Do I need to fast in the morning before my test? Last time I had cheese and nuts for lunch and the result was still below normal.




I always thought you had to; I guess I could call my Dr. brother, but he thinks low-fat is good and Atkins is bad! I know if you are burning fat cholesterol can go up (triglycerides). I only get the total number result when I donate blood.

You must fast at least 14 hours before!!

Last time I had only fasted about 9-10 hours and I believe the results were too high due to that.

12 - 14 hours is the norm with those tests. I'm doing my blood work on Monday.

Vikki

To get the best results, you must fast overnight.
My docs office says nothing to eat after 10 p.m.

See my signature line for my blood test results...

Yeah, I found out eating effects the Lipid Panel breakdown but not the cholesterol reading. I just followed the nothing after 10 rule. After donating blood I got a bit dizzy so I had plenty of water in the car and they gave me a small V-8 juce at the clinic. The temperature outside was near 100F which didn't help.

I asked my doc and he said drinking water was fine though.

This is correct.

I almost died when I had to get 3 blood tests done in a month, so I had to ask him if this was ok.

Edit : How long should you wait before there is a change in cholesterol levels anyways? I last had mine checked in April, and the doc wanted me to try to lose some weight instead of going on the pills ( I agreed. )

My doc had me get rechecked 8 weeks after strting Atkins.
He know little to nothing about LC diets, and was concerned about my health. He could not argue with my results, and told me to keep doingwhatever it was I was doing as it was working.

The purpose of fasting is to find out what your baseline cholesterol production level is as cholesterol is produced by the body naturally.

To some degree your diet contains cholesterol (termed" dietary cholesterol") and it is this that you can do something about.

Your total cholesterol level should be below 5.0 ( UK measurement).

I have found that if you take 2 or 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in a cup of water about 25 minutes prior to your lunch and evening meal you can lower your cholesterol level by 0.3 units per month.

Here is the U.S. cholesterol should be below 200. I was 166 last time, so totally okay.

Funnily enough, I just got the results of my cholesterol test today and I am 4.7 so it seems I am OK.

Having worked to get my cholesterol level below 5.0 the receptionist tells me that the new recommended medical advice is to get it below 4.0!!

Hey fuser...no matter how unattainable the new standard may be, the important thing is that you're doing something about your cholesterol.

Welcome to the world of big pharma!!! The lower you get it, the lower they're going to say it needs to be!!! Got to get you on drugs!!!! And if one doesn't work, there are soooooo many to choose from!!!

Recently I read a prediction that the next recomendation is going to be for it to be below 160 (4.1)! (So I guess that prediction has come true!!!) Pretty much impossible without drugs!!!

Ha. I was 166 at my last test and perfectly okay with that.