Originally Posted by
donheff
Interesting thread. Like Bobthbib, I am on a LCHF diet but I started out at a maintenance level ~50 grams carbs a day (probably never went into Ketosis) since I wasn't fighting significant overweight. Nevertheless I dropped 15 pounds (from 182 to 166 at 6'). My triglicerides dropped about 20 and my HDL went up about 20 -- they are now essentially 1:1. Overall cholesterol is still a little high so I may consider returning to a low dose of lipitor if the doc recommends it (I am not really worried about the cholesterol numbers but there is some evidence for anti-inflammatory benefits from 10mg of statins). I don't think what BtB is talking about is inconsistent with developing medical science.
Thanks for the affirmation.
I suspect you were indeed in ketosis. The plan I'm using (NOT atkins) starts at 50 gm carbs/day and I'm in ketosis after about 10 day. One sure sign is your breathing at a high heart rate. At 85% and higher HR on glucose, my a$$ would be sucking wind! In ketosis, you are breathing almost normally at 90% HR. The reason is fat metabolism requires only 70% of the O2 of glucose metabolism. So there is less oxydative stress on your body. And that's a good thing.
Regarding your overall cholesterol, Dr. Ronald Hoffman (WOR 710 in NY) would almost accuse a dr. of malpractice for proscribing a statin if your cholesterol was under 225, given what you have shared so far. Of course there are other factors to consider, and I aint no dr. However, from what I understand an important factor is the SIZE of your cholesterol particles, not just the LDL, HDL, and overall #.
In my case, my HDL was 70+, but LDL was over 100 AND the particles small. My cardiologist said my particles are like jelly beans (not good) instead of marshmallows (good) Also I had some level of inflammation.
I hope that on this diet all my numbers will come into line with out the need for meds. BP is already great, despite the need to use a lot of salt on this diet.
Do you take a baby aspirin daily? Ask you Dr if you should. It may help the inflammation and provide other benefits.
BTW, who is BtB?