My wife and I are six weeks into keto and she just had a physical. Her LDL went from 118 a year ago to 214 this week (overall went from 212 to 317). Her doctor is recommending eliminating red meat and focusing on veggies and lean protein. I’m guessing this is a common issue with keto? Is there something we are missing?
Wife’s Cholesterol
Six weeks into keto following how many years on SAD? Nothing changes overnight. Once fat adapted, triglycerides and cholesterol generally move into the normal range. If not then there was something happening long before you started eating keto. Here’s a good, general overview:
LDL by itself is nearly useless as an predictor for cardio vascular disease, contrary to what most cardiologists are taught and believe. The Framingham study, among several studies, directly contradicts the belief that high LDL is a problem. The older population in this study that had higher cholesterol levels actually had a greater life expectancy.
A better indicator of heart disease risk is triglycerides to HDL ratio.
TG/HDL-C ratio less than 2 is ideal
TG/HDL-C ratio above 4 is too high
TG/HDL-C ratio above 6 is much too high
https://www.docsopinion.com/2014/07/17/triglyceride-hdl-ratio/
ldl increases at first as it mobilizes fat and you have more fat to mobilize at first. once you get more into your body’s set weight, ldl will normalize.
Oh boy, we’ve still a long way to go. I bet we’re still teaching doctors that fat is bad for you. Just ignore the drs advice, and ignore the cholesterol test: it means nothing.
If you’re worried about CVD, get a CAC scan done. This measures CVD directly.
@Ketodrick Check out this new forum thread started by @CarlKeller which is very pertinent:
Six weeks into a keto diet is too soon for the numbers to turn around. Tell the doctor you want a re-test in six months.
I, myself, haven’t had a physical since starting keto three months ago, so I don’t have a full work up like my wife. But yesterday I went to the dentist and they take my BP. I was kind of expecting to have to explain my higher BP to my dentist. But my BP is down 10 points since my last visit six months ago. So that’s encouraging!
These things are wildly variable. Here are mine, started low carb 1/1/14. Yellow are after 4.5 days fasting. Rest are normal 12 hours.
2/29/16 is 12 hours fasting, 3/4/16 is 4.5 days fasting in the same week.
Note the differences in two weeks between 10/31/16 and 11/14/16.