Got blood work back - question about cholesterol

Shaselai
Shaselai Posts: 151
in Health and Weight Loss
Dont really have much to compare against but doctor did the following tests:
Kidney:
Microalbumin 5.2 (<30 is good)

Sugar:
Hemoglobin A1C 5.4 - a 2 point drop from 3 months ago.

Triglycerides 67 <150 MG/DL
HDL 37 > or = 40 mg/dL
LDL Calculated 187 <130 mg/dL
CHOL/HDL Ratio 6.4 0.0 - 5.0
Sodium 140 135 - 146 mmol/L
Potassium 4.9 3.5 - 5.3 mmol/L

Doctor says she wants to see me for (surprise surprise!) Cholesterol. The Triglycerides is good while rest is bad with the ratio and LDL. I know when i mentioned to her(before the test) about particles for LDL she did say she heard about it and it is a "controversial" topic so i guess meaning she might be leaning more on the cautious side and give me cholesterol meds unless i request her to do a particle test?

I am doing Keto right now and since Keto is reliant on fat and protein and at least i have been getting my fats mostly from meat and meat has cholesterol - should I try to opt to leaner meats and use "no cholesterol" fats like coconut oil etc to lower total cholesterol intake while sticking to plan? Or maybe if i start drinking protein shakes will that help?

Replies

  • dorisopen9
    dorisopen9 Posts: 94 Member
    Cholesterol is an important part of the human body, it is a part of cell membranes. All animals ( that includes us humans) therefore produce cholesterol and all cells in the body are able to synthesise it. Our bodies account for dietary cholesterol by adjusting the rate of production. Eating "no cholesterol" fats or abstaining from meat will therefore only cause your body to make more cholesterol. Cholesterol is also needed to produce a whole range of important hormones, testosterone, oestrogen, progesteron, aldosterone, cortisol, to name but a few.
    Some studies have shown that consumptions of certain fats can alter the lipoprotein profile, increasing the level of HDL and decreasing the level of LDL. Other studies indicate that the problem is not so much the fat, but the animal protein attached to the fat when eating that causes the problems with a high intake of saturated animal fats. If these studies are correct, simply using leaner cuts of meat and replacing animal with plant fat will not help much.

    But the more important question is: is cholesterol really bad for us? Ever since that infamous Seven Countries Study that appeared to show the connection between rates of meat consumption (and with it high fat consumption) and rates of heart disease, tens of millions of Dollars have been spent on research which failed over and over again to prove the causation.
    Correlation - yes, that has been confirmed. But correlation is not causation.

    In view of all the conflicting research you have to make up your own mind if you want to be concerned about your cholesterol levels.
  • Shaselai
    Shaselai Posts: 151
    so i should listen to whatever doctor says? If she wants me to change my diet (which is causing me to lose weight) to a Mediterranean diet i should do so?
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  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Forget about the cholesterol.
    You are doing well.
    GREAT job on the blood sugar numbers.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    First off congrats on making some major diet changes. A 2 point drop in A1C in 3 months is awesome.

    I've done extensive diet experiments on my cholesterol as well as plenty of research on the topic. Your high cholesterol is most likely due to your ketogenic diet (which helped your insulin resistance) and it's merely temporary.

    Cholesterol is actually a highly volatile number and can change sudden. For example, I've seen my cholesterol go up 130 mg/dL in one week and down by 200 mg/dL in 23 days. While there is plenty of literature that says that diet contributes about 15% - 25% of serum cholesterol this is just an average based on the average modern diet - not a hard limit. This is why many people have seen 50 - 100 mg/dL changes in cholesterol with changes in diet.

    Secondly cholesterol can be elevated in caloric deprivation. It's unfortunate not as many doctors know about this, but this is observed very readily in both fasting and anorexics. The theory is that since the body needs to mobilize fat in caloric deprivation the fat is traveling through the blood and will raise cholesterol. I've tested this personally in my cholesterol experiments as well. My fasting cholesterol is around 230 mg/dL and my cholesterol on 800 calorie diets of either beef or bananas are both around 220 mg/dL! Wait a second? How can bananas contribute as much to serum cholesterol as beef? Well it doesn't... My stabilized cholesterol on an all banana diet is 142 mg/dL +- 3% and my cholesterol on all beef diets is 300+ mg/dL. It's just while on a severe caloric restriction my body has to mobilize around the same amount of fat so I have relatively similar amounts of cholesterol.

    So if you're on a ketogenic diet and losing weight this is very likely the cause of your high cholesterol and nothing to worry about. In fact it's a good sign. I won't get into the lipid hypothesis and the great cholesterol con, but research them if you're still concerned about it after reading this. And remember medications have their risks too.

    Thank you!! This makes a lot of sense. I was surprised at my last blood work that after losing 50 lbs, my cholesterol went up a few points. I am not that concerned, as it is only 230, and my triglycerides are down below 150, after an all time high of 685 4 yrs ago.
    I do eat lower carb due to IR and PCOS, so that would explain the slight increase in Cholesterol.
    On the other hand, my HDL went up into the good range, so that's good, just that the LDL went up also.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    so i should listen to whatever doctor says? If she wants me to change my diet (which is causing me to lose weight) to a Mediterranean diet i should do so?

    The cholesterol you eat is not the cholesterol in your blood.

    http://advancedmediterranean.com/ketogenic-mediterranean-diet/ might be an option for you.

    Ask how to get the HDL up :-)
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  • Shaselai
    Shaselai Posts: 151
    On a sidenote, i dug up my records from 3 months ago my trig was lowered by ~90 points but HDL,LDL all pretty much the same... what does this tell me?
  • wibutterflymagic
    wibutterflymagic Posts: 788 Member
    I personally don't concern myself about cholesterol unless my numbers were obscenely high. Most Western doctors only know how to shove pills at us and don't really pay attention to all the possibilities of why the numbers are what they are.

    If you are eating healthly foods with lean meats I wouldn't be concerned about the numbers. I'm not sure why your doctor would think there is an issue if you had a sky high number a few years ago and are down now. To me that just shows that they only pay attention to "the charts" and don't think and reason for themselves.
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  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    When my Triglycerides came back at 685, my doctor said it was a precursor to Diabetes. Since T2D runs in my family, he got my attention! I lowered my carbs and started reducing that number dramatically. The last test this past fall had me at 147.
    My mom died from diabetes 2 years ago, so I am much more concerned with my tri levels than my cholesterol. But it is good to know why my chol numbers went up a bit after losing the weight.
  • Shaselai
    Shaselai Posts: 151
    So saw doctor friday and she was cautious about the ldl and told me about statin but said she wouldnt try to force me to take it unless my ldl was over 190 so we just agreed to do another test 3 months from now and see what happens. She mentioned Mediterranean diet again and how it could help cholesterol etc.overall decent visit. She also says i dont have diabetes anymore from my test and she says some experts do say diabetes is on remission not just gone...
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Skip any and all advice on this board and do what your doctor tells you to.
  • skruttan44
    skruttan44 Posts: 86 Member
    I had high cholesterol as well, and refused to take the drug my doctor wanted me on. Then I switched doctor and she has not tried convince me to get on meds.

    Discussing it with my chiropractor, he is all against using the meds, especially for women who has had not heart related medical problem.

    You can always ask if you can wait and change your diet, exercise etc. and then recheck in 6 months. That may be acceptable to your doctor unless there are other medical reasons why you should be on the meds.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,311 Member
    A chiropractor really has no expertise in this area - so what your chiropractor said is irrelevant. Sure, he/ she is a health professional but not in this area any more than, say, a dentist or a podiatrist.

    There is evidence that high cholesterol levels do pose cardiovascular risk - the degree of risk is relative to other issues.
    I would have an in depth discussion with your doctor OP, and discuss whether the risk is great enough to warrant medication ( I think probably not).
    Dietary changes do sometimes help - I wouldn't be switching to a whole new Mediteranean diet or anything but there are some foods that are best avoided or taken in minimal doses, such as saturated fats.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    On a sidenote, i dug up my records from 3 months ago my trig was lowered by ~90 points but HDL,LDL all pretty much the same... what does this tell me?

    Cholesterol has a high genetic component.
    The HDL sometimes goes up with exercise.

    The triglycerides went down because you decreased carbs and sugar.

    If she is not happy with the cholesterol next time you see her, ask for that particle test.

    Before she puts you on a medication, find out what she thinks is the Mediterranean Diet. There are lots of vague versions of it and it has lots more carbs that the Keto does.
  • Shaselai
    Shaselai Posts: 151
    I see... thanks for the info. I did get my vita D test back with a 27... doctor recommended taking OTC for supplements or she could prescribe a stronger dosage...I think OTC probably better for now and if it doesnt get better after 3 months i will do prescription....

    As for the meditteranean diet i didn't ask her specifically but I mentioned how it is "high carb" and she said only the fruits has really high carb so maybe she discounts the veggies since there's a lot of fiber? She did mention whole grains too and fish. But overall she is impressed by my weight loss saying it took a lot of will power to get down to where i am currently within the past 3 months. She also gave a loose analogy on how some of her patients who did gastric bypass and lost 100 lbs had most if not all their negative symptoms (HBP, HC, Diabetes etc.) "gone". The only thing i have/had is diabetes.

    Apparently she says there are different viewpoints on diabetes' state when A1C is at normal range. She says at a recent conference a speaker said diabetes would be on "remission" if A1C kept normal range...
  • Kate7294
    Kate7294 Posts: 783 Member
    I'm currently going back and forth with my Doctor also about being put on Statins.

    I've tried 3 different ones already. All leading to joint pain. One of the main reasons I've started using this app. actually. Between the last 2 statins she told me to try COQ10 200mg a day. I've also started taking Garlic.

    My question is have you tried another option? I know I took flax seed oil for over a year or longer. Also tried Red Rice?, and fish oil.
  • RekindledRose
    RekindledRose Posts: 523 Member
    Statins are dangerous. I'd avoid taking any prescriptions if you can managed your health with diet and exercise. Just run an internet search on the dangers of these drugs and educate yourself.
  • FIT_Goat
    FIT_Goat Posts: 4,224 Member
    Another thing you should keep in mind is that LDL-Calc is unreliable with low-Triglycerides.

    http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~geoff36/LDL_mg.htm

    This provides an alternative way to calculate it that takes it into account. This would give you an LDL of 163. It's still not great, but it's not so high. The fact is, the lower you trigs, the more unreliable the calculations get. If you have low trigs, you should demand that any prescription for drugs be based only on a direct LDL measurement and not a calculated one.
  • corgicake
    corgicake Posts: 846 Member
    Another thing you should keep in mind is that LDL-Calc is unreliable with low-Triglycerides.

    http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~geoff36/LDL_mg.htm

    This provides an alternative way to calculate it that takes it into account. This would give you an LDL of 163. It's still not great, but it's not so high. The fact is, the lower you trigs, the more unreliable the calculations get. If you have low trigs, you should demand that any prescription for drugs be based only on a direct LDL measurement and not a calculated one.

    Yep. The reason they typically don't do it is that direct LDL is more expensive and usually trigs aren't low enough to call for it. If your doc wants to call particle size controversial, she can call it controversial all she wants as long as she's consistent and refers you to someone trained in fine tuning diet and exercise plans before she passes out any drugs.

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