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Originally Posted by khrussva
I will. When I first found out that my LDL had gone crazy high, I did a lot of web searching to see if I could figure out what was going on. I'd read that weight loss alone can cause numbers to go all over the place and that being weight stable for at least 4 weeks will provide a much clearer picture of what your long-term numbers really are. I'd read that a healing fatty liver will increase LDL (I had liver inflamation). I read that people with eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia) can have very high LDL.
I also found many forum posts where alarmed people posted a similarly high LDL result looking for answers. Unfortunately, most were newbies and they never provided a followup to let people know if they figured out what was going on. I did notice one thing that many of them had in common. They were pushing hard with the diet and exercise. It occured to me that I had been doing that in the months prior to my last labs. I broke my foot in December and that put an end to my regular walking routine. So I really cut down on the eating to keep the weight loss coming. As my foot healed, I got back into my walking routine - exceeding 20+ miles walking per week by the time March rolled around -- but I had kept my eating the same (1700 to 1800 calories and < 30 net carbs). Last June - when my cholesterol numbers were very much better -- I was eating closer to 3000 calories a day and walking just a couple of miles a week. I thought that maybe I was pushing too hard. That is why I formulated a plan to back off a bit and slow the weight loss some. I still walk 20 to 25 miles per week, but I eat a lot more now. In June, I'll eat just a bit more to slow the weight loss even more. At the end of June, I will be retested. If my LDL is down -- and I suspect that it will be, then I will be satisfied that it was the hard-pressed weight loss that was behind the craziness.
As alarming as that number may appear, I'm not convinced that it is dangerous. I've always thought the cholesterol thing was some sort of a scam. Now - even 30 years later, you don't hear about any statistics that tout cholesterol lowering drugs as life savers. All you hear about is how they have been proven to lower those choloesterol numbers. With so many people taking these drugs for so many years, you'd think that they'd have hard evidence by now that these drugs actually do some good. If these drugs actually do help prevent heart disease, that is. I suspect that there is no evidence because these drugs don't do squat in preventing heart disease.
Me losing 170 pound with this WOE, me walking regularly and me not eating sugar & starch is me doing the best things I can be doing to prevent a heart attack. But I know if I don't get that LDL number down, my Doc will likely recommend statins. I won't take them, but I hope it never becomes an issue. If my experiment works, I should be able to show my doctor that it is the weight loss and that we just need to see this through to the end.
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Ken, thank you for your interesting posting. The questions you pose reminded me of an article of May 14th 2010, from a Dutch quality magazine, which might give us some answers in this matter. A lot of the information we have already known for years (the article being 5 years old). Still, I’ll sort of translate the whole article in case you or anybody else find(s) it interesting. At the end of the article cholesterol is mentioned and the effect of fats and of light products on the body. In case anybody is interested in the original Dutch article,you'll find the link underneath.
The title was:
'The dangers of eating too little'. The question was posed:
'But what exactly are those dangers'?
Apart from tiredness, moodiness or lack of concentration, too strict diets can lead to more serious problems. In fact, the body starts to break down muscle tissue to provide energy. This leads to less strength, which makes you tired. The metabolism is slowed down by 20 to 30% (!). The body economizes. That's why people slow down losing weight, after wich they eat even less. This becomes a vicious circle in an attempt to continue losing weight.
Waste products.
A lot of waste products remain in your body, due to a.o. the breaking down of muscle tissue. This can lead to headaches or nausiness. The pancreas will go into a slower ‘mode’ with an ever slower metabolism as a result. Less food results into less moisture inside your body, because of which one can dehydrate, which, as a result, can lead to kidney failure.
(The lists continues):
Deficit of iron can lead to anemia.
Too much waste products and too little moisture can lead to a surplus of water retention.
A lack of fibre can lead to bowel-issues and problems in the bathroom.
A lack of vitamins can lead to dry hair, brittle nails and losing hair.
A lack of calcium and vitamine D can lead to bone mass reduction.
Too low a blood pressure can lead to cardiac arrhythmia or a cardiac arrest for that matter. One of the signs of low blood pressure, as we all know, is dizyness whilst standing up.
In the long run one can cause less well functioning organs because of these deficits.
Risks
There are people who don’t believe in crash diets but totally abandon fat instead. Fat has the reputation of being fattening so even people who are not on a crash diet, tend to eliminate fats. Of course, fat contains a lot of calories (joules) but too little fat is not healthy either.
Too little fat can cause following problems:
a deficit of fat-soluble vitamines A, D, E and K. These vitamins are important for a good functioning body.
Depression.
Especially the omega fatty acids play a major part in keeping up spirits and not becoming moody. If you eat too little of these, the body produces not enough hormones that make you happy (I suppose they are talking about endorfines).
Cardiovascular diseases caused by too high cholesterol levels. This sounds odd but when you hardly eat any fat, your HDL (good cholesterol) level gets down whereas the LDL (bad cholesterol) becomes disproportionally high. And this can cause blood clots and clogged arteries.
The nutrients are getting out of balance. If you eat too little, your intake of carbs rises disproportionally high. Too many carbs can lead to more appetite and hunger because the blood sugar level will be higher, which could eventually lead to diabetes. Too much protein is a burden on your liver and kidneys and could also lead to bone mass destruction.
More appetite. Fat makes a meal tasty and fills you up. If you only choose light products (non fat products) you’ll be hungrier. Furthermore, in those products fat has usually been replaced by a lot of sugar! Too much sugar rapidly leads to a high blood sugar level after which it tumbles down again with a lot of hunger as a result.
Source: Elsevier's Magazine of May 14, 2015
http://www.elsevier.nl/Algemeen/nie...LSEVIER265688W/