So I followed a fairly strict low carb diet (LCHF/Paleo) to lose weight... and I saw my Dr. before I started and my lab work was OK... although, my BP was starting to creep up, but nothing to really be concerned with... so basically, I was overweight and possibly heading towards metabolic syndrome... time to do something about it.... Anyway... I lost weight and have become a lot more active on top of the running I was already doing...
Well the good news is that my BP is great and I have the resting heart rate of a marathon runner... BUT now I have some serious lipid abnormalities that even have me concerned...
So of course my Dr. who is not only a colleague of mine, but also a close personal friend told me to stop the diet... He actually wanted me to start on a statin... Which is funny, because I write prescriptions for them all the time and I would have in this case too if I were him.... But I told him I really wanted to change my diet and see if things went back to normal...
So now I've got to figure out what to do about my diet.... after I feel I already found something that was working, at least as far as losing weight goes... but apparently not from a CV risk profile standpoint is concerned...
So basically, I guess I'm just kind of "bummed out" about the whole thing and not really sure what I'm going to do about it...
That's it.... sorry for the long story....
Last edited by TripSwitch; 05-22-2013 at 06:12 PM.
Trip, sorry to hear about the unnerving numbers. Especially since you've been so successful with the way you've been eating, scale and energy-wise! Before you change anything ... is there any chance that there could have been an error with the bloodwork? I only ask because once I did get someone else's results; I only noticed it because my HDL consistently tends to run very high, and this one was closer to average. I also had a laughably inaccurate result from one of the finger-prick type cholesterol tests - a machine very much out of calibration!
The only thing I have to say is that maybe you should read "The Great Cholesterol Myth" by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D, CNS, and Stephen Sinatra, MD, FACC or "The Great Cholesterol Con" by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick. They are great resources. We no longer worry about those lab numbers, except those measuring inflammation. And, we watch out for sugars and processed foods.
I was going to suggest weight watchers for a diet change but changing your diet might not be unnecessary if the results are questionable. I would see about retesting and if that isn't an option, I would go on a different diet program just incase.
How long have you been low carbing? I've heard of cases where blood profiles were initially made worse by low carb but after 9-12 months things returned to normal.
Actually it's funny you should mention that... because I have definitely seen lab results that have been completely wrong over the years in my career... I can't tell you how many times I've had to re-order labs on a pt. because of lab "issues" ... So I actually, did re-order them and double-checked everything... and unfortunately, the numbers were not good...
How long have you been low carbing? I've heard of cases where blood profiles were initially made worse by low carb but after 9-12 months things returned to normal.
Actually.... this was exactly what I was hoping for... since I have heard this as well, and that's why I wasn't overly concerned about it when my numbers were going in the wrong direction last year.... But from the doctors I've talked to the consensus seems to be that things should have returned to baseline by now... and that it's the amount of fat in my diet among other things unfortunately...
It's funny but it looks like I might be one of those people that does OK with more carbs... especially, from an endurance training standpoint...
Last edited by TripSwitch; 05-22-2013 at 02:27 PM.
What exactly changed? I am curious because I lowered carbs now for about a week back to under 50g. I have the skin itch back and am developing Xanthelasmas. I had the same thing happen to me when I started low carbing. Indicates my liver is having some problems and I am accumulating cholesterol deposits. I am now thinking about doing labs.
The only thing I have to say is that maybe you should read "The Great Cholesterol Myth" by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D, CNS, and Stephen Sinatra, MD, FACC or "The Great Cholesterol Con" by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick. They are great resources. We no longer worry about those lab numbers, except those measuring inflammation. And, we watch out for sugars and processed foods.
You're doing a great job with your weight loss!
I've actually read those books.... and I won't go into a critique... But unfortunately, complete analysis of the numbers would even have them concerned...
Last edited by TripSwitch; 05-22-2013 at 03:26 PM.
Sorry about your lab results. Hope you can figure out a plan that works for your weight loss and those numbers. If you don't mind sharing, how low in carbs were you going and how high in fat? Thanks.
Sorry about your lab results. Hope you can figure out a plan that works for your weight loss and those numbers. If you don't mind sharing, how low in carbs were you going and how high in fat? Thanks.
I was following a plan that had its basis from "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performence".... So 60g or less or carbohydrate a day.... usually in the 30g to 50g range.... along with serum ketone testing to stay within range for a nutritional ketosis plan...
How much fat is optimal to eat on a low carb diet?
I'm sure we'll get A LOT of differing opinions on this one... Since you have diets like IP and Medifast that are low carb and low fat... But they are also very low calorie... And then you have low carb, moderate protein, and higher fat plans that aren't so calorie restricted...
But basically, if you're lowering your carbs and meeting your protein needs... Well then the rest of what you're eating is fat... So depending on your energy needs that can be a pretty high % of fat as part of total calories...
Last edited by TripSwitch; 05-22-2013 at 04:22 PM.
What's bad? Which panels, specifically, and what were the values? The standard cholesterol recommendations are completely wonky and quite useless, especially for low carb and Paleo folks.
Peter had a great little post about this recently, and it's also a topic Mercola has a good article or three about. But basically cholesterol recommendations are extremely low for what a healthy person on a whole foods diet WITHOUT statins can generally attain. My husband, for example, has much lower cholesterol than me. But his HDL is extremely low, his triglycerides are very high, and his diet is complete crud. A diet low in saturated fat and high in sugar can actually produce better numbers by the standard recommendations than one that is far more healthful in the components but completely out of line with ADA recommendations.
My cholesterol is 'dangerously' high by the standard ratios, but the actual values, themselves, are in the IDEAL range if you disregard total cholesterol. I have very high HDL and extremely low trigs, along with an LDL profile that is very healthful, too. But at first glance the numbers are way off the normal recommendations (because they're based on a faulty premise of what actually comprises healthful serum cholesterol numbers, let alone what those numbers mean in reality).
And for the record, with that heart stoppingly high total cholesterol I displayed, I also had blood pressures in the 110/65 range, an A1C of 4.7%, and a diet with dark chocolate and the occasional diet coke as the most processed things I ate on a daily basis. I looked pretty flawlessly healthy by every metric but cholesterol, and yet despite the 'risky' cholesterol readings I had NO symptoms of systemic inflammation or arterial blockages, low liver function, taxed kidneys, etc.
Kind of makes one skeptical about the value of the litmus, eh?
Bad Lab Results
