New to LC plus recent blood work

[Timbert]

Just started low-carbing mid-July after taking in a few things from that Fathead movie and then reading more about Paleo that my brother sent me. I'd like to lose weight, but I'm more concerned with healthy blood work. After losing 10 lbs doing the Lean Cuisine thing since January I plateaued around March, started doing weights in June and have pretty much stayed put. I lost about 5 lbs low carbing so far and look forward to more. I had blood work done this week and while I like my trigs and HDL, my LDL is pretty high. I asked my Dr. about a VAP test before getting this bloodwork done and they said it wasn't generally done and mentioned I should be under 100 on LDL. After my results came back, my Dr. basically said watch what you eat. I'm guessing my Trig and HDL levels were good enough not to worry about my LDL. I wonder if it's higher because I just started or will they stay around this level? I'm listing my 2007 and recent results below.

Oct 2007/Aug 2011
Glucose: 83 / 76
Trigs: 70 / 66
Total Chol: 195 / 246
HDL: 49 / 62
LDL calc: 132 / 171

[Brinethery]

Welcome welcome!

After reading Dr. Eades' book, particularly the chapter on cholesterol, it seems like LDL levels aren't as important as triglyceride levels.

I think it's too soon to tell if your diet is affecting your cholesterol levels. Although I'm not a medical professional, I would guess that your blood work will be even better in a few months.

[RachelBB]

I can't point you to the research at the moment, but the ldl is calculated off the triglycerides, and if the trigs are less than 100, some cardiologists think the calculation is flawed, just like they know it is if your trigs are over 400. Keep researching and eating low carb!

[WereBear]

Those are great trigs! That's all I care about. The whole cholesterol thing is bogus science; the guy that started it rigged his data.

Did you know that?

[Timbert]

~WereBear: Haha, I've read about it, but when it's been drilled into your head your whole life it's hard to change.

~RachelBB: I think you're talking about the "Iranian equation" When I plug in my values for that, it's pretty close to my 2007 results.

Thanks for the replies. I normally would've waited for my results before starting something like this, I was just too excited :)

[Timbert]

2 years in on LCHF and I figured I'd get another round of bloodwork. I didn't realize it, but somewhere I lost 25 pounds. I haven't been watching the scale but I have surely noticed it in my clothing. The Dr. I went to this time likes to run every test in the book so the LDL was measured directly. While the numbers below would indicate large particle size, apparently the test came back saying they are not. I'm still trying to decipher the report so maybe I'm reading it wrong but the summary states they are small and dense. Any other numbers I should be looking at? I'm sure this 10 page report has it.

Oct 2007/Aug 2011/July 2013
Glucose: 83 / 76 / 66
Trigs: 70 / 66 / 68
Total Chol: 195 / 246 / 340
HDL: 49 / 62 / 71
LDL: 132 (calc)/ 171 (calc)/ 247 (direct measure)

[inflammabl]

I've had a similar change. Low triglycerides but lots of LDLs and not sure how seriously I should take it.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=453604

[Timbert]

I've had a similar change. Low triglycerides but lots of LDLs and not sure how seriously I should take it.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=453604

Oooh, I'll read through this at work tomorrow. My report shows a percentage of 20 for sdLDL (small dense LDL?) which is off the charts low (optimal) and my C-reactive protein is also very low at 0.3. apoB is high but so is apoA-I. HDL2-C is also off the optimal side of the chart at 22. Very confusing when you've been taught to only look at the scary numbers (Total C and LDL)

[JEY100]

Welcome!
Read some of the recent posts in the cholesterol forum, including the two stickies at top. Yours are good lipid results! Relax..
http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=48

[Nancy LC]

If you're worried, have a heart scan. Jimmy Moore has an LDL reading of 300+ but his heartscan is squeaky clean. Far better than carb eaters of a similar age.

[WereBear]

Trigs: 70 / 66 / 68

Those are great Trigs and that's the only number I really care about.

[Timbert]

Thanks, I'll lurk in the cholesterol forum. I hadn't found that subgroup before but I think I was just overwhelmed with the amount of info on this site.

The heart scan looks interesting. Since I've met my insurance deductible I may consider it.

I agree, the trigs look good. I'm actually surprised they were so low in 2007 when I was probably on a yo-yo diet of "healthy" whole grains and low fat.

Blood pressure has also been a nice surprise. For 10 years I'd been creeping up, hitting 145/85ish before starting low carb. It's been slow in coming down, but I'm around 115/75 now which no amount of exercise and whole grains/low fat was able to do in the past.