1yr Atkins, Triglycerides up 433%, LDL up 238% - What the heck?
Hey, so I did my baseline just over a year ago, about 3 weeks prior to starting Atkins.
My Triglycerides were 93, my HDL was 45, and my LDL was 143.
Now, I year later, my Triglycerides are 403, my HDL is 47, and my LDL is 338. Ack!
My doctor is in a panic, says 100% it's Atkins fault, and wants me to stop immediately, go low fat, and start on cholesterol medication.
The thing is, though, I just don't buy it one tiny bit - Atkins has changed my life, I feel 1000% better, I have dropped 67lbs, and I do NOT eat hardly any of the foods that my doctor now recommends I drop.
I have been following Atkins recomendations for Candida, as that immediately cleared up all my health problems, such as severe sinus congestion, sinus infection, and chronic sore throats that I have been suffering with for most of my life.
This means that my diet consists of Atkins induction, but without any dairy, cheese, milk, butter, eggs, mushrooms, or anything aged/fermented/dried, such as nuts, tea, vinegar, any grains except flax seeds, or ANY type of artificial sweetner, including splenda, sugar not, and stevia.
Any of the above immediately causes my congestion symptoms to pop back up so severely I gladly pass on all of the above and feel great as a result.
I generally eat around 5-10 carbs per day, with most of those coming from vegetables, especially spinach, but also brocoli, celery, lettuce, kale, celery, and celantro. I eat lots of fish, especially tuna fish, and lots of chicken, such as frozen chicken breasts or whole roasted chicken from the grocery store. I usually eat ground turkey instead of beef, simply because I was raised as a vegetarian and never quite aquired a taste for ground beef, but I do enjoy a good grilled steak every couple weeks (too expensive). I don't eat any pork, because it totally grosses me out. I eat a lot of canned salmon, canned tuna, canned sardines. I was originally eating them with mayonaise, but discovered that the eggs in mayonaise made me nausious, so now I eat them with a little sauerkraut, relish, and mustard, despite the minor flair-up in congesion as a result of the fermented stuff.
A typical breakfast would be a can of tuna or salmon, prepared as above, the same for lunch, probably swapping the tuna for the salmon or vice versa, and then I cook almost all my meals at home - main entree/meet/protein of chicken, fish, or beef, and then usually a spinach salad. In the beginning, I had used the lighthouse country ranch dressing, but dropped it because it contains both a small amount of sugar, is fermented, and contains eggs, the combination of the 3 just making it not worth it - I eat my salad with the meat for flavor, and this works fine for me.
I am quite happy with my diet, and see this as something I can sustain for a lifetime. Sure, most other people couldn't do it, but they also don't get immediately sick for a week for straying just enough for a bite of cheese. I have suffered most of my life with this congestion problem, have been to dozens of doctors to no avail, and am SO absolutely extatic that my health has been better than it has been in many, many years that the extreme diet restrictions are a tiny price to pay.
So, all of the above makes me think that these cholestorol numbers are INSANE - to the tune of there must be some mistake in the testing or SOMETHING, because I just don't see my diet as even the slightest bit unhealty. My doctor says I need to follow all these low-cholesterol guidlines, such as no eggs, no cheese, no blah blah blah - all things that I already don't eat.
I also already take an atkins basic 3 multiple, plus the atkins EFAs, plus I eat flax seed crackers with my tuna for fiber, and take vitamin c and CoQ10 as well.
What gives?? This huge spike in my cholesterol makes no sense whatsoever. It is SO frusterating to have all the naysayers telling me over the past year "ooh, atkins, evil, your cholesterol is going to go up and your heart is going to explode, blah blah blah"....I've always just shrugged them off and said "you'll see", and right about now I feel like the joke is on me. I can understand how the butter-fat-hamburger diet could be bad, but I just can't comprehend what is wrong with what I am eating.
I do not take any drugs or medication.
Oh, and I exercise as well, I'm a very active persion, I mountain bike, I rollerblade, I climb mountains, I back pack, I walk daily at work, I play tennis, I snowboard. I'm 26, I have no history of cholesterol problems in the family.
What the heck????
And yes, I fasted - the first time I went in for a full physical they forgot to tell me to fast, so I had to come back a week later for them to do it again.
My doc says medication, medication, medication, and I say no way!
But I have no alternative to offer him...
Help!
Thanks.
|