Welcome aboard!

For some anecdotal evidence on cholesterol and blood pressure I'll offer you this - after one month on Atkins my total cholesterol went from 201 to 153 and my blood pressure went from 135/85 to 108/71.

In addition, I have not had a migraine since I started and I used to have them pretty much weekly. Furthermore I usually beat the alarm in the morning and can get going pretty easily whereas before it used to literally take me two to four hours to drag myself out of bed.

I highly recommend going and getting your bloodwork done before you start and then have it retested after six weeks (minimum).

I also recommend starting a journal here - that is very useful.