I have some really great friends who are locked in the stranglehold of current cardiology-thinking. They have been watching their food intake, especially things like sugar and junque food. They have tried to up their exercise in between injuries. Their cholesterol numbers have gone down for a time, then inched up, prompting their doctors to threaten statins if some body doesn't do something.
Here's a nice blogpost from the past by Peter. It shows lots of charts and graphs of data with a different light shined. They show the relationship between blood cholesterol levels and cardiac events. Not a very convincing relationship, is it?
If you aren't into charts and graphs, go to the bottom of the blog post and see the graph of cardiac events and HbA1c. Wow, not good. It shows that the relative risk of cardiac events go way up as the HbA1c is higher.
HbA1c is a measure of how much damage blood sugar has done. Blood sugar goes up when people eat lots of simple carbs. In normal people, when blood sugar goes up, insulin is released to clear all the sugar out. These people can keep their blood sugar levels lower by eating low-glycemic carbs.
As things progress, people may develop pre-diabetes or full-blown type 2 diabetes. At this stage, many can be helped by going on a low carb diet, but sometimes that still doesn't fix everything. It is surely better than feasting on chips, candy and soda on a regular basis.
I have another friend on metformin and a statin, but while the statin has lowered her cholesterol levels, she is tired and achey, and seems to be suffering from the side effects of the statin drug. She wants to stop the statin, but her doctor has insisted she continue. She asked me what she should do, and I gave her the name of another doctor.
I have another friend who is being badgered by her doctor because her total cholesterol is around 240. This is AFTER SHE WAS DOING ALL THE RIGHT THINGS!!!!! Unfortunately, I don't know of another doctor in her area, but I would suggest in the meantime that she quit beating herself up over the occasional barbeque dinner and focus more on keeping candy and sugary drinks out of the house.
Anyway, friends, thanks for reading.
You are a good friend...maybe they will take your advice. We can only keep repeating the no sugar/starch way of eating...someday they will see the light.
ReplyDeleteHbA1c is a measure of how much damage blood sugar has done.
ReplyDeleteYou should correct this statement