Here's a link to a 3 part article on cholesterol and heart disease, good stuff. http://www.redflagsweekly.com/kendrick/2002_nov28.html

Awesome article, bluesmoke!

So what does cause arterial plaque build-up and coronary heart disease????

Here's a 6 part article explaining where clogged arteries come from http://www.redflagsweekly.com/featu...2_sept26_2.html

Dan_rose--

This has not been learned definitively yet. Candidates for things that damage the inner wall of the arteries, the endothelium, include stress, smoking, high blood pressure, too much insulin and/or cortisol, inflammation, and who knows what else? Maybe they are all at fault.

Establishing the culprit(s) is separate from acquitting cholesterol. "If the glove don't fit, you must acquit." The cholesterol glove apparently doesn't fit.

Sheldon

I would suggest anyone wanting a good discussion of cholesterol within the context of low carbing simply acquire a copy of Protein Power by the Drs. Eades.

It has a very well written chapter on the role of cholesterol, factors affecting the levels in the blood and how low-carbing controls the manufacture of cholesterol by the body.

I stumbled upon a copy at a thrift store and the $3 I spent on the book is well worth it.

Thanks for the reply Sheldon, I've now read all of Kendricks articles, and they are very good.

I found a list of factors that may cause damage to the endothelium:

Smoking
Turbulant blood flow (high blood pressure)
High blood sugar level
High cortisol level
High insulin level
High triglyceride level

from: http://www.redflagsweekly.com/features/2002_oct31.html

A low carb diet should help keep the insulin and blood sugar levels down. But ...

How can you keep the cortisol level down?

Does a high-fat diet cause high triglyceride levels?

Do the kind of fats eaten cause a high triglyceride level?

dan_rose--

I'm not a physician, but here's what I read:

Diane Schwarzbein writes that cortisol can be kept in balance by eating some carbs with each meal. This is in conflict with the Eadeses and others who say we need no carbs at all. I'm not sure wherel the truth lies. My approach is that some carbs can't hurt. Most of my 50-60 grams a day come from fruit, with some coming from nuts and peanut butter.

Cortisol is a stress hormone, I believe. So one way to keep it down is to learn to handle stress. Exercise helps, but Schwarzbein says you can exercise too much.

People on Atkins typically see their triglycerides go down. So the answer to your question is no: eating good fats should not raise triglycerides.

"Bad" fats might raise triglycerides, but I am not certain of this. I stay away from trans fats and polyunsaturated vegetable oils. My triglycerides have been low and falling.

Take care,
Sheldon

I have a problem with high cortisol levels. I take a cortisol controller to help with it. I take a supplement phosphatidylserine. Many body builders use this because cortisol is anabolic.

I have also read that avoiding sugar, caffeine, and chocolate will keep cortisol levels acceptable. Also exercising regularly trains your body to deal with cortisol, exercise increases cortisol levels temporarily. But overtraining can lead to high, high cortisol levels.

As to carbs, I have a book by a nutritionist called The Cortisol Connection. The recommendation there was to keep carbs at 10-15% of your total calories. 50 carbs per day is probably in the ballpark.

This is what Ron Rosedale says in his article "Isulin and its Metabolic effects.

He is saying this under the context of grain carbs etc.,

"What is the minimum daily requirement for carbohydrates?
ZERO.
What is the food pyramid based on? A totally irrelevant nutrient."

http://www.mercola.com/2001/jul/14/insulin3.htm

If you haven't read the whole article, your missing out on a lot of valuble info.

I'm reading the whole series of article Yar. Truely fascinating stuff. It's difficult to follow mostly because it's not so much an article as a transcript but the content is really really interesting.

I am learning oodles about the REAL role of insulin.

I'm reading the whole series of article Yar. Truely fascinating stuff.

Yes, i couldn't agree more.

There are also these articles by Loren Cordain, he explains why we should not be consuming the quantity of grains that we are, and have been, for multi generations.

There is a lo----t of reading, but well worth it.

http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/paleodiet/index.shtml

Here is an excerpt on grain consumption, with regard to the ancient Egyptians and degenerative diseases.
I realise that some of the dental problems were from the stones that they used for grinding. [Contaminating the flour with bits of stone].

With such a diet, rich in all the foods believed to promote health and almost totally lacking in saturated fat and cholesterol, the Egyptians should have lived long, healthy lives. But they didn't.
Scientific analysis of the mummified remains of Egyptians show that they were rife with dental problems, hardening of the arteries, diabetes, and obesity! And this was 1,000 years before refined sugar came into use! If the Egyptians didn't eat much fat, had no refined carbohydrates as we know them today, and ate almost nothing but whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables, and fish, and fowl, why were they beset with all the same chronic degenerative diseases that afflict modern man? Isn't this the diet we are told will prevent or reverse many of the diseases plaguing us today?

Well, let's see. Three years ago, I started eating a high carb (whole grains, vegetables), low-fat diet (which included a bowl of oatmeal every morning) and exercising about three times a week. I lost 25 pounds and my cholesterol dropped from 197 to 159. When I began eating more protein (which included more fat) and less carbs, I gained almost 40 pounds and my cholesterol is above 200 and my triglycerides off the charts!

We could spend hours doing research on nutrition and find studies to support just about any view regarding these issues.

But, I know what worked for me. And I regret being swayed by this type of low carb/highprotein & fat diet.

Hi Nutri-Nut,

The purpose of this forum is to provide support to people who are trying a low-carb diet to see if it works for them.

Your sarcastic comments would be more appropriate in the "War Zone" section, which you'll find in the Media section above the main thread section.

If you find that low-carb diets don't work for you, I suggest that you find a Website that caters to what you already know does work for you.

Nic

Me too, I followed a high complex carb diet and exercise and lost 70+ lbs and improved my cholesterol, but it then stopped.

Follwing a healthy low-carb diet improved it even more.

Congrats on your 25 lbs loss


Wa'il