Did eating TF successfully raise your blood cholesterol?

[Carolyn R]

For many years, I uninformedly bragged about my very low total cholesterol number of 130. As I learn and research more and more about TF, I have been shocked to realize that my mild depression, not-so-mild aggression issues, and even a preterm birth have all been shown to be risk factors of having a low serum cholesterol number.

Over the past few months, I have been slowly making changes to convert our families diet to more TF. I have begun fermenting some of our garden veggies, we now drink full-fat milk (raw when we can), dh has been making bone broths, we've eliminated "vegetable oil" from our pantry and now cook with olive oil or butter. I've also been consuming coconut oil each day, and we've added lots of eggs and cream to our diet.

My question is, has anybody else had low cholesterol and seen positive change in your numbers after eating TF? I am already noticing I feel calmer and stronger; just wondering if anyone would share your story, or point me in the direction of further reading, links etc.

Thanks!

[tanyalynn]

I'm going to sub for other peoples' replies.  I only have one data point so far--well, I had years of total cholesterol that just kept creeping lower and lower.  The most recent data point was about 3 years ago, I'd changed my diet to be fairly TF, no gluten or dairy, I was probably averaging 3 eggs/day for at least half a year before the test--so that's quite a lot of dietary cholesterol, since I was also eating a lot of meat during that time period--and my total cholesterol was 138.  I've had somewhat long-term health issues I've been working on, I know I was still pretty rundown at that point, but I'm hoping to find a doc sometime in the spring and re-do some of my bloodwork. 

I'm hoping/guessing that eating TF will be a helpful supportive part of normalizing my cholesterol, but at least for me, working on the other stuff that was messed up will also be important.  The fact that you feel better, that seems like a very good sign. 

Can't wait to hear results from other people.

[Carolyn R]

Tanyalynn, thanks for your reply. I was just wondering, if you don't mind me asking, whether you thought your other long term health problems you mentioned were related to the low cholesterol at all? Or if you've noticed an improvement in those conditions as you've been eating TF? I'm really hoping some others will chime in on this discussion with some links, etc.

I googled "low cholesterol" and one of the sites said something about some conditions can actually cause our bodies to not absorb the cholesterol we're eating, but it didn't elaborate beyond that. So how do we reprogram our bodies to absorb the dietary cholesterol we're getting? I remember being surprised that my cholesterol was so low, because for years prior to getting it tested, I wasn't necessarily eating TF, but was still eating lots of eggs, meat, etc.

And unfortunately, the internet is full of information about "lowering cholesterol" but it seems as if mainstream science hasn't caught up with the idea that lower isn't necessarily better.

Anyone else?

[bluebackpacks]

I haven't had my blood work redone since beginning TF, but I can tell you that it has made a world of difference.  I can't say enough about bone broths, too!

[tanyalynn]

I tend to think that my low cholesterol was more a symptom of things being wrong rather than a cause all by itself.  Have you read Chris Masterjohn's cholesterol stuff?  Google to find his site, he's also got some articles--well, at least I think they're still there--on the WAPF site.  Most of the cholesterol in our bodies is made by our bodies, it's made in the liver.  For me, my liver has been stressed, I think that's why for me this has been a slow decline over the course of a couple decades, then the stress of pregnancy and nursing sorta tipped me over the edge.

When I read about the chemical pathways that were common between cholesterol, progesterone, and adrenal hormones, a lot fell into place for me.  For the adrenal stuff, I've seen that my fatigue, my irritability and how easily I get angry have all gotten better, and I've seen my luteal phase get longer generally trending with how I feel re: fatigue/irritability/anger.  My luteal phase still isn't normal, but it was consistent at 6 days when I started really doing something about my health and that isn't normal or healthy by anybody's standards. 

Oh, and a chemical precursor of cholesterol is the chemical that UVB hits in our skin to make vitamin D.  I'm not sure if having low cholesterol absolutely means that someone also has low vitamin D, but so many of us are low in D anyway that testing and/or supplementing may be wise.  Some folks have mood improvements and maybe energy improvements too just by supplementing D.  I haven't, but I still think it's worth getting to a good range.

http://www.tuberose.com/Cholesterol.html

I think other parts of this site sell stuff, but the articles I've read are non-commercial and well-written, though they tend to be a bit technical.  But if you haven't already run across it, maybe it'll be interesting to you.

[ambereva]

Originally Posted by tanyalynn 

Oh, and a chemical precursor of cholesterol is the chemical that UVB hits in our skin to make vitamin D.  I'm not sure if having low cholesterol absolutely means that someone also has low vitamin D, but so many of us are low in D anyway that testing and/or supplementing may be wise.  Some folks have mood improvements and maybe energy improvements too just by supplementing D.  I haven't, but I still think it's worth getting to a good range.

I have low cholesterol and optimal Vit. D levels (without supplementation).

[Intoit]

Over 10 years ago I had been veggie for a few years. I ate some eggs, occasionally fish, and literally slurped down 1-2 ounces of flax and olive oils every day in addition to what I cooked with. And I too was uninformedly proud of my total cholesterol measurements, which were 120 and 123 the two times taken back then.

This time period marked the beginning of my depression episodes and mood/sleep disturbances. My immune system functioning became horrible, and I became severely deficient in vitamin D. In hindsight, I also began showing all of the classical symptoms of insulin resistance (except for the middle body weight gain which did come eventually) and symptoms of PCOS as well. A number of my physical symptoms have overlap in having both too low cholesterol and IR, so it's hard to say what caused what or if they were independent of each other.

After following a more traditional SAD type of diet, my total cholesterol was around 155 when checked last year. When I was finally able to pin down what I felt was the cause of my slowly increasing weight gain and declining overall health, everything pointed to IR and I began my low carb, grain free (it's pretty Paleo/TF) way of life. My current diet consists of eggs, meat, and vegetables for the most part. It is ample in saturated fat with all the butter and heavy cream I like to use. While some of my MW's seem to be stuck on how "unhealthy" my diet is, I have a GP who is very supportive  of my LC lifestyle. I will be going to get a full lipid panel this week coming, and I am very interested to see what my levels and ratio are at this time. I will check back when my numbers come in 

[naupakamama]

My whole family has struggled with low cholesterol levels.  Mine was generally around 130ish.  I also had moderately low blood pressure and felt weak all the time.  My cholesterol levels were at their lowest when I started breastfeeding - I think the little that I had were going to nourish my babe.  I can't name how many times I got tested for hypothyroid because I was always so tired.  Going to a more TF diet has helped tremendously.  For me the biggest things were cutting out veg oils and taking fermented cod liver oil.  

I don't actually know what my cholesterol levels are now because I don't really go to doctors anymore...  But my 69 year old mother (who was in the 130-150 range previously) after changing her diet, now has a total cholesterol around 180-200.  And the kicker - her HDL (the "good" one) is over 100, I have never heard of such a number.  Her HDL is higher than her LDL. She feels great and looks amazing.

[Smidge]

Originally Posted by Intoit 

Over 10 years ago I had been veggie for a few years. I ate some eggs, occasionally fish, and literally slurped down 1-2 ounces of flax and olive oils every day in addition to what I cooked with. And I too was uninformedly proud of my total cholesterol measurements, which were 120 and 123 the two times taken back then.

This time period marked the beginning of my depression episodes and mood/sleep disturbances. My immune system functioning became horrible, and I became severely deficient in vitamin D. In hindsight, I also began showing all of the classical symptoms of insulin resistance (except for the middle body weight gain which did come eventually) and symptoms of PCOS as well. A number of my physical symptoms have overlap in having both too low cholesterol and IR, so it's hard to say what caused what or if they were independent of each other.

After following a more traditional SAD type of diet, my total cholesterol was around 155 when checked last year. When I was finally able to pin down what I felt was the cause of my slowly increasing weight gain and declining overall health, everything pointed to IR and I began my low carb, grain free (it's pretty Paleo/TF) way of life. My current diet consists of eggs, meat, and vegetables for the most part. It is ample in saturated fat with all the butter and heavy cream I like to use. While some of my MW's seem to be stuck on how "unhealthy" my diet is, I have a GP who is very supportive  of my LC lifestyle. I will be going to get a full lipid panel this week coming, and I am very interested to see what my levels and ratio are at this time. I will check back when my numbers come in 

I'm so curious for your results :)

[Arduinna]

I haven't had mine checked in years, the last time I had it done I was vegan and I can't remember my total chol numbers but my triglycerides where through the roof. I'd be interested to see what it is now, but not enough to schedule a special visit to have it checked.

[Intoit]

And the results are in....

---

Total     196

HDL     70

LDL     93

Triglycerides     163

I was hoping my HDL's would have been a little higher, but 70 is still a very protective level and I've been eating this way for only over a year. I was just a *little* surprised at my triglyceride number, although it's pretty close to the "150 or less" normal range and anything under 200 is OK too. It may have been due to my eating my usual-as-of-late evening snack of a few veggie chips and about 4 oz of cream cheese just 10 hours before I got the blood draw . Could also have been influenced by my current state of pregnancy or simply by the fact that my body metabolizes fat for energy and not carbohydrates. There is also huge variability with intraindividual triglyceride measurements, so I'm not going to be too concerned with it, and doc wants me to retest some time after the LO gets here anyway  (not BC of the tri, just to recheck everything and then some).

Overall I am very happy with my numbers, because I do recall my HDL was horribly, horribly low when I had my cholesterol checked years ago. I shall continue to chew (and eat!!) all the yummy delicious fat that I so much enjoy 

Edited by Intoit - 12/23/10 at 1:56pm