My husband is confused
 

So he has heart disease, high blood pressure but is not overweight - well he had all his blood work done last week and his cholesterol is now normal but his good chol is down and his triglycerides (sp) are way too high and now his blood sugar is too high also???

So last week I decided he will follow LC/high fat diet along with me as I need to lose weight. Well his Dr sent him a letter telling him he should follow a low sugar, low fat diet - which I know isn't the way to go but he kinda got shook up as we have been eating high fat.

I told him not to worry about the fat it's the carbs that are the problem - is there an easier way to ease his mind - he thinks because he isn't following his Dr's orders it's wrong - but like I pointed out to him after his heart surgery he followed the low fat low calorie diet (best he could) and it's been a year and his blood work shows now high blood sugar!!

I just keep telling him we will have his blood work done again in 6 months and if his results aren't better eating this way - well then maybe he should follow his Dr's orders. I just have to believe he will show improvement!

If you can't get your husband to try this with you (on your advice), tell him to find a new doctor, one who isn't basing his medical judgment on a 1950s medical fraud.

If he reads (unfortunately many people do not) maybe you can get him to read one of the better books about low carb-- not one pushing any particular diet. I know that I went the way I went because I read authors who made surprisingly good cases for low carb (and high fat).

I know someone on this board had explained that if you do low carb you need fat - you shouldn't do low carb and low fat but I forget the reason

He might actually be what they call "skinny-fat". Rather than storing their fat subcutaneously, which is actually preferable, they store it around their internal organs and in their liver. It's quite likely this is his problem, judging from the Type II diagnosis, usually fatty liver goes along with it.



Dr. Davis treats heart disease with diet (low carb) and supplements, sometimes statins. http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com

You might want to read Gary Taubes latest book, it is geared more toward lay-people. Or watch the video FatHead. It's free on Hulu and available on Netflix too.

You and your husband should both read Why We Get Fat, And What To Do About It, by Gary Taubes. While it is about weight, he has the best explanation I've ever heard about how carbohydrates affect cholesterol and he clears up the misconception about animal fats. It seriously changed my life.

Atkins doesn't have to be "high fat." Think of it as "normal fat." Butter on your veggies. Olive oil on your salad. Skin on the baked chicken. And whatever's left after you grill the chops or the burgers. It's not like you have to work at it!

When you eliminate the carbs, these flavorful qualities of regular foods taste that much better, and without the breading, the buns, and the potato chips, the fat will do you good.

Best wishes.

I guess your right - but after so many years of never using butter or staying away from "normal" salad dressing - not lite or never eating bacon or using heavy cream I guess I just call it high fat - even thou your right we should change our mind set to NORMAL FAT - it's hard to break that habbit

I certainly do know what you mean about years of "fat avoidance."

Funny--now when I look at the label for a bottle of LITE salad dressing or LITE yogurt, all I see is sugar...sugar...sugar. RUN!!!

It didn't take long to get used to cream in my coffee. I never realized how much I disliked black coffee until I let myself use cream.

"You" decided he will eat low-carb? Well, if my wife "decided" what I was going to eat I'd still be eating high carb!

As it is, my wife has seen my weight loss and is now starting to come around. Slowly. I would never try to decide for her what she is going to eat.

PS, when I decided that I would do low carb, I began cooking it myself. It's called taking charge and responsibility for your life, something I highly recommend.

Good luck on your journey.

Oh, I know, but you might want to ask yourself:

Eating like that got us here.

I believe in the building power of ketones. I can post several links showing why ketones are so important to the human body and can help strengthen your heart. Also, keeping your blood glucose stable is what will stabilize your cholesterol levels. The inflammatory nature of carbohydrates which is the central cause of heart disease, will be eliminated. Glucagon is a partner hormone to insulin that is produced by the pancreas and prevents glucose from dropping to low. It also enhances lipolysis or ketosis. Lipolysis is the process that burns fats and ketosis is the result of that process. In other words ketones are the result or ashes of burnt fats. As the body becomes adapted to the increased amount of ketones, it will begin to use the ketones as energy. Now all of that being said, make sure that you are also aware of possible deficiencies such as vitamin D and magnesium deficiency and get those to optimal levels.

The cause of heart disease:
http://myheartsisters.org/2011/03/0...-heart-disease/

Saturated fats helps to improve heart disease
http://ajpheart.physiology.org/cont...2/H410.abstract

I don't know anything about dealing with heart disease, but I wanted to ask if your husband has had his thyroid levels tested? The reason I ask is because if one's thyroid isn't working well, sometimes this can trigger all kinds of other things, such as higher cholesterol readings, higher blood pressure, higher blood sugar numbers - all at once. As far as I can tell, if someone turns up hypothyroid, this can mess up all those other numbers, without anyone realizing it's a thyroid problem. High blood pressure, high blood glucose numbers, higher cholesterol.

The only other thing I can suggest is that fish oil will help bring the triglycerides down - in fact, there's a prescription strength fish oil on the market designed to do just that (Lovaza, I think it's called). Thing is - you can get a decently high dose fish oil supplement at the health food store. Just something to keep in mind - fish oil is *so good* at lowering triglycerides that they've now got a prescription fish oil out on the market for this. :idea:

In the meantime, regular exercise (long walks daily) will lower blood pressure and blood sugar numbers. I've seen it work.

No expert here, but magnesium will also help with blood pressure and blood sugar. Hopefully someone else will chime in on this aspect.

In terms of diet - I really believe in low-carb for helping with all kinds of things, and in terms of "high fat" - well, I'm with bkloots on this one. It's not that you purposely want to add in all kinds of extra fat, just that 'normal' fat is totally ok, and very beneficial.

I don't think overly low-fat is very good.

Hang in there and here's hoping this gets sorted out.

book recommendations
 

Hi joylorone and citruskiss,

On the bolded bit above:

Hi citrusukiss/Sara:

Someone else (me!) did indeed chime in on the magnesium aspect, but it was in another thread that joylorene started.

Hi joylorene,

this would be a book which might put your DH's mind to rest on the issue of saturated fat and heart disease. It is technical in places, but actually quite funny, too (written by a Scottish cardiologist with some rather dry British humour inserted here and there).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/18...&pf_rd_i=507846

I was going to recommend another book, but it costs almost $30 on amazon.com at the moment!!! It is called "Why fat and cholesterol are good for you" and is written by a Swedish guy who is also a long-standing expert in the field. I haven't read it - yet - but I think I'm going to have to get it - hopefully I can get a cheaper copy here in Europe!

If you don't want to actually buy these books, you can of course try to get them from a public library. Even if you don't see them on the shelves, usually you can ask to see if it can be made available via the inter-library lending service.

Good luck in finding some peace of mind for your husband!!!

amanda

Fats are the best "food" of choice for damaged hearts
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release...10504140919.htm

So they must be a good source to prevent heart damage.