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Janja
Wed, Oct-31-07, 19:45
I have been on Neanderthin for several months--before that I was on Atkins, and I have NEVER eaten a lot of sugar and starch. Well, I had my cholesterol checked recently.

Chol: 270
Trigs: 96
HDL-C: 99
LDL-C: 152

And the doctor tells me I might want to go on Lipitor or another cholesterol-lowering medication! And lower my intake of saturated fat!

This makes no sense to me. I thought the Neanderthin diet did not raise your cholesterol. And what about those studies that showed that people on the Atkins diet actually had lower cholesterol?

I don't get it. I eat LOTS of eggs, and LOTS of nuts, no dairy (except I've started having plain yogurt every day because of the massive antibiotics I take), lots of homemade Neanderthin mayonnaise, lots of chicken (with the skin!), beef, some fish, greens every day. I eat a little honey every day (for the yogurt). In the summer I was eating lots of blueberries, but I don't eat much fruit now. I am not overweight at all. I exercise moderately (T-Tapp)--I can't do much strenuous walking or any running because I have MS.

But I just don't understand. I love Neanderthin. It makes me feel good.

The last time I had my LDL cholesterol checked was several decades ago, and it was something like 125. That was when I was a vegetarian. Aaaargh!

This is a huge shock to me.
kallyn
Wed, Oct-31-07, 20:53
Your HDL is sky high! That is awesome! Your total number is not what really matters...the really important bits are that you want to have low triglycerides and high HDL.
Nancy LC
Wed, Oct-31-07, 20:56
Don't panic. Go read all the stuff in the cholesterol sub-forum. Read the heart scan doctor's blog. Read the Taubes book. Then breathe a sigh of relief that your cholesterol is actually very good.
Janja
Wed, Oct-31-07, 21:31
Oh boy, this is what I was hoping. Thanks, kallyn and Nancy. I will go read.
Janja
Wed, Oct-31-07, 22:11
Go read all the stuff in the cholesterol sub-forum. Read the heart scan doctor's blog. Read the Taubes book.

Nancy, I've started reading the sub-forum, and I've requested the Taubes (Gary Taubes, right?) book from the library.

I hope I'm not being too much trouble, but.. how do I find the "heart scan doctor's blog"?
Dodger
Thu, Nov-01-07, 07:45
The heart scan doctor is doctor Davis. His blog is at http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/
Janja
Thu, Nov-01-07, 08:49
OH, I see! Thanks, Dodger. (I was looking in the cholesterol sub-forum. ;) )
Nancy LC
Thu, Nov-01-07, 11:04
Nancy, I've started reading the sub-forum, and I've requested the Taubes (Gary Taubes, right?) book from the library.

I hope I'm not being too much trouble, but.. how do I find the "heart scan doctor's blog"?
Sorry, I have posted it in so many threads in the cholesterol forum I figured you'd find it pretty quickly. :)
PlaneCrazy
Fri, Nov-02-07, 06:12
There was also an almost-throw-away line in Taubes' book. (I think that's where I read it) about how as you begin to use your own body fat as fuel, since a lot of it is stored within cholesterol, your cholesterol level may very well go up temporarily as the bound molecules become free to be used as fuel, or as a by-product of the process, something like that. Eventually this will lower as you continue to burn off your fat and reach a different level of homeostasis.

I've been losing pretty good these last 8 weeks or so. I got my blood profile done before I started, and will get it done next Friday. I've requested that they do a full profile, so that I will know not only my LDL level, but my LDL-P number, which measures how much of my LDL is the small-dense (very bad) kind, and how much is the large, fluffy (not a problem) kind.

Two people can have the same LDL number and be at very different risk levels. You have to know how many particles of LDL (LDL-P number) make up that LDL level. The more particles, the worse it is. Frankly, I'm doing this out of more curiosity than anything. I'm totally convinced that I am doing the right thing for me. Losing this weight, keeping my insulin levels down can only do me good. The fat-heart hypothesis has been totally exploded for me by Taubes' book.

See if you can get a better test done, this time counting the LDL particles to get a better idea. Then don't worry about it since your numbers are pretty darned good to begin with. (low trig., high HDL... Looks pretty impressive from here!)

Plane
Nancy LC
Fri, Nov-02-07, 10:02
That'd be triglycerides though.