low carb and cholesterol

[Sigalit]

Hi guys, I need advice from people who actually KNOW what low carb means (my doctor doesn't).

I was diagnosed with LADA 4 years ago. First thing you should know, I'm not in the UK, I'm in Slovakia and counting net carbs is a pain in the... here, so I always count total carbs. I'm currently on 70-100 grams of total carbs per day (so net carb would be lower). Second, I did try keto, but due to some health issues I had to go back to 'only' low-carb.

And it works... kinda. My HbA1c is 37.16 mmol/mol (5.55%), so that's good.

But my cholesterol is not that great. While overal level is good enough, 4.33 mmol/l, but the HDL continues to decrease, and LDL continues to increase. (And my weight didn't drop at all. )

I do eat full-fat milk and yogurts. I all but stopped using butter, replacing it with olive and/or coconut oil; I never liked fatty meat, bacon, sausages, etc., eat tons of fish, veggies, nuts, and berries; I don't smoke and I almost never drink (maybe 4 glass of wine per whole year). I do sometimes buy cookies for diabetics, but I prefer to bake my own, using mostly almond, hazelnut, or macadamia meals (with adjusted amount of fat that I add).

Each time I visit my doctor, she blames low-carb for my cholesterol, and recommends skimmed milk and no nuts, but at the same time a slice of wholegrain bread with butter and a slice of ham for breakfast. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Any advice of what I might be doing wrong?

 

[bulkbiker]

Any advice of what I might be doing wrong?

Sounds like absolutely nothing.. in the UK your total cholesterol level would be seen as "normal" .
Without cholesterol we'd all be dead so I reckon that having enough to keep us going is quite important!

Dave Feldman of www.cholesterolcode.com recently published a new calculator here so you can check out your levels.

https://cholesterolcode.com/new-report-tool-launched/

You might find his site quite informative if you haven't been there before.

 

[Sigalit]

Sounds like absolutely nothing.. in the UK your total cholesterol level would be seen as "normal" .
Without cholesterol we'd all be dead so I reckon that having enough to keep us going is quite important!

Dave Feldman of www.cholesterolcode.com recently published a new calculator here so you can check out your levels.

https://cholesterolcode.com/new-report-tool-launched/

You might find his site quite informative if you haven't been there before.

Thanks.

I know the overal cholesterole is ok, but I'm worried that the HDL is so low - currently it's 0.8 mmol/l (30.9 mg/dl), and keeps getting worse, while the LDL creeps up. If it continues like that, next year I will have zero HDL and LDL well over 5 mmol/l. And I have no idea why.

 

[bulkbiker]

Thanks.

I know the overal cholesterole is ok, but I'm worried that the HDL is so low - currently it's 0.8 mmol/l (30.9 mg/dl), and keeps getting worse, while the LDL creeps up. If it continues like that, next year I will have zero HDL and LDL well over 5 mmol/l. And I have no idea why.

Cholesterol levels like blood sugar levels go up and down all day so small variances are nothing to worry about. Did you have the bloods taken at about the same time for each test and had you fasted for 12-14 hours beforehand?
Do you happen to have your triglyceride levels to hand as the Trig/HDL ratio is often thought to be the most important.

 

[Bluetit1802]

It is worrying that your HDL is so low. We need a lot of it to clear away any bad cholesterol, but I guess you already know that.

Higher dietary carbohydrates actually deplete HDL, so maybe you could reduce your carb intake a little.

Are you sure that in Slovakia the total carbs are the total, or are they already the net carbs? How are they listed on the label - does it say "of which fibre" underneath, or is the fibre content listed separately somewhere else on the label? I understood that all EU countries have the same labelling system, and certainly here in the UK the fibre is already deducted from the total and listed separately. In other words, the total carbs are the net carbs. I could be wrong.

Some foods that increase HDL are olive oil, fatty fish such as salmon and mackerel, flaxseed and chia seed, avocado, a glass of red wine, plus some nuts. Anything really that has a lot of omega 3.