Hi, Everyone,

I have researched LDL particle size, thanks to John and other posters, but it's hard for me to not panic about my change in LDL cholesterol one year after giving up being a vegetarian and turning to the Zone. Here are my pre and post lipids:


2011 - following a vegetarian diet for two years prior
TRG 61
TC 206
HDL 71
LDL 122
TC/HDL 2.9


2012 -- one year on Zone
TRG 49
TC 294
HDL 97
LDL 188
TC/HDL 3.0


I am a 47 year old woman with very low blood pressure, and an 80 fasting glucose/5.3 A1C.

Should I care about LDL? Should I have particle size tested? If so, does anyone know where to find test codes? More fish oil (take about 1300mg daily now)? My doc is going to retest me in 3 months and then possibly suggest statins (I won't do it). Should I resume vegetarian diet (my old eating patterns were not in the zone -- won't eat soy)? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Carolyn

I'm new to the zone, so I'm not sure how much my opinion will weight on this, but here are my two cents. I wouldn't ignore your LDL levels but use it as a guideline to help tweek your zone diet to be more efficient to your body's needs.

For example, instead of using olive oil as your main source of fat use LDL lowering almonds or almond butter. I believe Avacados are also low in saturated fat and will help bring your LDL levels down. Make sure you are choosing extremely lean selections of meat as well. You may find just a few small tweeks will have a huge impact on your LDL levels while still allowing you be in the zone.

[quote]
Posted By Carolyn on 21 Jan 2012 10:33 AM
2011 - following a vegetarian diet for two years prior
TRG 61
TC 206
HDL 71
LDL 122
TC/HDL 2.9

2012 -- one year on Zone
TRG 49
TC 294
HDL 97
LDL 188
TC/HDL 3.0

Thank you,
Carolyn
[/quote]
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Hi;
I wouldn't "stress" about it.
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1.) Dr. Sears mentions to use the TriGyceride / HDL ratio as a (poor man's) guide to the AA/APA ratio.
Your ratio is: .51, an excellent value.
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2.) Some concern, a little, yes. Possibly a sign of a little inflammation. hink about any other changes?
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3.) There are two types of LDL, and as Dr. Sears states "fluffy, beach ball - harmless" and "small dense, the bad LDL".
Think of the bad LDL as like BB's (vs. Beach Balls). The name for those is Pattern A and Pattern B LDL. Pattern B is harmless.
The AppoB blood test, which you can ask your doctor to add to the blood lipid profile when you get tested next, will measure this.
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4.) I did, and my Dr. had no problem ordering it for me.
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P.S. Cholesterol is necessary. Cholesterol is cholesterol is cholesterol. If your body does not have enough, it tries to produce more.
Cholesterol attaches to LipoProteins. It is the size of LipoProteins that describes HDL, Pattern A LDL, and Pattern B LDL.
HDL carries cholesterol to your cells. LDL carries used cholesterol back to the liver to be filtered to be carried back to cells, etc.
So, if you have increased LDL, don't treat symptom, try to find cause and treat.
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By the way Statins are worse than treating the symptom, they are a "shotgun" approach. Lowering ALL cholesterol, including HDL!
YOUR HDL is EXCELLENT! So is your Triglyceride level. (Triglyceride measurement is a fatty acid measurement, not a cholesterol measurement.) .
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P.P.S. I have the similar problem, and I am still trying to determine what I changed in my diet.
For 7 years my TC, LDL, and TriG all went down, then stabilized, and my HDL slowly increased. In June I had my annual Dr. check-up and blood test. In July I had another blood test from changing to a lower cost life ins policy. My HDL was still up - same value as in June, BUT my TriG were up very slightly and my LDL and my TC were up a bit.
I took it as an anomaly. Then in Jan 2012, I had another blood test (sale on LEF blood tests) for Vitamin-D and I added a blood lipid profile test. It showed another small increase in both TC and LDL, while HDL remained high (for me at 67) and TriG remained low (for me) but also up a couple more points. I am not concerned, but now trying to determine what I might have changed between June and July that I continued to do which caused the slight upward trend, after decreasing and remaining steady for 7 years.
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Hi Carolyn,

Regarding particle size, TG/HDL is a marker used to indicate particle size. Your current TG/HDL (49/97) indicates the larger particles which are usually not of concern. TG/HDL of 1 or less is ideal; 2 or more indicates the smaller dense particles which are usually more of a concern.

Limit dietary AA as much as you can, follow a strict Zone diet with mostly veggies for all you carbohydrates,berries when you feel you want to eat fruit, and get all the omega 6 fats out of your diet that you can and pay close attention to maintaining optimal insulin control (by paying close atention to Zone balance in order to maintain as stable a blood sugar level as possible ). Strongly consider switching to 4 capsules of Omega RX daily together with Sea Health Plus and/or Polyphenols XT. If you are overweight, make that 8 capsules of Omega Rx, 2 servings a day of Sea Health Plus and 1 capsule of the Polyphenols XT. I have personal experience with successfully lowering my higher LDL and with helping my Zone cleints do the same. Incidentally, even though I was following a strict Zone diet for many years and had experienced signigificant lowering of LDL, when I switched to the Zone foods plan about 2 1/2 years ago (the plan based on the baked foods and pastas) my LDL lowered by 30 or so points. This was utterly amazing considering I'd already been "in the Zone" for 15 years at that point in time. This 30 point drop in my LDL is directly attributed to the fact the Zone foods do not contain AA, and are virtually void of omega 6 fat. I contiune to eat a mostly vegetarian version of the Zone using the Zone baked foods, and my LDL levels have remained stable at their lowest readings ever (around 100!)

I'll be glad to help if you have any questions.

Carolyn, I forgot to say, the fish oil recommendations I gave in my previous post are based on Dr. Sears' usual recommendations. Have a nice weekend!

Here's a basic primer on Cholesterol.
http://www.lifescript.com/special/m...122T000000

Here is some more info, this comes from Dr. Mercola. And also might explain my slight rise, as well. It was around June, I think That we went almost grain-free, except for the occasional 1/2 Sweet-Potato as part of 25% unfavorable Carbs at dinner once a week. We also stopped eating Quinoa, which is one of the most healthiest grains, which we will now add back in again as well in small amounts.
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From Dr. Mercola: When I eliminated all my grains and starchy vegetables, I actually experienced some negative effects. My energy levels declined considerably, and my cholesterol, which is normally about 150, rose to over 200. It appears I was suffering a glucose deficiency and this can trigger lipoprotein abnormalities. It also seemed to worsen my kidney function. So, while carbohydrate restriction is a miracle move for most people, like most good things in life, you can overdo it.
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This information really underscores how important glucose is as a nutrient, and some people can't manufacture glucose from protein as well as others, so they need SOME starches in their diet or else they will suffer from metabolic stress.
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About half of your proteins have glucose attached to them, and if they don't have glucose, they simply don't work well, if at all. Your body needs glucose both as a substrate and as a fuel in order for these proteins to work well. If you drop below 200 calories of glucose per day, you might notice some negative consequences in the way you feel and even in some of your blood work, as I did.
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My experience now shows me that I need to have some source of non-vegetable carbs. I still seek to avoid nearly all grains, except for rice and potatoes. I typically limit my total carbohydrate calories ...
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However, that is what works for me. You must listen to YOUR body and perform your own experiment. The bottom line is how your body responds, and you're the ONLY one who can determine that.

Hi Everyone,

For a number of reasons, I don't think the scenario in this info from Dr. Mercola applies to people who are in the Zone. The 2 main reasons are 1. When eating Zone balanced you are not going so low in carbohydrate that the body becomes deprived (done correctly the Zone diet provides does not deprive the body of the carbohydrate it needs to function at its optimal levels), and 2. When eating in the Zone you do not burn carbohydrates to pruduce your energy, you burn fat. IMHO, Dr Mercola's info in the previous post is aimed at the individual who is eating a very low carbohydrate diet ( this does not describe the Zone diet), and who is burning carbohydrate to produce their energy, and neuther Neither of these last two statements are applicable to a person following the Zone diet.

Found this, too:
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Native to Peru, quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH) is a dietary staple for many South Americans, but is virtually unheard of in the United States. Though it is usually thought of as a grain quinoa is actually the seed of a plant that is most closely related to the spinach, beet and chard family. Quinoa is slightly nutty in flavor and when cooked retains a bit of crunch. Apart from being tasty, it is a good source of protein and contains an almost perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids.