granie of 20 said... Good question! The picture to the left will help with the answer. Common medical thinking (incorrect thinking) is that in the picture the cholesterol producing food is the hamburger meat because it has dietary fat.
The truth? It is the bun that causes elevation in serum cholesterol levels. Not just one bun, mind you, but years of carb overload, leading to insulin resistance, and raised blood glucose levels.
I am not going to take the space here to write about the truth on dietary fat, as there are many excellent articles already on the web. Here is a humorous fictional article, another important fats article and one of the chapters from Dr. Bernstein's book.
The low carb way my doctor prescribes (see "The List") pretty quickly lowers bad/LDL cholesterol and helps elevate the number of good/HDL cholesterol. David and I just had our first follow up cholesterol (and other) tests yesterday, so we will find out in two weeks how much our numbers have improved. David's LDL was very high and his HDL was very low, the exact opposite of how it should be. Our doctor does not use Statin drugs. He will use Niacin if diet alone does not bring the numbers to where he wants them to be. Statin drugs have many adverse side effects and don't help the cholesterol problem as much as diet alone can usually do.
Don't be afraid to have your cholesterol tested. It is a very helpful tool to see how your diet is actually helping, if it was bad to start with. Though you might find you have to be a bit more carb restricted ( as far as the The List goes, with the elimination of even small amounts of fast acting carbs - which is also the best way for quicker weight loss) to get your numbers where they should be. But any carb reduction will help some. More reduction in carbs, more improvement in cholesterol numbers. (note: that isn't to imply that a zero carb diet is any better than 30 carbs a day, which is what Dr. Bernstein recommends, though our doctor just says stick to The List and don't worry about counting carbs)
The other thing to keep in careful consideration is that bad cholesterol numbers (too much bad, too little good) are a HUGE indication of elevated blood sugars doing damage to your system. Anyone with "bad" cholesterol numbers should ask to have an A1C test done. It amazes me how often doctors won't do these two together unless there is a family history of diabetes. Yet, when I asked for my 5 year old to have her A1C checked (because of testing her FBC at home was coming up in the 90's, which is too high for someone, especially so young!) they automatically included a cholesterol test with it, BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEY GO HAND IN HAND! **grrr**
(Her A1C was 5.1, which is still too high because perfect normal A1C would be around 4.5 and 6.0 is diabetes. Her cholesterol was fine, as I suspected, because it takes quite a few years of high blood sugars to get it to show up in the cholesterol numbers. But it is something to watch and have tested each year for her. We also need to start her on some of the supplements we are on.)
Add to the cholesterol and diabetes group low thyroid with or without adrenal insufficiency. This forms the metabolic triangle, per se. Low thyroid is a huge under treated problem, because the symptoms can be so vague: feeling cold, tired, weight gain/inability to lose weight, sinus problems, and a host of other symptoms. Read up on it.
With that said, and this may also help explain why David and I have had a quicker result in weight loss, etc., is that our dr. has us on Cytomel, which is a thyroid replacement medicine (and if you are low thyroid weight loss can be especially difficult) as we tested low thyroid. We are both on Metformin, which is a low level diabetes medicine which helps the body work with the insulin it still has to lower blood sugar levels and also helps improve cholesterol and since it is helping lower blood sugar it helps with weight/stored fat loss. (Also intriguing is that Metformin is used for treatment of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome a more and more common form of infertility and messed of "female" stuff. Clearly an indication that elevated blood sugars and some types of infertility are linked, and treatable.)
We are also on supplements that help with blood sugar levels: chromium picolinate, biotin, vitamin D (he first ran a blood test and found us to be very, very low in this, which is common in the US, especially in the more northern states), Carlson Fish Oil, Carlson B 50 Gel vitamin B complex and Carlson Liquid Multiple Minerals. (If you want to know dosages we are taking please email me)
All of these things together can greatly help the body deal with high blood sugar/weight loss/ cholesterol issues even more than diet alone. But without the diet modifications, these supplements alone will not give you the same result. There is no short cuts, sorry!
I feel it is important for readers to understand why David and my weight loss results maybe faster/greater than your own on low carb alone (also known as Your Mileage May Vary or YMMV), so that you do not get discouraged. It may just take longer if you do not follow The List, have the medications we have and/or the supplements we are taking. That isn't to say the you won't lose weight by doing low carb way of eating (WOE). There is plenty of evidence to prove you can! It maybe slower is all. Don't give up!
I would encourage everyone to get the tests I mentioned above and also a thyroid panel (not just a TSH). Even if you had normal test results a year or more ago, re-test, especially if you have low thyroid symptoms. Be persistent. Even if you come back borderline on your tests (most labs still use an outdated too high "normal" range) ask your doctor to allow a trial phase of thyroid replacement to see if it helps you feel better. If you can at all, stay clear of Synthroid. Better drugs are Cytomel or Armour. Remember, your doctor works FOR YOU. And, if your cholesterol comes back in a range the doctor wants to use Statin drugs for, ask for a 6 month trial of improved diet (and exercise also helps as well as weight loss, which will happen with a low carb diet anyway). High blood pressure also responds well to low carb. If you are on high BP medication you will probably find your BP getting too low after a time and have to stop taking those meds. Nice, eh?
Be encouraged! Carry on the low carb WOE! Bacon is your friend!
New question: How has the "diet" worked with high colesterol (sp)? My hubby is afraid to go to doctor because he fears his will be through the roof!