Seeking advice after disappointing cholesterol retest
 

I've been on Atkins for 3-months. I am a 34-year old 5' 10" male with family (dad's side) history of heart disease. I brisk walk 2 - 2.5 miles 5 days a week.

In 3-months doing mostly induction and sometimes OWL, I dropped from 231 to 195. My goal weight is 200. I did a baseline check of my cholesterol before starting atkins and recently when in for a retest.

Here are my numbers:
Before/After
Total 228/257
LDL 134/189
HDL 57/53
Triglycerides 184/99
Chol/HDL Ratio 4.0/4.8

I was quite disappointed by my retest results and I am very discouraged and worried that if I stay on Atkins that I will drive my heart into the ground. My doc wants me to go on Lipitor but I am reluctant.

My diet has included a good amount of red meat, eggs, bacon, sandwich meats, etc..

I am curious as to what success others have had using supplements to lower cholesterol. I am thinking of starting some "oils" supplement along with the Atkins Vita-Chol supplement. I am also looking at reducing my consumption of red meat, eggs, bacon, etc..

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

I pasted this in my journal some days ago. I hope it's helpful to you. I got the results of my blood tests back. The Doctor said everything was perfect!!! Blood, sugar, thyroid, cholesterol, liver function, everything!!! She'll be sending me the reports. Now that's what I want to hear!!! I'm telling you, I've been on CAD forever and never any problems!! I'm sure the vitamins help too. I always say, I'd rather pay the money for vitamins than have health problems and pay for drugs!!! Someone asked me once, "What if the diet and vitamins aren't really the reason you don't have problems?" I told them that if they weren't they were worth the price for the piece of mind. Something was continuing my good health!! Here I am, a morbidly obese woman, been that way for years and I have no health problems except for arthritis in my knees and diminished lung capacity!! And those came through accidents, not weight!!! Though I'm sure the weight aggrevates them, lol!!! And you sure can't blame my family history and genes for good health!!! High blood pressure, cholesterol and heart disease everywhere!!! And some on the cusp of diabetes.

I'm telling you again. Anyone with high cholesterol, cut out any butter replacement spread except butter!!! Way back 20 years ago I used to have cholesterol through the roof. All I did was cut out butter substitutes and solid shortening (except for the occassional pie crust). I didn't change anything else. And since then I've had low perfect cholesterol. I've eaten a ton of bacon, sausage, fatty meats, ice cream and baked goods and I've had perfect cholesterol!!! Something to think about, isn't it?

I have been on Atkins for almost a year. I had my cholesterol measured after about 10 months and all my numbers had improved -- total cholesterol is 199, hdl is 57, triglycerides are 52.

I think it is important to stay away from the processed foods (lunch meats, bacon, ham, etc.) and to eat lots of healthy fats. I eat lots of salads with my own homemade olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing. I eat small amounts of butter, but I really do emphasize the olive oil over the butter. I eat no margarine and I do not eat any foods that contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. While I do eat red meat several times a week, I also eat a lot of fish. I don't eat any fake foods -- bars, shakes, special lowcarb products, artificial sugars (including splenda), etc. I don't take any oils supplements -- I try to get the healthy oil through the foods I eat.

If I were you, I would try increasing your olive oil consumption (vegetables and salads are great with olive oil), increasing your consumption of fish, and cut way back on the processed meats -- lunch meat, bacon, etc. I don't think the red meat is a problem, but I think the processed meats are.

I've been taking the supplements (or at least most of them from Dr. Atkins Vita Nutrient Solution) for 6 weeks. I'm still waiting for my most recent cholesterol results to come in, but pre was:

Total: 222
Hdl: 34
Ldl: not good, maybe 160 ? will repost later when I get home
Triglycerides: 191

So, we shall see if Atkins +Supplements will help, will let ya know. My doc is pushing the Lipitor pretty hard too=) Results should be in Monday.

But, if it is still up, I will add red yeast rice (basically works like a weaker statin, see wholehealthmd.com for details) and increase dosages of other things. Decrease saturated fat while increasing monos (since the verdict on saturated fat still seems cloudy, but monos seem to be excellent for ya).

Hope ya get to stay off Lipitor!

Zuleikaa, Liz75 and Yellowman, thanks for the replies.

After my initial disappointment, I regrouped and thought about how I will try to adjust to see if I can bring my numbers back down.

I went and did a EKG/Stress test on a treadmill and did great. My doc gave me the green light to increase my excesize level. Hopefully, this will help improve my cholesterol numbers.

I told my doc I didn't want to go on Lipitor and she said ok with the condition that I retest in 3 months. I told my doc that I would try to watch my saturated fats and cut back on things like red meat, eggs, bacon, sandwich meats, pork rinds, etc.... I also am going to eat a lot more fish and green vegetables.

As for a supplement, I am going to try a supplement called Cholestatin which is based on phytosterol. I read about it on the Men's Health Website. You can get phytosterol in butter form under the name benecol or take control. I decided to go ahead and try the Cholestatin.

I'll report back in three months.

Thanks for the support.

Eddie.

Eddie, I hope things turn out well for you. I'll be eager to hear about your results three months from now. I'm in a bit of the same boat--have a family history of heart disease and stroke. My cholesterol has always been high, and nothing I've done could change that--not exercise, tweaking what I eat, etc. I'm in recovery so cannot drink alcohol, which is supposed to help in moderation--in fact, haven't had a drink in 15 years. Like you, I exercise religiously (just aerobic exercise, at this point), and I've tried every possible way to manipulate what I eat: low fat, low carb, vegetarian low fat, lecithin supplements, moderate fat with mainly monounsaturated fats, etc. Finally my doctor put me on Lipitor, which is a statin drug. Boom--total cholesterol went down, HDL went up, trigycerides are in the basement.

What I've had to conclude from this is that what I eat has nothing major to do with my cholesterol numbers, probably because this is a genetic problem. I've tossed in the towel and have accepted the Lipitor, hoping that it might help prevent the dementia that runs through my family, too. But I'm sticking on the low carb because I'm convinced it will help with other potential medical problems.

Please let us know what you find out. :)

Regarding Benecol, I just sent an email to McNeil asking about this product because I'm having trouble reconciling the fact that the 3rd ingredient in this product contains " partialy hydrogenated soybean oil" i.e. a transfat ??? I though this was bad thing ! i.e. transfats can raise bad cholesterol. The product may have some cholesterol lowering ingredientslike plants esters, but I wonder about the transfat.

Manucpa
I wouldn't and don't trust any of the butter replacements no matter how "healthful" they are touted to be!! I really believe it is the transfats causing the problem and would rather put my faith in butter and oils. I have for 20 years with very low cholesterol levels as a result.

Zuleikaa,

I totally agree, it's my DH who likes Benecol and I'm concerned..I could talk him out of it if I prove the trans fat issue. He really does like to eat healthy and does a Zone like LC eating plan.