• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Dr Mark Porter: The diet that’s almost as good as statins — and I’m proof that it works

tim2000s said:
ALthough @zand, as some have found, large volumes of butter and cream can push up those pesky levels that you don't want, so pushing them for everyone may not be the most effective route!
Click to expand...

I thought that by eating a much lower level of carb in my diet would also result in lower cholesterol levels, but unfortunately not. Through eating more nuts, cream cheese, butter, full fat yogurt, whole milk, my bad LDL increase to equal my good HDL and also an increase in my trigs as well and this was with eating about 60g carb per day. Bg levels were fairly good though so that made the low carb route a good way to go even though my bodyweight increased because of the level of fat consumed.
Ive now cut out eating so much butter, cut back the nuts, the cream cheese and the whole milk and still low carb but without the fat. As a result my bodyweight is about 49kg whereas it was about 56kg.
 
I cannot understand why he avoided butter but ate cheese, and indeed increased his cheese eating. He is convinced butter is bad for cholesterol, but not cheese apparently. He hasn't seen my lipid profile since I returned to butter in ever increasing quantities as part of my VLC/high fat diet. It would be very interesting to see if other people on a VLC/high fat diet see lipid changes like I have - changes for the better in my case. I think the answer lies in the low carb bit - the fewer the carbs, the better the lipids, and I am talking very low carb as opposed to ordinary low carb, ie up to 30g, max.
 
Total agreement, @bluetit

I think if people aren't seeing improvements in their cholesterol ratios on low carbing, then they should reduce their carbs further before throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

@iHs I am not in any way implying criticism (because 60g/day carbs is a great achievement, and probably a huge reduction), but rather than cut back on fat, I would have cut back further on carbs for a few months - just to see what happened.

I realise that feels very counterintuitive, but when I went gung ho VLC and masses of fat (a bag of pork scratchings a day, plus more cheese than the average dairy farm monthly output) I saw more weight loss than at any other time in the last 10 years. Plus my HDL and trigs both went very much in the right directions, and my HDL fell - while Total cholesterol remained stable.

It isn't going to work for everyone, but I would LOVE to see Dr MArk Porter's cholesterol results if he went ketogenic, or even down to 20-30g carbs a day. I bet they would transform!
 
This is the same Dr Mark Porter that has a son who is type 1 and uses a pump and was involved with supporting Animas Sports Events a while back.

The Inside Health radio programme has also spoken about food causing weightgain through eating too much.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Bluetit1802 said:
I cannot understand why he avoided butter but ate cheese, and indeed increased his cheese eating. He is convinced butter is bad for cholesterol, but not cheese apparently. He hasn't seen my lipid profile since I returned to butter in ever increasing quantities as part of my VLC/high fat diet. It would be very interesting to see if other people on a VLC/high fat diet see lipid changes like I have - changes for the better in my case. I think the answer lies in the low carb bit - the fewer the carbs, the better the lipids, and I am talking very low carb as opposed to ordinary low carb, ie up to 30g, max.
Click to expand...
I have actually reduced my butter intake over the last 2 months whilst waiting for my retest which is tomorrow so it will be interesting to see if that will in fact make my cholesterol go up. If it is up I will insist on reversing that change and then revert to eating lots of butter prior to another retest. ( and at the end of it all I will still refuse to take statins :D )
 
My last set of cholesterol tests showed really good trigs and HDL, but total cholesterol was back up from my first set of LCHF bloods (which were way down on all counts from my readings at diagnosis). I've been averaging just over 30g of carbs per day. I'm experimenting with changing my mix of fats - more avocado, fish and olive oil based stuff and less dairy. Not "NO" dairy, just less. It's been too easy to reach for a block of cheese or shove some cream in the coffee instead of actual cooking.
I'm to be retested in the summer so let's see how it pans out.
 
His Twitter handle is @drmarkporter Perhaps we should all tweet him. :)

@Administrator - I notice you're a tweeter. Could you invite Dr Mark to drop by the site and read some of the success stories from low carbing?

I'm feeling a little minxy. I'd tweet him my own levels, but my personal styleeeee of breakdown is a bit complex for those not interested in the science.
 
GeoffersTaylor said:
When Dr Porter announced he was doing this, I commented on the article that maybe he wasn't going low carb enough and I was concerned that he might not see the benefits - I needn't have worried!
Click to expand...

Quite agree @GeoffersTaylor

Although Dr Porter says he was at the upper-end of a low-carb diet he was still eating around half the RDA for a adult male (I believe his daily carb total was 150g a day). This in itself just goes to show that you don't have to go too low to see the benefits of carbohydrate reduction.
 
noblehead said:
Quite agree @GeoffersTaylor

Although Dr Porter says he was at the upper-end of a low-carb diet he was still eating around half the RDA for a adult male (I believe his daily carb total was 150g a day). This in itself just goes to show that you don't have to go too low to see the benefits of carbohydrate reduction.
Click to expand...
Which is why the low carb program here starts at around that figure, reducing if necessary.
 
Gezzabelle said:
I have followed LCHF since last May and my cholesterol levels haven't gone up at all from eating higher fat in my diet. Butter, cheese, bacon, cream, pork scratchings etc have had no impact whatsoever in making my cholesterol go up. The only increase was one that was point one when they tested me AFTER I had eaten breakfast and drunk several cups of coffee as I wasn't told cholesterol was being tested and therefore hadn't fasted. The tiny amount it went up was jumped on by the nurse and a fasting test ordered for tomorrow as she says my reading of 5.8 (or 5.9 without fasting ) is far too high. This is despite being told that it was fine previously at 5.8. The upshot is now that they are trying to force me on to statins. I informed her that I am very aware that statins actually raise BG levels and therefore refuse to take them. As they are telling me I am pre diabetic and at high risk of developing full blown type 2 I think my decision to avoid statins is a sensible one as the rise they could cause could easily push me over into diabetic levels. I will continue to eat LCHF regardless of any argument or risk factor they throw at me as they seriously don't seem to have a clue. To congratulate me on getting my HbA1c back down in to non diabetic levels within 3 months is all very nice but to refuse to listen to HOW I did it is down right negligence and ignorance. They use old fashioned methods and ideas to treat diabetics and are in fact probably causing more complications and unnecessary medications to be taken by giving incorrect advice. Their ''healthy plate'' way of eating is in fact pure poison to so many of us and will never be used by me and I am sure many others. The sooner they wake up to the benefits of LCHF way of eating, the better
Click to expand...
Hi Gezzabelle I had exactly the same response from my Practise Nurse today.. amazement at my HbA1c change in 3 1/2 months but not in the slightest bit interested as to how i had achieved it. In fact I got so annoyed we had a small row about it as I was leaving. Walked home fuming..
 
Last edited by a moderator:
zand said:
Which is why the low carb program here starts at around that figure, reducing if necessary.
Click to expand...

Yes Zand I'm aware that the LC programme starts at 150g of carbs.
 
bulkbiker said:
Hi Gezzabelle I had exactly the same response from my Practise Nurse today.. amazement at my HbA1c change in 3 1/2 months but not in the slightest bit interested as to how i had achieve it. In fact I got so annoyed we had a small row about it as I was leaving. Walked home fuming..
Click to expand...
I hear you on that...I have all but screamed at my practice nurse and doctor in the past and I doubt that is going to change in the future. Coming up against such ignorance infuriates me. My GP congratulated me on my progress and said ''whatever it is you are doing...go on doing it''. If only they would ask it could help so many people. I am constantly met with sarcasm and snide remarks by the nurse and trust me...she gets them right back and is left speechless when I hit her with facts that she has no clue about. The last time I went I actually stood up to leave and tossed a piece of paper on the desk...with a link to this site...suggesting she take a look as it could be to her (AND MY) advantage.
 
Well 150g carbs certainly didn't work for me blood sugar-wise, nor did 120g, and nor did all the others until I got down to 30g. But there again, I am unmedicated, so my diet is my medicine. More than about 20g in any single meal and I'm up in the 8's or even 9s at 90 minutes, which is not acceptable to me because I intend to remain unmedicated.
 
Gezzabelle said:
I hear you on that...I have all but screamed at my practice nurse and doctor in the past and I doubt that is going to change in the future. Coming up against such ignorance infuriates me. My GP congratulated me on my progress and said ''whatever it is you are doing...go on doing it''. If only they would ask it could help so many people. I am constantly met with sarcasm and snide remarks by the nurse and trust me...she gets them right back and is left speechless when I hit her with facts that she has no clue about. The last time I went I actually stood up to leave and tossed a piece of paper on the desk...with a link to this site...suggesting she take a look as it could be to her (AND MY) advantage.
Click to expand...
hmm maybe I'll try that next time..
 
This is good. This guy presents Radio 4's Inside Health, which is mainstream and frustratingly conservative on anything to do with metabolic syndrome, insulin, diabetes etc.

So this is real progress.
 
I'm thinking the same @GeoffersTaylor with regards to the dairy aspect. It's so easy to over-indulge on things like cheese and even cream. Well, it is for me anyway.

I've started reducing that dairy intake, mixing in some avocado smoothies, more fish and oils. Was picking up my prescription yesterday from surgery and GP saw me and said, 'Your glucose control is great but if that cholesterol has not come down in the next set of bloods we will have to put you on statins' - now, definitely not what I want at 25 so I'm trying really hard to cut back on dairy.
 
I found that reducing carbs and increasing dairy reduced my cholesterol. Having read a few posts on this on the forum, I'm thinking perhaps it's different for men?
 
Back
Top