Have a look at Dr Michael Mosely's Radio 4 program (on BBC Sounds) about the Canadian research about eating ground flax seed to lower cholesterol - it's worked for me; a couple of tablespoons of that and one of chia seeds has seen my Total Cholesterol fall from 5.5. to 4.7. It's still not down to the 4.0 that is recommended but my TC/HDL is 2.5 so my LDL must be doing some good.
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Hba1c down but Cholesterol up...
- Thread starter Flane
- Start Date
Fats in meats and dairy do not push my cholesterol up. Around 80% of the body's cholesterol is made by the body - diet has only a limited impact.
The American College of Cardiology has revised its advice on saturated fat as long ago as 2019 - please see here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109720356874?via=ihub=&utm_source=arrow.proteinpower.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=the-arrow-188
Journal of the American College of Cardiology:
•Several foods relatively rich in SFAs, such as whole-fat dairy, dark chocolate, and unprocessed meat, are not associated with increased CVD or diabetes risk.
•There is no robust evidence that current population-wide arbitrary upper limits on saturated fat consumption in the United States will prevent CVD or reduce mortality.
Mod edit to remove quote of deleted post.
The American College of Cardiology has revised its advice on saturated fat as long ago as 2019 - please see here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109720356874?via=ihub=&utm_source=arrow.proteinpower.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=the-arrow-188
Journal of the American College of Cardiology:
•Several foods relatively rich in SFAs, such as whole-fat dairy, dark chocolate, and unprocessed meat, are not associated with increased CVD or diabetes risk.
•There is no robust evidence that current population-wide arbitrary upper limits on saturated fat consumption in the United States will prevent CVD or reduce mortality.
Mod edit to remove quote of deleted post.
Last edited by a moderator:
Vangellis0
Member
Just a word i to have high ldl but i have tried 4 different statins and get muscle pain and cramp and dizziness i have come off them and my gp is going to refer me as there is now a injection one can have and it has no side effects and only needed every 3 month so we will see how this goes had t2 for 30 years and now in my late 70s and still work a 10 hour day and had no real problems just keep busy and enjoy each day as it comes one day someone will figure it all out 
StubbornAlan
Newbie
Atorvastatin and re Rosuvastatin are the 2 statins most likely to cause diabetes. They put my bloods up 2 points a day. That’s what everyone gets offered first and second choices but they don’t Taylor to suit Diabetics. 3 months on Atorvastatin and m circulation has been permanently affected. From having warm feet and hands even working outside all day in the winter! I have now been wearing gloves and sleeping in socks to keep warm!
Your brief diet description seems fine!
Extra changes to my diet! Only Wholemeal bread products! My bloods are better with alternative bread products so I eat wholemeal wraps regularly! Wholemeal bread about once a month! But wraps pitta and flatbreads don’t increase my sugar as much,
Eat slowly! A sandwich scoffed down in 5 minutes shows far more than relaxing and taking 20 minutes. Walk after a large meal or one that you’re expecting a spike!
Fats proteins and fibre block the sugar spikes so eat together with help keep things. Sweet potatoes! Fries or roasted wedges! Concentrates the sugars and they go from a great food to a problem food, boiled mashed microwaved jackets or just used as a stir fry veg they don’t spike me at all!
In a plate of mixed food, start with the fats and proteins leave the carbs until last. Your body starts to process the fats to energy and the proteins first and it helps again and keeps the fats out of the blood stream! If you’re full before the end of the meal you only leave the ****** bits!
Eat early! Nothing at all 3 hours before bed! (I can get away with a few nuts late on like last night and my fasting was 5.0 mmol this morning!
I’ve been diet only control since diagnosis in 2016 but the changes in the last 2 paragraphs have officially put me into remission! 9 years after diagnosis so it not just in the first 2 years that you can do it as is suggested on the nhs pages!
Best of luck pal!
Alan
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The Bead Queen
Newbie
In my case it's my hormones that are making my liver sluggish to produce insulin. I have an underactive thyroid and every time my doctor increases the dosage my blood sugars go sky high. I had got my BMI down to 24 and was on the Low Carb Healthy Fat diet my morning bloods were 5.5 so I was clapping my hands about it. My Cholesterol was 5.9 too. Bust as soon as she put the Levothyroxine up my blood sugars went to 8.9 and I've started to have problems with my kidneys too. I feel she has overloaded me with salt but also the tablets had gluten Lactose, Maize starch and Talc in them. I felt I was being poisoned.
I have similar issues. My hba1c was 51, I was underweight, I have always been small and very active, plus ate a Mediterranean diet, I am approaching 70 so not as sport mad as I was. Cholesterol was very acceptable. Low carb diet prescribed plus told to gain weight, difficult on such a restrictive diet. Hba1c now 48, cholesterol much higher, so now on statins, lost more weight initially and had to increase fats to gain back the weight lost. Told to put up with it basically.
I simply ensure that all the food we prepare at home has lots of salad, veg & fruit at the heart of it and this adds so much flavour and I am sure this must help immensely with how your body operates. I am 48yrs old and have only ever had a 'normal' cholesterol reported. I am sure that a lot of these preprepared foods cannot really help cholesterol, much more reliable to eat a high proportion of natural foods.
I recently had to have a colonoscopy (as well as Type 1 diabetic, I am also coeliac), the team doing the colonoscopy were incredibly complimentary about how clear my bowel was prior to the test.....plus I simply didn't have to take three quarters of a pint of the last dose of laxatives before the test! In order to safely get transported to the hospital, I opted to stop taking it after the first quarter of a pint!
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I recently had to have a colonoscopy (as well as Type 1 diabetic, I am also coeliac), the team doing the colonoscopy were incredibly complimentary about how clear my bowel was prior to the test.....plus I simply didn't have to take three quarters of a pint of the last dose of laxatives before the test! In order to safely get transported to the hospital, I opted to stop taking it after the first quarter of a pint!
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leaningjuniper
Newbie
Problem with that is an informed choice may still not be correct. I have no confidence in my GP. Neither does my wife.one blood pressure read and he wants to up the dose . He wanted me on Metformin two years back despite my Hb1c coming down. Last one was 42.been maintained 2 years I'm due tmw for go review. I know he will push me onto statins. I have resisted for a long time because I have personal knowledge of somebody whose life was wrecked.im already on blood pressure tabs,clopodigrel following a T.I.A two years ago and now my exercise regime is severely limited by an arthritic knee. I'm probably going to try a statin,see how it goes but getting fed up with daily grind of exercise,physio,aches and pains,poor sleep,feeling fatigued so another complication does not appeal. Common sense says yes to statins..but my head is saying no...
Hi from the U.S. Just sharing my own experience. Now 80 y.o., when doc said, several months ago, "bad cholesterol" required meds, but I have probs with meds, we waited to re-test. Both the PCP and the Endocrinologist said my case due to genetics not diet (I have a disorder called "alpha-gal" which is a severe prob with mammalian-source meats/etc, and have been on that diet for over 4 years. So I haven't TOUCHED beef or pork in all that time. So, both docs felt it was NOT from diet. HINT: you may need to cut back on the mammalian meats.) Usually an egg eater at breakfast, I switched to regular oatmeal at least alternate mornings. I add a few pecan halves and salt. Cholesterol decreased considerably and A1C stayed stable (but having been on insulin many years now, I can say diabetes sometimes has life of its own, fluctuating when unexpected. Sometimes makes me wonder if there's something inconsistent in the insulin itself!) The only thing I could think was the answer was the oatmeal. It IS a conundrum to look at lists and see that the low-cholesterol foods are the high carbs ones and vice versa.! Maybe you can give that a try. I don't consistently see this UK thread, but do hope to see this might have helped.
Laura nelson
Newbie
As a diabetic myself, I was told to cut down on the carbs by my dietition as carbs also turn into sugar and can also increase your cholesterol levels. Have you tried to reduce your carbs?
Laura nelson
Newbie
I was told by my dietition that carbs also produce sugar and can increase your cholesterol levels. Have you tried cutting those down?
DavidE54
Member
If your talking to your GP it might be wortth typing "which statins can cause diabetes" into Google and discussing the articles with your GP. I changed to Prevestatin years ago (at least 10 years ago) and am still only prediabetic and not getting any worse.
Thank you for your reply @DavidE54. I'm on Rosuvastatin. The link between statins and increased risk is well documented. People respond to statins differently. I have had no issues at all. My LDL Cholesterol is now normal. My Triglycerides have always been very low.
Here is an extract from the conclusion of a meta study on statins and the risk of diabetes. I have removed the footnote numbering for ease of reading. The full paper is attached below.
'Statins and risk of type 2 diabetes: mechanism and clinical implications'
"Meta-analyses of clinical statin trials to lower cardiovascular events reported an increase in the risk of diabetes by 9-12% ...... whereas in large population studies the risk was substantially higher. In a meta-analysis of 15 observational studies the risk of incident T2D was 55% . In four individual studies the risk of incident T2D was from 36-48%, and in the US Veterans study 21-22% for low and median potency statins (pravastatin, fluvastatin), and 34% for high potency statins (simvastatin, atorvastatin, rosuvastatin). Clinical statin treatment trials have significantly underestimated the effects of statins on the risk of T2D. Additionally, the diagnosis of T2D has not performed according to internationally accepted criteria leading to underestimation of incident T2D. In the clinical trials the risk of T2D has been quite similar between different statins but in the population studies statin potency has been a significant factor increasing the risk of T2D."
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10546337/
My experience is similar to Flane's. Low weight and BMI of 17, normal visceral fat, active and in my 70s but family history of stroke, diabetes and heart disease, plus Indian background - so many risk factors. Have lowered my HbA1c to 5.9 over 3 years with low carb and high fat diet, BUT this year was called in by the GP to choose between lowering my cholesterol level in 6 months through diet, or the dreaded statins. In December 2024 LDL was 3.07. I said I would try to reduce it myself and researched what I could do. I found the Portfolio Diet from Canada which has a website and they are developing an app which you can try out. This basically sets amounts of 5 groups of foods to focus on (eg nuts and seeds, plant proteins and more) and you try to increase these categories. Well, in 3 months I was able to decrease my LDL reading to 2.56, which is just into the red zone. I also cut out full fat dairy anything and coconut products. Eat no meat and some fish. I am now confident that I will be able to stay off statins. The diet is evidence based .
Some posts have been moderated for the following reasons.
The issue of whether dietary fat in red meats and dairy causes raised cholesterol and whether or not cholesterol build up causes heart disease, remains a contentious issue and one that is still debated within the medical field, for now.
Mods remind members of rules,
in particular..
B3 Diet is a relevant, but sensitive topic and should be treated as such. Please be considerate to other people’s dietary choices.
and this
C12
The issue of whether dietary fat in red meats and dairy causes raised cholesterol and whether or not cholesterol build up causes heart disease, remains a contentious issue and one that is still debated within the medical field, for now.
Mods remind members of rules,
in particular..
B3 Diet is a relevant, but sensitive topic and should be treated as such. Please be considerate to other people’s dietary choices.
and this
C12
- Carbs/fat/statins/x medication is bad’ – Members are free to express their opinion of certain diets, but personally negative statements should not be made about those that follow the diet/medication regime.
- Posting medically dangerous information. (eg. Telling users to alter medication dosage, ignore their healthcare professional).
