Low Carb / Niacin / Fish Oil: it worked.
As I noted in my post about my new Low Carb Diet, my goal was to lower triglycerides and raise HDL cholesterol.
Test results are in: triglycerides fell from 344 mg/dL to an acceptable 106 mg/dL, under the target of “150 or less”. HDL cholesterol had a slight improvement from 20 mg/dL to 29 (the healthy range starts at 40, so I have a way to go here.)
My concern about total cholesterol rising with all the fat-rich foods such as eggs and meat was validated at least in part, with a rise from 136 mg/dL to 160 … but that’s still well within the 125 – 200 mg/dL range considered healthy.
There are two tests for blood sugar, the direct “spot measurement” of blood sugar at the time of the test (“glucose”) and the longer term, 3-month blood sugar level (HA1c). I was surprised that my glucose level rose a bit from 103 to 105 mg/dL (65 – 99 is the target range). But my doctor noted the HA1c number, which he considers more important, fell from 6.2% to 5.5% (under 6% is the goal here for non-diabetics).
The results are encouraging, and I’ll stick to the more stringent portion of the diet for a few more months. It seems to be working. Some caveats are in order for my readers, though … talk to your doctor first. My understanding is the low carb diets can be dangerous for certain heart patients, especially those with cardiac arrhythmia (atrial fibrillation, etc.) or those with reduced liver or kidney function.
