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my employer does CV screening; BP, BG and cholesterol. i take part every year and my numbers are alway excellent on the CW scale.

today, i was screened before my first meal of the day; about 14 hours fasted and

  • BP 99/62
  • Glucose 6.1mmol/L
  • Total Cholesterol 6.43mmol/L

the nurse nearly called an ambulance when i explained how my diet had changed in the past 6 months. she inferred that even if my "good cholesterol" was high, my number can't be considered normal or good. i am seeing a naturopathic doctor next week, but i am a worrier. do i need to be concerned without knowing the breakdown?

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I am starting the appreciate the benefits of both so called "good" and "bad" cholesterol the more I read about it. If you have a moment, the latest Jimmy Moore podcast has as its first interview Stephanie Seneff who believes many of our health woes are due to a "cholesterol deficiency." I don't have specific notes on this show, but if I pull some together I will post as an asnwer. For the time being, here's the link: thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/4805/… – none Oct 12 2011 at 18:31
i will take a boo- thank you – sage_ Oct 12 2011 at 18:39

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TC of 249 is right about perfect. As (almost) always, the nurse is misguided.

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thank you :) :) :) – sage_ Oct 12 2011 at 18:38
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I just had my labs done for this quarter. Summer is when i go carb crazy. My TC was 319. My HDL was 89 and my LDL was close to 240..... My hs crp was .001. And calcium index score zero. The remainder of my labs were great outside of my pregnenolone and testosterone. But this is a seasonal issue for me when i eat a ton of carbs they always fall. dHEA however stayed high this time.....at 405. No wonder i sleep like a rockstar. This has been the case for six yrs now. The constant testing taught me what to expect. The only change I make going into the winter is I up protein and fat decrease fruit and dairy and increase weight lifting in cold temps. Vitamin D was 96. Igf was 299. TSH 1.31. T3 3.5 and reverse T3 20. Ferritin and the rest of iron testing awesome. Osteocalcin perfect. Metametrix on gut, neurotransmitters solid. Nothing wrong with urine.

vo2 max up 1% due to some training gains. In six weeks i will redo some aspects of the testing to see how the dietary changes effect me and compare to previous blood draws.

My lipids dont scare anyone unless they are clueless.

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Rockstars don't sleep my luv ;) thank you for sharing! – sage_ Oct 13 2011 at 3:18
Good going, Quilt. Just how low was your Trig, as your TC of 319 doesn't make sense; your Trig would have to be negative, unless your LDL was directly measured (VAP)? But I'm curious about your Trig number given your much vaunted low-carb ways. Also, if VAP, what was your Lp(a)? If not, how was your fibrinogen? I'm assuming Igf is IGF1. If so, isn't that rather high at 299? Did you get your IL-6 checked or was that not necessary as your CRP is low and CAC nonexistent? – Namby Pamby Oct 13 2011 at 3:40
Hello Dr K, are those T3 and reverse T3 numbers in the same units? So you'd have a rT3/T3 ratio of 5.7 -- do you consider this a good ratio? – garymar Oct 13 2011 at 6:15
They were not same units. I had to convert them – The Quilt Oct 13 2011 at 12:27
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In the summer i eat much higher carb. Close to 250 gms a day. I think this is why tg are higher than last time and when sun light goes down i cut carbs. Its a six year circadian dance i do with my liver – The Quilt Oct 13 2011 at 12:31
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Many people in the healthcare field are starting to promote higher ranges of total cholesterol as ideal - like around 250-270. I believe Ron Rosedale, Ray Peat and Stephanie Seneff are all on the same page about this. While I am not qualified to address whether your numbers look good or not, I am in favor of promoting my new found appreciation for cholesterol - both the so called "good" and "bad" kinds.

Here are some notes I took from Stephanie Seneff's interview on Jimmy Moore's podcast. She has looked at the damage done by statin drugs which lower cholesterol. She postulates that it is this lowering of cholesterol that causes many varied health problems.

"CHOLESTEROL DEFICIENCY IS THE #1 PROBLEM IN AMERICA TODAY. She says the foods that are richest in cholesterol are the very ones we need to be eating more of. She is a huge proponent of a low carb, high cholesterol/fat diet.
Eggs, shellfish organs are all very good sources of cholesterol. She makes a distinction that it's not just fat that is good, it's the cholesterol as well. She says that her research has led her to believe that cholesterol is the reason why the traditional people in Weston Price's book were so healthy. The statin industry is to blame for our belief that cholesterol is damaging.

She says that statins are involved in causing Alzheimer's, heart failure, kidney failure and sepsis. These conditions are found in people who have very low LDL. People with high LDL do much better in recovering from these conditions. Low LDL is not necessarily beneficial. SHe does not think ANYONE should EVER take a statin. She collected data on statin drug reviews compared to other drugs and they looked at word frequencies to uncover correlations. As a result she correlates ALS, parkinson's, mobility problems, heart failure, memory problems and muscle problems with statins.

And from her blog

"To optimize the quality of your life, increase your life expectancy, and avoid heart disease, my advice is simple: spend significant time outdoors; eat healthy, cholesterol-enriched, animal-based foods like eggs, liver, and oysters; eat fermented foods like yogurt and sour cream; eat foods rich in sulfur like onions and garlic. And finally, say "no, thank-you" to your doctor when he recommends statin therapy.

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Thanks, Meredith. I need to add these remarks to my collection. I think it is just hard to shake off 30 years of indoctrination even when I thought I had become convinced of the fallacy of the lipid hypothesis all the back to Gary Taubes article in the NYTimes a decade ago. My husband has come on board just the last 6 months and I have been preparing him for his test results. He is actually handling it better than I. I will admit I am concerned about the hypothyroid and whether there is a cause/effect here. – nancy64 Oct 12 2011 at 21:01
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Cholesterol is protective. Anything to bring it down when body needs it is bad thing. If its very high, that probably means there is some form of stress in the body and you shouldn't bring it down, but resolve what causes its level to go up. – majkinetor Oct 13 2011 at 7:16
Correct maj.... – The Quilt Oct 13 2011 at 12:27
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Glucose is little big tho... that is considered hyperglicemic now. Did you eat anything sweet the night before ? If not, repeat the test.

Other then that, whats HDL/LDL ?

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It's somewhat common to reach that BG level after a short period of low carb. – Travis Culp Oct 12 2011 at 19:00
its not short - 6 mo – majkinetor Oct 12 2011 at 19:54
i had four dates with my evening meal of bone broth with brocolli – sage_ Oct 12 2011 at 22:27
Travis, I know it might be common, but I are we sure its harmless ? – majkinetor Oct 13 2011 at 7:13
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Wow! This is happening to so many people all over the paleo blogs the last few weeks. It seems we are now getting our regular lipid profile done at work and are having to justify those numbers. I got mine last week. My HDL has stayed at 71 or so for many years, and my glucose stays close to 92. However my LDL shot up to 164 when it has always been below 100 My husband's numbers have gone up too. The doctor's primary concern though, for now, is my high TSH (8.08). It has run for years at the top of normal, but this is a huge jump. I had the Thyroid Panel run this week as well as checking for Hashimoto's. By the way, my ratios look great on the cholesterol, trigs, etc. So I can stave off the hysteria over the LDL after I look at the thyroid. Interesting article on this phenomenon at Perfect Health Diet (low carb, high LDL, hypothyroid). I was ready to stand my ground defending fluffy particle A's, but it does seem that our tests are "different" now doesn't it? By the way I am a 64 yr. old woman who has lost 40 lbs. on paleo and feels great!

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keep us posted! – sage_ Oct 12 2011 at 22:29
Nancy, I don't know if you have heard of Ray Peat, but he is big on thyroid and considers cholesterol to be a protective substance. This is what he says about thyroid in relation to cholesterol "Ray says if thyroid and Vitamin A are adequate then cholesterol is adequately turned into the steroid hormones. When the thyroid is removed the cholesterol goes up, it is a mirror image of thyroid function. If you have a very high (500) total cholesterol, just taking thyroid will bring it back down to a "normal" level." So your thyroid issue may relate to elevated cholesterol perhaps? – none Oct 12 2011 at 22:31
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BP of 99/62 is good, if a bit low for the diastolic.

Fasting BG of 110 is not good when you've been Paleoing for 6 months. However, it could be due to a liver dump or something you ate the night or afternoon before. Measure your fasting BG for a week or 2, then use the average as your representative BG. If it's still 110, then you're becoming insulin resistant, if not already. Better yet, compare that to your HbA1c.

Your Total Cholesterol of 249 may or may not be good: it depends entire on the components and what's revealed in a follow-up VAP test. TC is a meaningless number that can only be interpreted when looking at the components, along with other inflammation measures and metabolic markers.

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its actually gone up since i changed from SAD. and i went to the screening from a Zumba class the ended 45 minutes before the screening. – sage_ Oct 12 2011 at 22:31
Exercise would skew a lot of the numbers. – Travis Culp Oct 12 2011 at 22:49
Sage, by FBG, it's meant morning BG, the measureof your BG the first thing in the morning after your wake up, having fasted for the duration of your sleep. For most people, exercising would LOWER, not UP your BG. The measuer of your BG control and overall metabolic control is A1C, as it seems it would require much discipline to measure an accurate BG reading. Again, don't pin everything on a single day's reading, as it could be affected by what you ate the day before, especially if you imbibe much fructose or high glycemic carbs. – Namby Pamby Oct 13 2011 at 3:19
The same also goes for the BP reading. Quoting Quilt, without much context and some history, these measures are meaningless numbers that are more likely to lead you astray than elucidate. – Namby Pamby Oct 13 2011 at 3:23
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That's why clinicians like Quilt, Dr. Parker, Grace, et al are indispensable. – Namby Pamby Oct 13 2011 at 3:25
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