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LCHF and Cholesterol

L

LadyLovely

Well-Known Member
Messages
48
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I was diagnosed in April and have been following LCHF diet for approximately three months now and assessing my BG levels with a meter and so was hopeful of a lower HB1AC result.

Just had my three month blood test and the good news is that my HB1AC reading has gone down to 41 from 51.

However my cholesterol total is now 8.3 up from 5.1
HDL 4.2 up from 3.7
LDL 3.8 up from 2.9
Triglycerides at 0.66 up from 0.56
cholesterol/HDL ratio of 2 up from 1.4

Is this bad news? Do I need to go back to low fat?

I'm due to see the DN in two weeks time but would be grateful for any feedback on here.

Many thanks.
 
@LadyLovely I am sure plenty of people on here will be along with some good advice soon.

I don't count myself as an authority on anything as I am very new to LCHF and Diabetes myself.

My experience was different in that I managed to lower my BG and cholesterol in my first 3 months.

I suggest you share your diet so people can get a view.

For me I focused on increasing good fats I.e mackerel, avocado, and nuts

I also opted for porridge oats with cinnamon for brekkie 3-4 days a week plus a bottle of red a week ( over 3 days ) as I read that they were all good for cholesterol reduction.

Porridge oats can be controversial on LCHF but for me the meter says I am ok.

I also move/exercise more to reduce my weight.

All the best
 
@LadyLovely It's not necessarily High fat or Low fat there is a whole spectrum in between. and congrats on lowering your HbA1c
 
Thanks for the input @JohnEGreen and @Looseboy.

My diet before being diagnosed was based on what I thought was healthy eating. Porridge for breakfast most days with a weekly poached egg on toast, occasional weetabix. Salad & tinned mackerel or hummus and somedays soup for lunch. Dinner would based on beans or lentils with veg. I hardly ever ate potatoes, pasta or rice or cheese or meat. I might have had a sandwich occasionally so two pieces of bread. A handful of nuts and seeds a day. Occasional fruit yogurt or ice cream but certainly not on a daily basis. Never added sugar to anything. Had the occasional cake or bun (say once a month) and little alcohol. Probably a pint of skimmed milk a day - in coffee mainly.

Since diagnosis I have upped the fat and reduced the high carb veg as much as possible. My breakfast now would be two boiled eggs with one slice of low carb bread and 5g butter or a cheese omelette maybe a couple of high meat sausages. Still have salad for lunch with low carb veg but will have cheese or chicken. For dinner I have low carb veg which for me is spinach, broccoli, small amount of peas with chicken or fish. I now have double cream in my coffee. Strawberries, blueberries or raspberries with cream for a pudding. I eat almonds, pecans and walnuts as snacks - lots of them.

My calorie intake has actually gone up since starting the LCHF diet but I have lost over 10lbs which I didn't need to lose bringing me down to 8st (I was always that sort of weight most of my life but had put it on over the last few years). I am fairly active person even though I am retired as I care for my grandchildren and do lots of walking.

@JohnEGreen I obviously need to rethink the fats and go for the so called healthy ones - I thought that eating cheese and cream was too good to be true!

@Looseboy So did Hippocrates say which food was medicine!
 
LadyLovely said:
However my cholesterol total is now 8.3 up from 5.1
HDL 4.2 up from 3.7
LDL 3.8 up from 2.9
Triglycerides at 0.66 up from 0.56
cholesterol/HDL ratio of 2 up from 1.4
Click to expand...

@LadyLovely

Some people do see a slight rise in cholesterol at the initial 3 month test if they have been losing weight, so I wouldn't worry and see what happens next time.

My comments on your levels

Your HDL is the highest I have seen reported on this forum. HDL is the good stuff that mops up a lot of the bad stuff. The nrmal advice is the higher the better, although the standard range is 1.2 to 3.5 (for women) and I have no idea what it means to have a higher level. It may be worth you doing some Google research on this for UK websites. (The US use different measurement units)

The trigs are the baddies but even though yours have gone up they are still excellent and well under the top of the range, which is 1.7.

The cholesterol/HDL ratio should be under 5, so yours is well in range.

There is another ratio that is important. The Trigs/HDL which should be under 0.87. Yours is 0.16.
 
I can't find a way to persuade bodies that cholesterol is a bad thing to make - and as at the moment fat is moving about - happily away from my middle so I am regaining a waist, and cholesterol is involved with that I have decided to wait until I am a year from diagnosis to consider the options.
I have increased my fibre intake by doing baking - though how that might affect my blood glucose levels is something of a worry, however, as my Hba1c is quite low I do have some wiggle room. I hope that the fibre will have some effect on cholesterol ratios.
I was on a cholesterol lowering diet for almost two years before diagnosis, and that did absolutely nothing to improve cholesterol in the eyes of my doctors.
 
Hi @Lovely lady My total cholesterol level also went up from 4.7 at diagnosis to 6.1, and my GP wanted me to go back on the statins I had stopped taking. I still declined, and 6 months later my total cholesterol had fallen to 5.8. I expect it to fall further by my next HbA1c due in September.
My GP does go by NHS guidelines which say diabetics should have a total cholesterol of 4 or less. But other HCPs think that the ratios of HDL, LDL, and tiglycerides to each other are more relevant than the total cholesterol figure.

My ratios are now ideal or good, but when I was diagnosed my triglycerides/HDL ratio was high risk.

The NICE guidelines for T2 diabetics give cholesterol targets as:
Total Cholesterol: 4.0 or less.
LDL: 2.0 or less.
HDL: 1.0 or over (for men), over 1.2 for women.
Triglycerides: 1.7 or less.

Your HDL and triglycerides are good, but your LDL is high. You can enter your figures to get your ratios on this Cholesterol Ratio calculator:
http://www.hughcalc.org/chol-si.php

Your DN and GP might well try to get you on statins if they go by the NHS total cholesterol target figure of 4.0.
It's up to you though. There are differing views on statins, but one possible side effect is that they will raise your bs levels.

Well done on getting your HbA1c down to almost non-diabetic levels (below 42)!
 
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