High Cholesterol

[Dominic62]

Hi All,

I'm on Day 11 and starting to feel better after a tough first week.

I had a blood test on the 2nd Jan which gave me a Cholesterol count of 7.53. To put this in context I had a blood test in May 2012 which gave me a Cholesterol count of 7.57 (Triglycerides at 3.57). This modest reduction follows a NHS (National Health Service, U.K) recommended low fat diet for 6 months with lots of fibre and regular exercise, cycling 3-4 times a week.

My diet included a lot of pasta and rice as well as oily fish. I tried to avoid fatty breakfasts and enjoyed a lot of vegetarian meals with lots of pulses and beans. I also enjoyed about 8-12 beers a week and the odd bottle of wine. I'm sure that not drinking will have an effect!

This diet and what I thought was healthier eating did not have any impact on my Cholesterol level which is an obvious concern. My doctor said I am just good at producing cholesterol!

I read about the Whole 30 and in particular a few testimonials of a dramatic reduction in cholesterol levels but wondered if I need to be careful about how many eggs I consume and do I need to be careful about certain animal fats?

I am not particularly overweight, although I could do with losing a few pounds, and enjoy exercising in particular playing golf. My doctor hadn't heard of the Whole 30 but he is happy to see how that goes and I am booked in for another blood test at the beginning of March.

Any thoughts or experience of this would be greatly appreciated.

Dominic

[melbournegirl]

My total cholesterol has gone up since eating paleo. I dont mind at all. It has gone up because my good cholesterol has gone up. My triglycerides were always quite good as I never ate much processed food before but they are even lower now. Your body makes its own cholesterol and if you dont eat enough fat it will make it anyway. Science is now proving that blood cholesterol is only a measure not a symptom or problem in itself. Many things cause higher cholesterol and most of them dont mean a health issue. Wish my GP knew this, she has said to watch it when I told her I was cooking with ghee now... But finally all my other problems - low iron, B levels, vitamin d etc are back to normal so I'll take this way of eating any day.

[Tom Denham]

Diet has very little influence on cholesterol levels. It does have a big influence on triglycerides, but not cholesterol. You don't have to worry about eggs or other animal fats. I've sometimes eaten 28 eggs per week for long periods without harm. It made my doctor nervous, but eggs and red meat don't make your cholesterol go up or down.

You might want to read through some posts on cholesterol by Dr. John Briffa at http://www.drbriffa.com/category/cholesterol-and-statins/. His work impresses me.