Sun, Aug-19-01, 13:19
|
 |
Forum Founder
Posts: 37,285
|
|
Plan: LC, GF
Stats: 241/185/140
BF:
Progress: 55%
Location: Eastern ON, Canada
|
|
hi everybody
In the absence of any other symptoms of heart & blood vessel disease, a high cholesterol reading is not by itself indicative of pathology or risk. I think that the Fear of Cholesterol has been too successfully ground into our brains by the media, promoted by those who stand to profit most from that fear, such as pharmaceutical giants and processed "lowfat" foods manufacturers .. 
As I'm sure you know from your research and reading, cholesterol is a vital chemical, necessary for many functions in the human body. There are two ways we can obtain cholesterol -- from the food we eat, or the liver will make cholesterol if none is received from the diet. And it's well-known and documented that the cholesterol we MAKE functions quite differently from the cholesterol we EAT. It's described best by one of our members, a biochemist, himself a heart attack and quadruple bypass survivor, who got worse on the standard lowfat/low cholesterol diet and anti-cholesterol DRUGS, and improved and stayed improved by quitting the medications and following Atkins to the letter, including intentionally eating a lot of fat
Quote:
Originally posted by kentid2k
..... How is it possible to eat all those (fat) foods, (some of them chock full of cholesterol) and maintain an acceptable level of cholesterol and triglycerides ? How is it possible to lose weight when you consume all those fats and calories ?
When you starve your body of dietary cholesterol, your body takes over and produces its own. In many individuals, the body is very ineffecient at producing cholesterol. In my case, it produced it at an uncontollable level and very little HDL. A very dangerous situation for someone with my medical history and genetics. By consuming as much cholesterol as the body needs in your diet, the body no longer needs to produce any of its own, and is much more effecient at removing the dietary cholesterol from your system. By introducing higher levels of poly and mono-unsturated fats, ( i.e. - Virgin cold pressed Olive oil and good quality Canola oil etc. ) you also help to increase your levels of HDL ( the "good" cholesterol )
|
That entire thread is very informative and interesting, if you'd like to read it, you can find it right here in this Cholesterol & Heart Disease forum, look for the thread titled "Letter to WebMD", or click here to open it in a new window.
Protein Power (1996) and Protein Power Lifeplan, (2000) by the Drs. Eades also has several excellent chapters on the importance of cholesterol. You might be able to borrow a copy from your library. I highly recommend it. Here is a quote from the FAQ's page of their website about the concern of cholesterol levels going UP after starting lowcarb .. http://eatprotein.com/
Quote:
First of all, be aware that you are not doing anything wrong. The most consistent finding after people go on our program is that triglycerides drop and HDL, the "good" cholesterol increases. This indicates that your insulin levels have dropped and you have stopped converting excess amounts of sugar into fats as trigylcerides. Cholesterol is a number that is composed of both good and bad fractions, therefore we don’t tend to track it nearly as close as more specific levels of HDL, triglycerides and LDL. LDL cholesterol is made up of different particles that vary from person to person. Depending on the type of particles that predominate, one is said to have either pattern A or pattern B. With pattern A, the LDL is light, fluffy, and relatively large. This pattern is actually thought to be beneficial. With pattern B, the molecule is heavy, dense, and relatively small. This pattern is thought to be detrimental. Pattern B is a partial consequence of excessively elevated triglycerides. When triglycerides go down after the Protein Power Plan has been adopted, a phenomenon called the "beta shift" occurs where LDL is transformed into pattern A. So, paradoxically, even though the level of LDL appears to increase, the type of LDL that is being formed is usually much healthier. The difficult part is that the lab testing to determine your levels of LDL "A" and LDL "B" can only be done in a research laboratory with electrophoresis methods. While we cannot be 100% certain that this is what happened in your case, the research strongly supports this view.
The most important thing is to look at the overall picture. With the Protein Power approach we look at the triglyceride/HDL ratio as one of the best measurements of risk for heart disease. An upper limit of 5 is considered desirable, with anything over that indicating an increased risk. Some measures to help bring down your cholesterol and LDL levels are: stay on the plan (some people panic and feel that the plan is causing the opposite effect), take a "no-flush" niacin 500 mg 2-3 capsules per day, increase your fiber intake with perhaps psyllium seed powder-1-2 TBS mixed in water per day, and avoid excessive saturated fats and trans fats (fried foods and margarine.)
|
One thing you might consider is reducing or eliminating red meat and egg yolks for a month, while maintaining a lowcarb regimen that focuses on increased intake of monounsaturated fats and oils -- then get things checked again. Not because red meat and egg yolks have cholesterol in them, but because they have ARACHIDONIC ACID in them. Again, this is from the Protein Power website FAQ's
Quote:
... You can’t increase your protein foods haphazardly and continue to eat carbohydrates as you do now and expect to see results. In fact, you’ll be worsening your problems if you do so.
Second, there are some people who may have problems with large amounts of red meat and large quantities of egg yolks. These people: have elevated blood pressure and/or cholesterol, retain abnormally high amounts of fluid, and/or suffer from inflammatory conditions such as skin rashes, asthma, allergies, bursitis, or arthritis.
It’s not the cholesterol in red meat and egg yolks that is the problem. It’s the fact that they are high in arachidonic acid, which can promote or worsen the above conditions.
Here is the strategy for these folks to follow: Eliminate red meat and egg yolks from your diet completely for three weeks. At the end of the three week period, take stock of your health. Has it improved? Eat a large portion of red meat and eggs for a couple of meals and observe what happens. If your problems reappear of get worse, you are sensitive to arachidonic acid and should have these foods only once in a while. When you do have them, make sure to remove as much of the fat from the beef as possible. Grill the beef. This will reduce the arachidonic acid by as much as 35%. Another option is to marinate the meat in a combination of red wine and olive oil or light sesame oil for 24 hours before grilling.
As far as eggs are concerned, have no more than one or two whole eggs at a sitting, and eat egg whites the rest of the time. Also, you should avoid margarine altogether (as everyone should).
|
Don't give up on lowcarb just yet. Eliminating red meat, egg yolks and high-fat dairy at the same time as increasing your intake of monounsaturate fats from nuts and seeds, natural nut and seed butters and their oils, olives and olive oil and avocados, as well as consuming more fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines -- may go a long way toward improving your health.
Hope this has been helpful.. 
Doreen
|
|
help...raised cholesterol!
are you exercising?
.. On the other hand, it suggests for type A to avoid dairy, egg yolks and certain seafood, and to choose poultry, ocean fish and game meats as the main sources of animal-based protein. 
Linear Mode
