In the last year and a half, I've chosen to increase my FAT intake from 50% of calories to 70%. Mostly by adding extra-virgin olive oil, fresh flax oil, butter and eating more whole eggs (with yolks) and red meats; also fresh nuts (rarely peanuts) and avocados.

My blood pressure has come down from 160/100 to 120/72, and I've lost 48 lbs so far.

Cholesterol: was 5.8, now is 4.6

LDL ("bad"): 3.2, now 2.7

HDL ("good"): 1.6, now 1.8

triglycerides: were 1.5, now 0.9
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you have a serious cholesterol problem, on medication .. and/or heart disease history, you might be interested to read this testimony from a young man, only 47 at the time, who had a massive heart attack and emergency bypass surgery. After a year of following the lowFAT diet to a tee, plus cholesterol-lowering drugs, he decided to try LC'ing. His results are impressive, you can read them here.

p.s. - This man just happens to be my brother

Doreen

Doreen,

I just wanted to say thanks for the info & the link to the other thread. It helped me alot. I have been struggling with wether or not this would be a good woe for my husband (with extremely high cholesterol). Lots of wonderful information! Thanks again!

Crzyblond

One must really get it checked regularily - one thing I"ve learned is some bodies adjust in a very postiive way to the low carbing and some don't - that's why it's so important to get checked just in case you're one who doesn't - like a previous post I just read. Let's face it, we're all different genetically and really cannot tell others what may or may not be good for them. I used to really tout the low carb diet until I witnessed the low fat diet save my father's life. I will never, ever put it down again, but on the other hand, I prefer the low carb diet so I stay on it and get tested every year. I am borderline high, but my HDL's are so high my doctor said not to worry...thank goodness!

Hey Doreen I just read the testimony of your brother.

It amazes me how the medical profession has us so scare of fat in our diets, maybe they just want to keep us ill health.

What is it with you people and slamming low fat? I see that so much in here and don't get it cuz most of us are into the low carb and isn't that what we're here for? For some it's (low fat diet) a life saver and the only reason the medical pro's tout it is because of that - seems like a pretty good reason to me.

You know, we're all responsible for taking care of our own health. I have heard many people say the low carb diet sent their cholesterol skyrocketing and they had to go off of it - let's face it, that is because of the high fat. For some, it just doesn't work and we need to respect that, not scare people away or try to talk them out of a diet that may save their life.

I can't stand the vegetarian diet, but I'm not going to slam it or tell anyone they shouldn't do it.

Just dont' get why people can't be more respectful of each others needs and feel the need to put something down that they really don't know all that much about.

Nobody has slammed lowfat here.

I posted the information here to be helpful and encouraging to persons who may be hesitant to consume a higher fat level than the 30% which is suggested by the Food Pyramid. Persons following low-carb need to increase their fat intake in order to ensure sufficient caloric-energy intake ... fat has no impact on blood sugar or insulin levels, while protein and carbohydrate do.

Most of our members are here because they DID follow lowfat regimens, and saw no improvement in health or worsening even, while weight loss was a struggle accompanied by constant hunger and terrible cravings. Their frustration with the established nutritional mythologies is reasonable and understandable.

I wish my father had known about low-carbing. He followed lowfat to the letter, and after his fourth heart attack, by-pass surgery and a stroke .. he died in 1990. My uncles (his brothers) also had similar ailments related to insulin resistance. All followed drs' lowfat orders. All died of those ailments. At least my brother has been able to reverse the pattern for himself, as I have done also -- by following low-carb and consuming more quality fats.

On the subject of slamming and being disrespectful however, we do have a rule about personal attacks, insults, name-calling etc. It's part of the registration agreement. Calling members fools, and other insults, and repeated attacks of their opinions is a violation of the registration. If you wish to promote lowfat, you're more than welcome to post articles, research etc supporting. But do expect that there will be rebuttals and debate .. this IS a lowcarb support forum.

Doreen

I do agree that low fat dieting is for some people.

Just because the medical profession touts the low fat diet, doesn't
mean it's actually a healthy diet. Medical professionals can be easily influenced by corporate money.

Starlite, I just do not understand why you have to lower yourself and continuously attacking my opinions, it's getting tiresome

It's a free country, and I should be able to express my opinios without having someone resort to chilidi
sh behaviour.

I agree with Doreen, if you have low fat issues, research, article, please post them.

I think we should all be cautious of a "one size fits all" mentality when it comes to diets. I'm sure some people do well on low fat diets, but when the statistics show that while fat consumption has gone down drastically in the last 20 or 30 years, obesity, heart disease, strokes and diabetes have gone UP dramatically and are now an near-epidemic proportions, something is not quite fitting the "good health" picture that the supporters of low fat promote. It it's working so well, why are so many people developing these diseases at a higher rate while following it? There are those who experience an increase in their total cholesterol and even their LDL while low carbing (I myself was one) and tend to panic thinking that this is making things worse. After doing some research, however, I discovered that it's not the total cholesterol or even sometimes the LDL count that is an indicator of cardiac risk, it's the HDL/tryglyceride ratio that needs to be considered. The person that I sit next to at work follows a low fat diet religiously while I continue with my low carb and there is a lot of good natured ribbing between us. I'm often heard quoting an old nursery rhyme "Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean.." LOL I don't slam his diet and after seeing my results, he's actually modified his to exclude bread, rice pasta and potatoes (hmmm...now what does that sound like??) He still insists on eating low fat, but that's his choice. As discussions continue, perhaps he'll change his mind again?

doreen T
I have high triglycerides, low HDL and heart disease. I had a bypass two years ago. My doc advised me to lower the triglycerides by changing my diet (eliminate sugar, wine, etc.) or he would have to put me on more medication. I am already on lipitor.

Anyway I started on South Beach a couple weeks ago, joined this forum, and read your post with great interest. My problem is I don't know how to adjust my diet to increase the calories from fat to 70%. How much olive oil, nuts, butter, etc. do you have to eat in a day? How do I track this ? Do you hink South Beach is the right plan for me ?

From reading a lot of messages in this forum - see Lisa above, for example, it is clear that nobody can answer whether South Beach will be right for you. You have to try. Just stick to South Beach - since that's how you started - for a month, go back to your doc and have yourself checked out - if it doesn't work, try Atkins, or the recipe Doreen suggests which is possible with Atkins. You can't do South Beach and getting 70% calories from fat, so you will need to try one, then the other. Everyone here agrees, mixing plans requires experience and isn't great to start out. Stick to a single plan for a while, get experience - hopefully you have a Doc who is willing to help.

In regard to Doreen's original statement about lowering her cholesterol while increasing her fat intake. I wonder how the low fat people would respond to this? They like to say that it can attributed solely to weight loss. Being thin equals lower cholesterol. If this is the case, then wouldn't all thin people have low cholesterol and all heavy people have high cholesterol? We know this is not the case.

If you are going to participate in a low carb woe then you must respect the fact that high fat has received alot more negativity than low fat. High fat eaters have been told that they are clogging their arteries, they are going to have heart attacks or strokes. It is actually high fat dieting that gets dissed and it is more often misunderstood. I have a newspaper article that states that obesity increased whith the popularity of lowfat dieting.