If I were a betting man, I’d bet a thousand dollars I’m going to get a lecture from my doctor when I see him for a follow-up visit in a couple of weeks. I already gave myself a little lecture, too. I’ll explain why in a moment, but first a little background:
We moved to Tennessee four years ago, but I didn’t bother to look for a G.P. until recently. I’m rarely sick and don’t like going to doctors, so I didn’t see the need. On the other hand, I’ll turn 55 in a few months. By the time my dad was 70, he had colon cancer, severely blocked coronary arteries, and Alzheimer’s. My health habits are way better than his and I don’t expect to develop any of those diseases, but I don’t want to be stupidly overconfident. I was already enrolled in the Vanderbilt health network because of the knee surgery last year, so I scheduled an appointment for a checkup with a doctor at the Vanderbilt clinic that’s closest to our house.
Given all my dad’s health issues, the doctor of course ordered a slew of bloodwork. My appointment at the lab was scheduled for last Wednesday – a few days after my goddaughter’s wedding. At the wedding reception, I ate the carbage that was on the buffet and drank several beers. Special occasion and all that. The next morning, I extended the special occasion by eating two chicken-fried steaks with biscuits and gravy. It was the most junk-filled two days I’ve had in many moons. I had forgotten I had a lab test coming up in a few days, but I probably would have eaten the junk anyway. Like I said, special occasion and all that.
Today I logged onto the Vanderbilt site to check my lab results. Here are the numbers that will no doubt prompt a lecture from my doctor:
Total cholesterol: 245
LDL (calculated): 165
Here are the numbers that prompted a lecture from me to myself, even though the lab report declared them within the normal range:
Fasting glucose: 110
Triglycerides: 123
HDL: 55
I’ve had three lipid panels (not including last week’s) since going low-carb nearly five years ago. Each time, my total cholesterol was between 200 and 210, HDL was over 60 and triglycerides were below 75. I check my fasting glucose at home a couple of times per week, and it’s pretty much always between 80 and 90. Even after meals, my glucose is rarely above 105.
So there are two possibilities here. The first is that my lipids have been getting worse without me knowing it, since it’s been a couple of years since my last lipid panel. The second is that the party-hearty weekend skewed the lab results. Since my fasting glucose was 20 points higher than usual, I suspect it’s the latter.
On the 2012 low-carb cruise, someone asked Dr. William “Wheat Belly” Davis about having a cheat day on weekends. He replied that if you cheat with wheat or other refined carbohydrates, it’s a bad idea. Just one day of eating wheat can screw up your lipids for the next 3-5 days, he explained, so one cheat day per week can mean you’re spending the majority of the week producing more triglycerides and small LDL. I don’t know if beer produces similar effects, but I can’t think of anything good that comes from drinking beer.
Anyway, I suspect I’ll be getting an earful from the doctor when we go over my labs. Depending on what he does or doesn’t know about nutrition, I may even have to endure recommendations for a low-fat diet and a statin. Naturally, I’ll ignore those recommendations.
The earful I gave myself went something like this:
Hey, Dummy: don’t cheat with wheat. Period.
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Lots of discussion here involving cheating with wheat. My weakness is Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate covered almonds on Sunday while doing laundry. No wheat in there, but plenty of sugar. I’m guessing this is as much of a disservice as the wheat?
I would guess that depends on your sensitivity to wheat. “Plenty of sugar” can’t be good for you.
I would do something like this:
1. Ask for a re-draw 1-2 months down the road.
2. Plot your data (sometimes lab software will do it for you) on a graph over time.
3. Mark on the graph, gluten, gluten free, low carb, big wedding, etc
4. Look at trending patterns.
Good that you are looking at your lab work- IMO. It will give you a good picture of what you cannot see and some steps to change things.
I don’t touch wheat at all due to weight maintenance, gluten sensitivity post thyroid disease. In a way the pain, bloating, and migraines are a blessing that keeps me ( and my slippery slope mind) from diving back into obesity and over all inflammation.
Take care and good luck with the blood work.
Karen P. CLS, MT(ASCP).
A re-draw is already on my doctor’s agenda. His nurse called to say all my labs looked good except the cholesterol, so he wants me to “clean up my diet” (don’t know what his definition of that is) and we’ll run another lipid panel in a few months.
How about cheating with a little bit of red wine? Would that also have a negative effect on one’s glucose levels, LDL and or triglycerides?
Red wine doesn’t seem to have a negative impact on my numbers.
I rarely cheat with wheat. Peanut butter cookies (with real sugar!) and bourbon, sure. Those don’t mess me up at bad as wheat. Oddly enough, grains will mess me up worse than sugar.
Timely – I almost gave in to eating wheat today! Then I thought – nahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
But I began looking at dessert portions etc online and came across the Australian Heart Foundation dessert page:
http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/healthy-eating/food-and-nutrition-facts/Pages/carbohydrate-sugars.aspx
I’m not happy.
Care to comment on the very peculiar way they talk about carbs, “sugar as a nutrient” and “scientific consensus’?
(I hope this is not hijacking the topic!)
“The advice of the Heart Foundation of Australia is based on sound science.” That’s after they blame saturated fat and sodium, for which there’s no sound science.
Relating to the beer thing, I cannot stand drink culture, esp. that which results in hungover aggressive idiots driving drunk and killing people, vomiting, getting violent with others.
The only drunk I like is the one who giggles or falls asleep. 🙂
I become sentimental and fall asleep — the “I love you, Man” drinker. I don’t trust people who become aggressive or abusive after a few pops. I figure they’re just repressing those urges while sober.
I don’t have anything against people having a few drinks, but I usually don’t care to have more than one. My coworkers think I’m shy, but truth to tell, I can’t think of a duller way to spend an evening than hanging around drinkers.
That depends on the drinkers.
As a side note about beer: my husband is a home brewer and says that it’s easy to make beers that aren’t full of gluten. Wheat isn’t in all beers…there’s malt, barley, hops, sometimes millet in a gluten-free one he might make. Beer isn’t liquid wheat–just Liquid carbs;)
And if you REALLY won’t ever completely give it up (like my husband) you just find ways to strictly limit it and choose less inflammatory versions.
Tom,
Around here you can find pharmacies that do lipid and glucose panels for very little cost. Have you tried that? The pharmacist I go to charges $25, (the average in the area is $25 to $35) and I have the results in 10 minutes. (Glucose, Total Cholesterol, LDL, HDL, Triglycerides, and TC/HDL ratio.) He generally insists on a fasting panel, and since he is located in the closest supermarket, I fast, get my blood tested, and then pick up some groceries. I copy my results. keep one in my purse (for bragging rights, usually!), and send one to my clinic and ask them to add it to my file. It’s there in my file when my doctor sees me. Since my triglycerides are always lower than my HDL, I think I’m in a pretty good place. . .
I also did some tests through Lifeline awhile back, and they have special forms to submit the results to your doctor. The “independent test” route is a way to get better control over the testing process (without the lecture). Maybe if you had done this prior to your cheat weekend, you could have had some basis for comparison?
I didn’t know it was possible to get a full lipid panel that quickly. The instant tests I’ve seen in the past only measured total cholesterol. I’ll take a look around.
I have a case of what I think is tennis elbow. I am reluctant to have it examined by my PCP mainly because I suspect he will want to talk about my cholesterol (Then send me to a scalpel happy orthodpaedic surgeon).
Lots of discussion here involving cheating with wheat. My weakness is Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate covered almonds on Sunday while doing laundry. No wheat in there, but plenty of sugar. I’m guessing this is as much of a disservice as the wheat?
I would guess that depends on your sensitivity to wheat. “Plenty of sugar” can’t be good for you.
I would do something like this:
1. Ask for a re-draw 1-2 months down the road.
2. Plot your data (sometimes lab software will do it for you) on a graph over time.
3. Mark on the graph, gluten, gluten free, low carb, big wedding, etc
4. Look at trending patterns.
Good that you are looking at your lab work- IMO. It will give you a good picture of what you cannot see and some steps to change things.
I don’t touch wheat at all due to weight maintenance, gluten sensitivity post thyroid disease. In a way the pain, bloating, and migraines are a blessing that keeps me ( and my slippery slope mind) from diving back into obesity and over all inflammation.
Take care and good luck with the blood work.
Karen P. CLS, MT(ASCP).
A re-draw is already on my doctor’s agenda. His nurse called to say all my labs looked good except the cholesterol, so he wants me to “clean up my diet” (don’t know what his definition of that is) and we’ll run another lipid panel in a few months.
How about cheating with a little bit of red wine? Would that also have a negative effect on one’s glucose levels, LDL and or triglycerides?
Red wine doesn’t seem to have a negative impact on my numbers.
I rarely cheat with wheat. Peanut butter cookies (with real sugar!) and bourbon, sure. Those don’t mess me up at bad as wheat. Oddly enough, grains will mess me up worse than sugar.
I have a case of what I think is tennis elbow. I am reluctant to have it examined by my PCP mainly because I suspect he will want to talk about my cholesterol (Then send me to a scalpel happy orthodpaedic surgeon).
Do a search on MSM. It might help with that problem.
I’m already on top of it. Last thing I want is a cortisone shot. I saw what that did to Phillie’s first baseman, Ryan Howard when his achilles heel acted up. They kept shooting him up to kill the pain. Eventually it exploded on him.
Intermittent cold and heat seams to work as does DMSO. The only drawback to DMSO is that it burns the skin and it somehow works it way to the taste buds.
Thanks.
One option you have is to order your own lipid panel and have the results handy when you see your doctor. You could use that information to substantiate the effect of a “normal” diet on your lipids and demonstrate that on your diet, your lipid numbers are vastly improved.
I’m considering doing just that.
Ouch, this post hurts me and worries me. I’m still in the transitional phase; I have cut way back on the amount of grains I consume per day but I haven’t cut them out completely yet; I still get around 20-25 grams of carbs from grains (mostly crackers and perhaps a slice of brown bread in a day).
Judging by this post, I had better get a move on and cut them out entirely. I need to research more easy to manage alternatives for lunch in this bread consuming country of mine (Netherlands) 🙁
This can help:
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2012/10/15/too-good-bread-and-almost-paleo-bread/
Thanks for that one, that might be a life saver! My girlfriend actually already tried to do a bread based on peanut butter but I don’t like that stuff at all so it wasn’t for me. But now we’ll (read: she will) try again with almond butter – which since recently we can actually get but it is mighty expensive of course 🙂
Definitely not a cheap loaf of bread.
Not cheap indeed, although you can make your own almond butter and save a little; you basically only need roasted almonds, coconut oil and a decent food processor.
But my god that bread is a success. Tasty stuff and it fills you up nicely too, for the first time I didn’t have hunger attacks during the whole day. I’m certainly going to try Erica’s mock danish recipe below too.
The bread is good stuff, and you can even toast it.
I found a jar of almond butter at TJ Maxx for $6… and I thought, I’m finally going to make the Fathead Bread! But before I was able to, the jar gradually (okay, quickly) disappeared – I had no idea almond butter was so yummy!
One option you have is to order your own lipid panel and have the results handy when you see your doctor. You could use that information to substantiate the effect of a “normal” diet on your lipids and demonstrate that on your diet, your lipid numbers are vastly improved.
I’m considering doing just that.
I just discovered a bread substitute for myself. There’s a recipe out there for a “Mock Danish,” using cream cheese and eggs. I’d been making a ‘cake’ with cream cheese, eggs, SF syrups, and some coconut flour. I microwave it. The other day I didn’t add the sweetener, but did add parsley flakes, oregano, a little garlic powder, and salt. The results, sliced bread-thin, make a great sandwich, which fills me up and doesn’t make me bloated. Nuts make my back hurt, so I can’t do the recipe you do, Tom.
My recipe:
2 oz cream cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup (more or less) coconut flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
herbs (oregano, parsley flakes, garlic powder)
pinch of salt
I put it in a plastic storage container to microwave about 3 minutes. I know, plastic leaches chemicals, and I’m searching for a better ceramic container that will make the result easy to slice.
Erica, check thrift stores for a Corningware casserole dish, individual size. They look exactly like a full-sized casserole dish, but these are 5 1/2″ square. They have rounded corners and two handles. They come in two depths, but either would be fine for your bread recipe. I have a stack of them in assorted patterns, and have given them to friends and family. I rarely spend more than a dollar for one, often much less. The used to have glass lids just like the large casseroles, but the one I had broke and I have never found another one.
Ouch, this post hurts me and worries me. I’m still in the transitional phase; I have cut way back on the amount of grains I consume per day but I haven’t cut them out completely yet; I still get around 20-25 grams of carbs from grains (mostly crackers and perhaps a slice of brown bread in a day).
Judging by this post, I had better get a move on and cut them out entirely. I need to research more easy to manage alternatives for lunch in this bread consuming country of mine (Netherlands) 🙁
This can help:
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2012/10/15/too-good-bread-and-almost-paleo-bread/
Thanks for that one, that might be a life saver! My girlfriend actually already tried to do a bread based on peanut butter but I don’t like that stuff at all so it wasn’t for me. But now we’ll (read: she will) try again with almond butter – which since recently we can actually get but it is mighty expensive of course 🙂
Definitely not a cheap loaf of bread.
Not cheap indeed, although you can make your own almond butter and save a little; you basically only need roasted almonds, coconut oil and a decent food processor.
But my god that bread is a success. Tasty stuff and it fills you up nicely too, for the first time I didn’t have hunger attacks during the whole day. I’m certainly going to try Erica’s mock danish recipe below too.
The bread is good stuff, and you can even toast it.
I found a jar of almond butter at TJ Maxx for $6… and I thought, I’m finally going to make the Fathead Bread! But before I was able to, the jar gradually (okay, quickly) disappeared – I had no idea almond butter was so yummy!
I had my cholesterol level checked by my cardiologist 6 months ago. It had dropped from 255 to 225 without using a statin drug. I forgot to tell him that the year before the test I had started using lard instead of butter to cook by morning breakfast of 2 eggs with either turkey bacon, pork roll, or kippers. I frankly remember when the high cholesterol number started at 300.
Back in the day, doctors didn’t talk to their patients about cholesterol until it went above 250.
I just discovered a bread substitute for myself. There’s a recipe out there for a “Mock Danish,” using cream cheese and eggs. I’d been making a ‘cake’ with cream cheese, eggs, SF syrups, and some coconut flour. I microwave it. The other day I didn’t add the sweetener, but did add parsley flakes, oregano, a little garlic powder, and salt. The results, sliced bread-thin, make a great sandwich, which fills me up and doesn’t make me bloated. Nuts make my back hurt, so I can’t do the recipe you do, Tom.
My recipe:
2 oz cream cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup (more or less) coconut flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
herbs (oregano, parsley flakes, garlic powder)
pinch of salt
I put it in a plastic storage container to microwave about 3 minutes. I know, plastic leaches chemicals, and I’m searching for a better ceramic container that will make the result easy to slice.
Erica, check thrift stores for a Corningware casserole dish, individual size. They look exactly like a full-sized casserole dish, but these are 5 1/2″ square. They have rounded corners and two handles. They come in two depths, but either would be fine for your bread recipe. I have a stack of them in assorted patterns, and have given them to friends and family. I rarely spend more than a dollar for one, often much less. The used to have glass lids just like the large casseroles, but the one I had broke and I have never found another one.
I felt terrible and watched my cholesterol and blood pressure climb on lowcarb for almost nine years. I finally gave up and went with the lowfat vegan crowd.
I hate to say it, since I was a huge LC supporter for a long time, but after about six months lowfat, plant-based, my blood pressure at last reading was 112/70 (NO more Benicar) and my cholesterol fell from 240 to 160. Even better, I feel amazing. I have tons of energy and I sleep through the night (no small feat for a post-menopausal woman of 56 years).
Maybe lowcarb’s not all it’s cracked up to be…
If it’s working for you, by all means, stick with it. There’s no diet that’s best for everyone.
I had my cholesterol level checked by my cardiologist 6 months ago. It had dropped from 255 to 225 without using a statin drug. I forgot to tell him that the year before the test I had started using lard instead of butter to cook by morning breakfast of 2 eggs with either turkey bacon, pork roll, or kippers. I frankly remember when the high cholesterol number started at 300.
Back in the day, doctors didn’t talk to their patients about cholesterol until it went above 250.
I felt terrible and watched my cholesterol and blood pressure climb on lowcarb for almost nine years. I finally gave up and went with the lowfat vegan crowd.
I hate to say it, since I was a huge LC supporter for a long time, but after about six months lowfat, plant-based, my blood pressure at last reading was 112/70 (NO more Benicar) and my cholesterol fell from 240 to 160. Even better, I feel amazing. I have tons of energy and I sleep through the night (no small feat for a post-menopausal woman of 56 years).
Maybe lowcarb’s not all it’s cracked up to be…
If it’s working for you, by all means, stick with it. There’s no diet that’s best for everyone.
I hadn’t had my lipid panels done in almost twelve years and just this week decided to have them done. I went to a walk-in clinic ($35 for lipids, $25 for HbA1C) since I wasn’t interested in what my doctor has to say about the results. He is a statin-pusher…including for women.
My total cholesterol was 217 (flagged as high), trigs were 99, HDL 60 and LDL (calculated) at 137 (also flagged as high). Couldn’t get a VAP test, but my ratio comes out to 1.65. These are all numbers I’m happy with and that I expect to see improve since I’ve only been low-carb for about nine months now.
The A1C came out at 4.8 which I am also very happy about. I come from a long line of diabetics. When I first started testing my blood glucose (thanks to your suggestion) my fasting numbers were around 115. They now average 82 to 84, with post-prandial readings rarely topping 100.
I can guarantee you that if I’d had this test in my doctors office he would have freaked over them and insisted I go on statins. Not going to happen. Ever.
If I can get another test for $35 before I see my doctor, I will.
I hadn’t had my lipid panels done in almost twelve years and just this week decided to have them done. I went to a walk-in clinic ($35 for lipids, $25 for HbA1C) since I wasn’t interested in what my doctor has to say about the results. He is a statin-pusher…including for women.
My total cholesterol was 217 (flagged as high), trigs were 99, HDL 60 and LDL (calculated) at 137 (also flagged as high). Couldn’t get a VAP test, but my ratio comes out to 1.65. These are all numbers I’m happy with and that I expect to see improve since I’ve only been low-carb for about nine months now.
The A1C came out at 4.8 which I am also very happy about. I come from a long line of diabetics. When I first started testing my blood glucose (thanks to your suggestion) my fasting numbers were around 115. They now average 82 to 84, with post-prandial readings rarely topping 100.
I can guarantee you that if I’d had this test in my doctors office he would have freaked over them and insisted I go on statins. Not going to happen. Ever.
If I can get another test for $35 before I see my doctor, I will.
55? sure don’t look it 🙂
Thank you. Technically, I’m only 54 and 3/4 at this point.
55? sure don’t look it 🙂
Thank you. Technically, I’m only 54 and 3/4 at this point.
Blood sugar levels are the most important issue for all of us.
110 is a bit high.
IMHO…if your fasting BG is 110…what are your BG levels after eating ?
Anything above the 140 range is damaging.
HbA1c ?
What is your fasting Insulin level ?
Most doctors never, ever, do a fasting blood Insulin test.
Your fasting Insulin levels could be high, years before a FBG shows it.
That might be more of a concern.
You also might want to do some post-prandial FBG checks at home.
There are tons of supplements, foods, herbs, dietary changes that could help if needed for that.
IMVHO of course.
I checked my glucose level after a big dinner at Red Lobster last night. I had lobster, shrimp, scallops, Caesar salad (minus the crutons) and broccoli. My glucose meter showed 107 when I got home.
Blood sugar levels are the most important issue for all of us.
110 is a bit high.
IMHO…if your fasting BG is 110…what are your BG levels after eating ?
Anything above the 140 range is damaging.
HbA1c ?
What is your fasting Insulin level ?
Most doctors never, ever, do a fasting blood Insulin test.
Your fasting Insulin levels could be high, years before a FBG shows it.
That might be more of a concern.
You also might want to do some post-prandial FBG checks at home.
There are tons of supplements, foods, herbs, dietary changes that could help if needed for that.
IMVHO of course.
I checked my glucose level after a big dinner at Red Lobster last night. I had lobster, shrimp, scallops, Caesar salad (minus the crutons) and broccoli. My glucose meter showed 107 when I got home.