Hey Y’all.
I’m on day 2 of carnivore diet…on house arrest 
Can someone take a look at my Bloodwork?
My ldl is high…so is my triglycerides.
I don’t wanna quit this diet I just started.
Need to mean up before I get big again.
Please tell me if I’m heading for a heart attack with these numbers…
Welcome to the forums!
Firstly, I took the liberty of censoring your test report. You probably don’t want your personal information and health number floating around teh Interwebz!
Now, as far as your lipid numbers are concerned, your triglycerides could be lower and your HDL higher, that is true. (In the units used in this report, you want the ratio to be 0.9 or less, in order to have a minimal cardiovascular risk.)
But one thing I notice is that the report says you fasted only three hours before the blood draw, so your numbers are going to be skewed. What you want are true fasting numbers, resulting from a fast of 10 to 12 hours before the blood is drawn. If you want a true baseline, you might want to repeat the test. Then, once you’ve been eating carnivore for six months to a year, your lipid numbers at that point will provide a meaningful comparison.
On a low-carb/ketogenic diet or a carnivore diet, you can expect your triglycerides to come down. If you avoid the industrial seed oils (and there are a number of reasons to do so), and get most of your fat intake in the form of saturated and monounsaturated fats (both from your meat and from cooking with butter/ghee, bacon grease, tallow, and lard), you can expect your HDL level to improve. Total LDL is really irrelevant from the point of view of cardiovascular risk.
A good source of information is www.cholesterolcode.com, a site maintained by the citizen scientist Dave Feldman, who has done a lot of research into cholesterol, both synthesising existing data, and doing studies to come up with new data.
Hi Paul,
First of All, thank You!! Yes, I shouldn’t have put my info out there. Oops!
I appreciate your knowlegable response as well!
Secondly, I never even fasted! I guess I should? My doctor didn’t even tell me too.
I am going to repeat the bloodwork fasted and go from there.
If the numbers come back same…should I bother doing the diet?
Hey @Patrick_Park, welcome to the forum! And welcome to carni-land.
So, day 2 of eating carnivore? What were you eating prior? And what are you eating and planning to eat on carnivore?
I’ve been eating carnivore for 8 months. My triglycerides have come down significantly and are now in the normal range, and my HDL has increased to now be in the normal range. How people respond to the foods we eat, and how quickly, seems very individual but, like Paul said, give this way of eating a good 6 months before getting bloods done again. Tho you may want to get them repeated with more hours fasted to get a more accurate baseline.
What shape are you currently in, weight-wise? (and age and height?) And what are your reasons for choosing carnivore as a way of eating? Any health issues you’re hoping to address by eating this way? Please excuse the questions, it just helps to have a fuller picture of where you are at, so responses can be more helpful.
This forum can be a great place to keep connected to so post away. Ask as many questions as you want to.
If you get retested after fasting, the numbers may actually look better. But we’ll see.
And definitely going carnivore will help. You should see a significant improvement in your lipid panel, and many other markers, as well.
Lastly, carnivore can be difficult, when going straight from the standard North American diet. If that is the case for you, you can do a ketogenic diet (basically with carbohydrate, but < 20 g/day), adapt to that, and then move on to carnivore. It’s up to you. Either way, your metabolism will grow healthier, that’s practically guaranteed.
