Baloney.
I just got the results of my yearly physical back and I discovered some interesting results.
Mind you, I was not trying to do anything about my cholesterol profile even though my doctor thinks I am going to expire in a few minutes unless I start eating fistfuls of statins. It amazes me that after all these years of being my doctor and seeing me in perfect health (and even better health as the years have rolled on), she continues to say the same things to me regarding cholesterol. I think she needs to read the book Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
Backing up a bit – as many of you know, I decided I wanted to go on an elimination diet to see if this would help my arthritis pain which unfortunately it didn’t. Not at all in fact. However, I did lose a lot of fat while doing this. I went from 175 pounds to 157 pounds in a few months. I cut out virtually all grain as I usually do, but did not cheat anywhere near as much on things like French fries, corn chips, dairy, etc. In fact, I cut out all dairy and replaced the calories with coconut butter, more meat, etc. I also stopped eating eggs.
The result of my blood work after losing nearly 20 pounds of fat and perhaps a bit of muscle?
My cholesterol remained virtually identical. My HDL actually went up a bit from 78 to 83. My LDL remained high 174 (was 178) but all of the LDL remained the fluffy, buoyant, large pattern A particles. As you can see from the graph, my LDL’s are well into the good side.
And for those of you who think ALL LDL particles are bad, take a look-see at this. Now, one really can’t make much of this study since the results are just an observation by the researchers. But I do find it interesting given my results and that I regularly perform high intensity exercise.
My triglycerides remained virtually the same – a very low 57. So I eat all this fat and yet…
One bad thing however – my fasting blood sugar was oddly high coming in at 104 (reference range 65 to 140). It should have been in the 80’s. I’m not sure why this was. It could be that since I and others who are on very low carb diets rely on gluconeogenesis (the production of glucose from protein), perhaps low carbers like us are making a bit more glucose than others who eat a good deal of sugar during the day. But I’m not sure. I’ve had fasting levels lower than this in the past so I’m not sure what to make of it.
Anyhow, I lost almost 20 pounds but there was virtually no change in my blood cholesterol profile. Interesting right? Did my doc say anything about this drop in weight but no change in cholesterol? Nope.
So the next time your doc says to lose weight in order to “improve” upon your cholesterol levels, don’t worry if it doesn’t change. Losing fat if in excess is always a good thing and will always result in better health even if your cholesterol numbers don’t budge.
And for those of you who are concerned about your cholesterol levels and just can’t seem to shrug off your doctors prodding that you take a statin, please read this book The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It
It’s informative and funny to boot!
