Janelle's Lipid Results

Newcomer introductions, personal anecdotes, caregiver issues, lab results, and n=1 experimentation.
Janelle
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Janelle's Lipid Results

Post by Janelle »

I figured I would just start a thread for my bloodwork journey. I got my baseline numbers back for my NMR test... stilly scary. I was wondering, how do I even get my HDL to go up? I don't see anything on the Berkeley Heart chart with up arrows for E4s. Do you guys have any advice from experience on how to make HDL levels go up?

NMR Results

LDL-P 1879
LDL-C 175
HDL-C 43
TG 87
TC 235

HDL-P 23.5
LDL-Size 21.3

Large VLDL-P <0.8
Small LDL-P 729
Large HDL-P-5.0
VLDL Size- 33.9
LDL Size-21.3
HDL Size-> 8.8

LP-IR Score- 27
Last edited by Janelle on Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Julie G
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Re: Janelle's Lipid Results

Post by Julie G »

Good for you for getting a baseline, Janelle.

Traditionally, I've read that exercise and a little bit of wine is good for getting HDL up. (Alcohol, however, is a mixed bag for us.) I drink a small amount (3oz) of dry red wine and also eat freely of EVOO, olives, and avocados to raise my HDL. It was 92 last time I checked.

I've also read that Niacin can lower LDL and raise HDL...but I have no personal experience with that. AND, you probably don't want another confounding variable to dilute your experiment :?
MarkES
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Re: Janelle's Lipid Results

Post by MarkES »

Janelle,

Thanks for posting your NMR results. What was your diet like? Do you have estimate of %fat,carbs,protein? Are these typical standard lipid values for you?

Intermittent fasting and exercise help for some people to raise HDL. Saturated fat helps, too, but unfortunately for E4's LDL-C goes up even more.

Lowering LDL-C is probably beneficial and likely easier than raising HDL.

Mark
ε3/ε4
Janelle
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Re: Janelle's Lipid Results

Post by Janelle »

Hi guys,
Thanks for the info. :)

This is more elevated than my LDL has normally been, but not that far from. I've normally had TC around 215 most my life and LDL about 140. About 6 months ago, I started 'trying' to be healthy and actually take fish oil pills like my doctor kept telling me to and went on a paleo-ish diet and started exercising regularly.

I was eating egg/veggie omelettes in the morning, usually fish and vegetables at lunch, and ate sushimi/sushi a lot (2-3x per week), had turkey/pork at home, and was juicing veggies everyday and eating raw sauerkraut. I ate quite a bit of fermented dairy too, mainly kefir, yogurt & cheese, and nuts. Also ate a bunch of fresh veggies every day. Replaced cooking w EVOO with coconut oil. I was thinking I was being healthy and lost 15lbs without trying. I wasn't tracking my diet, but I would guess it was about... 40% fat, 40% protein, 20% carbs.

I also went on a supplement routine at the same time... I was worried about oxidation, and this was what I found somewhere online was supposed to improve oxidized LDL numbers. No idea if this was a good plan or not, so if you guys have some feedback from experience, I'd appreciate it. The doctor just recommended fish oil, which wasn't a good plan either.

I started taking daily:

usana mega antioxidant 2x
usana chelated minerals 2x
usana proflavanol C100 x1
usana coquinone30 x1
usana hepasil DTX x2
usana fish oil 1000/mg x2

Then after about 6 months of that, my blood work looked like this. It's a different crazy expensive test at Boston Heart Labs and I think the Direct-LDL is actual as opposed to calculated.

Total Cholesterol: 287
Direct LDL-C: 217
HDL-C: 47
TG: 104

In the same results I also found out that I was E3/E4 and after some research found my way here. :) I took the test just after Christmas, and have been on my new vegan diet for about a week. So about a month went by between this test and the blood work I just posted.

I was planning on keeping my supplements the same except for 2 things:
* dropping the fish oil
* Adding 3000IU D3 (my multi has 1000 already) and doing sun therapy once per week. My vitamin D is at 20.

But since I just came up with this myself after reading, I'm a bit worried that I'm taking too many supplements that would end up hurting me? So if you guys have any feedback, I would very much appreciate it.

I'm tracking my diet on chronometer from this point forward and getting NMR panels once per month to help me learn. And I'll keep everything posted here too so that you guys can learn with me. :)
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Julie G
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Re: Janelle's Lipid Results

Post by Julie G »

Janelle, your story & experiment are very inspiring. Lots of E4s get high cholesterol/LDL-C/LDL-P with higher fat. We're considered hyper-absorbers- myself included. It is very inspiring to see how quickly your LDL has dropped with your new semi-vegan diet :D

You ask a lot of great questions to which there are no easy answers. Please don't get discouraged by the lack of response to your queries.

We are all searching for answers; hence the creation of the website. Many of us are experimenting with different diet protocols. Despite the fact that I clearly hyper-absorb, I'm still playing around with a higher fat diet (less SFA/more MUFA) with lower carbs. Our diets are as varied as our supplement protocols.

I would encourage you to read and research as much as you can. The Fish Oil thread might help you decide what to do there. There is little consensus for E4s at this point.
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Re: Janelle's Lipid Results

Post by SpunkyPup »

"juicing veggies everyday"
"bit of fermented dairy too, mainly kefir, yogurt & cheese" I would cut that out suspect it is a big problem.
you are getting fructose toxins juicing increasing small particles not good also cut out coconut oil and lean meat cut off the fat.
fish oil should be less than 1000mg 2:1 EPA/DHA per day.
dump your supplements and use ones from lef.org better

just doing the above should make a big difference.

slo-niacin will work alto it can raise blood glucose so get a glucose meter and check your response after one hour idela <120. you will need a baseline on liver enzymes to make sure you are not overdoing it as 2-4g slo niacin will work but get ADMA tests and it will tell you what supplements to help compensate for b-12 b-5...

i'm no doctor but this is what the good ones who know would tell you. I've seen it work on other sites.
and forget the wine it is not good and the research was posted somewhere here.

use cronometer.com to track your food intake.

results not a disaster and on the road to better.
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SusanJ
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Re: Janelle's Lipid Results

Post by SusanJ »

Any particular reason why you are juicing veggies daily? One thing to consider with juicing veggies is that you are losing all the fiber, and fiber is known to help reduce cholesterol. Every little bit might help.
Janelle
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Re: Janelle's Lipid Results

Post by Janelle »

I'm eating lots of vegetables too, and oatmeal, and nuts and seeds, so I assumed I was getting plenty if not too much fiber.
Please correct me if this is wrong... I'd appreciate references too, there's a ton of conflicting information out there. I've been trying to limit sugar, but I was under the impression that juicing:

increases bioavailability of nutrients in the vegetables, fermented vegetables does as well
gut health issues can prevent absorption of various nutrients and juicing increases absorption to make healing easier
vegetable juice helps reduce inflammation
insoluble fiber binds with minerals and prevents their absorption even when in your diet
too much fiber can lead to gut health issues
juicing can help your body to heal itself, e.g. juicing as alternative cancer treatment

My plan was to eliminate supplements that I can get by juicing vegetables instead. I realized when I started typing stuff into cronometer that I probably don't need antioxidant supplements if I'm juicing.
Janelle
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Re: Janelle's Lipid Results

Post by Janelle »

Although it's totally unscientific and I really have no way to know...

I suspect the combination of juicing & eating fermented vegetables is responsible for me solving my chronic sinus & allergy problems. It seemed like I was allergic to everything and I haven't had any allergy symptoms in well over a year now. Carrots that used to make my throat swell shut barely bother me now. I think it's improved my quality of life.

I've still been juicing veggies, but eating vegan + some fish, gave up eggs and dairy, and am eating oatmeal and nuts every morning. I've been sleeping a lot better so far. I felt pretty crappy for a few days, but am feeling really good now.
SpunkyPup
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Re: Janelle's Lipid Results

Post by SpunkyPup »

"increases bioavailability of nutrients in the vegetables"

so you are making the sugars more available.. not good.. we did not evolve with juicers we used teeth and cooking so don't cook to much..

you are what you absorb and the gut bugs control a big part.
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