Can anyone tell me how the Atkins diet seems to be helping cholesterol levels? i have read the book, but i still dont understand the process! Also, is it safe to drink vinigar and water to reduce choles. levels?

Thanks for your opinions

pms,

I've found that on Atkins some get better results, some get worse.
My results deteriorated very slightly if anything on Atkins....more like no change!
Some people do beautifully.

All Atkins is not the same. The only thing in common is high fat and low carbs. The TYPE of fats might very well tell a lot about the range of cholesterol test results. Somebody could be eating lots of canola, olive, fish and nut oils...others might have the bulk of fats from beef, pork and lamb.

Mine have always been pretty mixed hence (maybe) the no change results.

High protein diets like these may have lowered those with dietary high cholesterol more than genetic. I have not yet seen any documented cases of genetically high cholesterol being lowered using this diet plan, nor have I seen it recommended for heart patients.

My main concern about this diet is the lack of fiber and nutrients from all the fat and protein, and what it could do to a body in the long run after many years.

If anything, it's more for weight loss and the side effect of lowered cholesterol is a bonus for those who didn't have a genetic problem in the first instance.

My basic understanding is that carbs, if not burned by excercise or some type of activity, trigger insulin production which in turn produces cholesterol. Again this is a basic summation. Along those lines, when you reduce the amount of carbs by adopting a low carb diet such as Atkins you reduce insulin production and in turn cholesterol. There is alot of dialog addressing this process on this message board by some very knowledgable folks. Read on...

Atkins works.. I am on a light atkins diet 60 carbs per day and run 3.5 miles p/day.

I started atkins on 6/1/03... take a look at these numbers..

DATE: 2/1/01 6/1/03 10/1/03
HDL 38 35 46
LDL 203 177 160
Tri 258 254 232
Total 270 263 242

Ratio 180.4 177.2 149.6

Ratio calc: LDL= TC-HDL-(Trigs/5)

I am on my way to a better Cholesterol level WITHOUT drugs.. Atkins is a permanent part of my life.

thank god, i was SO SCARED of having to get on a statin or zetia or anything else..

feeling better about this situation.. even if it is a small step..

F.

BTW.. my doc and i believe have genetic high Col and High BP.. dad and mom and both in the same boat..

PS: I am only 30 years old..
F.

Fabian,

You have me confised on your "ratio" calculations.
The formula you give is for calculting the LDLs but you already have them in your table.

Typical useful ratios are TC/HDL and LDL/HDL.

If you have been on a cholesterol lowering diet and have been exercising daily for four months, and your numbers are as you indicate, this is not particularly a great position to be in, but I imagine you know this

Your TC/HDL ratio is 5.2 and your LDL is 160. These are not good numbers. You understandably would like them to appear better, but they are not that much better.

If this is the result of four months of strictly adhering to a diet and exercise, I think you owe it to yourself to at least consider some additional options or alternatives.

Keep in mind as well that it is not uncommon for numbers to swing at least as much as yours have with no change in diet or exercise. Our cholesterol numbers are not like our height – fixed and clear cut. A blood draw could produce an HDL of 37 one day and 45 a week later. Same with the TC numbers. If it is your objective to bring your ratio into a better area and lower your LDL to something more in line with recommendations, you may want to consider additional action or treatment.

These decisions are always very personal and motivated by our own predilection to this treatment or that. The bottom line though, is that LDL of 160 and a TC/HDL ratio of 5.2 is not a great place to be.

Hi everyone:

I went on Atkin's Diet to lose weight for the new year resolution. My cholesterol was as following:

1/11/2003
Total 263 Should be <200
Hdl 46 should be >40
LDL not calculated <130 trig. is too high not calc.
Trig 404 should be <150

In two months I had these numbers:

3/12/2003
Total 225 Should be <200
Hdl 61 should be >40
LDL 139 should be <130
Trig 122 should be <150

I lost 30 pounds in 3 months and as you can see my cholesterol came down in two month. Once I went to the second phase of the diet (from 25 carb to 50 0r 60) I stopped losing weight and stopped improving my cholesterol. My Cholesterol is 220 now. Should be less than 200 for me.
Maybe I go back on the diet again to lose those extra cholesterols. I cannot give up my rice, pasta, bread and all the nice fruits (But now I eat whole grain foods and less of it). In the long run it is not a very healthy diet. You should give it a try for few month only. It works well. When you see the results you want, just go back on your regular routine. But believe me, you learn so much about nutrition that you change to a healthy eating person anyway.

If you do not want to go on the diet just at least watch for all the food with trans fat( hydrogenated oils; it is almost in every processed food, cookies and candies) and sugar.

P.S. The Cholesterol was not genetic for me. I always had good Cholesterol. Just getting older and eating and gaining weight, brought mine up.

My experience with Aktins was that my TC went up dramatically (301 to 386), and my TC/HDL ratio worsened (4.56 to 4.99). On reflection of what zip2play posted above, what I didn't do though was to watch the quality of the fats, and probably ate excessive saturated fats in the form of eggs, cheese, meat. The weight loss was nice (down 12 lb to 153), but the lipid profiles were awful. I am now continuing on a low carb diet, but am improving fat quality.

When I was on the Atkins diet I had eggs, cream chease and sour cream for snack by itself(you have to watch for the sugar content and has to be whole not lite or other things because they add sugar to it.) Coffee with whipped cream and spelda sugar. Every fat and meat and cheese you can think of. On this diet; in order for it to work you have to have fat.
But you can not mix the fat with sugar and carb. In his book he actually says for some people that do not lose weight he puts them on the fat diet strickly. They are only supposed to eat fat to lose weight. Isn't that weird?

I have been doing the Atkins 'diet' over the last year, I have lost 1 1/2 stones. I had a false result on my cholesterol (I posted about this before)however when I had it rechecked it was wonderful, I don't have the figures here but they were all well within range and my HDL was the second highest he had ever seen. BTW my TC was high before I started the atkins not sure on other figures.

NOW the point of this post is, that if you do the Atkins way of eating correctly it is infact a very healthy diet.. I eat alot of veg fruit and good meat but no highly processed sugary starchy foods; where people tend to go wrong is that they see they can eat eggs/cheese/fat and go way way overboard on it. Dr Atkins says all in moderation and to try to not pig out on certain food stuffs, If you eat eggs cheese and steak only of course its bad for you.

Like alot of things in life if you try to bend them to suit you they don't work.