high cholesterol

[Tink03]

My husband is interested in doing the Whole30. I've already done one and agreed to do a second one with him. He recently had blood work and he has high cholesterol. He is concerned about eating so much eggs and meat. Any thoughts???

[Tom Denham]

The LDL cholesterol levels of most people go down when they eat Whole30-style and the triglycerides of almost everyone falls sharply. This is an absolute contradiction to the conventional (and in this case, false) wisdom that eating eggs and red meat is bad for our cholesterol. The truth is that cholesterol in the foods we eat has very little to do with the cholesterol levels that show up in our blood. 

 

The reason I am deliberate about saying "most people" is that I am not one of them. A small number of people have a genetic disposition towards high cholesterol. Eating Whole30 style does not make the cholesterol of such people lower. However, no style of eating makes the cholesterol of such people lower because it is the liver that is producing the high levels of cholesterol and not coming from food. A vegetarian eating no animal protein can still have high cholesterol if they are like me. 

 

Here is a little more info: I was on cholesterol lowering meds when I began my Whole30 journey. My triglycerides fell, good cholesterol went up a lot, and my bad cholesterol stayed the same. My doctor was thrilled. I wanted to see what happened when I stopped taking meds. My doctor refused to sign off on stopping meds, so I fired him and found a new doctor. My bad cholesterol went up a lot when I came off meds, although my tryglycerides and good cholesterol remained good. So, with the new doctor, I went on meds again, albeit a different kind, and my bad cholesterol came back down to levels that I agreed with my new doctor were acceptable. 

[Peg541]

OK. I'm glad to see this. A moderator sent me here.

I've been doing this more than 30 days with a week of non compliance thrown in. I'm starting again Sunday for a whole30. Although I've been compliant.

I had blood work done Monday. I take statins because I make lots of cholesterol too.

First problem is I had the blood work done at a different lab from my usual. That might/will have different controls so different normals.

Both my blood sugar and cholesterol total cholesterol and LDL. came back just one point into the high ranges. . So this could be lab differences or to could be the three to four eggs with guacamole I consume daily. I adore eggs.

Do I change the way I'm doing things? I admit I had too many grapes the days before the lab work which may have upped my blood sugar. I was sick. Grapes soothed my throat.

So do I eat less eggs? I am sticking to the fruit guidelines. Less guacamole? Suggestions please.

[praxisproject]

How many days before the test were you Whole30 compliant?

[Tom Denham]

OK. I'm glad to see this. A moderator sent me here.

I've been doing this more than 30 days with a week of non compliance thrown in. I'm starting again Sunday for a whole30. Although I've been compliant.

I had blood work done Monday. I take statins because I make lots of cholesterol too.

First problem is I had the blood work done at a different lab from my usual. That might/will have different controls so different normals.

Both my blood sugar and cholesterol total cholesterol and LDL. came back just one point into the high ranges. . So this could be lab differences or to could be the three to four eggs with guacamole I consume daily. I adore eggs.

Do I change the way I'm doing things? I admit I had too many grapes the days before the lab work which may have upped my blood sugar. I was sick. Grapes soothed my throat.

So do I eat less eggs? I am sticking to the fruit guidelines. Less guacamole? Suggestions please.

 

Eating food that contains cholesterol is not a problem for your blood cholesterol levels. The problem is what your liver manufactures, so you can't control your cholesterol by changing your diet. Your doctor may not have the nerve to say this, but it is true. My doctor suggested I eat fewer eggs when she saw how high my cholesterol was. I confronted her about how the issue was not what I ate and was really what my liver did. She acknowledged that I was correct scientifically, but then reflected superstition by saying maybe I should eat fewer eggs anyway "just in case." You can do what you want, but changing your diet based upon false conventional wisdom and superstition is silly.