The FastDay Forum

Hello, I'm so glad this forum still exists as I will appreciate the tips and support having been shocked into deciding to get my weight back under control. The NHS check I went to today revealed what I half-expected but didn't want to admit....my cholesterol was said to be 7.3. I've steadily put my lost weight back on and more besides. I am feeling sluggish, bloated, old, generally a bit fed up and am sleeping pretty badly. My clothes are tight and I try to wear elasticated waists as much as possible so that I feel comfortable as I sit tucking into my chocolate/crisps/cakes, lying on the settee. I want to say thank you all for being on this forum because although I don't relish the idea of trying not to eat so much rubbish, I feel pretty confident that if my brain can focus on the 5:2 WOE again and eschew the sweet and fatty foods I crave, that within a week from now I shall have two fasts under my belt (elasticated or not) and shall feel that I'm in control of my own body again. Here's hoping.....

All is not lost. There are more useful numbers to know know than total cholesterol which isn't considered to be as important as it was in the past. A few informative articles here:

the-5-2-lab-f10/progress-cvd-ldl-particle-size-and-insulin-resistance-t12663.html

The quickest way to get back to good cholesterol panel numbers, is fasting; more particularly reducing carbohydrates to reduce triglyceride count.

Thanks. I felt quite upset after my appointment and almost as if I was suddenly in danger of .....well..serious illness I suppose. Stupid of me I know. I will ask the surgery for the breakdown of my results and then use the formula. Thanks again

Hello, I'm so glad this forum still exists as I will appreciate the tips and support ...

I find this forum immeasurably helpful! Whatever it was in the past (I'm a newbie), it is remarkable now. It keeps me gently accountable; just what I need. Hope to see you here a bunch.

About two weeks ago I watched this documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imJQinUiMcg
(There are two parts!)
It changed my view on cholesterol forever.

Welcome Pumpkin. Good luck with the fasts, make sure you take advantage of the support here and you can look forward to chucking those elasticicated waists in the bin

I recently had my cholesterol checked for the first time ever - and all the numbers, good & bad, were close to double where they are 'supposed' so be ... but as the single cholesterol number you're given is calculated from a set of other numbers, my overall was 5.1, only just above range. My doctor & other people have asked what I'm eating / doing to have such high 'good' cholesterol & the possible 'causes' appear to be: regular exercise which honestly does push my (very pathetic!) boundaries; 5:2 - I've lost around 1.5 stone & had at least one fastday a week, often two, for 16 months; I very rarely eat bread, biscuits or cake (except when anyone at the office has a birthday). Or maybe I'm just lucky.

I'm horrified by what I've learned about the side effects & waste of money on statins. I'm taking plant sterols, EPA oil & vitamins to see if they bring down my stratospheric 'bad' cholesterol numbers. I'm avoiding statins - there appears to be no evidence at all that they can benefit women!

Anyone tried daily plant sterol yogurt drinks to drop cholesterol? I bought some Benecol fruity ones today as I've got a follow up blood test in June after getting 7.4 recently and wanted something to help.

Does anyone know, is high cholesterol a CAUSE of heart disease, or an INDICATOR of likelihood to develop heart disease?

Anyone tried daily plant sterol yogurt drinks to drop cholesterol? I bought some Benecol fruity ones today as I've got a follow up blood test in June after getting 7.4 recently and wanted something to help.

Seriously, the fastest way to improve cholesterol numbers at zero financial cost is to drop carbohydrate consumption as far as possible. It's the closest thing there is to a safe and 'instant' cure. (Of course, diabetics need to be extremely careful here and work very closely with an understanding doctor.)

It works because the resulting reduction in available glucose/glycogen levels tells the bodies cells that they must re-learn how to burn fat. The sugars from digested carbohydrates turns up our insulin dial. High insulin levels tells the body to store those sugars into fat cells. Low insulin allows fat to be released and be used as the lean-times energy resource it was always meant to be.

In the daisy chain of cause and effect:

Controlling carb intake, controls insulin by dropping available blood sugars, which forces the body to scour the blood of triglycerides (blood fat), which in turn reduces cholesterol levels telling the body to release even more fat from storage to balance the energy deficit. We control only the first step, everything else is on autopilot.

The tip of a whip makes all the noise and gets the attention. Like magicians, supplement providers make their living by have you focus on the intensity of the noise with an eager media happy to add to their illusion. But notice "behind the curtain" that the slightest movement of the handle controls it all.

Be whipped or grab the handle.

:?:
Does anyone know, is high cholesterol a CAUSE of heart disease, or an INDICATOR of likelihood to develop heart disease?

Where do you want to start and how deep do you want to go? How about this for a warm up article:

http://watchfit.com/diet/top-cholesterol-myths/

Unfortunately the author's references aren't listed but there is contact information so all is not lost.

I've also more information recently gleaned from the book The Obesity Code by Jason Fung on page 203. The shortest summarizing sentence from it is this: "Heart attacks and strokes are predominately inflamatory diseases rather than simply diseases of high cholesterol levels."

More?

[carorees]

High total cholesterol is linked with living longer in many studies. The link between cholesterol and disease is not nearly as strong as has been made out. As ADFnFuel says, cholesterol is not just a simple case of high = bad, low = good. There are many nuances to do with density of the particles, whether they have been glycated by high blood glucose (i.e., had bits of glucose attached to the cholesterol molecules), what your triglyceride levels are and also your genetic heritage. Knowing your cholesterol numbers doesn't tell you much at all I'm afraid.

I heard somewhere that coconut oil can raise cholesterol. I consume quite a bit of coconut oil and milk. My completely unsupported, intuitive response is that high cholesterol brought on by Cheetos might be more damaging that the same # brought on by eating unsweetened coconut products.
I really appreciate the links. I will do more reading. I'm eating around 50/25/25% fat/protein/carb and a substantial portion of the fat is from cooking with coconut oil and putting a big dollop of coconut milk/cream in my tea. Yummy! I would hate to give that up.

[carorees]

I heard somewhere that coconut oil can raise cholesterol. I consume quite a bit of coconut oil and milk. My completely unsupported, intuitive response is that high cholesterol brought on by Cheetos might be more damaging that the same # brought on by eating unsweetened coconut products.
I really appreciate the links. I will do more reading. I'm eating around 50/25/25% fat/protein/carb and a substantial portion of the fat is from cooking with coconut oil and putting a big dollop of coconut milk/cream in my tea. Yummy! I would hate to give that up.

High cholesterol brought on by cheetos would likely be the damaging kind of cholesterol (small dense LDL particles), whereas high cholesterol brought on by coconut oil would likely be the beneficial kind (light, fluffy LDL + higher HDL) so simply talking about "cholesterol" without specifying exactly what type and density of particles doesn't tell you anything about risk.

I heard somewhere that coconut oil can raise cholesterol. ...

Interesting question. My own numbers show some increase last year compared to the previous, but the important ratios implying CVD-risk (LDL particle size) are even lower with that increase, with both numbers remaining deep into the ideal range. I recognize that this ratio as a "hammer that makes everything else look like a nail" is incomplete and that other interrelated factors are important considerations.

So the question then becomes which factors and ranges of blood panel numbers are most important and how might they apply to our individual situations?

I did find one link here:

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/bulletproof-coffee

with a long article that details an instance of high cholesterol numbers that dropped when coconut oil was removed from the diet. In that case the CVD risk ratio got worse (applying the above hammer). Even so, both ratios remained well into the ideal range.

So further investigating of the other blood numbers from that article is in order and a @carorees-consult/reply would interesting. What I've found so far is that other blood values from the article were considered medically high and therefore a concern. For the values that are considered high (and potentially bad) what are those concerns and how do they matter? The article doesn't say.