My Natural Diet

[epfleger]

Hello All:

It's been over a year since I've posted here. I hope all are well! After much investigation and trial and error, here is my diet that I have been using with GREAT results to get my lipid profile in order. I am 43 years old, fairly inactive and lots of stress at work. Fortunately, my blood pressure always seems to be around 120/70.

Starting Numbers 7/1/09
LDL 160
HDL 27
Tri 201
Total 236
Vit D 14 ng/ml


Numbers as of 9/15/10
LDL 63
HDL 57
Tri 84
Total 157
Vit D 59 ng/ml

I did this using diet alone (totally drug free). Here's how I did it. First, ELIMINATE all wheat and cornstarch. Tough to do, but I feel terrific and most of my lipitor side effects are all but completely gone. Next, get your vitamin D levels right (this may take up to a year of titrating the right amount of vitamin D). Optimum range is 60-80 ng/ml. I started taking 10,000 IU/d for 2 months, then 5000 IU/d every 3 days. Always us D3, not D2. Vitamin D also has a HUGE impact on HDL. There is research to show that if you are severly vitamin D defficient (as I was) imroving your vitamin D level to the optimal range can add as much as 23-30 points to your HDL numbers.

For three months starting in July 09 I took 2g of krill oil daily. After 90 days I dropped down to 500mg/d. I have a glass of red wine and approx. 40g of DARK chocolate (<70% cocoa) nightly. I am also liberal with ground flax and/or oat bran (mixing it in to yogurt or sprinkling it on my morning oatmeal). Of course, for this to work, you need to reduce/eliminate junk food and processed food. I use olive oil for cooking and dressings and I switched to Benecol (for plant stanols) about 6 months ago. Otherwise, I eat steak, burgers, chicken, eggs and all the yummy things we all like. In that regard, my wife and I have been on a kick lately to eat organic meats (meaning no growth hormones or excess corn feed) and I must say I do feel better.

Here's a good summary of the approach I took.
http://www.healthcentral.com/heart-dise ... -naturally
http://www.healthcentral.com/heart-dise ... -naturally
http://www.healthcentral.com/heart-dise ... glycerides

Take care,

Ed

[lars999]

Ed,

After quitting Lipitor I have gone to a diet rather similar to yours and certainly feel much better for it. It is also much like diet I had for first decades of my life, BEFORE my lipid levels started to rise. I have not had my blood lipids measured since quitting Lipitor and presently that is not of interest. Getting rid of residual Lipitor muscle problems is. (see my recent post in different forum here.) Getting further measurements of arterosclerosis is another high priority and I should have a bit more in a few weeks. Carotid arteries were clear some years ago. Of course, keeping them clear is major priority for me.

I have not gone to glass of red wine nightly, but, dark chokolat is much liked part of my weekly diet. We have steel cut oatmeal a time or three per week, with dried fruits, nuts, etc. Not tried flax seeds yet.

What intrigs me most in your post is what you report about vitamin D. I have been considering adding it to my growing list of suppliments, more for general health than specifically for lowering any lipid. Thank you for the links -- I will read them all soon.

I am collecting informations to make list of blood chemistry parameters to have measured sometime in coming months. Vitamin D is on that evolving list, along with homosystein, perhaps testosteron, perhaps VAP profil, etc. etc.

I differ in two, likely significant ways from you. One is age -- 70 -- other is level of physical activity -- much higher, at least when I can -- regular strength training and aerobic workouts, lots of cross country skiing in winter. This level of physical exertion plays strongly in increasing degree of statin damage to muscles. Currently, acetyl-L-carnitin seems only suppliment I have yet tried that gives clear reduction to Lipitor damage to left arm (see my post in other forum). IF you were statin user, what is your experience with muscle and ligament pain?

Thanks again for posting your experience with diet.
Lars

[lars999]

Ed,

Interesting informations in those links you provide. I do have two comments about what is stated in them.

1) Author only gives the weak connection of "risk factors!, that is correlations, NOT information on actual amounts of arterosclerosis resulting from given level of treatment. Without information linking degree of treatment to degree of result, one really does not have anything solid. Correlation is NOT causation! Question: Any reader here know of studies, of any kind, that give actual levels of treatment and corresponding levels of arterosclerosis?

2) Carboloading for endurance sports is a well established dietary technique to improve physical performance. Most common carbo is LOW-glycemic pasta, meaning made from specific varieties of wheat.

Lars

[epfleger]

Howdy Lars. Oh hell yea I had a really BAAAD trip on lipitor. I was on 10mg for 8 months. It damn near killed me and who knows what the long term effects are. If you search my name on this board you will see I was at one time very desperate for relief. I had terrible brain fog/confusion, muscle and ligament pain. I tried all the supplements that most here have used (ALC, ALA, magnesium, coq10, etc. etc. etc.), and all of these had limited success. I gave up on the supplements (except as noted in my previous post) and started my diet about a year ago. I noticed improvements right awa, and I have felt great for the past 4 months or so, so I feel my diet has really put me on the right track.

I have signed up at a gym and I plan on getting some excersise 3-4 times/wk.

Anyway, nice meeting you.

Ed

[epfleger]

Lars, one last thing, please do get your Vitamin D levels checked. It is so important for overall health and plays a very important role in regulating LDL and HDL.

[lars999]

Hi Ed!!

Reading the many posts here about individual's experience with statin side effects has left me with strong impression about the diversity of experiences. It was really large decreases in stamina that first got my attention, followed quickly by some really bad pains and muscle weakness in my left arm. The arm pains are what drove me to Internet to find answers.

I waited a week after quiting Lipitor before starting CoQ10, so I cannot separate effects of quiting Lipitor from those of CoQ10. I waited 30 days before starting omega-3 enriched fish oil and 4 months before starting Acetyl-L-Carnitine.

My biggest gains have been increases in stamina and muscle strength -- BIG increases. Cognitive effects have either been absent or too minor to be obvious. There were lots of other and quite unexpected improvements, dermatological, for example.

Thanks for the vote for measuring vitamin D.

Lars

[SusieO]

My vitamin D level was just checked a month ago and it was 24.3 ng/ml. My wellness doctor put me on a liquid form of D. He said he tried the pill form and had no rise in his levels and the liquid seemed to work better.