So like a lot of people I'm trying to lose weight. I'm new here and haven't really tried LCHF before. I was at my Dr recently and got my cholesterol done and had to monitor my blood pressure for a week. I don't know if the cholesterol was high, I haven't heard back from them yet (no news is good news). My BP was up in their surgery but at home most of the time it was under 140/90 but maybe bordering on going over that at times.
I've heard good things about LCHF but inevitably I'm thinking what will eating meat and full fat cheese, yoghurts etc do to my BP and cholesterol? I've been vegetarian mostly for the last few years but ended up in hospital a while back and it turned out my phosphate was low. I'm guessing I wasn't getting enough through my diet and from what I've read online, meat and dairy are the easiest absorbable sources so I've started eating them again regularly.
Written by
irlcycles
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Total cholesterol is meaningless, and LDL (so called bad cholesterol) will fall. All you blood parameters will improve - especially the most important ratio - HDL to triglycerides will optimise. Blood pressue will also improve.
Do your research and take things slowly - you are making a lifestyle commitment; not going on a 'diet'.
Watch the documentary below and see the changes to severely compromised people that are possible by going back to what we used to eat before vested interests took a hold..
Thanks for the advice. I have to admit I'm a bit reluctant and find it a little difficult to believe it's ok to eat full fat cheese and yoghurt. I've recently went back onto dairy and been consuming low fat versions.
I don't doubt that sugar is bad though. I've cut portion sizes down recently but sometimes find myself a bit hungry at times. Not sure if it's because I'm not eating enough or just used to eating too much!
You might want to think of it this way: if you've been eating "healthy" low-fat, carb-based meals for years, and yet it's not having the advertised effect on your health, there's clearly a problem somewhere, surely?
If you'd bought a magic pill that purported to reduce your risk of heart disease and make you slimmer, but you found that after ten years of taking it your arteries were in disastrous shape and you were fatter than ever before, you'd wonder if you'd been taken for a ride, wouldn't you?
Let's assume the worst case scenario and give the experts the benefit of the doubt. Let's say saturated fat actually is the cause of heart disease, despite a suspicious absence of LCHF adherents dropping dead left right and centre. Well, even according to the official narrative, this is a slow process. So if they're right, you can try two months of LCHF and see what happens, without any actual risk. The reality is that within two months you'll see yourself visibly shrinking away, you'll feel better, and if you want to go back to your doctor and get another cholesterol test, you'll see an "improvement" in your results (for whatever that's worth - as Mike said, it's meaningless, and your doctor might actually admit this if you ask him nicely).
I wouldn't try and sit on the fence here. If you're not mentally prepared to go all-in, you might find yourself struggling (you body will rebel against drastically reduced carbs without additional fat). Some people do start by dipping their toes in the water (cutting down sugar and starches) but you don't want to end up at a point where you're eating meals that are still heavily carb-based with a lot of extra fat. The experts are actually correct about that particular scenario: it is not good for you.
On the other hand, if you're really not quite there yet, read up on David Unwin's diet. His approach is specifically targeted at people like yourself who are a bit wary of ditching the mainstream advice.
It does seem like after a lifetime of being told that fat is evil, it's hard to break the mindset. And the major institutions of gov't, education and medicine still basically adhere to that belief, so you're going against the grain. But like The Toad says, give it a try for a good couple months and see for yourself. You certainly won't die of heart disease in 2 months of eating healthy fats!! Once you get used to eating foods with more fat, like butter, full fat milk, cream in your coffee, and liberal use of coconut and olive oil, you won't want to go back. And as MikePollard said, the whole cholesterol/heart theory is bunk anyway. You need cholesterol, particularly for brain function. Welcome to the food revolution!
Sounds really interesting. I've been thinking how I could adjust my current diet to incorporate this. Below is my current typical diet Monday-Friday
Breakfast: 60g dry Organic jumbo oats mixed with strawberries, blueberries, low fat fruit yoghurt, Linwoods chia mix and sometimes two tablespoons of mixed seeds.
Lunch: Boots shapers BBQ chicken wrap or sweet chilli chicken wrap, some sort of sweet potato or falafel salad and some fruit.
Dinner: oven baked chicken with white basmati or wholegrain rice and stir fried veg. I usually add sweet chilli sauce for flavour and the veg is frozen so I usually just stir fry it in the water that comes out of it.
Snacks: These can be my downfall. If I have tea I often want biscuits or chocolate or rice cakes, or all 3! I often can start munching on crisps too.
I'm guessing I could swap out the low fat yoghurt and just have full fat plain yoghurt.
Not sure what to do about lunch and dinner. There's a spicy bean wrap I like from Boots that has cheese in it but I stopped eating it due to the high fat content. For dinner I feel like I need rice or something. I have also started cycling again so feeling like I need carbs from rice or something for energy?
Will that be enough to satisfy me? I'm just thinking 2 chicken breasts per day and the rest veg and fat from yoghurt. I can't really eat nuts so will have to avoid them.
To be honest I was more tryi g to make it as similar to your current diet as possible, as I thought that was what you wanted.
Many more satiating meals are available on Keto, but some members prefer to make gradual changes from their existing diet. I (perhaps wrongly) thought you were coming from that school of thought.
Yeah I think I was looking at maybe making more gradual changes. I keep thinking if I cut out most of the carbs I will be hungry and have no energy. I don't mind adding fat in its place though but good sources, not just like a big bar of chocolate etc
I'm going shopping later and going to give this a try from tomorrow I think. Will probably start with full fat Greek yoghurt, chia mix and seeds. May throw in the berries too as I reckon I don't eat enough fruit and veg so I'm reluctant to cut out what I currently consume of those.
Yeah most nut products are out. I'm not allergic but shouldn't really be eating them. I had kidney stones a few years ago one of the things I was told to avoid is nuts.
The best defence against fear is knowledge. Try to equip yourself with necessary knowledge about LCHF/KETO dietary approach so that you can make a right decision with confidence. There are lot of resources available on-line.
Meanwhile, consider a healthy diet following the link below:
Just got a letter from my GP and they told me my cholesterol is slightly raised. They sent me some low fat dietary information about how to lower it along with a list of foods that are low, medium and high in fat. I haven't started a LCHF diet but had lost a little weight before they took the reading. Hmmm, what to do? 🧐
Everybody's cholesterol is "slightly raised" according to the NHS. They've achieved this miraculous feat by setting their threshold for "high cholesterol" to somewhat lower than the human average.
What to do? Start the LCHF plan and follow it through for 3 months or so. What tends to happen - especially if you're noticeably overweight - is that your total cholesterol will rise slightly as your body burns through the excess fat. LDL might go up, down, or stay the same. Your HDL will rise and your triglycerides will fall (usually by a lot). So if you go back and have another test later, you'll be able to point to an excellent HDL:TG ratio, which is currently accepted as the most useful indicator on your cholesterol panel. Having said that, it's all basically meaningless, so I wouldn't pay too much attention to any of it. The only point of going through this rigmarole is to keep your doctor happy.
What's more important is that LCHF will reduce your excess bodyfat, it'll make you feel better, it'll make you look better (better skin is a common result), it'll reduce your risk of diabetes, and it'll stop you snacking (if you have a problem with that). The naysayers will tell you "Aha! Yes, for all practical purposes, you appear to be in tip-top health on every measure we can think of, but in reality you're dying inside". Just ponder on the logic implicit in that sentence, and come to your own conclusions.
Thanks. Yeah it sounds counter intuitive that if low fat diets avoided heart disease, why do so many people have it. But then I guess you could argue it's because they weren't following a low fat diet. It's definitely daunting to think about deliberately eating full fat yoghurt and cheese when the conventional advice is to avoid it. But the problem is low fat food unless it's naturally like that, is full of sugar and stuff to make it taste better. I know I've been eating low fat dairy for the past month or so but I've no idea what my cholesterol was before then. It could be up, down or the same as it was. I'm definitely eating too many sweets and that's definitely one thing that no diet suggests.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Air fryer?
Cholesterol
LCHF Practitioners - Please be aware!