jmb3450's Journal, 10 February 2016

First of all, your HDL improvement is amazing!!! Such a positive change to your overall health. Second, don't make me lecture you about the importance of maintaining those thyroid hormone levels. Go see that doc asap. There is a good possibility that it will help you get the losses you're pushing for. You're doing fantastic, the numbers prove it. Congratulations Jim!! Not many people coming from where you were health wise make the changes needed to truly improve their prognosis. You're doing great :) 

Thanks Yolanda. Believe me, I've already heard the lecture from my wife about seeing the doctor. Going to call and set up an appt. today. 

Yolanda and I are standing with your wife. I'll be doing a half fast tomorrow also. 

One ratio that appears to be important triglycerides/HDL. That appears to be a better indicator of coronary artery disease. Anything less than 2 is good, 2-4 borderline, >4 is too high. And by all means see your doctor about your thyroid. Having hormone imbalances can reek havoc with your metabolism. 

Bless your wife. She is on your side. Congrats on the improvements... 

JMB atleast you are keeping track of things and improving them!! Many people do not get their blood work done and have more problems because of it. Great Job overall!! 

Thanks everyone. @Catherder - the ratio is 1.38 so that looks good. LDL is 101, I know the doc won't be happy about that as he wants it no more than 70. I had it down to 61 over a year ago. Am in somewhat of a dilema over taking statins and the dosage. Doc had me on 80mg of Atorvastatin but my liver functions were high so reduced it to 40mg. Was having some soreness and muscle cramping so I started breaking those in half and then only taking a half pill every other day...then I ran out. Since I have CAD and 5 stents I'm not sure that not taking statins is in my best interest, but am also concerned about the side effects. Will need to have that discussion with my doctor and also talk about the other ratios as well which seem pretty good. I'm going to see if he'll order the blood test that checks for density of LDL particles. 

Great plan Jim. I ate half my RDI yesterday and will see If I can repeat that today or top it off at 75 percent of my RDI. Good luck on getting off the thyroid meds. 

Listen to Yolanda - I know you will!! I'm with you on worrying about the statins - if you can avoid, please do. I'm very concerned about their adverse affect on brain health. I'm no doctor, but just information gleaned from lots of reading on brain health. Good luck - you are an inspiration to us all! 

Thanks Ches. I was hoping that the eating and lifestyle changes would have a positive effect on my thyroid but looks like that's not the case. 

As everyone else said - congrats on the numbers and turning your health around. 

My doctor has me taking Atrovastatin for the bad cholesterol, and I am hoping this sugar free diet I just started will help. He was a bit worried that my glucose levels were high. 

good numbers my friend 

"The Great Cholesterol Con" as it's been called. Or how to make Billions of Dollars selling a drug that has no purpose? THE study was of 350,000 men, it took the top 5% with the highest cholesterol levels, one half on a statin, the other half on a placebo. The men were studied for 7.2 years, and the result. 0.4% difference. That's it...statins helped 8 men. Now when you do some magic with ratios and statistics, you get 24%, now that's something you can sell. Statins are poisonous, how so?....they destroy the mitochondria of your cells. So how to get millions of potential new customers, well...how about stacking the medical board with Dr's on company pay-rolls, then have them vote to lower the maximum limit. What you end up with is Dr's who face law-suits for not putting patients on statins, even though the statin is useless and is causing bodily harm, but wait $$$. People have been schooled to fear Cholesterol as something that is bad, couldn't be further from the truth. Why would your body produce and continue to produce something that will kill the host body? Cancer is an abnormality, not a normal everyday function. When you eat foods high in Omega-6 oils, they cause inflammation and irritation to your arterial wall. In response to this, your body needs to send something to the site of injury to repair the damage...it sends LDL, yes LDL's job is to repair the damage that you keep causing by eating bad food. You keep eating, it keeps patching...eventually patches build up, add stress an boom...heart attack. The Dr opens you up and says "look...too much Cholesterol". It's not Cholesterol's fault, it's like an ambulance at an accident site...always there, never the cause. The two things you need to know for Cholesterol management. Triglycerides LOW, HDL HIGH....and that's pretty much it. ref's...Chris Kresser, Zoe Harcombe, Dr. Steven Gundry, Dr. Mark Hyman, the list goes on and on. whew...bit of a rant'....:-) 

@Mahjohn - There's a great deal of evidence that the culprit behind heart disease is inflammation, primarily caused by diet and lifestyle. Refined carbs are a huge culprit and Omega 6 also as you mentioned. For patients with existing artery disease (that is me with 5 stents) there is evidence that statins can have some benefit. I'm trying to balance the pros and cons myself, not necessarily an easy thing to do when you've got the disease and have had multiple blockages. Cutting back on my dosage and recently all but stopping it has raised my LDL and triglycerides. Still within "normal" ranges but the doc won't be happy about it. The type of LDL particles is important - if they're the lighter, fluffier type that's good. Small dense LDL are thought to me more of an issue. Which is why I want the doc to order that test for me so I know what my LDL makeup is. But knowing as I do the root cause of the disease (inflammation) and that I'm prone to it, keeping sugars, refined carbs, and seed oils out of my diet is key and I can do a better job of it. 

@Warrenwinter - the sugar free diet should help not only with your glucose levels but also reduce inflammation in your body which benefits you in many ways. Good luck with it! 

@jmb3450: see if your Dr. / insurance will cover a LDL-P test, as the particle test will give you the small dense/large fluffy ratio 

Thanks for the advise, and I knew there was lots of controversy on statins. I'm glad I only take 10 mg a day. It does seem everyone I know is on them. lol 

All of the above comments are great and agree with my readings in books like "Grain Brain", "Keto Clarity", "Low Carbohydrate Living", etc. THYROID is everything when it comes to balance - I am due back to battle with my endocrine doctor soon. Get checked out and refill the medicine, buddy! 

This is a tag-a-long to HCB comment. Refill the medicine and then remember to take it. :)