butter & Cholesterol
 

Hi All,

I haven't posted in so long that I almost forget how. I've been eating low carb since March of last year. I am not overweight but I believe that it's a healthy woe. I had blood work done just before I began and again a couple of weeks ago. My good cholesterol has gone down a little and the bad has increased. I am not in a high risk zone but I am wondering if it could be because I switched from soft margerine to butter. That's the only thing that I can think of except I eat some cream cheese now and I didn't before. I am wondering if I should go back to margerine if it has no trans fats. Maybe some low carb experts could help me out?

Thanks...Georgie

Hi, I just started low-carb this week (just joined the site today!) so maybe I'm not the best person to answer your question, but I bought "I can't believe it's not butter light" - 0 carbs and pretty low in fat, and 0 trans fat. Tried it last night on my fish and was pretty good. Might be a good alternative to butter or margerine.

Butter contains lots of good chemicals. It is 12% stearic acid which is a very benefical fat.

Tholstrup, T.; Marckmann, P.; Jespersen, J.; Sandstrom, B. Fat high in stearic acid favorably affects blood lipids and factor VII coagulantactivity in comparison with fats high in palmitic acid or high inmyristic and lauric acids. Am.J.Clin.Nutr. 59:371-377; 1994.

Butter doesn't lower HDL...In fact, Saturated Fats tend to raise HDL. HDL is mostly lowered by either Omega-6 Polyunsaturates [Vegetable Oils] and Trans-Fats [Margarine, Crisco, Shortening, and Hydrogenated Oils.] Fruit Oils [Olive, Coconut, etc...] and Animal Fats [Butter, Lard, Tallow, etc...] tend to either not effect or raise HDL.

My guess would be that you eat very little fat, and that leads to raised cholesterol, almost all of which is being produced by your body, not consumed with your food.

Am I right in thinking that you get much less than 60% of your calories from fat??

I eat about 70% of my calories in fat, including butter, heavy cream, Cream cheese and lots of cheeses.

Total cholesterol has gone up, but not too bad, and good cholesterol has increased dramatically, plus triglycerides are very low.

My ratio is the best it has ever been since started checking it.

To have your body running on keytones, you have to eat a fair amount of fat. Otherwise you are back to the low fat weight gain syndrome, with lots of demand for insulin.

Good luck.

ok. I am confused as to why saturated fats don't clog the arteries as most doctors say they do. Even Dr A said to eat the good fats like olive oil, fish etc. He said to eat "lean" cuts of meat.

You should have a variety of fats, but NO trans fats. Sat fats are only dangerous when combined with lots of carbs.

Atkins never said to eat lean meats. Atkins is in fact a high fat diet.

There was a news story that went around claiming the Atkins corperation stated to eat lean meats. This was not a real news story though and the Atkins company is working on damage control making sure the paper retracts it.

The only time Atkins states to lower fat is when you progress through OWL and raise your carbs. Your calories remain the same, your percentages just change a little. Protien remains constant while carbs raise and fat lower. Since it takes at least 2.5 grams of carbs to equal the calories in a gram of fat, your fat percentage still stays high.

Georgie, you have to watch the margarines, especially the ones that say right on the package "no trans fat." They mostly lie. Read the ingredients. All of the ones I checked out the other day that said no transfat had "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" listed in the ingredients. Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated is TRANSFAT! One molecule off from being plastic. I don't know about you, but I don't want to eat plastic.

shortstuff

Thanks to all who responded. I do know about trans fats. That's why I don't eat pork rinds! On the Atkins site, he says that 60% fat is ONLY during induction. He also says the following about cholesterol:

Exercise is also an important component as is cutting back on meats processed with nitrates, such as most bacon, sausage and cold cuts, and limiting intake of hard cheese.
I also saw on the site last night to eat lean cuts of meat but i can't find it at the moment. he does say that though in his book, Atkins for Life.

I found this and it's a bit scary for those of us following the woe for life. Seems "more research" is needed. hmmm

Saturated fat, found in meats, butter and coconut oil, poses no health risk in the Induction and Ongoing Weight Loss phases of the program. You will burn both dietary and body for energy. However, when you reach Pre-Maintenance and Maintenance and are no longer in a primarily fat-burning mode, it may be prudent to curtail the amount of saturated fat until more research is done.

See "Atkins For Life" pp. 53-59.
They state clearly that while they are not encouraging overconsumption of saturated fats, neither is there any reason to make a deliberate attempt to avoid them. They also state that you should attempt to get a balance of healthy fats in your diet, use caution in how you use different fats (not deep frying or heating them to very high temperatures) and include sources of Omega-3 fats in your menus.
I personally will never again bring margarine into my home. We use primarily olive oil and butter.
From Atkins For Life, pg. 62:
"When you are controlling your intake of carbohydrates, as you do on Atkins, there is no need to cut back on red meat and dark poultry. Nor need you take the skin off chicken or trim the fat off meat. In fact, protein should always be served with fat to ensure the absorption of vitamins and minerals. So, if you prefer to remove the skin on chicken, be sure to have some olive oil at the same meal. Processing can devitalize protein, just as it does fats and carbohydrates. You will get more nutritional bang for your buck with fresh meat, poultry, or fish."

I think part of that is to help try to get rid of the myth all we eat is deep fried steak and butter :P

I honestly think some people assume we have a way to deep fry butte ron a stick and eat it. In any case that would probably still be healthier then that Hot Dog on a Stick store in the mall ;)

It is very tough to enjoy, and thrive, on this WOE until you let go of the fear of fat.

Go back and review what Dr. A had to say about the Eskimos and their WOE, for their entire lives. Also the study that was done by two researchers who ate only fat and protein for an entire year, and how their blood lipid profile was very healthy at the end of their experiment.

The key is to have enough of the right kinds of fats, and to avoid the trans fats completely. IMO.

For those of us who are primarily avoiding the development of Type II Diabetes, it is essential to remain in a fat burning state for the remainder of our lives, not just while we are losing weight. In order to do that, we have to eat quite a lot of fat, for the rest of our lives.

The Eskimos had virtually no heart disease with their high fat WOE. Have you thought about the implications of that well established fact??

By Lady Belle:

I honestly think some people assume we have a way to deep fry butter on a stick and eat it.



That's one of the funniest things I think I've ever read. Thank you so much for the wonderful belly laugh. I needed it.

I've been on this WOE since August and I'm a very slow loser, but it still irritates the socks off me when I see my brother and all they think I can eat is cheese, eggs, meat and more cheese - all slathered with butter. Jeesh, you'd think they'd catch on pretty soon since I keep asking for salads with olive oil dressing to go along with whatever the protein source is!

shortstuff