So, I’m on this very-low saturated fat and low cholesterol diet. Eating this way, I’ve lost 30 lbs., and improved my serum HDL / LDL and TG levels significantly (HDL = 65, LDL = 59, TG = 72). The question is - if I decide to splurge and eat a cheeseburger, can I balance this Sat Fat load by eating really strictly for the next few meals, or is the damage already done? Basically, how quickly does the serum cholesterol level react to a heavy fat input?
Bumping this in the hope that it will get more attention on Monday.
I don’t know the answer except to say that for me, oat bran tablets have been very effective in lowering my LDL cholesterol. I tend to follow a low fat diet as well but probably not as strictly as you do and my LDL is 19 (yes, 19, that’s not a typo). But I take about 15-20 850mg oat bran tablets per day. When I don’t, my LDL goes up but I can’t remember by how much w/o digging out my old blood test.
I would recommend getting a home test kit called the Cardiochek PA. There are 2 varieties so try to get the PA version. It retails for about $600 new but I got mine on ebay for $200 and change. Getting it for under $300 should be doable with a little patience. Just set up an ebay alert and have them email you new listing.
Once you get that, there are 4-way test strips that will read your total chol, calculated LDL, HDL and trigs. Test strips are about $10 each if you get a pack of 15. You will also need 40 micro liter capillary tubes and plungers (about $20). I got everything from either Sears or Walmart online.
It sounds like a lot of money, but if it helps you keep your blood lipids under control it is well worth it in my opinion. If you need more details, just ask.
Much ado about no real risk, frankly.
Your lipid profile is so excellent that any brief fluctuations from dietary indiscretions will not impact your health in any meaningful way.
What’s important is the long-term trend of HDL and LDL, not any short-term variations. And the overall levels tend to react slowly to dietary changes anyway. Even with my highest risk patients (diabetics with known heart disease for example,) I don’t check their cholesterol any more frequently than every 3 months, and every 6 months to a year or more is a more reasonable interval for a person on an overall stable diet or drug regimen.
Given your lipid profile, I’d have trouble justifying to your insurance company why we should check more often than every 3 years, frankly.
So don’t try to micromanage. There’s nothing to be gained by it.
Thanks for that information.
There’s nothing worse than feeling guilty after eating an infrequent, rich treat…
I’ll check out the Cardiocheck - thanks for the tip.
I just want to emphasize that the regular Cardiochek model is less than a third of the price of the PA version and will NOT handle the lipid panel test strips. The 2 units look identical, so I have to stress this point lest you be misled.
Good health to you!