Comments on: Cholesterol and heart disease: no correlation

By: Kris

Kris — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:15:36 +0000

Hi Dr. Eades. Do you ever rely on a product such as ‘Carb Ease’ for times when you indulge? I can’t seem to go more than a week or so without a treat and I’m wondering how bad that is. I could have an occasional dessert made with splenda but I can’t get past the fact that it is made using toxic chemicals, one being chlorine. I assume you probably have addressed this already.

Also I remember you commenting somewhere that you stay away from commercial mayonaise. I know homemade would be preferred… is it the type of oil that is used in the other that makes it bad?

Thanks.
Kris

I’ve never used Carb Ease. I’m not a big fan of these carb blockers because I’m a little worried about what happens to the tissues as the carbs move downstream. And there have been some studies showing pancreatic enlargement in people taking large doses of them. It’s much easier for me to simply avoid the carbs.

As to Splenda, I have written on it. Here is the post.

I like homemade everything, including mayonnaise, because I can control the ingredients. Commercially produced mayonnaise can be crawling with all kinds of bad fats.

Cheers–

MRE

By: Vic

Vic — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:26:29 +0000

Just a thought on obesity. I was a RAF National Serviceman from 1955-57 & I cannot recall ever seeing anyone that could be called obese. There were hundreds of us in age range 18 – 25 all slim. There might have been an occasional older serviceman who had put on a bit of weight but no obesity.
Something has clearly gone wrong in society for this incredible weight increase in so many people. There can be many guesses as to what the cause might be but it shouldn’t be too hard to find out what exactly has changed since the late 1950s. Just making assumptions about lazy people who eat too much is not good enough. Has science given up on proper research or is it so much compromised by commercial itnerests.

By: abc2008

abc2008 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:31:06 +0000

I need your help in this thread regarding cholesterol issue. I can’t defend my position due to non native English speaker.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=109058441

Regards

Just enter ‘cholesterol’ in the search function of this blog. That should give you all the info you need.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:26:00 +0000

Hi Dr. Mike,

I thought I would append to these comments to thank both Max and Anna for their thyroid input.

I’m not asking for medical advice, but rather some kind of logical explanation of what could be going on….

April 07, I get a panel done
Triglycerides TG 120, TOT-C 206, HDL-C 43, LDL-C 139, but my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is a bit high at 4.3 so he increases dosage… from 90mg to 120mg.. I go home with a statin prescription (that I never fill out, and instead i decide to go lower carb, to reduce insulin and thereby destimulate HMG-CoA Reductase)

June 07,
I go lower on my carbs,
TG 99, TOT-C 163, HDL-C 37, LDL-C 106, I get back a complement on how well my low-fat diet must be working along with exercise (al I did was go very low carb, and replace some meals with protein shakes with vanilla protein). TSH came back too low at 0.10 I suggest 105mg, which I get.

Aug 07,
I start taking the protein shakes with fiber for breakfast, along with PPLP supplements and thyroid prescription.
Results:
TG 145, TOT-C 312, HDL-C 44, LDL-C 239, TSH 24.30 and all thyroid hormones are out of whack
to me, the thyroid explained the high cholesterol and LDL… so back to 120mg thyroid

-I start IF, with low carb, ketosis everyday

18-Oct-07 (last week)
Triglycerides 144, TOT-C 297, HDL-C 46, LDL-C 222 , TSH 0.30 (too low again).
I was surprised that these results, although marginally better than August’s above, are so similar. No thyroid panel was done, so I dont know what the levels are. I am a little upset that everything has remained out of whack. of course I get another statin prescription, along with the words that the levels are awful and worrisome and I’m at increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

Why would my TG’s be so high (~145) could I be eating too many calories during the eating periods of IF? I’m not gaining weight, I may be losing actually. Could this be TGs that are released from adipose tissue (vs generated by the liver from carbs) or is this leftover from thyroid havoc? I’ve been in ketosis!

My guess is I should cut back on calories… continue IF, perhaps cut out the berries with sour cream that were such a great dessert, along with the glass of dry cabernet/merlot.. but I’ve been in ketosis so I can’t explain the higher TGs… during IF if anything my insulin levels should’ve gone down, thus downregulation of HMG-CoA reductase through increase of glucagon during ketosis… but that’s not happening. I’m suggesting increasing thyroid to 105mg, in between.

Any scientific comments are appreciated… not medical advice.

Warm Regards, thanks to any who may have ideas/speculation about what is going on physiologically,

Alex

Hi Alex–

Interesting history. I can’t begin to speculate as to what happened without a whole lot more information. Given what I know, it doesn’t make sense to me that your triglyceride levels would be going up if you were keeping your carbs low. You might want to go back and retry your diet that you followed between April 7 and June 7 to see if you get the same lab results again.

Best–

MRE

By: Neil Wilkinson

Neil Wilkinson — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 22:41:07 +0000

The title of Kendrick�s book was chosen by his publisher.

I remember when the book was still in manuscript form, Dr Kendrick referred to his book as yet to find a publisher book as “Cholesterolmania”

Neil

Yeah, these working titles seem to never make it past the publisher.

MRE

By: David

David — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:08:31 +0000

Thanks Dr. Mike.

Yes, I agree, insulin is certainly what it’s all about, but that may not have marketed nearly as well (as with the prior working titles for Taubes’ Good Calories, Bad Calories). Nonetheless, PP is still one of my favorite books and as much as I like PP, PPLP totally blew me away and is a constant recommendation (if not outright gift) from me.

I’ve got to get into reading GCBC, especially based on everything you and Regina have said about it. Sounds like it’s going to be tough recommendation competition for PPLP.

-David

Hi David–

GCBC and the PPLP are complimentary, not competitive.

Also, I guess PPLP is a better title than The Insulin Connection LifePlan would have been.

Cheers–

MRE

By: David

David — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:20:57 +0000

Hi Dr. Mike,

I find it quite interesting that you hated the title “Protein Power” as you noted above.

I’m very curious what you and/or MD would have preferred to call it instead?

-David

Hi David–

When we submitted the book proposal the working title was The Insulin Connection with a subtitle that I can’t remember now that kind of told what the book was about. I think that is a more appropriate title.

Cheers–

MRE

By: maurile

maurile — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:56:30 +0000

I haven’t read Kendrick’s book, but Colpo’s is excellent.

The title of Kendrick’s book was chosen by his publisher. When Kendrick realized that Colpo had already published a book by the same title, he recommended several other titles, but the publisher had the final say. (This is according to Colpo on his message board.)

Hi Maurile–

I suspected that’s what happened with the title situation.

Cheers–

MRE

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:51:15 +0000

Another comment for Alex. Check out Mary Shoman’s thyroid.about.com/ website for lots of useful info on hypothyroidism and the range of treatment options that your doctor may not be willing to consider or tell you about. And it can be worth it to just pay out of pocket and go outside your network for tests and treatment. That’s what I had to do (my thyroid doc prescribes T4 for me, but also a very small dose of time-released compounded natural thyroid extract and T2, which works much better than just T4). Worth every penny and extra effort (though I think it saves me aggravation and $$$ in the long run).

By: Marilyn Leahy

Marilyn Leahy — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:01:58 +0000

I am reading Taubes book for the third time and am still angry. New studies are being published daily with the same answers to the same old questions, like does exercise help you lose weight. And people react as if the findings are heresy, not science.

I am old enough to remember a time when most people were NOT fat, did NOT exercise and did NOT eat fankenfoods. or gulp gallons of soda everyday.

Taubes asked “can we get the low fat crowd to apologize.” Apologize hell, I wanna sue somebody. Is being stupid a legal defense?

Ah, were it only stupidity. I think there is more there than simple stupidity, and that’s what I find most troubling.

Cheers–

MRE