Cholesterol levels

Walternator

Has anyone here had their Cholesterol levels checked after being on KETO for a while?

I am a newb in my 1st week of KETO, and am pretty stoked to see some weight finally falling off so quickly. I have been trying to be very meticulous about logging everything I eat since joining MFP on 8/13. Since starting KETO, my cholesterol intake has gone through the roof, which makes me a bit nervous. I have always had very healthy cholesterol levels and want to keep it that way.

I have been doing some research and first hand accounts of KETO'ers getting some blood tests done after being on KETO for a while seem far and few between.

Also, I would welcome any friend requests by fellow KETO'ers.

LowcarbNY

While you losing weight almost anyone on any diet will see their blood lipid number go down.
You're metabolizing fat from your body and your blood levels reflect what is necessary to fuel your activity, not that much plus excess that is being transported for fat storage in your body (when you are gaining)

Any form of low carb restriction will likely result in a large decrease in the Triglyceride values.

mstorvik

My tri's went down, but everything else increased - but my ratio was good. My total cholesterol has went from 158 to 201... but in a good way!

AKbluedragonfly

First of all, eating cholesterol does not affect your cholesterol. HDL (good) is a measure of your fat intake. Triglycerides are a measure of your carb intake. and LDL(some bad) is calculated from those two numbers and your total cholesterol. LDL can be two different types: big and fluffy which aren't harmful, or small and compact, which are harmful.

I don't have cholesterol data after going keto, but I do after going Primal for about 6 weeks. Primal as in 50-100g carbs a day, about 100 g fat a day, and 50-100g protein a day made up of veggies, meat, dairy, some fruit, healthy fats, minimal processed food.

Before Primal: 12/28/2007
After 6 weeks Primal: 9/24/2011

HDL (should be >60): 52 before, 82 after
LDL (should be <100): 53 before, 96 after
Triglycerides (should be <150): 71 before, 38 after
Total Chol. (should be <200): 119 before, 184 after
Trig./HDL Ratio (should be < 2.0): 1.37 before, 0.46 after (SUPER GOOD!)

So as you can see:
my good HDL increased into the healthy range from eating more fat
my bad LDL increased while staying in the healthy range but chances are it is more fluffy than before, which matters more
my already healthy triglycerides decreased by half from eating less carbs
my total cholesterol increased (partially due to HDL increase) while staying in the healthy range


If you want to learn more about cholesterol and keto, I'd recommend reading up at marksdailyapple.com and this article:
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2011/10/11/another-statin-pushing-doctor/

If you're still in doubt, watch the movie Fat Head (available on netflix and youtube) which has doctors explaining the misconceptions about diet and cholesterol.

FXOjafar

I just got my blood work back and here are the Cholesterol results.
mmol/L (desirable levels in brackets)

Cholesterol 4.8 (3.5-5.4)
Triglyceride 1.2 (0.1-2.0)
HDL 1.2 (>1.0)
Cholesterol/HDL-C Ratio 4.0 (<5.0)
VLDL 0.6 (0.1-0.9)
LDL 3.0 (2.1-4.0)

This is after almost 5 months Keto. Incidentally my Serum/Plasma Glucose (after fasting for the blood test 8+ hours) was 4.9 mmol/L which is bang on for a healthy non diabetic. As a 41yo (going on 42 in a couple of days) I was a little worried about the tests, but now I've been given the all clear as far as my health goes, I couldn't be happier.

Keto rocks!