3 ms·

> Give it a try and see how you feel. Ignore the rest. Remember that how you feel isn't the same thing as your long term health risks. My belief, and that of m

> Give it a try and see how you feel. Ignore the rest. Remember that how you feel isn't the same thing as your long term health risks. My belief, and that of mainstream science, is that this diet will raise your cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease. You won't be able to feel your heart health worsening until things are very bad. It might be a trade-off some people want though.

sergiotapia 4y ago
Get your blood work done at regular intervals and confirm that fear. I've seen a lot of people show impressive bloodwork results online. But again, don't believe internet randoms, just talk to a doctor and get your blood drawn. See for yourself.
- Buttons840 4y ago
  I had 193 LDL-C, which is about 97th percentile, and I'm fairly lean so I can't look to weightloss as a solution. I was scared when I saw this measurement, and after some research started a mostly plant based diet. I purchased another blood test 10 days later and my LDL-C had fallen 50 points to 143. Both tests were reliable; performed by Quest diagnostics. I hope I will continue to improve. I feel a little shitty though, perhaps I haven't mastered a balanced plant based diet yet. I do eat lean meat two meals a week. I believe a proper plant based diet takes more skill to balance than one that includes meat. I also believe that what works for one might not work for another. So yes, trying different things and getting measurements is good advice. I'd warn against chiropractors (they call themselves "doctors", but not of medicine) on YouTube telling people that cholesterol doesn't matter; it is a risk factor, but only one of many factors.
ffsoftboiled 4y ago
But cholesterol doesn't increase the risk of heart disease. That was bunk science when it came out.
- Buttons840 4y ago
  You talk as though it was one study done 60 years ago. My understanding is that they've done a wide variety of studies continuously over decades. They observed only, people with higher cholesterol were more likely to die. They fed various animals high fat diets, the animals died sooner than control groups. The animals who are a lot of fat had higher serum cholesterol. They tried diet interventions, no medicine, just getting people to eat different, those who ate less saturated fat tended to live longer. Saturated fat is correlated with cholesterol levels, as shown in other observational studies. They created medicines, did trials, some of the medicines tended to lower cholesterol and extend life, others lowered cholesterol and didn't extend life. It's complicated, but there's a wide variety of studies that have looked at cholesterol from different angles and taken all together paint a crude but coherent picture. Today, we know that total cholesterol is quite crude, looking at LDL is better, and there's other blood markers that are even better than LDL. It's complex and beyond what can be discussed effectively on HN, but there's a lot behind the conventional wisdom on cholesterol. Dismissing it all as "bunk science" is dismissing a strawman. Furthermore, mainstream recommendations are completely reasonable. Eat a variety of food, avoid processed foods, limit saturated fat but some is ok, only give statins when cholesterol is very high or their risk for heart disease is high. If more people followed the guidelines, the net effect would mostly be people eating more whole fruits and vegetables, hardly the great evil the industry is sometimes accused of.
  - DAVer98 4y ago
    Sugar sticks to artery walls like little daggers. Without the sugar to cling on to the cholesterol can't stick to the artery walls.
pfdietz 4y ago
The effect of statin drugs on your cholesterol would utterly swamp any putative effects of dietary fat. Also, how is dietary fat bad but the fat synthesized in your body from excess carbs good?
DAVer98 4y ago
Without sugar which sticks to artery walls like little daggers, the cholesterol itself cant stick to artery walls fortunately.

sergiotapia 4y ago

Get your blood work done at regular intervals and confirm that fear. I've seen a lot of people show impressive bloodwork results online. But again, don't believe internet randoms, just talk to a doctor and get your blood drawn. See for yourself.

Buttons840 4y ago
I had 193 LDL-C, which is about 97th percentile, and I'm fairly lean so I can't look to weightloss as a solution. I was scared when I saw this measurement, and after some research started a mostly plant based diet. I purchased another blood test 10 days later and my LDL-C had fallen 50 points to 143. Both tests were reliable; performed by Quest diagnostics. I hope I will continue to improve. I feel a little shitty though, perhaps I haven't mastered a balanced plant based diet yet. I do eat lean meat two meals a week. I believe a proper plant based diet takes more skill to balance than one that includes meat. I also believe that what works for one might not work for another. So yes, trying different things and getting measurements is good advice. I'd warn against chiropractors (they call themselves "doctors", but not of medicine) on YouTube telling people that cholesterol doesn't matter; it is a risk factor, but only one of many factors.

ffsoftboiled 4y ago

But cholesterol doesn't increase the risk of heart disease. That was bunk science when it came out.

Buttons840 4y ago
You talk as though it was one study done 60 years ago. My understanding is that they've done a wide variety of studies continuously over decades. They observed only, people with higher cholesterol were more likely to die. They fed various animals high fat diets, the animals died sooner than control groups. The animals who are a lot of fat had higher serum cholesterol. They tried diet interventions, no medicine, just getting people to eat different, those who ate less saturated fat tended to live longer. Saturated fat is correlated with cholesterol levels, as shown in other observational studies. They created medicines, did trials, some of the medicines tended to lower cholesterol and extend life, others lowered cholesterol and didn't extend life. It's complicated, but there's a wide variety of studies that have looked at cholesterol from different angles and taken all together paint a crude but coherent picture. Today, we know that total cholesterol is quite crude, looking at LDL is better, and there's other blood markers that are even better than LDL. It's complex and beyond what can be discussed effectively on HN, but there's a lot behind the conventional wisdom on cholesterol. Dismissing it all as "bunk science" is dismissing a strawman. Furthermore, mainstream recommendations are completely reasonable. Eat a variety of food, avoid processed foods, limit saturated fat but some is ok, only give statins when cholesterol is very high or their risk for heart disease is high. If more people followed the guidelines, the net effect would mostly be people eating more whole fruits and vegetables, hardly the great evil the industry is sometimes accused of.
- DAVer98 4y ago
  Sugar sticks to artery walls like little daggers. Without the sugar to cling on to the cholesterol can't stick to the artery walls.

pfdietz 4y ago

The effect of statin drugs on your cholesterol would utterly swamp any putative effects of dietary fat. Also, how is dietary fat bad but the fat synthesized in your body from excess carbs good?

DAVer98 4y ago

Without sugar which sticks to artery walls like little daggers, the cholesterol itself cant stick to artery walls fortunately.