6 month Carnivore Blood Test Results

(Jaimie Lancaster) #1

Back in August of 2018, Dr. Ken Berry had a “carnivore challenge.” I took it and am still taking it! I’ve been waiting to do my blood work to see the effects of this WOE. The scale shows that I’ve lost over 40lbs. I’ve gone from some pretty tight 48 inch waist pants to loose 42’s and my 40’s could be wearable but they are a little snug. My A1C has come down from 9.6 to 6.5, Insulin has dropped from around 26 uU/ml to 12!

I really haven’t told many people what I’m doing even though they are noticing. I really wanted to have some good numbers to back it up. So far so good. The only sticking point is that my triglycerides and all other markers are out of range except for LDL. Here are the results:

Cholesterol 228 mg/dl
HDL 36
VLDL 72
LDL 120
Cholesterol/HDL ratio 6.3
Triglycerides 360 mg/dl

Is this something that will work out over time or should I be doing something different? I’ve done very little exercise and wondered if increasing exercise would help with these levels from a fitness perspective rather than weight loss?

Carnivore has worked and is working well for me. I love the simplicity and the ability to not have cravings for starches or any type of carbs. People talk to me about “giving up bread, pasta, pizza” but I always tell them that I look at that pizza, then I look at my toes and decide I’d rather keep my feet than have a piece of pizza Thanks to all for sharing your experiences and knowledge with the rest of us.

(Chris) #2

Have you read this post by Dave Feldman? Could it potentially be relevant? Your other numbers look great.

(Jaimie Lancaster) #3

Thanks. I’ll take a look at it.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #4

I :heart: this! Pizza is temporary, toes are (hopefully) forever.

(Randy) #5

Were you 12 to 14 hours fasted for the blood tests?

Dave Feldman tested his and needed to get to 12 hours or his trigs were still high.

(Chris) #6

(see first comment, hopefully)

(Jaimie Lancaster) #7

Thanks for the info. I chuckled a bit from the line “If I’m metabolically healthy, I shouldn’t be waking up with triglycerides this high, right?” as I thought of the 2Keto Dudes talking about our “deranged metabolic system.” Mine is definitely deranged. I had fasted for a little more than 12 hours when I had the blood drawn. It got me thinking though. I looked at some numbers from November of 2017 where I had actually been fasting for 24 hours and then had my blood drawn. Triglycerides were 106. I had been fasting for 32 hours, broke the fast and had the test 12 hours later. I don’t know if that influenced it or not.

My main concern with these tests was actually lowering my A1C, next one I’ll try doing it with fasting less than 12 hours and then fasting for 24 or more.

(Chris) #8

Most likely. Read up some more on cholesterol code, I think there’s a few ways to approach eating and fasting before a lipid panel.

(James) #9

2018 study looking at 38,000 patient-High LDL protects against all cause mortality, infectious disease and has no bearing on heart disease.

(Chris) #10

That’s cool and all but does this study address OP’s specific concern regarding his triglyceride numbers?

(James) #11

OP’s concern was his TG and his other markers minus his LDL.
My response was simply suggesting to OP that maybe our concern with triglyceride and other cholesterol markers is outdated dogma leading back into the 1980s. I wouldn’t be comfortable with giving advice on whether or not this is “something that will work out over time or should he be doing something different”.

(Chris) #12

Fair enough. :slight_smile:

(Bob M) #13

He’s still insulin resistant, as his HDL is low. He needs some time to mend. If he cares about the results on these tests, get another test done in 6 months to a year.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #14

Interesting, I did not realize there was a connection. So higher HDL means less insulin resistance?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #15

I do know that it’s saturated fat that is supposed to improve your HDL level, and if I understood Dave Feldman correctly, our lipid numbers, especially the trigs, are a lot more volatile than is assumed.

@DaveKeto, @amber? Any thoughts?

(Jane) #16

I hadn’t heard that, either. It would be fantastic news for me since my recent HDL was 130.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #17

Just wow!!

(Jane) #18

I know, right? My total cholesterol shot up to 250-something but it was all HDL increase.