I did it, I just went and had the highly recommended "NMR Lipid Profile" test. I decided on this after listening to Dr. Thomas Dayspring explain why it is the "real" test you want.

Here is my biggest fear...............WHAT IF MY PROFILE HAS GOTTEN WORSE SINCE I STARTED LCHF!?

I have been in a brutal and bitter fight with my wife about the health value of the LCHF lifestyle for me and our children. She comes from the old school that says "you are killing yourself with all that fat!"

I have passionately explained to her (that's the nice way of saying it) just how wrong she is and how I KNOW this is the BEST thing you can do for your cardiovascular system and risk profile. She responds that "If you are so sure you are right then go get yourself tested and PROVE IT!" so I DID!!! (still waiting on results)

The only problem is that I now have a year of fighting and preaching to her the "right way" on the line. If my triglycerides have increased instead of decreased, or my HDL is the same (or lower) I am going to look like the idiot she is accusing me of being! Frankly, I would have to question what I believe at that point too! (I wont be able to compare my previous ldl-p (particle count) because this is my first time getting it. )

Has anybody gone on the full blown LCHF diet and seen their lipid numbers get worse after lets say 1 year? If so, is there a good or intelligent explanation why? What would be the correct course of action at that point?

In case anybody thinks knowing my old numbers would give an indication of my odds of improvement here they are:

(I had been on LCHF for about 8 months when this was done. It is now about 5 months later)

Triglycerides: 277
Cholesterol: 253
HDL: 30
LDL: 167
Glucose: 62
A1c: 5.4
Fructosamine: 1.6

Thanks!

Take a look at the articles in my signature. Go look up Jimmy Moore. He has LDL Cholesterol of 300+ and his arteries are squeaky clean as proven by coronary calcium heart scans.

He just published a book, too. You might want to look into that.

Now, admittedly, your scores are kind of weird. Most low carbers have Trig. under 100 and their HDL rises slowly but consistently. Mine started at 42 and is now 80-something.

Do you have familial hypercholesterolemia? Did your parents die of heart attacks early in life? Even if you do, a low carb diet is the best way to deal with that genetic variant.

Oh wait... those are your old numbers? LOL! Yes, you'll see improvement.

Apparently there is no evidence to suggest that high cholesterol causes heart disease!

Jo xxx

First, if you had the NMR done understand how to read it.http://www.theparticletest.com/uplo...ng_theTests.pdf
Some labs do not give you this LipoScience scale so you have to take their form results and plug them back into this one for it to make sense.

Then understand why Trigs and HDL are more important than LDL numbers and total ( you will still get those from an NMR) and they may look "high". Read all about that in the first two stickies.
My LC profile is typical....super low Trigs around 30, super high HDL over 100, but also a "high" total cholesterol around 250 and LDL around 150, as calculated by standard formulas. But the LDL is the large, fluffy type (you get size too from an NMR) and the number was safely in the moderate range.

I'd say the odds of improving your numbers that are truly predictive of something are good...so understand which those are. Or as Jo said, cholesterol may have nothing to do with heart disease anyway, focus on reducing inflammation by cutting out sugar and wheat!

You've lost a lot of weight. I've seen a couple low carb doctors--Dr Davis comes to mind, but I know there's others--who say that sometimes during early weight-loss, there'll be an increase in triglycerides on low carb instead of a decrease. I think your odds of improvement are good. Hope I'm right.

teaser is right, Dr. Westman and Dr. Phinney have discussed that too, but it is more often seen earlier in the weight loss journey (month 3-5??). Dr. Westman would prefer that lipids not be tested until after you have lost most weight and are weight stable. But I had other doctor appointments where the tests were done anyway and my trigs dropped like a stone even early on.

WoW, I am listening to Dr. Davis's interview right now: http://www.meandmydiabetes.com/2013...er-than-heroin/

...and at about the 41 minute mark, he, a cardiologist, says he doesn't believe cholesterol has anything to do with heart disease! and he doesn't do standard cholesterol testing but the NMR.