• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Scared to do LCHF

Sobeit

Well-Known Member
Messages
228
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I have heard a little about this and I understand its supposed to be good to lower cholesterol but I still feel I cant take a risk ,in other words eating saturated fats to find out it has RAISED my cholesterol?

Thats a real worry to me as my cholesterol was 7.9 when I got my blood test. .So Im just wondering has that happened to anyone? Like has the LCHF diet not worked for you to LOWER cholesterol?

If I could test my cholesterol daily as I can blood glucose then I would try it. I have chosen not to go on statins ,at the moment at least as my doc has advised .But if I cant lower it through diet and excercise I might feel I have to relent As it is Im trying to control carbs .Im certainly not eating the wrong kind of carbs ,or extremely little amount at least.

So my questions are
1: Has the LCHF diet not worked for anyone?
2: How few cabs do u have to eat for this to work?

The fats I am eating are from seeds,tahini,,nuts,olive oil ,avocados,flax seed oil etc .But I am scared to eat the saturated fats of butter,full fat cheese etc and I do miss butter !! Im a vegetarian by the way. I just eat low fat cheese but small amount of live full fat yoghurt.. maybe I am doing high fat so?? Im a little confused and need a little help so any advice or input most welcome!
 
I've had high cholesterol for years - after doing lots of reading/watching/listening, I came to the conclusion I don't really care because as a woman high cholesterol is more likely to be protective than dangerous and I won't ever take a statin again, no matter what. But it's not the kind of advice I would probably have accepted without doing my own research first. Unless you're ready to take the leap of faith, second guessing your decision is likely and stress is probably an even bigger issue than cholesterol if you get right down to it.

My cholesterol is just as high, but my ratios have moved dramatically and I now have high HDL and low triglycerides and failing a lipid profile test which isn't routinely done in my part of the world, I'm happy to accept my low trigs/HDL ratio (compared to the sky high one I used to have - 3.1 now reduced to 0.4) as being the important number to watch.

One of the best explanations I've run across is this video by Prof Ken Sikaris:


Another interesting video - people with higher cholesterol live longer!

 
I haven't been doing LCHF long enough to know if it's affected my lipid levels, sorry. It would be helpful to know your individual lipid levels rather than total cholesterol as the total number is fairly meaningless. Do you know what your HDL, LDL and triglyceride levels are?
 
Hi. If you research the data on the web about saturated fats, cholesterol etc and dig deep enough you will find much of it is based on very poor science and research. There is serious 'groupthink' on the subject by the establishment. Total cholesterol is not important whereas the LDH to HDL ratio is together with triglycerides as this tends to measure the risk of fatty deposits in the arteries; many GPs don't understand this. Eating saturated fat has little connection with fatty arteries; there is confusion between these. A low-carb diet should improve your LDL/HDL ratio and trigs which is what you need to achieve. Don't forget the body needs cholesterol for repairs and it does increase as you get older.
 
Ultimately it will have to be a leap of faith.

You could easily get 100 posters tell you how the diet has worked for them, and how it has improved not only their diabetes but also their overall health, but in the end you will either decide to take the plunge, or continue to believe the perceived wisdom that eating fat raises your bad cholesterol.

It is your life and your health, so the decision you make is very important and has to be your own.
 
@Sobeit if you are anything like me, you will have spent decades eating low fat, healthy whole grain veggie food only to end up unhealthy Well that went well didn't it? Saturated fat avoidance didn't work in the past so why not try something different now?

You are not doubting the low carb bit are you? The high fat bit is just eating enough fat to make up the calorie deficit left by reducing the carbs. Think of it like a see-saw. One side goes down so one side goes up. You don't need to overdo it. If you want cheese, eat proper cheese. It tastes better and is usually lower carb.
 
You don't have to eat much saturated fat if you don't want to it sounds like you are getting the good ones from the oils etc that you are eating already in your vegetarian diet. As for carbs there is no set amount it is whatever suits you there is no one size suits all.
I am wary of eating to much fat as I can't be sure it will not raise my cholesterol...I do take statins.. and there is not enough evidence yet to convince me about it so until there is I prefer to do moderate to lowish saturated fats by moderatebut I do have the stuff with the good oils but that is just me others will have their opinions about it
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wow well done on changing those numbers! And thankyou for posting the links .I really appreciate that and will watch them later today!
 
I have to find where I posted them before. And will repost those numbers. Thanks for taking the time to post !
 
Thanks for your helpful post! My numbers werent too good but Im hoping lower carbing,more excercise etc will change those numbers for me next blood test,please God!
 
Too true ,thanks for post!
 
Yes I hear ya! Thing is Im thing I read the LCHF diet is extremely low carb ( someone correct me if Im wrong please)and Im not sure I can manage that especially without eating eggs,fish ,meat. I am definitely eating less carbs and more of the healthy oils/fats. I used to have a couple of bad habits of eating melted real butter on popcorn regularly and had a liking for packet of crisps which I would have most days which now I am sorry for of course! :-[ And Im thinking those habits have given this undesireable score.. Thanks for your post !
 
Same here re eating the good oils .I feel the same re too much cheeses,butter etc . I cant be sure it wont raise my cholesterol . As I mentioned already on here I had a habit of putting melted butter on popcorn thinking "real butter good for you" and my numbers were poor .Ldl and triglycerides high etc..I am hoping that has changed and is continuing to change for the better now with more excercise,lower carbs,higher good fats and hopefully I can loose a stone in weight. I have about an extra 1 and half stone but its around my middle which im sure hasnt helped me in terms of getting this diagnosis and high triglycerides etc..Thanks for your helpful post !
 
It doesn't have to be ultra low carb, just low enough to keep your numbers in the zone and not spikey. Your meter will guide you.

When I was diagnosed, I didn't start counting carbs and didn't overthink it. I just avoided all the big hitters - pasta, rice, cereals, bread, spuds, pastry, sugar and tropical fruit and ate everything that was left. By the next checkup I was in the non-diabetic hba1c range and have been there since. I did use myfitnesspal for a while later to see what my carbs were and I was averaging about 40g a day.

It is true that plant protein is higher carb than animal protein, but it is doable. Admittedly I eat eggs, but there have been non-egg members here and they do well too. Tesco do wee bags of popcorn that are not too high in carbs, but you might be better melting butter over green beans or something lol
 
I have been low carbing for about six or seven weeks now.Most days I am under 50g carbs a day.Some days less than 20g.I have lost weight without being hungry and my B.G. Levels are markedly down from around 11.5 to an average of 6.5 according to my meter.This is the overriding priority for me.
I eat lots of meat fish eggs cheese etc.Also salad veg and nuts.What I have noticed is that I do enjoy higher fat foods to help me feel full as I am making up for a vastly reduced carb intake.So now I take cream in coffee as it has much less carbs than milk which is full of sugars, and I have pork scratchings as a snack.Lots of salami and cured meats and god bless the cheese makers.
Previously I would have worried about this much fat.But from reading around many here have found that longer term their cholesterol falls.I am sure mine will go up over the short term as I am burning fat and hopefully will reduce over the longer term.
I am coming to the conclusion that it is carbohydrate in conjunction with high fat that does the damage.After all the American Indians got on fine eating buffalo and the Inuit managed alright on a diet of mainly fish and seal meat.They now have huge problems after switching to a western diet.
My overall cholesterol is 8.5 but it is the detail that matters.I am more interested in my ratio of good and bad cholesterol and trigs.So I am sticking with the statins for now and will wait and see.
I think I am more concerned about my B.G. levels and the risks of complications further down the line than my cholesterol at the moment.But we are all different and you must choose yourself.It is quite liberating having pork chops with a cream and mushroom sauce and not worrying about it tho ;-)
 
Hi Sobeit,
I am vegetarian .. Eating an ave of 30g of carbs a day and swapped all my low fat foods for normal fat ones ... In 18 months my cholesterol has reduced to the point of my heart failure nurse has took me off of the Statins...
It works .. But only if you let it
 
My daughter in law popped in for a visit recently and she had not seen me for about a month.I had lost quite a bit of weight and bloatiness as well.She is a confirmed dieter although I don't think she needs to.She didn't even say hello just dived right into you've lost a lot of weight how did you do it!!! She was all ears I can tell you.After I explained low carb high fat and how it was working for me there was a long silence.The look on her face reminded me of Robbie the Robot in " Forbidden Planet " when asked to attack Doctor Morbious. ( Those of us of a certain vintage will remember this well ) Basically it just did not compute.We have all been conditioned by the medical profession,media,food industry,advertising,even fashion and cookery experts to buy into the mantra of low fat, low calorie,whole wheat etc.This has been going on for decades and it takes a bit of personal determination to turn it on its head.I don't think she actually believed me at first!!
I suppose we are the trailblazers!!
 
I have been diagnosed since January 2014. Since then, on a low carb higher fat diet my lipids have improved at every test. About 8 months ago I had to increase my fats even more in order to stop losing weight, yet my lipids still improved at the next test 5 months later. I eat a lot of dairy, meat, oily fish, seeds and eggs. All you need to do is ditch all the low fat products you may be eating and swap to the real thing. Real butter, real cheese, full fat yogurts, real mayonnaise (if you eat that). The amount of carbs you eat is individual according to how much your body tolerates, and your meter will tell you that. My personal threshold is under 50g. a day, but currently about 40g. We all vary on this, but the more carbs you cut the more fat you need to maintain energy levels.
 

When I say I do moderate to lowish saturated fat I don't eat any red meat or anything made from it like sausages or bacon so my meat consumption is mainly chicken and I eat fish I do eat cheese and quite a lot of eggs I have a little butter on my vegetables I use a lot of olive oil and have avacados and I do have full fat Greek yogurt I don't like cream My low carb is no sugar stuff my only bread is the odd slice of Burgen Linseed and Soya bread maybe once a week as toast with breakfast if I have boiled eggs..have to have Marmite soldiers with those.. I have never eaten much rice or pasta not one for takeaways or fast foods so have cut them out entirely I do have a small amount of new potatoes sometimes but not much other root stuff apart from celeriac I eat all other vegetables and I love all greens and I have a lot of salad stuff. I never needed to loose weight but I still did when I went lower carb and cut out sugar stuff but have now gained a few pounds I think from eating nuts which I never used to I am now about 8st 11lb and I am happy with that
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…