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This is not so much a question as my wanting to share. ;)

Background; 45 y/o female, formerly morbidly obese. Low carb 3 1/2 years, Lacto Paleo 2 1/2 years. Current weight 174 (5'8") top weight 260+

For 2 1/2 years I have eaten ONLY meat, fat, eggs, cruciferous veg, hard cheese, butter, cream, some nuts (I do NOT eat starches, fruit, nightshades, chocolate, or new world veg at all. I DO ingest artificial sweeteners and distilled alcohol)

Lipid panel done this week:

Total cholesterol: 164

HDL: 96

Triglycerides: 34

LDL: 61

Fasting glucose was 84.

I'm pretty pleased considering my 40+ years gorging on the SAD. Any suggestions on how to get my triglyceride/HDL ratio even tighter?

For those of you who have been a few YEARS Paleo, how do your numbers look?

I can honestly say that I'm healthier than I've been in my life and I'm pretty stoked about it! :D Now all I have to do is shed 20 more lbs and get my knees pain worked out and I'll be set for 45 more years!

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i am not a Doctor, but 96/34 is pretty tight already! – MikeD Aug 25 2010 at 13:29
I don't have an answer or numbers to compare but I will say that I aspire to match your lipid panel numbers! – TexasPrimalSurfWahine -TPSW- Aug 25 2010 at 14:15
Nice! Congrats! Thanks for sharing. – JM May 6 2012 at 2:14

3 Answers

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Your numbers are consistent with those of adopters of low-carb diets, but at the very high end of the health-promoting spectrum. See, for example, this post on long-term adherence to Dr. Kwaśniewski’s Optimal Diet:

http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2010/04/long-term-adherence-to-dr-kwasniewskis.html

Based on your trigs, your LDL is most likely of the "right" kind. Low fasting triglycerides (anything below 70) are a marker for large-buoyant LDL particles:

http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2010/04/low-fasting-triglycerides-marker-for.html

I would be very surprised if any doctor told you that you have to do anything to improve your lipid profile. Even Dr. John L. O'Foub, whose middle name is "Lip".

The only thing to check is whether you have a family history of heart disease, as sometimes those who suffer from heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia have large-buoyant LDL. But even if that was the case, your high HDL would be the best defense weapon:

http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-should-be-my-hdl-cholesterol.html

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Beautiful answer, Ned, thank you! Thanks also for the links. So far as I know I have no history of heart disease. Both grandmothers died of breast cancer, both granddads died at 80+, dunno abt one (think it was an aneurysm) but the other it was lung cancer/emphysyma. Hopefully, since I eat no grains and no sugar and get mammograms every year, I won't fall victim to the breast cancer (crosses fingers)! – Blue -the Thrifty Mom Aug 25 2010 at 22:02
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I just got my lipid panel after about 2 1/2 years dairy-heavy, mostly-not-low-carb 'paleo'. Fairly similar numbers to you, and I am very pleased.

Total: 176 or somesuch - was 150s pre-paleo. HDL: 90 !!!! (was mid-70s pre-paleo). LDL: 74 (same as pre-paleo). Trigs: 55 (same as pre-paleo)

I didn't even know it was possible to only raise your HDL...

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I agree with Mike, but he's got his numbers backwards. It's 36/96, which works out to 0.375. Anything less than 2 is considered good. Your ratio is golden.

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i'm about 1 to 1 right now myself. I notice Paleo really drops Trigs to the floor. I've been looking over my previous years trig levels and they were in the 160's on a Pizza and Beer diet. – MikeD Aug 25 2010 at 14:33
@speno, thank you! I also had it backwards and thought my ratio was over 2! You have made me feel MUCH better! smooches! @MikeD, OMG, yes. that was my diet as well. UGH! – Blue -the Thrifty Mom Aug 25 2010 at 21:54

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