and his triglycerides are SKY HIGH. They couldn't read his Chol or LDL, but HDL was good. The doctor said he needed to decrease his carbs dramatically, and he has one month to see what a diet change does.

Since I'm not a nutritionist, I couldn't figure out how lowering carbs would lower a fat in his blood. But thanks to Dr. Google, now I know why! My one concern is that the Atkins followers do fantastic, but not so much on a "good carb" diet. Really, it looks like avoiding grains and most fruit (and high fat dairy). I'm really wondering if our favorite good carb veggies should be okay for him...especially beans!

Is there anyone on SBD that can rattle off bloodwork improvement on triglycerides while following this? Any tips? I'm sure there's stuff in the archives, but this is a great subject anyway. The lowering your carbs to lower your blood fats is an interesting concept to me.

I must admit, one part of me is quite happy....he's going to follow my diet now! WOO HOO! He has a habit of getting a milk shake weekly while going to the dairy, he gets sticky buns every friday (and a donut), he has no veggies before dinner, and one banana as his fruit (maybe an apple). I think it will make it easier when he's not having ice cream in front of me! Of course, I'm worried about his health too, heart disease is a strong force on his mom's side of the family. It's a bit of a wake up call for him, he's always been able to *mostly* eat what he wants without putting any/much weight on.

Any input from my lovely chick friends?

I can only speak for myself. I follow a moderate carb diet (120 g or less per day). I think it is comparible with Phase 3 of SBD. I have an occassionaly treat (slice of pizza). I stick mostly to healthy choices like brown rice,beans (refried beans, pinto beans, black eyed peas, chili)...Ocassionally, I will have an english muffin instead of biscuit or bagel. I do eat fruit such as apples, grapes,oranges. Like I said I think I am probably eating Phase 3 of SBD and it is working great for my health ( I also have PCOS)

I can't rattle off numbers but...In the past, the Dr put me on Lipitor but I changed my eating habits, started exercise and lost weight (still have some to go) and stopped taking it. Because my cholesterol and everything else was great,he didn't try to put me back on it. My triglycerides, LDL anf HDL were tested last month and were great. My overall cholesterol was 8 points over the recommended number but since I am still losing weight, my Dr isn't concerned. Diet and exercise will make a tremendous difference. Changing my lifestyle also took me out of being pre-diabetic. Best of luck!

I haven't done any research in a while but thought that triglycerides were impacted greatly by sugary stuff. Mine went down when I cut out "junk" food.

Hey TwynnB!

I think you might find this primer to cholesterol and heart disease helpful. Essentially, cholesterol is not as much of a concern when eating lower carb diets, because your body has less cellular inflammation. Triglycerides are a huge issue, but they are extremely responsive to removing carbs. Given the diet your husband is eating now, he should see a great response just cutting out sugar and grains.

"Good carbs" like legumes are a finer point of contention, but as long as he doesn't overdo them, I bet he will feel a lot better and see a great improvement in his numbers. You can always tweak later and cut out legumes if necessary.

Good on you for supporting your hubby, and I wish you both the best in your quest for health! :-)

Kirk and I both had pretty dramatic decreases in our triglycerides after I started SBD. He wasn't trying to make changes but simply started eating the meals/snacks which I prepared.

I'd imagine that getting rid of the "junk" will make a big difference in his numbers.

Thanks ladies, it's nice to read other stories. I'm not sure he's quite ready to go "gung-ho", but I just won't buy stuff anymore!