If you have high blood pressure?

[Newbeginnings20]

Hi my partner has to take BP meds - his cholesterol is fine. Would the Keto LCHF be ok for him - he’s worrying that eating foods high in fat will make his cholesterol bad.

[Gizmocat]

Yes. Absolutely. I was on BP meds. I had high BP and prediabetic in summer 2018. I have lost almost 3stone on LCHF and blood sugars are normal and I have recently been told I no longer need the BP meds. Do have a look at the dietdoctor website. There is lots of useful information there. You don't have to eat lots of fat just full fat yoghurt, cream, cheese, butter and olive oil etc and not the low fat or diet stuff. You will find you don't need to eat a lot as it will fill you up more than carbs. Enjoy it. It's a great way to lose weight and sustainable.

[Newbeginnings20 in reply to Gizmocat]

Wow thank you for that very encouraging reply! Also well done you that’s awesome you must feel amazing 😉

[Newbeginnings20]

By the way he is training for half marathon and I read also that when you start initially doing Keto it had an impact on your performance! I’m wondering whether he should leave it a few weeks until he is running comfortably then start - I don’t know lol 🤷‍♀️

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador]

I can't add much to Gizmocat's story except to emphasize that LCHF doesn't really involve foods which are "high in fat". Although the dieticians like to poke fun and portray us as gorging on bacon deep-fried in lard, LCHF meals don't look like that. We eat very ordinary-looking food. It just lacks starches.

Certainly we don't fear fat, principally because it has nothing to do with modern fashionable diseases. We just eat our food minimally-processed ... which means we enjoy the natural fat that comes with it.

A lot of people refer to this lifestyle as "lower carb healthy fats", which is much more accurate! You will almost certainly find that your husband's health improves dramatically and he can stop those ridiculous BP meds. A word of warning though: as your body adapts to running on fat, your cholesterol numbers will drift around a bit. These interim measurements are completely, utterly meaningless. Cholesterol numbers are almost entirely meaningless at the best of times, but that's a different rant! Anyway, a couple of years from now, you'll find they settle down to values which will make your doctor ecstatic (for whatever that's worth). Your best bet is to avoid taking any such tests for a while; they'll just make everyone panic for no good reason.

As regards the marathon ... yes, it does take about six months to become fat-adapted to the point where your body can deliver full metabolic power from fat storage. However, once you reach that point, it's awesome. You'll feel like you can keep going forever. I would suggest putting off the marathon rather than putting off the dietary changes, especially if your husband has genuine cardiovascular issues. A full marathon is very physically demanding, and it's best to go into it in tip-top health. LCHF will get you there.

[Subtle_badger]

I have a suggestion: if he doesn't have one already, he should invest in a home blood pressure monitor, then use it for a few days, so he has a baseline.

This is for two reasons:

1) some people stop having high blood pressure. If that happens, he can talk to his doctor about coming off the meds, rather than fainting when his BP plummets.

2) "Keto flu" is apparently helped by taking salt. That's scary for someone who has been told to keep on a low sodium diet. But salt only raises your blood pressure by increasing blood volume, so the rise would presumably occur within a few hours of eating it. If he can check is BP has not gone up, it will make him more confident to keep using salt.