I'm a 36 year old female. 5ft and 116lbs. I and tests in September for diabetes due to fatigue (turns out my thyroid is subclinical hypothyroid). My hba1c was 38. In December I was unwell with stress, my son was being bullied and was suicidal. Life was hell taking care of my son crippled by panic attacks and depression. I ended up bed bound and off balance. My gp ran a load of bloods and one being my hba1c and cholesterol. Hba1c was 40. Total cholesterol 6.9. HDL 1.6. LDL 3.9 and Triglycerides 3.0.
I didn't fast and my bloods were taken straight after a meal. I've read triglycerides would be high and I should have fasted.
My gp wasn't concerned at all he said just eat lower fat and lower carbs to reduce sugar in the diet. Now my concern is this. Is my hba1c something to worry about? My fear is it could now be higher as it went up by 2 in 3 months. Everytime i feel tired or have a dry mouth I panic I'm hyper and am diabetic. It's triggered my health anxiety terribly.
My gp said my hba1c is normal and they will just test it annually so not to be anxious. He said my cholesterol is up but that at my age I've low risk so at this point it's just annual bloods to check it.
Both these health issues are worrying me silly. I've 3 children and I keep worrying am I going to die young and leave them. There is high cholesterol in my mum's side throughout them. Her brother had a heart attack at 51 they say sue to a cholesterol level of 7! Mines 6.9! There's no diabetes in my family.
My fear is if I'm now in the pre diabetic range how can I get it down because I have a good diet. I'm not a big meat eater. A typical day for me is....
Breakfast - oats with almond milk and berries. Lemon and honey in hot water to drink.
Mid morning banana or oatcakes with homemade red pepper hummus.
Lunch is mackerel with wheat free seeded toast or veggie sausages with veggies.
Afternoon snack is fruit or rice cakes.
Dinner - salmon with veggies and new potatoes or sweet potato. Chicken with wholegrain rice and veggies. Brown rice pasta with veggies.
I've cut out all biscuits since december test that showed my hba1c was 40. I eat a square or 2 of dark choc ever other day. I never ate bad before but I'd have a biscuit a day and maybe oven chips and eggs. Now I've cut out eggs. I rarely eat dairy as I was told to cut down on it and go half fat dairy but that's loaded with sugar. No butter or coconut oil. I drink a plant sterol drink daily.
So with these 2 issues I'm puzzled. I have to cut fat to lower the cholesterol but lower carbs to lower the hba1c. I can't because if I lower my carbs I need to increase fats for energy and I can't do that because of my cholesterol being high. Any advice? I'm puzzled.
Stop worrying. I started four years ago on a life style change and regular exercise. Both can help to control blood test numbers. Look out for free sugar and hidden sugar in the food you take.
I take 2 min porridge with honey for breakfast. Lunch, green leafy veg, tomatoes and red onions for lunch, some time scrambled eggs.
Dinner what even my wife cooks.
HbA1c test blood over 90 days. Cholesterol tests fasting or not fasting, I do not worry about it.
Regular exercise where your heart rate is taken higher than normal rate. I go to the gym and on the tread mill I walk faster to take the heart rate high.
Try low carb high fat food intake for four weeks and see how you feel. Please do not go for any low fat products!!!!
There has been many write up lately on fat in food. I take butter, coconut oil and olive oil on brown toast! so far I am OK. Different people have different reaction to fat. What I do is try different food for 4 weeks and pay £10.00 at chemist for cholesterol test. now days I am under control therefore I do my blood tests every six months.
I eat hand full of nuts every day, I watch the food porting size by having smaller plate. Avocado is good.
I use cinnamon, turmeric, 1/2 tea spoon on my breakfast as well, it is difficult to start with but now I am used to it.
Green leaf veg, I cook in butter and use it as filling for brown bred sandwich. Roasted veg in olive oil another filling I use. No more liquid lunch!
I DID LOOS A BIT OF WEIGHT AND I AM MAINTAINING IT.
PLWASE CHECK SND DOUBLE CHECK THE FREE SUGAR AND HIDDEN SUGAR IN YOUR FOOD INTAKE!
My GP says, we are monitoring it. Your numbers looks good compared to my numbers.
My gp said cut fat out as much as possible but by doing that instead more carbs which is bad for my hba1c. It's very confusing. I did a high fat low carb diet last year and thrived on it.
Was your cholesterol as high as mine? Has the diet brought yours down alot?
I have high cholesterol in my mum's family. My gp said to cut back on dairy and go for low fat options buy they are loaded with sugar.
I eat healthy. I also add cinnamon to my oats in the morning.
There is a lot of conflicting advice out there, so it is a good idea to take your time with some research. The science of nutrition is still a developing science and advice has changed over time.
This article is by a cardiologist on what to eat, he advises cutting down on foods like bread and pasta, and like Bala has said, avoiding anything labelled 'low fat'.
Please take a look at below in the copy od the mail. Again PHE got it wrong, two experts are saying!!!
What we SHOULD be eating every day (according to the Government): Two slices of toast, a jacket potato and plenty of fruit and veg - but you can't rely on smoothies
Today's new dietary advice comes from Public Health England (PHE), the Government’s public health quango
It is intended to help the public meet official nutrient requirements, showing how much of different foods to eat
Britons have been encouraged to eat more fruit, veg and starchy carbohydrates such as wholemeal bread
Smoothies will only count as 1 of 5-a-day fruit and veg - and should be drunk with meals as so sugary
PHE has issued five 'sample' menus to show how the guidance can be implemented in day-to-day life (see below)
But some meal plans suggested contain up to 2,250 calories a day - above the energy requirements for a woman
Guidance likely to be criticised as nanny state intervention which will have little impact on obesity or public health
I'm going to give LCHF diet a try. I just replied above and said that I'm nervous eating dairy again. It feels so wrong and frightening. I'm happy to eat low carb but high fats scare me.
Food labelling should help you to identify what you want.
Buy a small bottle of blue top milk use 1/2 water and 1/2 milk, this is better than full 1/1 green top milk.
Take is slowly one item at a time and keep a record of food intake. Remember hand full of one type of nuts or mixed nuts every day, avocado may be two a week.
I am wondering can lchf diet work if you're a vegetarian? I was nly eating fish, I wasn't eating any meat but brought chicken back into my diet to do the LCHF. Also being veggie you eat alot more grains and carbs. Is being vegetarian bad for cholesterol and the diabetes results? I've been wondering about this.
In my life style change I have reduced red meat products. My bold count is low, I eat fish and chicken once a week.
I am not worried. There are many vegetarian doctors and temple priests who may or may not have blood number issues!. My diet, yes high fat but not sure of low cab? This is because of porridge every day, rice twice a week for dinner and brown bread for lunch sandwich.
So you reduce carbs rather than cut them out entirely? When I read the links recommeneded here it mentions the LCHF diet but it seems so very strict.
I'm a yogi and like to remain meat free but I find a vegetarian diet is full of carbs.
I've been doing the high fat for a few days now. Coconut oil, creme fraiche, full fat yoghurt, cheese, soured cream and avocados. ...I've been worried about my cholesterol alot incase I'm increasing it even more.
I'm having oats at breakfast, fish or chicken with veggies at lunch then dinner I have a complex carb again with chicken or fish and veggies. So carbs at breakfast and dinner. Snacks high fat/protein. I hope I'm doing this right. I've worked out my carbs hit about 100g a day. Half of what I was eating before.
Thank you for the link. So the high fat diet is suitable for high cholesterol too?
I shall read the linkids now 😊
Thank you. I've read all the links and they've been a big help.
I've decided to give the LCHF diet a try but I am anxious about it. If I'm eating dairy and the full fat variety is that a risk to my current cholesterol levels? Today so far I've had low carb oatmeal which is porridge oats, chia seeds and flaxseed a in almond milk. Lunch was a 2 egg omelette with a little cheese and mushrooms with spinach on the side. Snacks I've had 2 oatcakes and a medjool date.
I haven't eaten eggs in a while. I avoid cheese. I even had some Total green yogurt on my oats this morning. Lower carb I enjoy but I do worry about the high fats making my cholesterol go even higher.
Wow really. Again I was told to cut coconut oil out of my diet. I bought it again this weekend.
I've been worrying eating higher fat from yoghurt, mozzarella, feta and soured cream is going to make m cholesterol shoot up even higher. It's felt so wrong the last few days lol.
Yes. The total yoghurt has 3.8g sugar per 100g even in the 2% fat one. It's less than the 0% fat though.
I am wondering can lchf diet work if you're a vegetarian? I was nly eating fish, I wasn't eating any meat but brought chicken back into my diet to do the LCHF. Also being veggie you eat alot more grains and carbs. Is being vegetarian bad for cholesterol and the diabetes results? I've been wondering about this.
Thank you.
Julie
Thank you. Huge help.
When i read the links recommeneded here it mentions the LCHF diet but it seems so very strict carb wise.
I'm a yogi and like to remain meat free but I find a vegetarian diet is full of carbs.
I've been doing the high fat for a few days now. Coconut oil, creme fraiche, full fat yoghurt, cheese, soured cream and avocados. ...I've been worried about my cholesterol alot incase I'm increasing it even more.
I'm having oats at breakfast, fish or chicken with veggies at lunch then dinner I have a complex carb again with chicken or fish and veggies. So carbs at breakfast and dinner. Snacks high fat/protein, eggs or cheese. I hope I'm doing this right. I've worked out my carbs hit about 100g a day. Half of what I was eating before.
Bearing in mind the old adage of 'everything in moderation', you could also look to adding some or all of these: Almonds, Apple Cider Vinegar, Avocados, Beans, Broccoli, Brown rice, Citrus peel, Cranberry Juice, Dark Chocolate, Flaxseed, Green Tea, Oats, Oranges, to your diet if you don't already eat them. Foods high in quercetin (red wine, onions, tomatoes, grapefruit, apples and berries and, in lesser amounts, leafy green vegetables and beans too. With your glass of (fresh) lemon it is better to use tepid rather than hot water - use the whole lemon as there are benefits in the peel and pulp not contained in the juice (but do be sure to wash the skin first) and always rinse your mouth out afterwards otherwise the acidity of the lemon will gradually eat into your tooth enamel. Adding a spoonful of bi-carb to the rinse is a good idea, brushing your teeth isn't (for the same reason).
If you do a bit of research you'll find that the latest thoughts on dairy is that full fat milk is fine. It is carbs you need to be reducing. The body converts those into sugars. Add eggs back into your diet, they are actually healthy and contain an enzyme that breaks cholesterol down. Remove the rice cakes, they have a high GI.
As to your cholesterol, food intake has little effect, your cholesterol is manufactured internally in much larger quantities than you could eat and is vital to maintaining cell integrity - without it you would die. I have just posted a suggestion elsewhere that you add ghee to your diet to help improve your cholesterol ratio (the important consideration) so I'll not bore you with the details again
Coconut oil has all sorts of benefits and is known to raise HDL. improving Choesterol ratios, so don't feel you have to cut it out completely, but Ghee is better thhe.austusmediallc.netdna-....
[sorry I just edited this so it says don't feel instead of do feel you have to cut coconut oil out - my mistake]
I just tried to open that first link on my phone but it won't open strangely.
I've been following a vegan style diet for a week and I feel ok but my carb intake has been much higher I've noticed. Around 200g. Is this an issue?
I cut out all dairy, meat and eggs. I was told dairy is really bad for cholesterol and I will do anything to try and get my cholesterol down.
I've also been worried about my hba1c as 40 was high end of normal so I worry being vegan has made that worse. I'm eating healthy. Oats, veggie chilli, veggie curry, lentils, beans...2 pieces of fruit a day.
I have found it hard to lower carbs as my snacks are all carby in fruit or energy balls I make.
I did a low carb high fat diet for a week as recommeneded to me and it made me feel awful. Very weak. I was eating full fat dairy and it just didn't feel right with my cholesterol?
Thank you for your help. I've been so confused about my diet.
Going very low carb can make you feel quite ill, but your body will adapt (look up ketosis, if you're interested). If you did want to lower your carbs, it's best to do it slowly to give your body a chance to adapt. If you are not diabetic or overweight, you probably don't need to go very low carb, just stick with the high fibre carbs that you are eating, but I would leave out grains.
don't know why your phone is stopping it, it is a safe/working link. Do you have internet access anywhere else?
It is about the myth that carbs are good for you and why so many people are becoming pre-diabetic/diabetic these days because they were misinformed about what was healthy eating. A friend of mine was diagnosed diabetic after years of eating according to the guidelines and couldn't understand why. This link got her started on the route to repair and she was given the all clear last year.
Now why would you take it for granted that someone telling you something is bad for you is gospel fact, when you won't listen to what other people on here tell you is good for you? Anyone can be wrong.
To get the facts right, the best source is the textbooks but not many of us have access to those so we use the internet. The internet is also full of misinformation so you have to dig deeper and look for the research - you need to look for the arguments for and against. Then you make up your own mind which side you want to come own on and go back to eating as much full-fat dairy and eggs as you want.
Then you go away and read that book I told you about smashwords.com/books/view/4... and find out that cholesterol is healthy and that we only believe it isn't cos someone manipulated the figures and the scaremongers perpetuated the myth to sell more tablets.
Then you relax and start to enjoy life and your kids. You'll have plenty of time to worry about other stuff when they have flown the nest.
Thank you very much. I shall have a look at that book. Sorry the links on my phone wouldn't open but they will on my laptop.
I have read that a high fat, low carb diet is good for you. I have mainly eaten veggie the last year or so but eaten some fish, rarely chicken. I ate dairy. I recently cut them all out and felt ok but my carb intake has been much higher which has really worried me.
So is full fat dairy ok? I am grateful for your information. I will reduce my carbs slowly as I dropped down to 100g a day recently and made myself feel very ill, and I loaded up on full fat dairy which made me feel rotten.
The sugar in carbs, simple or complex, is addictive so the body complains when they are withdrawn. Small quantities of these (the complex ones) are great but too many and the sugars get converted into stored fat - bad fat, difficult to shift fat, not good for your heart fat. To get us to eat low-fat, the food industry loaded everything with sugars. Sugars taste good, addiction starts, too much consummed, sugars turn into bad fat. There is an argument for cutting out dairy too, particularly for anyone intollerant to the milk proteins - cows milk was made for baby cows after all - but the fats in dairy are full of nutrients your body needs to function chriskresser.com/still-thin.... However don't shock the system by taking too much of anything all at once, it will just complain. Everything in moderation should be your watchword.
I'm vegetarian myself and don't eat anything that breathed but if you have no issue with the ethics and can find a safe source fish is good for you (it isn't as healthy as it used to be for various reasons but it is still a good source of proteins, vitamin D and omega 3 fatty acids) so long as you are eating the right ones - check it out, go google 'which fish should I eat'. The same applies to chicken or any other meat. (I didn't stop eating flesh because of the ethics, I stopped because it made me poorly but I stayed stopped for all sorts of reasons)
It seems a diet with higher fats and lower carbs will be best for me but maybe I do need to cut down on carbs and increase fasts slowly. I cut them out fast last time and felt ill with carb flu as they call it.
Sudden/drastic changes to the diet can have quite unexpected impact. Over compensation with something normally recognised as healthy can result in rather undesirable consequences when the system is not used to it. Start small is good policy.
As a child I ate no dairy at all, I hated the stuff. Then as an adult I got a job in residential care preparing people to support themselves out in the community. Since I was expected to set a good example, and took meals with the residents, I couldn't very well eat my cornflakes like mini crackers as I was used to so I took the plunge and tried milk. I didn't like it but what can you do??? Then I discovered jersey milk and have used nothing else since. I still won't drink it from a glass but use it in all sorts of other ways nowadays. I later found out that Jersey cow milk contains a2 beta casein. The a1 beta casein found in regular milk is a genetic mutation. Guernsey cow milk is all a2 beta casein but would have been impossible to get hold of at the time even if I had known. Goat's milk is also all a2 but, again, difficult to get hold of. I got into cheese when my mother put Derby Sage on the cheese board at my 18th and now eat a wide variety. I got into butter when the dietician insisted I use it instead of cream cheese. Even so, at that time, ½lb would last me 18 months (I used to have to keep it in the freezer). Nowadays I use it all the time - but still not on sandwiches. I got into eggs when I turned vegetarian. Meat was my favourite food and I would have happily lived on that alone but it was making me poorly. I hated most vegetables, especially cooked, and had to get protein from somewhere I still can't eat egg white on its own but, fortunately for me, the whole egg is better than either of the individual parts. Though I confess to often adulterating them with a possibly less than healthy mayonnaise.
I figured that, if I was going to eat this food group I had never liked, I was going to eat the whole thing not the adulterated offerings of a money making organisation so I have never gone for the low fat option. Time has proven my choice to be the right one.
Cow's milk was made for baby cows and humans can't really derive the full benefit of it but it is a good source of the nutrients we can process. Eggs were made to give a good start in life to baby birds making them rich in nutrients too.
It is well known quote, originating from a speech by Arthur James Balfour before he became British Prime Minister, that there are three gradations of inveracity - lies, damn lies and statistics and these are all employed to 'herd' the general population in whatever direction those in power (be they politicians keen to hang on to authority, scientist wanting to make a name for themselves or businesses out to line their own pockets) wish us to take. This goes on all the time, just look at industry hype for high fructose corn syrup labelling it as a 'vegetable' for goodness sake. The Media does it to us all the time. Hitler did it to the German population. Propaganda/fallacy has been used time and again to influence public opinion over, for example, the dangers of saturate fats, the benefits of hydrogenated vegetable oils, margarine, eggs, grains, farmed fish, cholesterol, statins and the list goes on......
Our only defence is to educate ourselves and to never take what we hear at face value. Even the people we trust can be hoodwinked.
Brilliant advice. So true in all that you've said.
I've today eaten a little cheese. I've also had eggs. By doing this and not following a vegan diet which is high carb I've halved my carb intake today without even trying. I've chatted to my husband and he said maybe stick to vegetarian but eat dairy. Although I love the vegan diet maybe it is more important to try and get my hba1c back down into he thirties as it is near the end of normal. He's agreed don't worry about cholesterol.
To get an accurate picture of triglyceride levels you need to average the results of 3 tests taken on different occasions each after a 12 hour fast. Anything else is highly unreliable so ignore it - especially from any test taken after eating as that food would be reflected in the results. Unless you are in the habit of eating too much it is unlikely that your triglyceride levels are anything to be concerned about.
Again, you will find information about this in that book I linked for you.
Fab. Thank you. I had eaten 2 meals that day before my GP took the blood and I read that triglycerides are released after we eat so it must be a fasted test.
I just downloaded the book and can't wait to read it. Thank you.
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I still can't eat egg white on its own but, fortunately for me, the whole egg is better than either of the individual parts. Though I confess to often adulterating them with a possibly less than healthy mayonnaise.
Is cholesterol a myth?
High cholesterol 
High Cholesterol 
I have FH and am in a quandary regarding diet following recent revelation that there's no link between high cholesterol & heart disease?!