Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: low carb cholesterol diet

Question:
I am currently trying a hi-fat, low-carb cholesterol diet. I eat two eggs every day. Fairly large amounts of cheese everyday. Sausage or bacon every day. Butter every day. Cream cheese every day. Peanut butter every day-the kind with peanuts and salt only. I eat a vegetable with every meal including breakfast. A lot of protein-lean red meat, pork(not the fat), chicken, tuna-canned packed in water. I snack on apples(with cheese), unsalted, dry roasted peanuts, roasted, sated sunflower seeds, raw walnuts, roasted, unsalted almonds. No fried foods. Keep carbs below 100gr per day. My cholesterol is going down, my 2 hour pp BGs are much lower than when I was eating low fat, high carb. I am losing weight. It all looks good. But I am worried about saturated fat and clogged arteries. I was reading articles, last night, from the ADA, various universities and government studies. Not one of them recommends hi-fat, low-carb. All recommend low fat, high carb for diabetics. Some as much as 350 gr of carb per day in the form of stone ground, whole wheat breads, cereals, milk, vegetables. They all seem to say that if you spread the carbs evenly throughout the day it is good for you or, if you are on insulin, it doesn't matter when you eat carbs. I am confused as the diet I am following seems to be working so much better as to weight loss, cholesterol levels, BG readings, A1C level. I'm happy with it but is it healthy ? Any comments would be appreciated.

Answer:
The ADA recommends a diet which it thinks the vast majority of diabetics will accept, not the diet which is optimal for diabetics. They're trying to do some good for a lot of people, not lots of good for the people who are willing to make major changes in how they eat. They're also locked into the treat the complications school of thought. Personally, I'd rather PREVENT the complications. I'd stop worrying if I were you. Try looking through the posts at alt.support.diet.low-carb. You'll see lots of other people talking about how their cholesterol numbers have been steadily improving on low-carb high-fat diets, not to mention their BGs. Many are converting their previously-sceptical clinicians. I was diagnosed with Type 2 in January, and low-carbing has dropped my A1c from 6.4 to 5.6. Based on other people's responses, I fully expect my already acceptable cholesterol to have improved when I get it rechecked in a couple of months. The medical establishment has been so locked into the low fat mindset -- with no studies to back it up -- that getting the official people to acknowledge the benefits of low-carb high-fat is like turning the Queen Mary around with one little tugboat. It will take time, but the studies are starting to be published which support this way of eating and demonstrate its positive effects.As someone else said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! You're doing great. Stick with it.