Oh dear! A little cry for help...

[sallyseachange]

Oh boy! Just when I was relaxing into maintenance and anticipating a delicious WOE for the rest of my life… a nasty little surprise: bloodwork.

About nine months before starting Atkins my bloodwork was good, apart from a very, very slightly raised cholesterol… nothing to worry about, according to the doctor, who didn’t suggest any diet changes or medications at the time. I can’t find those old results, more’s the pity, and doctors here in Italy don’t keep them. I don’t remember the exact figures of any of the cholesterol groups. Oh well…

After ten months on Atkins I thought it about time to have new bloodwork done, and was blithely convinced that my cholesterol levels would be way better. Got the new results yesterday.

Oh dear!

Well… in ways they are terrific, and in other ways just awful:



Total cholesterol: 270 (Shock! Horror! Never seen anyone on this board with a total that high.)

Trigs: 47 (Yay!)

HDL: 96 (Yay!!!!!)

LDL: 165 (Shock! Horror!)

Ratio: 2.8 (Yayy!!!!)



So… seems to me that the good is very good and the bad is pretty damn awful! But if I read Dr A correctly, the cardio risk is probably good. (I hope!)

Problem is…here in Italy no one has ever heard of Atkins, and the doctors are all firmly locked into the low fat mind bend. Can’t have the pasta industry collapsing, after all!! Tomorrow or Friday I’ll take these results to my doctor… and I anticipate a battle royal, as he’s bound to want to put me on meds to reduce the total and LDL. Groans.

Now, I’m in a quandary: I don’t want to take meds. I love Atkins because it allows me to eat things I adore: plenty of meat, veggies, eggs, cream, butter and cheese. Fish I eat (tuna) often for lunch, and other fish about twice a week, but am not really a huge fan of fish. I already cook almost exclusively with olive oil. I exercise 35 mins a day and walk the dogs (brisk up hill and down dale stuff) also 35 mins a day, making more than an hour a day (every day!). No time for more… as it is I get up at 5.30 to get that in.

I don’t mind tweaking my menu a little (emphasis on the a little)to exchange some sat fats for more healthy varieties, but I really don’t want to be scared and overly conscious of whatever I put in my mouth (apart from carbs). If I have to do without carbs and also too many of those delicious fats… I’ll be miserable.

Have to say that now, I’m a little scared. Today I didn’t have my usual two eggs for breakfast. Instead I had a measly half cup of cooked oats (11 carbs… and I only eat 40-45 a day!) and a quarter of avocado. It was miserable. Oat bran, according to my carb book is over 25 g carbs for a cup (cooked!)… and you need one cup a day, apparently to improve cholesterol. That would only leave me 15-20 carbs for the rest of the day…

Sorry to sound so whiney… but have to admit I’m very disappointed. My main fear is that if I have to make substantial changes to the way I eat, I’ll get discouraged and fall off the wagon for good.

Any thoughts or help would be enormously appreaciated!

I seem to remember Betty saying somewhere that she had some good links regarding the ‘cholesterol myth’. If you’re reading this Betty… I’d be very interested and really appreciate your passing them on.

Thanks pals

Sal

[2big4mysize]

okay first breath
Thoase are not too bad numbers you are lightly high on your LDL but there are now known at least 2 different types of LDL and only one is bad. You also have because you too have raised your HDL so much your ratio is very very good they hope you have a ratio between 3-5 with anything above 5 as bad and you are out the bottom end.

Try Flax seed as the fiber for lowering your cholesterol less carbs and many more omega3s the good for your cholesterol.

Any repeat any soluble fiber will asssit in lowering cholesterol as what it does is bind up the cholesterol and the bile satls in the intestine and shove it out the back end. This in turn causes the body to make more bile (which is made from LDL) and drops the LDL level lower.

Doctors are now discovering that C reactive proteins are actually a better indicator of heart health then cholesterol. As your doc to have that test run.

MY LDL was up too at my 6 month vheck up and I changed my sat fat level intake to lower amounts and increased my flax seed meal. I also upped my resistance exercise.

Also as females reach menepause LDL goes up and stays up are you getting close there

[sallyseachange]

Phew 2big! Many thanks for your words of wisdom. Much appreciated.

Re flax...yes, I eat a couple of flax crackers daily (about 1 tablespoon falxmeal). Will try to up this, but I know that when I double it, I get the runs! Will think about other fibres too, like wheat bran, perhaps.

And... yes, I'm slap bang in the middle of the menopause, with hot flashes and TOM appearing only once every few months... so that probably isn't helping at all, judging by what you say.

The C reactive protein test is a new one on me. Will try to translate it and run it by the doc.

Thanks again, so much, for the comfort!
Sal

[2big4mysize]

don't worry too much then you know it isn;'t Atkins it is Mother Nature.

You want souble fiber not wheat bran. you body can develope a tolerance for falx to with repeated use. peas have a good fiber. nuts like almonds and walnuts help too. Soy is supposed to be good for both the female and the LDL.

[sallyseachange]

Ok 2big...gotcha! Will go for the soluble fibres then. And peas...yum! Haven't had any in ages...so now I've got a good excuse!

Re soy... do you, or anyone else, know anything about soy lecithin? I've heard of people taking it for cholesterol issues....piqued my curiosity now. Tks...

Sal

[2big4mysize]

I am deadly allergic to soy so I avoid it like the plague. you have been eating it and didn't even know if if you have ever has something made by mixing a solid into a liquid as it is a very very good dispersal agent in food making. Halls cughdrops even contain it.

[sallyseachange]

Well... after all that concern, I got the thumbs up from the doctor yesterday. He wasn't concerned about the ldl, because of the ratio and the hdl, so phew!
Tks again 2big!
Sal

[2big4mysize]

see I told you you could breath good for your doc but do try to get more soluble fibers into your Atkins cause the less you got the less their is to make artery plaque.

Oh did you know the only way to rid your body of it is to excrete it as bile or shed it in the memebrane of the skin cells you shed each day.

[sallyseachange]

Yep! You're right! Doc also said to add some soy, but that I could otherwise carry on eating the way I have been, which is great. Was worried that if I had to make too many changes, I'd get disheartened and feel deprived, (something that on Atkins, by and large, I've not felt) and give up as a consequence. Anyway... have upped my flax, added soy, and will stick with some oatmeal for breakfast...giving those extra carbs a try, as I also had an unexpected whooshie after seven weeks maintenance! Seems the old CCLM's moved up a bit!

All's well that ends well! Thanks again!

Sal

[2big4mysize]

actually you want oat bran ( loweres LDL almost 40%) not oatmeal ( only lowers it 9%)

Bklack soy beans are a great low carb food if you like the taste if not there is lots of soy in those kasha go lean cereals.

Happy low carbing