.


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Sounds like a good plan peacetrain. I might try this next.

 

[Spiker]

Has anybody wondered if losing weight or increased exercise has anything to do with some people getting lower cholesterol results on the LCHF diet? Surely in a lot of cases there are other factors to consider. I keep reading on here about people losing good amounts of weight and saying their cholesterol has gone down. A lot of you seem to be exercising more. Just a thought! Surely it doesn't necessarily have to be the HF part of a diet that is making a person's cholesterol come down.

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I'm doing sweet F all exercise so I can be the control subject.

 

[Pipp]

My GP told me to stop using Benecol once I was put on Statins, and I rather think there is a warning about this somewhere. Can't remember where now.

Have checked, I am fine with statins for me. Not sure for others, who should ask medical advice for themselves.

 

[Pipp]

It's all swings and roundabouts to me lol. I have used nothing but extra virgin olive oil for years but my cholesterol still went up...obviously other parts of my diet and exercise might have been a factor. Interestingly, my cholesterol went up a bit about four years ago. Being a bit concerned as I was already eating low fat, I started to eat a bowl of porridge every morning. That was the only thing I changed in my diet. After a year it had gone down to lower than it was originally! I put it down to porridge because I couldn't see anything else that had changed in my diet or lifestyle.

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I agree. At the same time as I was eating the high 'good' carb diet I was also eating low fat and using olive oil not animal fat in cooking. Still gained weight, and diabetes.

 

[Pipp]

I'm going to try LCHOO diet. High olive oil. I like the acronym ;-)

Seriously my cholesterol has gone up in the 3 months since LCHF. All elements up. I've posted elsewhere so I won't detail it here. I will continue with the diet but forget the butter. I added it when I never have spread of any kind. I've also overdosed on cheese so I'll watch that. I use a lot of OO and it can do the job of butter in my case. Essentially, I'm a LCHF fan with OO in it.


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Peacetrain that is brilliant! Even the sound of a train LCHOO, LCHOO.