I just had my first lipid test and my results are as follows:
Cholesterol: 284
Triglycerides 80
HDL 41
LDL 227
I have been on keto for 3-4 weeks.
My meals are as follows:
1/4 of a baby back rib
4 chicken wings
1 chicken leg quarter (or 4 scrambled eggs)
3 jalapeno poppers with cream cheese covered in bacon.
What is going on why is my cholesterol so high - I thought it was supposed to lower the LDL and raise the HDL but it did the exact opposite (I don’t have a pre keto lipid panel)
At 3-4 weeks in, your cholesterol is going to spike. Give it time. A simple forum search for “cholesterol” will bring up lots of posts about this very issue.
I’ve been keto for about 4 months. Having a lipid panel done today. I took myself off of a statin about 3 weeks ago so that may skew things. Super curious to know the results. I’ll have another one done toward the end of the year to see what’s going on. Provided my cholesterol is not 400 (some people really do have those numbers), I’m not going to worry too much about it.
It seems like something to really research if you’re worried.
Those numbers are not as important as whether or not your cholesterol is fluffy. They can do another test that will answer the fluffy question. If you’re fluffy, then the high numbers don’t matter. Besides they need to invent an algebra formula for cholesterol. My good cholesterol is super high and it throws me into bad numbers.
My first question is how do you know your numbers are doing the exact opposite from what you thought if you have no previous test results to compare it to? Maybe your HDL is higher than it was before and maybe your ldl is lower.
2nd is its been less than a month since you started keto. It is often suggested that you wait at least 6 months and sometimes up to a year after eating keto to get a cholesterol test as they can be wonky early on and during active fat loss.
Do a search in the forums on cholesterol and you will find a ton of info regarding cholesterol levels.
I was implying along the lines on how everyone says LDL will drop, and HDL will rise - which…first time getting a lipid test is what I thought would be…but I have the exact opposite.
I made an appointment to check back with my doctor in 6 months - I will in the mean time cut down the meat and include vegetables (looking at my diet I see alot of meat and very few vegetables - so I will try that out)
Nick - maybe research Page 4 Keto. I like the food list on a site called Keto by Casey. It’s not strictly Dr. Westman’s plan but gives you some ideas of veggies and a good balance, I think.
Firstly, your ratio of triglycerides to HDL is just under 2.0, which suggests very low risk for cardiovascular disease. If you had had a lipid panel done, I’d bet the NMR would show mostly Pattern A, which is the healthier pattern. Secondly, you’ve been keto for how long? Wait till the six-month mark and get retested. Then let’s see what your numbers look like.
Lastly, the whole cholesterol-causes-heart-disease hypothesis is backed by very little solid science. In fact, several large, well-funded studies, among them the Women’s Health Initiative, the Framingham study, and Keys’s own Minnesota Coronary study actually showed that higher LDL actually correlates with reduced risk of heart attack, especially in women, and especially in the elderly.
Add to that the fact that most of the people presenting in emergency rooms with their first heart attack have normal or even low cholesterol, and the fact that half of the people with the genetic condition called familial hypercholesterolemia never develop any sign of heart disease and die in old age of other causes—and one begins to wonder how cholesterol could possibly be the cause of cardiovascular disease. It is true that cholesterol is present in arterial plaque, but it appears to be part of the body’s healing response to damage. In fact, as Dr. Phinney likes to say, blaming heart disease on cholesterol is a whole lot like blaming fires on fire trucks.