Cholesterol: 308?? Up 100 points since I started Primal page

[handkelly]

Good Morning,
I had my yearly check this week and when my blood work came back my cholesterol was 308 (good 142/bad166). Last year (pre-primal) it was 202 (HDL: 103 LDL: 99). I have always been a healthy weight and before starting primal my problem was relying on processed foods/grain to heavily in my diet.
I am a 34 year old female who weighs 110 and is 5 foot 3 inches. I should not have a cholesterol of 308. I do not go over broad with the meat (so I do not think this is the problem), I do eat red meat but only 1- 2x per week. I mainly enjoy eggs for breakfast (2 per day) with fruit, salad for lunch with chicken, and dinner is usually chicken or turkey with veggies. I am using A LOT of coconut oil, I cook my eggs in it and I use it to roast my veggies and sauté my chicken. My doctor has told me to stop using the Coconut Oil and cut back the egg yolks 2x per week.

I feel very confused as to what is healthy and not healthy after receiving my cholesterol results. Has anyone else had this issue with eggs and Coconut Oil?

[yodiewan]

I'm in the same boat, last time I checked. Outwardly, I am very healthy. Lean young dude. The first time I had my cholesterol checked, I think it was around 250, maybe a little lower. A few months later, up to 270. A year or so later at a health screening, over 300. Went to my real doctor and got NMR and LDL-P was over 2000, so that made me quite concerned.

The past few months, I've upped my carb intake in general and also increased my consumption of seaweed (for iodine) and a Brazil nut daily for selenium. All these things are thought to support thyroid function, specifically the conversion of T4 to T3 (the active form). In my case, this is just a theory. I asked for a "full thyroid panel" and got T4 and TSH, which tells me nothing. SO if you do get your thyroid checked be SURE to ask for T3 and rT3 in addition to TSH and T4.

http://chriskresser.com/selenium-the...hypothyroidism
Hypothyroidism | Perfect Health Diet
Iodine and selenium | Perfect Health Diet


Another theory I've seen is that certain APOe variant carriers are more susceptible to elevated cholesterol on a high fat diet. Lauric acid (found in large quantities in coconut oil) in particular is good at raising LDL in some people.

Effects of dietary fatty acids and carbohydrates on the ratio of serum total to HDL cholesterol and on serum lipids and apolipoproteins: a meta-analysis of 60 controlled trials
How can I safely and quickly (within 2 months) lower my total cholesterol? - PaleoHacks.com

Also, the posts on the blog here recently by Dr. Peter Attia are great. His 9 part series on his blog goes into even greater detail. If you read the series, you will almost certainly know more about cholesterol than your doctor.

The Straight Dope on Cholesterol: 10 Things You Need to Know – Part 1 | Mark's Daily Apple
The Straight Dope on Cholesterol: 10 Things You Need to Know – Part 2 | Mark's Daily Apple
The straight dope on cholesterol

[handkelly]

Thanks for all the info, I am going to check out my links. I am thinking its the egg yolks and the coconut oil. I am going to go and get my cholestrol re-tested in 4 weeks and see if lowering my intake of both helps reduce. I am also going to try and cut back on dark meat chicken (but I am having that maybe once a week). Just feel fustrated about what I should be eating and not eating now.

[yodiewan]

Thanks for all the info, I am going to check out my links. I am thinking its the egg yolks and the coconut oil. I am going to go and get my cholestrol re-tested in 4 weeks and see if lowering my intake of both helps reduce. I am also going to try and cut back on dark meat chicken (but I am having that maybe once a week). Just feel fustrated about what I should be eating and not eating now.

I understand your frustration. You hear so many success stories of people achieveing "perfect" (though what constitutes perfect is in contention, as Dr. Attia's posts will show you) lipid profiles by following the basic Primal plan and when you do it, it does the opposite. I will try to remember to post on this thread (or at least on this board) next time I get a lipid panel done so that others who have had similar problems can learn from my experience. It's been about 3 months since I implemented my changes, so it might be time to retest soon.

[handkelly]

Thanks. I think I am going to go and get my thryoid tested. I actually have two nodules on my thyroid that I have been monitoring for a little over an year. They have been tested and the results have come back negative and they are not growing in size. I wonder if this has anything to do with my cholestrol but I am thinking no, b/c I had them before I went primal. I am allegric to Iodine as well (the die) but have no problem with it in salt, so I am thinking there is no connection here as well.

I am going to send these article to my doctor and she what she thinks. Thanks

[relaygirl]

We are going through this too-my husbands ldl-p was 1720 all other numbers were stellar except the LDL--I am sure he has the thyroid connection. He doesn't really eat a ton of fat. Probably balanced f/p/c. I just added a thyroid supplement that has iodine and selenium in it that I got at whole foods. On track your plaque-some people stated that sometimes your carbs can get too low and affect your ldl.

My hypothesis-after reading about 1000 pages on cholesterol in the past week is that if there is a thyroid connection in people with Apo e gene with the super high LdL-p--that the LDL is not oxidizing, going to cells and building plaque. My thought is that the body, because of the lack of the thyroid hormone, cannot clear out the LDL out of the blood.

I think I am going to push for a heart scan (since we made our deductible this year) and test my hypothesis. He is of healthy weight. Excellent BP, trigs were 38!!!

[Artbuc]

Thanks for all the info, I am going to check out my links. I am thinking its the egg yolks and the coconut oil. I am going to go and get my cholestrol re-tested in 4 weeks and see if lowering my intake of both helps reduce. I am also going to try and cut back on dark meat chicken (but I am having that maybe once a week). Just feel fustrated about what I should be eating and not eating now.

This is shocking news to me as pastured eggs and coconut have become staples. At some point I am going to have my serum lipids checked but I would rather stick my head in the sand. I am running out of things to eat. I can not eat more than 30-50 carbs per day and I believe a moderate amount, say 60-70 grams, of protein is optimum for folks like me who are insulin resistant. That means I have to eat a whole lot of fat and I was thinking MCT's were ideal. Since reading your post I have done some more searching and it isn't clear at all what MCT's do to serum cholesterol but the preponderance of evidence isn't good.

[Iron Fireling]

And this is why I've never had my cholesterol checked .

(Yeah, may not be the most sensible approach, but hell our ancestors never had theirs checked!).

[Finnegans Wake]

Did I miss it? Did the OP give lipoprotein breakdowns for the after, or just TC? If your TC rose but trigs and LDL(b) fell, no prob. May be hard to tell the composition of LDL (a vs. b) without a more comprehensive test.

TC doesn't worry me as much as ratios and levels of LDL and VLDL.

[handkelly]

My tri was 54 - which I know is really good. I am thinking that a. i am not getting enough carbs as I do work out/run 5-6 times per week. or b. i am having a thyroid issue - which I will look into. The iodine thing is interesting as well.