• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Low carbs high fat on Statins advice please

diabolic sister

diabolic sister

Well-Known Member
I am three weeks on from type 2 revelation and now on statins and metformin, my bg was so high I wasn't given the opportunity to try diet and exercise alone. The question is, will a low carb plus high fat diet be detrimental to my high cholesterol reading or do the statins offset it?

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
diabolic sister said:
I am three weeks on from type 2 revelation and now on statins and metformin, my bg was so high I wasn't given the opportunity to try diet and exercise alone. The question is, will a low carb plus high fat diet be detrimental to my high cholesterol reading or do the statins offset it?
Click to expand...

Low carb dieting often improves the important total:HDL cholesterol ratio, you didn't give any numbers but the idea of statins is to reduce cholesterol (they don't improve outcomes, especially in women, but that's another issue).
 
The best blood pressure and lipid profile/cholesterol results I get are when I'm following my 30g of carb per day Atkins-style diet to the letter (it's a sticky thread in the Low carb section if you want to look at it). On this diet, my blood glucose levels are normally within the non-diabetic range. I don't consider it a high-fat diet, though obviously it can be, depending what you eat. I eat good, unprocessed fats and I don't go for them deliberately - I just don't avoid them. If my diabetic specialist GP was to see what I do eat (mayonnaise; 2-egg omelette cooked in butter almost every morning; leave fat on meat) it would be she who had the heart-attack!

Some people get an initial rise in total cholesterol when they first go low carb/high fat, but that seems to be caused by the fat-burning phenomenon (ketosis), as the stored fat is used for fuel. Usually everything settles down. You should not just look at total cholesterol, but at a full lipid profile - HDL, LDL, triglycerides and the Total/HDL ratio. Ask for a copy of your results and get your GP to explain them. If the GP can't/won't, come back here and ask!

The problem is, if your cholesterol drops the GP will say it was the statins that did it! I won't take them, but my lipids are still fine. Many people get on well with statins; I didn't, even on a very low dose, so I don't take them any more.

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on. :D

Viv 8)
 
LCHF tends to put cholesterol into the target range. Sometimes the LDL might be a little higher, but th HDL total cholesterol ratio tends to be better than ideal.
Hana
 
Back
Top