Hello All - long time lurker, avid reader but very infrequent poster here! May I add a comment to the mix? Only recently, I've been doing a bit more reading about Cholesterol - particularly the breakdown of results of tests - and I've read in various places (online diabetes blogs - by educated laypersons and medical people) that following a low carb diet will not only improve (for most people) LDL results BUT it will also change the size of the LDL particles - from very low density to high density. So it is possible that a seemingly "high" LDL result may in fact be less disappointing than at first thought if the particle sizes are more big and fluffy than not. Thankfully these days we're more likely to be given a breakdown of our Cholesterol tests, but looks like we need to be going one step further and having the LDL part analysed/investigated also. Just a thought. Good luck Donnellysdogs with finding the answer to your conundrum. It's horrid when you're trying to do everything "right" for your health but then some test result appears to throw a spanner in the works.
Totally agree. The lower the trigs the bigger and fluffier the LDL particle sizes, which is good. The higher the trigs the smaller and harder the LDL particles are, which is not so good. Your trigs are still excellent
DD @AndBreathe and I seem to be in accord. I really don't think you should panic yourself into doing anything drastic without a proper cholesterol/lipid breakdown. You need all the information. As they didn't do this for you, I'm sure they would give you another test rather than make you wait 6 months.
remember it's a peasant seasonal diet... google prewar <1940 pictures in italy..they looked skinny and half starved by todays standardsThanks @jack412 last info... We do have olive oil extra virgin that gets dribbled on salads. I saw old med diets on net and wondered what the difference was..
I'm in the same boat , I low carbed for 3 years and have problems with LDL being elevated. HDL and Trigs were superb. People state this is normal for a low carb diet , i.e. it will be a increase in the light fluffy particles not the hard small particles of LDL. As my doctor won't do a specific test on LDL particles I do not want to leave anything change and agreed to go on Statins and dispense with the High fat diet.
I only take the lowest dose of statins 10 mg but have added a number of supplements to my diet such artichoke extract and hearts , margarine fortified with stanols/sterols, benecol yogurt and a massive increase in fiber intake. 2 months to go and I'll find out if its worked.
Wurst - I completely respect your choice to take statins, but please be mindful they are prone to reduce all of your cholesterol levels - including the "good" stuff.
@donnellysdogs - let me know if you find any decent scientific papers where study participants included a significant number of female participants. I can only find the odd, sketchy paper. Allegedly, this is due to CVD being "mainly a male issue", which we can probably agree is flawed in itself.
DD - I'd suggest you have another test before making any changes, especially as the festive period is in the midst of your current results, and don't you guys relax a bit on diet over December?
If your GP won't shell out for tests and you feel significantly uncomfortable, you could have them done privately, in a month or two, for your own peace of mind?
@donnellydogs
I noticed in an earlier you mentioned your OH's exercise in a week. What quantity of calories does he eat to keep energy levels up for that amount of exercise? It's just a thought but may be the intake is not enough then there may be an opposite effect on other things as the calories & other things are being used to keep energy up & nothing else. If you get my drift.
Not relaxed at all at Christmas.. Just had chicken stuffed with stilton cheese and bacon wrapped with all veg.. No pud. Actually though we did have 7 ritz biscuits with cheese...they were our full countable carbs for the day though, as the rest just came from the veg...neither of us wanted extra. I didn't even look at Christmas stuff in shops... Sounds bah humbug but honest we just didn't want it, could have done but nope.. We enjoyed our big heaped plate of chicken and veg and that was it...
I should be able to email my consultant late April and ask her to send me more tests.. If not We'll go "med" now and pay for both of us to have redone in Early May. At least that will be 9 full weeks of eating "med style"....
How will you know any reduction in total is not a reduction in "good"?I see your point but even if I can see my total going back down to under 5.0 and my trigs back to 0.6 or under it will be returning in the right direction. Even without my full breakdown now I know what I've been for the past 5 years as I always get my printouts. Not exact science I know.
We're going to go back to semiskimmed milk, cut the cream, cut the cheese and try to get our taste buds adapted to olives and avocado's and couscous I think to replace some calories and chickpea/beans/lentils. Already have walnuts, flax and chia...and berries...hubby going to try 0% fat greek yogurt with his berries or something with oatmeal.
Well, at least thats my first thoughts, still googling and trying to find some recipes!!
Its easy to do MFP as got the food saved from previous. So will just update on Sunday for last week to see how much saturated etc we had each day. I need now to recalculate for the new foods.. So have got starter points. Hubby has full starter point but I know 5 year previous readings so its just getting them back, no matter what they are now if you see what I mean....
How will you know any reduction in total is not a reduction in "good"?
And of course you are assuming a reduction at all......
(Devil's Advocate at your service .......)
Unfortunately, I havent got a copy of my latest blood tests but my LDL cholesterol has risen a bit and so have my trigs. Usually, my trigs are below 0.30 so not at all high but I think they have risen to 0.50. My overall cholesterol has risen from 4.6 to 5.5
but so has my bodyweight and my basal need has also increased although will drop once I lose more weight
Well if they all go down and return to the good levels I had before then I'll be happy.. Thats all I can go on... At end of day I am basing it a bit on the reactions hubby has had but to go to 6.5 isn't good with my trigs doubling as well..at least not to me... I just want to see them back as they were..even just the two figures I do have....
Unfortunately, I havent got a copy of my latest blood tests but my LDL cholesterol has risen a bit and so have my trigs. Usually, my trigs are below 0.30 so not at all high but I think they have risen to 0.50. My overall cholesterol has risen from 4.6 to 5.5
but so has my bodyweight and my basal need has also increased although will drop once I lose more weight
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