Sheldon's right about stress. Starting a new way of life can be stressful. The dietary changes could cause a temporary rise in your bp. If you're both heart patients, you probably already have lipid profiles on file with your doctor(s). Try LC for a couple of months and see whether your lipids are better or worse than what's on file.

Also, Sheldon posts some interesting articles about cholesterol and many myths about it. You might take a look at those sometime when you can spend a little while reading.