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LCHF And cholesterol

nomoredonuts said:
Just picking up the thread from a few weeks ago..

Just had my HbA1c with some good results and I've updated my signature with the details. When I stopped running in circles whooping with joy, I took a closer look at the Trigs figure. Now suddenly I'm not so impressed. They might even be high risk.
LCHF seems to have worked for everything else but ought I to scale back the cream-in-the-coffee and frying in butter?
@Brunneria , I'm hoping you'll weigh in here with words of comfort...
Click to expand...
What are your triglyceride and HDL results?
 
Agree, what are your trigs?

The 6.0, 3.5 and 4.4 was it, look perfectly fine and dandy, presuming they are total cholesterol. But then I'd think they were fine if they were LDL - because I believe the cholesterol heart hypothesis to be a load of hogwash and the Statin experiment to be a crime against humanity! But maybe I'm wrong!

Post your TC, HDL, LDL and trigs, bet they are brilliant by any measure.
 
D'oh! (I forgot the details aren't in my signature)

total carbs 4.4
LDL 1.9
HDL 0.98
ratio 4.5
Trigs 3.4
 
nomoredonuts said:
D'oh! (I forgot the details aren't in my signature)

total carbs 4.4
LDL 1.9
HDL 0.98
ratio 4.5
Trigs 3.4
Click to expand...

The good news is your LDL is fine! This is the lipid that is helped by taking statins, but you don't need any help with this.

Your HDL is a worry, your trigs are worrying, and your ratio is above where it is best to be.
Your total is only low because your HDL is low.

Have you used this calculator?
http://www.hughcalc.org/chol-si.php

HDL is most affected by carbs. The lower the carbs the higher the HDL should be. Statins don't normally affect it at all.
Trigs can be helped by exercise and more omega 3 (oily fish etc.)
 
Thanks @Bluetit1802
A clear comprehensive answer. I didn't recognise the link but in fact I have it bookmarked on the laptop. I believe the HDL are the transporters of cholesterol, so I need to raise them and maybe shave the carbs a little lower. I wonder if it's a coincidence that the mackerel season finished around September, so I stopped catching them (I do a mean smoked mackerel pate!) and my Omega 3 consumption probably fell. Better get some tins in. Didn't someone here say Brazil nuts are good for trigs too?

And exercise-wise I've been mostly flat on my back all bar an hour a day, since December, with a bulging disc and numb leg and foot. Didn't know that might be affecting the trigs either. That's why I love this forum. Someone will always have the answers!
 
Postscript: Saw the DN today and she has taken me off the Metformin. (Kept the statins because of the trigs, though). So I'm currently LCHF and drug-free!
 
nomoredonuts said:
Postscript: Saw the DN today and she has taken me off the Metformin. (Kept the statins because of the trigs, though). So I'm currently LCHF and drug-free!
Click to expand...

I decided to stay on metformin at the last review, although the DN suggested I came off it.
The other benefits it seems to have seem worthwhile.
Where you having a bad reaction to it?

Statins do lower trigs.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Because he is suddenly worried about them and they are high despite his low LDL.
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That doesn't mean they couldn't be higher without the statins, and statins are widely reported to lower trigs.
 
@nomoredonuts Was this a fasting cholesterol test? I ask this because a friend asked me for advice on their 'high trigs' reading and they weren't told to fast for the test, so the LCHF breakfast had temporarily put up the trigs.
 
douglas99 said:
That doesn't mean they couldn't be higher without the statins, and statins are widely reported to lower trigs.
Click to expand...

I concede that statins do lower Trigs, but most effectively when the trigs are high to start with. They seem to have very little effect when the trigs are lower. By high it seems to mean between 5.6 and 11. I can't find any studies done on people with trigs of less than this. Nomoredonuts has trigs of 3.4.

At the end of the day, it is his decision and he has decided to stick with them.
 
I can't remember exactly (I'll try and check), but I think I was 1.9 for trigs in September. I've heard that Metformin/Metabet has other health benefits other than its usual job with reducing liver dumps, so I have mixed feelings about being taken off. I'm not aware I have any choice in the matter as the DN instructs the dispensary to remove it from my script. As for the statins, they're prescribed but I don't have to take them.
@Bluetit1802 mentioned exercise and I wrote that I'm fairly immobile AND taking cocodamol and ibuprofren which I believe (along with statins) raise your blood sugar. So without the Metabet, I'm guessing my graph, starting today is going rise!
 
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