My scary Lipid Panel

[Encephalon]

Any medical professionals with TCM background care to chime in over my lipid panel... before I drop dead?

 

 

CHOLESTEROL 263 <200 mg/dL

TRIGLYCERIDE 278 <150 mg/dL

HDL 47 >/=40 mg/dL

LDL CALCULATED 160 <100 mg/dL

CHOLESTEROL/HDL 5.6 <5.0

5/15/2006

 

CHOLESTEROL 235 <200 mg/dL

TRIGLYCERIDE 137 <150 mg/dL

HDL 53 >/=40 mg/dL

LDL CALCULATED 155 <100 mg/dL

CHOLESTEROL/HDL 4.4 <5.0

11/16/2006

 

 

CHOLESTEROL 243 <200 mg/dL

TRIGLYCERIDE 148 <150 mg/dL

HDL 66 >/=40 mg/dL

LDL CALCULATED 147 <100 mg/dL

CHOLESTEROL/HDL 3.7 <5.0

5/2/2008

 

CHOLESTEROL 303 <200 mg/dL

TRIGLYCERIDE 137 <150 mg/dL

HDL 67 >/=40 mg/dL

LDL CALCULATED 209 <100 mg/dL

CHOLESTEROL/HDL 4.5 <5.0

8/19/2010

[Brian]

...

[bindo]

watch this starting at about 7:45.

[Encephalon]

watch this starting at about 7:45.

 

Yeah, I think there's some truth to that. Western medicine loves to isolate a single factor and misses the rest of the syndrome. The only thing that makes sense is that I'm 50, with hereditary issues, and I eat a lot of coconut oil, but I don't think this latter point is responsible. Plenty of homework ahead.

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

Yeah, I think there's some truth to that. Western medicine loves to isolate a single factor and misses the rest of the syndrome. The only thing that makes sense is that I'm 50, with hereditary issues, and I eat a lot of coconut oil, but I don't think this latter point is responsible. Plenty of homework ahead.

 

 

Read up what Mark Hyman, MD has to say on his website, DrHyman.com. He recommends finding a Functional Medicine physician. Here's something I posted last year by Dr Hyman on the role of cholesterol vs inflammation in heart disease.

Edited August 20, 2010 by TheSongsofDistantEarth

[Brian]

...

[ShaktiMama]

Songs, thanks for the Mark Hyman info. Inflammation sounds like a beleivable culprit.

 

From your inital (linked) post:

 

 

Grilled meats are lousy for health. If you like BBQ, and eat it a lot, decreasing these types of cooked meats is a simple way to better your diet.

 

Side note: Years ago, after the results of my first cholesterol test, my levels of HDL were out of the range of recommended levels. They were too high! Maybe doctors don't expect many patients to have such good cholesterol profiles.

 

I also have an outstandingly good cholesterol profile. I primarily eat Paleo.

s

[Encephalon]

I also have an outstandingly good cholesterol profile. I primarily eat Paleo.

s

 

 

I'm gearing up for the Ornish regimen for one year, just to flush out the arterial plaque.

 

The following kind of blows the lid off the whole cholesterol scare. Who would've thought that drug companies would demonize a molecule in order to secure handsome profits from cholesterol medications? I just can't believe drug companies would behave in such a manner!

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/the-cholesterol-myth-that_b_676817.html

The Cholesterol Myth That Could Be Harming Your Health

[idquest]

The following kind of blows the lid off the whole cholesterol scare. Who would've thought that drug companies would demonize a molecule in order to secure handsome profits from cholesterol medications? I just can't believe drug companies would behave in such a manner!

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/the-cholesterol-myth-that_b_676817.html

The Cholesterol Myth That Could Be Harming Your Health

Can't help but cite a paragraph from this article:

 

"How to Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally...

 

2. Reduce, with the plan of eliminating, grains and sugars in your daily diet. It is especially important to eliminate dangerous sugars such as fructose. If your HDL/Cholesterol ratio is abnormal and needs to be improved it would also serve you well to virtually eliminate fruits from your diet, as that it also a source of fructose. Once your cholesterol improves you can gradually reintroduce it to levels that don't raise your cholesterol. "

 

Fruit are bad, bad, bad...

[Ramon25]

ORNISH WIL KILL YOU!!! EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO im telling u stay away form ornish.For all choelestrol issues, eat PALEO

[Encephalon]

ORNISH WIL KILL YOU!!! EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO EAT PALEO im telling u stay away form ornish.For all choelestrol issues, eat PALEO

 

That might be a tad extreme - one year on the Ornish diet is not going to kill me, or anyone else for that matter. I'm looking forward to the Paleo diet when I move up to the Canadian Rockies, but my family is predisposed to building up plaque on the walls of my arteries, and Ornish proved you can remove it.

 

I will be consuming more fat than Ornish's original dietary regimen, however. Mostly coconut oil, flax, and rice bran.

[Ramon25]

Dude ornish proved nothing. His diet is not supported by science in any way shape and form. he proved that by not smoking, and exercising, meditating and a few more live interventions that you could reduce plaque, how much of that was related to diet? no one knows because its one thing, could they have done better on a different diet? probably. Look if you want me to post a huge post one ths science of not eating ornish and doing the opposite, I will do so with references. Or you can pick up a good book and see what it has to offer, Without exploring both sides VERY WELL, you are gambling with your life. Get a book called "good calories, bad calories" by gary taubes.Which goes into the utmost detail of how plaque is formed in the first place and how it is related to diet, its not a diet book,its ony science. The best tpye of science. He is an award winning science writer, winninng more awards than other wirters, in physics and cold fusion ect.. than who simply took an intrest in nutrition, and produced this. Please read this, for you own knowledge and willingness to explore both sides. also just check out a few links I was able to pick at random quicky.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=Xdm40JUD9HwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=good+calories+bad+calories&source=bl&ots=aLubN2IDCb&sig=Rk963-C6ka8jYd6lX09otkXhEk4&hl=en&ei=-x9wTPTaIIKmsQP5q4zJCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/weight-loss/low-carbohydrate-diets-increase-ldl-debunking-the-myth/

 

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fat-phobia/

 

http://www.alsearsmd.com/

[Encephalon]

Dude ornish proved nothing. His diet is not supported by science in any way shape and form. he proved that by not smoking, and exercising, meditating and a few more live interventions that you could reduce plaque, how much of that was related to diet? no one knows because its one thing, could they have done better on a different diet? probably. Look if you want me to post a huge post one ths science of not eating ornish and doing the opposite, I will do so with references. Or you can pick up a good book and see what it has to offer, Without exploring both sides VERY WELL, you are gambling with your life. Get a book called "good calories, bad calories" by gary taubes.Which goes into the utmost detail of how plaque is formed in the first place and how it is related to diet, its not a diet book,its ony science. The best tpye of science. He is an award winning science writer, winninng more awards than other wirters, in physics and cold fusion ect.. than who simply took an intrest in nutrition, and produced this. Please read this, for you own knowledge and willingness to explore both sides. also just check out a few links I was able to pick at random quicky.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=Xdm40JUD9HwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=good+calories+bad+calories&source=bl&ots=aLubN2IDCb&sig=Rk963-C6ka8jYd6lX09otkXhEk4&hl=en&ei=-x9wTPTaIIKmsQP5q4zJCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/weight-loss/low-carbohydrate-diets-increase-ldl-debunking-the-myth/

 

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fat-phobia/

 

http://www.alsearsmd.com/

 

 

Thanks for the advice. I was able to read most of chapter 9 of "Good Cals, bad cals" online but put a hold on it in the library. I haven't actually found definitive proof that Ornish's achievement of a reduction in arteriol plaque was false, so I'll suspend judgement there and accept that overconsumption of carbs, and not saturated fat, poses the greater cardio risks. Again, my goal is to spend one year in an attempt to flush out the plaque, since my relatives are genetically predisposed to being lard-storing organisms.

[Ramon25]

Thanks for the advice. I was able to read most of chapter 9 of "Good Cals, bad cals" online but put a hold on it in the library. I haven't actually found definitive proof that Ornish's achievement of a reduction in arteriol plaque was false, so I'll suspend judgement there and accept that overconsumption of carbs, and not saturated fat, poses the greater cardio risks. Again, my goal is to spend one year in an attempt to flush out the plaque, since my relatives are genetically predisposed to being lard-storing organisms.

Well im glad your keeping a mind open enough to atleast consider the two sides. I was saying regarding ornish that the studies that "prove" he was able to reduce gunk in the artieries also had A whole bunch of other Proven interventions. So his diet CANNOT be given the credit. IN controlled clinical studies. One after another has shown a reduction in all markers of heart disease WITHOUT any other interventions snimply by controllong the amount of carbs one eats. Read that book, the whole history and falseness of the lipid heart hypothesis is shown clearly AND was never proven in the least. Also one year wont do anything, if you flush it out and start again on the bad habit bandwagon you will simply be back where you are now full circle. SO you need to change the way you eat indefinitaley or accept the dnagers of not doing so. But when yoy look at a diet thats doing to pretty much eating what you need to in ORDER to cause a high risk cardiac profile, you may relaize why i said the ornish diet will kill you. Please just read the book before you start anything and then draw conclusions after the fact.

[Encephalon]

Well im glad your keeping a mind open enough to atleast consider the two sides. I was saying regarding ornish that the studies that "prove" he was able to reduce gunk in the artieries also had A whole bunch of other Proven interventions. So his diet CANNOT be given the credit. IN controlled clinical studies. One after another has shown a reduction in all markers of heart disease WITHOUT any other interventions snimply by controllong the amount of carbs one eats. Read that book, the whole history and falseness of the lipid heart hypothesis is shown clearly AND was never proven in the least. Also one year wont do anything, if you flush it out and start again on the bad habit bandwagon you will simply be back where you are now full circle. SO you need to change the way you eat indefinitaley or accept the dnagers of not doing so. But when yoy look at a diet thats doing to pretty much eating what you need to in ORDER to cause a high risk cardiac profile, you may relaize why i said the ornish diet will kill you. Please just read the book before you start anything and then draw conclusions after the fact.

 

I'll take your word for it, but I'm climbing the learning curve solo, and I've just started. Thanks again.

[Gerard]

No idea about what all those numbers mean, but here is my advice:

 

1. Fix your diet (in case is not good).

2. Drink green tea made of fresh leaves every day, twice a day.

3. Drink pu-erh tea as well, once a day.

4. Exercise every day (in case you don't).

 

Careful with the timing of both teas because wood controls earth, so don't drink them one after the other. Keep as many hours as you can between the two, i.e. pu-erh early the morning and green tea lunch and evening.

 

This daily regime will flush and keep your liver under control and strenghten your spleen plus will shed off lots of unwanted fat.

[Birch]

"just can't believe drug companies would behave in such a manner! "

 

Whaa...?

 

------sigh------

 

DK, what happens if you don't like green tea or pu-er tea? I've also found that tea on an empty stomach gives me immediate nausea. Whereas coffee doesn't. What's your TCM take on why?

[mjjbecker]

[Gerard]

DK, what happens if you don't like green tea or pu-er tea? I've also found that tea on an empty stomach gives me immediate nausea. Whereas coffee doesn't. What's your TCM take on why?

 

Kate,

 

You need to drink quality tea. Rubbish tea will make you nausea in that instance.

 

If you are interested I can provide you links to reputable vendors that sell healthy and good teas, which you can drink anytime. Personally I refrain from any pu-erhs close to bedtime because they are too energising for me. By the way, make sure you wash the leaves before you prepare the tea to remove initial bitterness, which is still mild in the teas I am referring to.

 

Edited: I forgot to mention that correct brewing temperature, pouring technique and the vessel used for brewing make also a big difference in what you pour in your tea cup.

Edited August 23, 2010 by durkhrod chogori

[bindo]

The China Study The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health

[Ramon25]

The China Study The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health

 

Yeah , indeed http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fallac/

If you like I can post about 30 more links "literally" showing how the conclusions drawn form the reasearch of the china study, Would be "biased" AT BEST and downright charlaton at worst.

[Gerard]

IMO there is no need to purchase an entire manual about human nutrition. There is an esier process than that:

 

Nourish your liver, the chief commander of all the internal organs.

 

A healthy liver = healthy self and clean and fully aware spirit.

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

Blasto, how about an update? Are you on Ornish? How are your numbers? I too just had a lipid panel that was a little scary...