Greetings all, first time poster here. I've been on a LC diet for six months and have lost ~25 lbs. However, my cholesterol looks really bad.

Net changes as per doctor office blood tests:

March 2015

LDL 96
HDL 34
Trig 279
Glucose 134
HB1C 6.3


September 2015

LDL 105
HDL 29
Trig 422
Glucose 108
HB1C 5.9

So two things worry me, my triglycerides and blood sugar. I have lost, as I said 25 lbs and am ALMOST not overweight, 197 5' 10".

I will not claim to have done induction for six months and I'd say my total daily carbs have been, on the average, 70 grams.

I can relate my diet as well as it is very predictable;

Breakfast is always a low carb (5 net carbs) tortilla with cheese and salsa.
Lunch is almost always a salad with a modest amount of store-bought salad dressing.
Snacks are almost exclusively peanuts, unsalted, plain. Probably about 2-3 ounces/day.
Dinner is something with the wife that is lower to medium carbs.
Drink-wise all I ever drink is water, unsweetened tea or coffee. I steal sips of my wife's Coke once in a while but it's not even worth mentioning.
I go out to eat maybe 2x/week and that is always Chick Fil A once where I get a salad and chicken breast on top, with water. And the other time is some place nicer but also low carb.

So could someone help shed some light on where I stand please. I certainly do not want diabetes nor heart disease and I DO NOT consider myself unhealthy. As a matter of fact I feel that I am very healthy, look good and eventhough I do not exercise as much as I should I still can mow the grass or exercise with the best of them!

Some helpful insights would be GREATLY appreciated, thank you for your time.

John

The foods in red have got to go. You also need to be more specific on your dinner meals with your wife as in exactly what you're eating.
If you have not been monitoring your blood sugar prior to and after your meals, now would be the time to begin this practice. Your blood sugar being high is effecting your Trig.

I think that you need to do a very strict Atkins Induction on an extended basis to get your numbers under control.

First off, were you fasting for 12 hours before the test? If you weren't that could account for the high TG. Even a cup of coffee with cream, or a "bulletproof" coffee will throw it off. Especially the latter.

Wheat products can really boost your triglycerides and there have been a number of so-called low carb tortillas that weren't really low carb. And carbs are the biggest factor in creating long-lasting TGs. Eat 20g or less and those numbers should plummet.

Another thing to realize is that while you're actively losing you've got a lot of TG running around in your blood.

What concerns me more are the low HDL numbers. Look into supplementing D3. Stop smoking, if you do. Get a little exercise (don't go crazy). Cut down on alcohol, if you drink. HDL should go up slowly but steadily on a low carb diet.

Lastly, are you on any medications?

Is this a fasting blood test? Can you explain a little more about your dietary intake in the time period before the test?

It might be due to the active and on-going weight loss, as Dr Davis explains: http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2015/...nfuses-doctors/
Consider retesting after you are at goal and stable for a few months.

I was typing same time as others..agree with Nancy on things to improve HDL, also read back through some threads on this sub-forum for comments on short-term lipid changes.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I was on a 12-hour fast before the test, nothing at all, not even coffee.

I guess I could see where the tortillas are maybe mislabeled or something and I can try something else (don't know what).

I am a non-smoker. I take Lisinopril, Androgel, Effexor ER, 10G (grams, not milligrams) Vit. C/day and 4G L-lysine/day and one 81mg aspirin/day. I usually also take 25mg benedryl nightly to facilitate sleep.

Dinners are pretty good I think. Usually vegetable or meat based for example squash with olive oil and cheese or a chicken based meal with low carbs. Honestly I can't think of specifics but it is a pretty disciplined dinner.

Thanks again for ideas!

You can make your own flax tortillas. I've used lupin flour too. Both very low carb. Lisinopril can lower your good cholesterol. Androgel can raise triglycerides and also lower HDL. Effexor can also increase triglycerides.

These medications often are worse than the disease they're supposed to treat. IMHO many of us are over-treated with meds. Then meds to treat the side-effects from other meds.

Lots of folks do their research, improve their diets, and get off long lists of meds like this and fare much better. It does take some willingness to do your homework and possibly stand up to the doctor.

We're definitely over-medicated nowadays. I think the primary beneficiary of it all is the pharmaceutical companies.

~Nancy;

I totally agree with you Nancy and I'm the first to chime in about doctors over-prescribing medications and I have "done my research and improved my diet" but I have genuine high BP, a lifetime of debilitating depression, and very low testosterone. I wish I did not have to take RXs for these but I think I'm the wiser for doing so.

The Vit C, Lysine and aspirin I take of my own choosing from my own research.

One other thing jumps out at me, beside the fact that, at most, 1/2 the amount of carbs would be much better.

It's that you don't seem to be getting enough fat, by a long shot. 70% of your calories s/b from fat, and I see very little in the typical menu you gave us.

Skip the tortilla, fry a couple eggs in bacon fat and eat the bacon. If you are having a salad for lunch, make sure it's got plenty of cheese and fatty meat in it. For example, fry a couple pounds of 70% lean hamburger, chop as it cooks, don't drain too much, and use 1/4 of it on four salads, along with a full fat, low carb dressing like real blue cheese.

EDIT: just saw your note about the HBP and the depression. Make sure that you are getting enough really good omega 3 fatty acids in your diet. They are helpful for, among other things, depression and BP, as they are powerful anti-inflammatories, both in the blood vessels and the brain.

Natural sources are cold water fish like salmon and tuna. There are good supplements available; if you use supplements, make sure they stay soft in the freezer; that way you know they're really from cold water fish without a lot of contaminants.

~Jey100; Thanks for that link, it made a lot of sense. What I took from the article was that once I reach some state of homeostasis with my weight, the Ts in my blood will "work their way out".

~MickiSue; Yes, I'd love to incorporate more fat in my diet and lower my total carbs. I get some resistance from my wife regarding bacon and the like. I do eat a lot of cheese and basically incorporate it into everything. Bacon is so full of nitrates though, I'd hate to overdo it.

~ Nancy; I did not mean my reply to sound defensive but you kind of put me in that corner putting me in that category of people who blindly take whatever their Dr. prescribes. We all have health concerns and I have mine. I would love to have natural answers to my RX regimen and am open/eager for suggestions.

Sounds like you are trying to move in the right direction. If your wife is open to it, have her read Grain Brain, by Dr. Perlmutter, or Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes. With your history of depression, if you haven't read Dr Perlmutter, I recommend it for you, as well.

There are any number of websites that are driven by doctors who deal with low carb/high fat, and they might be helpful for her to understand why what you are attempting to do is good for you, not, as we all were taught, bad.

Bacon, if you can get uncured, shouldn't be a problem with nitrates.

Iburggug--youv'e touched on a couple of things that I have quite a bit of familiarity with unfortunately--chronic depression and insomnia. As I know how life-ruining these both can be I have to throw my two cents in.

I've pretty much completely gotten rid of chronic depression over the last two years. I think the majority of that is thanks to bio-identical hormones, but I can't rule out improving my diet or removing artificial sweeteners completely. So I think you are on the right track with measuring your hormone levels and treating with bio-identicals. What Micki-sue said about fats--get plenty of the good ones, possibly supplement for Omega-3's. I try to eat as much pastured and wild meat as I can for the good fats. I think that also cutting back severely on alcohol and caffeine has helped.

The insomnia is still a work in progress. Unfortunately low-carb seems to exacerbate my insomnia, so I have to keep it moderate and ingest carbs in the evening. Hormone treatment has also made a big difference in this area. The other things I do include:
--using f.lux on the computer
--getting to bed on a very regular schedule
--blue-blocker goggles at bedtime, in middle of night.
--lots of good reading material
--completely rid my diet of caffeine
--caution with any other stimulants such as chocolate
--as above, much less alcohol
--VERY infrequent use of sleeping pills, including OTC, benzos, ibuprofen, etc..
I don't think that benadryl is a very good answer, but there is far worse, so you have to do what you have to do. But I think it likely that if you use it every night that you've built up tolerance, and it may just be a placebo at this point.

Regarding blood pressure--many that have been on low carb for a while report that their blood pressure normalizes, but it seems to take a while, like many months or even years. Good luck with your challenges, and know that you are doing the best diet to get you to better health in all ways!

That's how most people operate. I am sorry if you felt lumped into a category you don't feel you belong to, but this is the Internet. I don't know anything about you except what you've posted.

I still think you need to ignore the cholesterol results until you're not actively losing weight and have maintained a few months. It is extremely odd for someone's triglycerides to go up on a low carb diet. They normally plummet. That is why I was pointing out the issues with the drugs.

Also, if you're sincere about looking into natural answers, then you might want to read books by Dr. Davis, "Wheat Belly" and Dr. Perlmutter, "Grain Brain". Those books address two of your chief concerns: depression and high triglycerides. I think you'll find a lot of support here from other folks who found that grains, in particular wheat, were causing not only health issues, but mental issues as well.

And I always like to direct folks to The Gluten File. Where you can read a lot of the science behind those two books I mentioned above.

I used to take medication for depression, insomnia, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and gerd. I now take none of these. I credit a low carb paleo diet with my ability to eliminate all these prescription meds. My depression was chronic and serious enough to hospitalize me more than once. I can't guarantee you the same good results but surely it's possible that you could experience the same benefits. Be diligent in watching your diet, keeping carbs below 50 gms a day, be patient since this is for the long term, and see what happens. You just may be pleasantly surprised. (I gave up worrying about cholesterol a long time ago)

Jean

Thank you all for your kind, thoughtful replies. I am still digesting this information and it is all very encouraging!