@Rog what I neglected to explain to you last night is that there are two opposing views of what causes heart disease: 1) the "cholesterol hypothesis"
that cholesterol is the primary cause of heart disease and 2) a more current, science-based view that
inflammation, not cholesterol causes heart disease.
The other book I recommended to you was written by someone who still believes in the cholesterol hypothesis, so all her advice will contradict what Dr. Sinatra's book teaches. The reason I referred you to her book was so you could get a good overview of the tests, lipid profile information used in the UK.
Sinatra's book, The Great Cholesterol Myth, will help you understand why
inflammation is the problem, but he will also tell you that high glucose levels in the blood injures the arteries...which leads to inflammation...which leads to plaque build up in the artery walls.
Here's where it gets tricky. When evaluating our heart disease risk, the number of LDL particles circulating in our blood doesn't tell us much. What we need to know is what is the
size of those LDL particles.
Why? Because the smaller LDL particles, if I'm understanding Sinatra correctly, are damaged due to oxidation for example, and through a process I don't completely understand, are more likely to end up in the artery wall, whereas the larger LDL particles are less likely to end up there, where we don't want it.
This is why, it's more important to know your LDL particle
size, not just your LDL particle
number. But here's the catch. Health insurance may not pay to measure the particle number and size of your LDL and HDL, so we may have to pay for that test out of pocket.
If you have a typical lipid profile that's a little high, you're probably okay, and over time, your lipid profile should improve on the LCHF diet. But I like what Tim2000s said in his above post...
"Some people will see increases from eating extra saturated fats and others won't. Generally over the population though, sat fats typically don't directly cause an increase in cholesterol as the mechanism by which cholesterol enters the bloodstream is that it is generated by the liver."
We're all so individual. That's why, after your weight loss has stabilized for a few months, it's important to have another lipid profile to see if you're responding to the increase in healthy saturated and monounsaturated fats in a healthy or unhealthy way. We want triglycerides to go down, LDL to eventually go down, and HDL to go up on the LCHF diet. Your next lipid profile, again, after your weight loss has stabilized for a few months, in 3 to 12 months will give you more information.
