Doctors hating on Keto ugh!

(Erin ) #1

I had a doctor appointment yesterday and they went over my blood work from the beginning of January (well, this med student that came in before my doctor actually). She was saying oh you’re doing Keto? “Well your LDL is high”.
That was in January.
“If you started doing keto in December, this was a month later, if it was helping it would have been lowered.”
Actually it WASNT a month, plus I’m sure it takes longer than 3 weeks to see a change, PLUS who knows what it was BEFORE they did the blood work!? Maybe it was higher than that???

“Well what sort of fats are you eating? You can’t be eating bacon and cheese every day and that’s just a fact. I don’t get how people think this is healthy! It will never be and you need to change how you’re eating or it’ll continue to rise.” “You need to just eat paleo if you’re going that route”

I was so annoyed I just had to bite my tongue.

Can someone possibly give me some “things” to say back to these doctors when I get crap like this?? I even said “Well there are plenty of studies that show this way of life lowers cholesterol.” And she just looked at me and rolled her eyes.

Does this increase LDL??? Maybe mine was higher before right? Who knows if it changed since there’s nothing to compare it to? Idk what to say to these people when they come at me with their “there’s backed science this and that…I’m a medical professional this and that” blah blah blah.
:rage: annoyed.

(Mike W.) #2

What did your actual doctor say about your bloodwork?

(Straight outta ‘Straya’) #3

I had a doctor that was cautious but let me run with it.

My first blood panel after starting wasn’t great on colesterol but we kept on… about 6 months after my panels were awesome… like as in zero areas of concern awesome.

Just prove by doing.

(Nicole Silvia) #4

Honestly, I work in the medical field and keto isn’t cut and dry or proven enough. Don’t take it personally. If you’re doctor is a good doctor, they will be open and will be curious about it and curious to see what happens. But raised LDL scares most people, including myself. If in time, things level off, great. Don’t blame them for not being on board, and if it’s something that’s important to you, get a new Dr.

(Bob M) #5

You could show them this (Virta uses a ketogenic diet, 1 year results):

https://blog.virtahealth.com/with-sustained-type-2-diabetes-reversal-management-is-becoming-a-thing-of-the-past/

Or this:

There was also an article from them I can’t find, where the ONLY negative was a slight increase in LDL.

Personally, I think LDL is a completely useless quantity. Go get a coronary artery calcium (CAC) test. It’s the only thing that tells what’s happening.

(Erin ) #6

She didn’t say anything lol. I just heard her and the student doctor joking about something quietly about bacon and how horrible it is. Shrug

(Erin ) #7

Is this a test I can ask them to do with blood work when I go next? My next appt is in November so j want to redo my blood work to check levels.

(Erin ) #8

Should I lay off the cheese and bacon for a while? Or just continue what I’m doing and check in November? I definitely don’t want it getting higher than it is

(Bob M) #9

Hi Erin,

It’s done by a radiologist, and I guarantee your doctor will never have heard of it.

I would not be concerned about LDL one iota. It’s completely useless.

It’s also highly variable. This guy can get a massive swing in LDL in a few days:

I can achieve similar results by fasting (LDL goes way up if I fast 4.5 days and varies radically all the time).

If you want to do additional research, start here:

http://www.thefatemperor.com/blog

Unfortunately, none of this will convince your doctor. They are basically required to look at LDL.

(Erin ) #10

Ohhh ok. Well during that time I was doing the eat stop eat type of fasting. So it was every other day. Maybe I had gotten the test done after a 24 hour fast? That would increase the LDL?

I will read all of these articles later for sure!

I just don’t want to end up with heart problems later bc of something I could prevent

#11

Looking at several years of collected readings and being keto for 2 years, my HDL is up some and triglycerides are down some, LDL hasn’t really changed much at all. My doctor is keto friendly and isn’t worried that my LDL is out of range.

(Erin ) #12

Ok so I shouldn’t be worried? If there is a trend continuing up, what should I change?

(Erin ) #14

She also said that my 12lb weight loss was “water weight”
LOL
I haven’t gained one lb back even when I’ve fallen off the wagon for a bit and gotten back on

(Erin ) #15

I’ll type in my exact results:

Cholesterol 194mg/dL

Triglycerides 79mg

LDL 121mg

HGL 55mg

Cholesterol/HDL ratio 3.5 (says normal bc it’s under 5.0)

Non HDL Cholesterol 139mg/dL (this says its high bc it’s over 130)

(Erin ) #16

So since my ratio is ok, then it’s ok???

(Erin ) #17

Also says the normal cholesterol is less than 200 and mine is 194. Kinda close lol

#18

I know how tempting it is to defend what you’re doing. But it’s really a waste of time and energy on your part and the medical providers. It’s like arguing politics or religion.

Just get your results and get out of there as fast as you can. Better yet, unless you need them to do something, get your results over the phone. Even better, pick up a copy and save even more time and aggravation.

And as you get healthier you won’t need to go as often or at all anymore.

(Bob M) #19

Those look fine to me. Every study I know that has looked at women’s cholesterol indicates higher is better, at least towards old age.

Anyway, if you want to get “better” results, especially since your results aren’t bad, try this technique:

Eat low calorie, high fat (or fast) for three days, then stuff yourself with (healthy, animal) fat and lots of calories for 3 days and get a blood test on the morning of the fourth day (fasting for 12 hours). This will give you the best results you can get.

#20

Tell them to show you the science!
Nutrition is a guessing game.
Keto shows physical results and improves health.
If you want to show them the science, check out that section.
https://www.ketogenicforums.com/c/science

(Erin ) #23

Thanks!!!