Foods With Hdl Cholesterol
Jan0
Translation: following the advice of the American Heart Association is hazardous to your health.
Eating cholesterol reduces small LDL
The amount of cholesterol in the diet is only weakly correlated with blood cholesterol levels. A recent review of the scientific literature published in Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care clearly indicates that egg consumption has no discernible impact on blood cholesterol levels in 70% of the population. In the other 30% of the population (termed “hyperresponders”), eggs do increase both circulating LDL and HDL cholesterol.
Why is this? Cholesterol is such an important substance that its production is tightly regulated by the body. When you eat more, the body produces less, and vice versa. This is why the amount of cholesterol you eat has little – if any – impact on the cholesterol levels in your blood.
Eating cholesterol is not only harmless, it’s beneficial. In fact, one of the best ways to lower small, dense LDL is to eat eggs every day! Yes, you read that correctly. University of Connecticut researchers recently found that people who ate three whole eggs a day for 12 weeks dropped their small-LDL levels by an average of 18 percent.
If you’re confused right now I certainly don’t blame you.
Let’s review what we’ve been told for more than 50 years:
- Eating saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet raises “bad” cholesterol in the blood and increases the risk of heart disease.
- Reducing intake or saturated fat and cholesterol protects us against heart disease.
Now, let’s examine what credible scientific research published in major peer-reviewed journals in the last decade tells us:
- Eating saturated fat and cholesterol reduces the type of cholesterol associated with heart disease.
- Replacing saturated fat and cholesterol with carbohydrates lowers “good” (HDL) cholesterol, raises triglyceride levels, and increases our risk of heart disease.
Dr. Krauss, the author of one of the studies I mentioned above, recently said in an interview published in Men’s Health, “Everybody I know in the field — everybody — recognized that a simple low-fat message was a mistake.”
In other words, the advice we’ve been given by medical “authorities” over the past half century on how to prevent heart disease is actually causing it.
I don’t know about you, but that makes me very angry. Heart disease is the #1 cause of death in the US. Almost 4 in 10 people who die each year die of heart disease. It directly affects over 80 million Americans each year, and indirectly affects millions more.
We spend almost half a trillion dollars treating heart disease each year. To put this in perspective, the United Nations has estimated that ending world hunger would cost just $195 billion.
Yet in spite of all this money spent, the best medical authorities can do is tell us the exact opposite of what we should be doing? And they continue to give us the wrong information even though researchers have known that it’s wrong for at least the past fifteen years?
Really?
Sometimes it seems like everything is backwards.
How to reduce small LDL
Eating fewer carbs is perhaps the best place to start. Reducing carbs has several cardio-protective effects. It reduces levels of small, dense LDL, reduces triglycerides, and increases HDL levels. A triple whammy.
Exercise and losing weight also reduce small, dense LDL. In fact, weight loss has been shown to reverse the evil Pattern B all by itself.
As we saw above, eating three eggs a day can reduce our small LDL by almost 20%. Interestingly, alcohol has also been shown to reduce small LDL by 20%.
In other words, if you want to reduce your risk of heart disease, do the opposite of the American Heart Association (and probably your doctor) tells you to do. Eat butter. Eat eggs. Eat traditional animal fats. Reduce your intake of carbs, vegetable oils and processed foods, and stay active and within a healthy weight range.
Testing your small LDL level
I’m not a fan of arbitrary testing. Our medical system is obsessed with testing. But where has testing has brought us with cholesterol and heart disease? Has it improved outcomes? On the contrary, we test for a number (total LDL) that tells us very little, and then medicate it downwards recklessly and expensively.
If you’re worried about your small LDL level, my advice would be to eat fewer carbohydrates, eat plenty of saturated fat and cholesterol (instead of vegetable oils), exercise, lose weight if you need to, and have a drink every now and then! Since this is the same advice I’d give you if you took a test that actually showed high levels of small LDL, I don’t see much value in doing the test.
However, if you need to see the test results to get motivated to make the changes I suggested above, by all means do the test. There are a few ways to go about it.
First, keep in mind that a regular cholesterol test at your doctor won’t tell you anything about your small LDL level. The standard tests measure your total cholesterol, LDL and HDL. But they don’t distinguish between the dangerous small LDL and benign or protective large LDL.
The fastest and cheapest, albeit most indirect, route is to test your blood sugar both before and then 60 minutes after a meal (this is called a “post-prandial” glucose test). The reason a post-prandial blood glucose test can be a rough indicator for small LDL is the same foods that trigger a rise in blood sugar also increase small LDL. Namely, carbohydrates.
Blood glucose monitors are readily available at places like Walgreens and cost about $10. You’ll also need lancets and test strips, which aren’t expensive either. If your post-prandial glucose is higher than 120 mg/dl, that may be suggestive of a higher than desired small LDL level. This test is not a perfect approximation of small LDL, but it’s the cheapest and and easiest way to get a sense of it.
If you want to get more specific, there are two tests I recommend for small LDL that use slightly different methodology:
- LDL-S3 GGE Test. Proteins from your blood are spread across a gel palette. As the molecules move from one end to the other, the gel becomes progressively denser. Large particles of LDL cholesterol can’t travel as far as the small, dense particles can, Dr. Ziajka says. After staining the gel, scientists determine the average size of your LDL cholesterol particles. Berkeley Heart Lab. About $15 with insurance.
- The VAP Test. Your sample is mixed into a solution designed to separate lipoproteins by density. Small, dense particles sink, and large, fluffy particles stay at the top. The liquid is stained and then analyzed to reveal 21 different lipoprotein subfractions, including dominant LDL size. The Vap Test. Direct cost is $40.
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- How to increase your risk of heart disease Dr. Steinberg's new recommendations for preventing heart disease are sure to have the opposite effect,...
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I am a 41 year old male teacher/basketball coach. For most of my adult life, I've eaten fast food often in season, fairly well for the other 8 months, started every day with pop tarts (argh!) and loved my pastas & starches.
My Mom has High LDL cholesterol around 190 and did not tolerate Lipitor at all. She is very healthy otherwise at age 65. My father died in car accident. All my aunts, uncles, grandparents on both sides have no heart disease and have (or had) long full lives.
At 1st physical ever 4 months ago:
Height: 6'
Weight: 180
Total Cholesterol:259
LDL (Calc)=163
HDL=38
Triglycerides 295
Vit D 25 hydroxy level=26
Nurse called on Oct 15 saying eat heart healthy, exercise, and come back in 3 months & you will likely be put on meds.
I'm fairly active, especially during my basketball season, so did not add regular exercise. I have moderate stress (I deal with teenagers!) and a touch of OCD once I set my mind to something. Here's what I came up with and stuck to for 100 days including thru Thanksgiving & Christmas meals (painful).
1) No red meat, no fried foods, no sauces, mayo, cheese, NO FAST FOOD, no white bread or regular pastas, no tortillas
2) lots of turkey breast, lean ground turkey (93%), chicken breast, salmon 2-3 times a month,
3) started fish oil & 1000 IU of D-3
4) ate small servings of rice(brown only) and 100% whole wheat bread 3 times per week
5) Avoiding my usual sugary snacks (cookies, donuts, 100 cal snacks, poptarts, ice cream) .. Replaced with unsalted peanuts, red fat triscuits with hommus, low fat granola bars, 1-2 fruits per day
6) cheerios or oatmeal for breakfast, along with a 1/2 serving of meal replacement drink Cinch(by shaklee) simply to add more protein (Cinch was about 4 times per week
RECHECKED Bloodwork 3 months later:
Weight 159 lbs ( everyone thinks I'm dying at this weight, but I feel pretty darn good),
Total Cholesterol:220
LDL (Calc)=153
HDL=46
Triglycerides 105
Vit D 25 hydroxy level=31
I was thrilled about my triglycerides & HDL on the move, but doc didn't blink an eye and handed me a 20mg Zocor script for the High LDL level. She said if that didn't work, we'd move to Crestor. I HATE the idea of taking a medicine for the rest of my life.
I requested an nmr lipoprofile, and had that blood taken today.. results to follow.
HELP!
1) Fairly certain of the response from here, but do I say NO to the statin, even a small dose of Zocor?
2) Would eliminating the grain (like rice, the wheat bread, and oatmeal) make a significant difference in my LDL (and more importantly the Lipoprotein numbers and size which I will soon find out)?
3) I DO NOT want to lose any more weight. What should I eat?
Sorry for the insanely long first post, but it does feel good to consolidate my thoughts at this point.