LCHF Diet and Cholesterol

DavidGrahamJones said:

Apologies for delay, been watching too many people whinging on Youtube. Must stop that and return to the cuddly animal, travel and sailing videos, much more interesting.

I purchased the Benecheck Multi Monitoring System. It measures BG, Total cholesterol and Uric acid.

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Thanks very much.

DavidGrahamJones said:

Apologies for delay, been watching too many people whinging on Youtube. Must stop that and return to the cuddly animal, travel and sailing videos, much more interesting.

I purchased the Benecheck Multi Monitoring System. It measures BG, Total cholesterol and Uric acid.

Click to expand...

Perhaps the total stayed the same and the constituent parts changed as above? Measuring total tells us little about what’s really going on....

DavidGrahamJones said:

I've just bought a meter for measuring my cholesterol as well as my BG so I'll be doing some experiments to see how quickly I can get my TC to alter.

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Me too! Sadly, unlike many I have found over 3 years of low carb eating that my LDL and trigs are higher and my HDL lower than when I ate a low fat ultra healthy Mediterranean style diet. I have read that increasing fibre is more effective for lowering cholesterol than reducing fat. Also that it may take 3-4 months for lifestyle changes to make any difference to cholesterol, longer for women than for men. If after 3-4 months I have not lowered my cholesterol I will consider trying a low dose statin, but only for as long as it does not raise my bg. IMO the bad effects of high cholesterol are debatable, but the bad effects of high bg are incontrovertable.

ziggy_w said:

Hi @Old Aussie,

My personal experience -- after switching to a low carb diet, my total cholesterol didn't change at all. It was approx. 5.5 mmol and has stayed there. What has changed is my HDL (often considered the good cholesterol), which has doubled, and my triglycerides, which have dropped by two-thirds (the HDL-trig ratio has often been interpreted to reflect insulin resistance -- the fundamental problem in most T2s.) The fact that overall total cholesterol hasn't changed has lead me to believe that genetic differences are an important determinant in overall cholesterol levels.

This link might be helpful in calculating your ratios: https://www.hughcalc.org/chol-si.php

You might also want to consider the fact that significant weight loss (rather than eating more fat), which many of us have experienced when switching to low carb, might initially lead to higher overall cholesterol. However, your cholesterol levels should return to normal once you stop losing weight.

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Well this is my result on the calculator.

Your Total Cholesterol of 7.30 is HIGH RISK
Your LDL of 4.92 is VERY HIGH RISK
Your HDL of 1.6 is OPTIMAL
Your Triglyceride level of 1.69 is NORMAL

RATIOS:
Your Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio is: 4.56 - (preferably under 5.0, ideally under 3.5) GOOD
Your HDL/LDL ratio is: 0.325 - (preferably over 0.3, ideally over 0.4) GOOD
Your triglycerides/HDL ratio is: 1.056 - (preferably under 1.74, ideally under 0.87) NORMAL

So maybe I should consider taking the Statins for a while

Mind you as I have had high cholesterol for at least fifty years and Am still here maybe I won't bother.

JohnEGreen said:

Well this is my result on the calculator.

Your Total Cholesterol of 7.30 is HIGH RISK
Your LDL of 4.92 is VERY HIGH RISK
Your HDL of 1.6 is OPTIMAL
Your Triglyceride level of 1.69 is NORMAL

RATIOS:
Your Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio is: 4.56 - (preferably under 5.0, ideally under 3.5) GOOD
Your HDL/LDL ratio is: 0.325 - (preferably over 0.3, ideally over 0.4) GOOD
Your triglycerides/HDL ratio is: 1.056 - (preferably under 1.74, ideally under 0.87) NORMAL

So maybe I should consider taking the Statins for a while

Mind you as I have had high cholesterol for at least fifty years and Am still here maybe I won't bother.

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Hi @JohnEGreen,

The question of statins (or not) is difficult one -- and I believe the research on the types of cholesterol and their effects is still not yet entirely settled. It probably also depends on whether you've already experienced a cardiovascular event (with secondary prevention tending towards statin use and primary prevention not).

Personally, however, if it was me I would focus on HDL, trigs and the ratios (which seem to have a better predictive validity than total cholesterol or LDL) and they all seem to be in the normal (or better range).

It might also be helpful to have a look at Dave Feldman's website https://cholesterolcode.com/.

As with diabetes, there still seem to be lots of different views and approaches -- and all we have is a best guess at how to interpret the numbers.

What's your take on this?

JohnEGreen said:

maybe I should consider taking the Statins for a while

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My thinking too, but first I am going to try to lower my cholesterol by myself. I read that increasing fibre is more effective than reducing fat. That's just as well for me, as cheese is my goto fast and emergency food, as well as adding flavour to my vegetables. I dread to think how much I get through daily.

I did think it would be impossible to raise my fibre intake without significantly increasing carbs. However, a sort of porridge twice daily containing ground flax seeds, chia seeds, psyllium husk powder, low carb whey protein powder (1dsp of each) and 100g Slim Rice has me well on my way towards the recommended 30g fibre, with very few carbs. I am currently adding rhubarb stewed with a lot of water but no sugar, and a heaped T Erythritol.

I am delighted to find that my GP is by no means mad keen to put me on a statin. We have agreed that I am going to have another test in October, which is motivating me to try hard thugh it is rather a long time to keep on trying without any feedback. However I read that it takes 3 - 4 months of lifestyle changes to affect one's cholesterol.

As well as changing my diet, I am also hoping to up my exercise so as to improve my HDL, but I'm less sure I can manage that. Of course, the higher the HDL the higher the Total, which points up the nonsense of focussing on Total as still seems to be the official policy.

JohnEGreen said:

Your Total Cholesterol of 7.30 is HIGH RISK

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My GP says he will be happy with a Total of 7 - 7.5. I think maybe he is thinking that as I am 78 I will be popping off soon anyway, so why make my last days miserable? I would love to surprise him with a lower number.

I have over the years since first diagnosed with Hyperlipidemia in my early twenties adopted a whole lot of different dietary regimens from vegetarian to carnivore and mostly every combination between my cholesterol levels have hardly changed no matter what my diet I think it may be genetic the only thing that seems to have a marked affect are statins but to my mind that's like taking a sledge hammer to crack a nut and does me more harm than good.

JohnEGreen said:

I think it may be genetic

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SO frustrating for you! Personally, I don't mind too much changing my diet but I would much prefer to see some good results. I'm just hoping my relationship with cholesterol won't be as unrewarding as with bg, where a vlc diet has not lowered my A1c as much as I'd like.

JohnEGreen said:

Well this is my result on the calculator.

Your Total Cholesterol of 7.30 is HIGH RISK
Your LDL of 4.92 is VERY HIGH RISK
Your HDL of 1.6 is OPTIMAL
Your Triglyceride level of 1.69 is NORMAL

RATIOS:
Your Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio is: 4.56 - (preferably under 5.0, ideally under 3.5) GOOD
Your HDL/LDL ratio is: 0.325 - (preferably over 0.3, ideally over 0.4) GOOD
Your triglycerides/HDL ratio is: 1.056 - (preferably under 1.74, ideally under 0.87) NORMAL

So maybe I should consider taking the Statins for a while

Mind you as I have had high cholesterol for at least fifty years and Am still here maybe I won't bother.

Click to expand...

Now I was reading this thinking ratios are good. Hdl and trigs are good.

Ldl is high but what sort of ldl? Small dense and damaging or large buoyant and protective? And low carb tends to produce more of the latter.

My overall cholesterol wasn't too bad when I went low carb and started eating more fat but my triglycerides were too high. 3 months in they'd fallen, another 3 months and they fell even more.

HSSS said:

Now I was reading this thinking ratios are good. Hdl and trigs are good.

Ldl is high but what sort of ldl? Small dense and damaging or large buoyant and protective? And low carb tends to produce more of the latter.

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LDL-C is what it would be, which is an estimate. They are the fluffy version. You'd have to get a doctor to actually ask for LDL-P to be tested, it's not part of a standard test. This test is far more important. You'd also need a doctor who understands the difference between the two.