Im vegan and cholesterol has gone up
Posted by harve.zombie on Jul 03, 2013 · Member since Jul 2013 · 1 posts
Hi,
im an athlete in triathlon and Ironman fields,
ive been on a vegan diet for 5 month now,
i keep a very strict diet, everything is calculated i dont eat any fat that is not from vegan diet.
almonds, tehini & avocado i think are the only things i eat with fat (but the good kind).
mostly vegetables, fruits, brown and wild rice, and pasta from rice flower.
no milk at all (no kind of milk), a bit tofu, saiten here and there and bread
but mostly whole wheat with grains.
before i started on vegan diet my cholesterol was fine:
cholesterol: 178.6 now 215.9
triglycerides: 125 now 167
cholesterol HDL: 40 now 50
cholesterol LDL: 113 now 132.2
cholesterol NON HDL: 138 now 166
does it make sense ?
i'd appreciate any info
Yup it is really a good achievement. My mom was also in diet to lower cholesterol and to reduce weight loss, really she did hard work and she lost the cholesterol, now she is fir and fine. Buy Generic Lipitor
High cholesterol maybe in your genes and there is no way to stop except for drugs. You said you only eat good kind of fat. I would cuts out all oils from your intake. There are no good oils. Even olive oil will raise cholesterol. If you want I can point you to some reading on the subject.
My cholesterol came down to the 150s by cutting out oils and becoming a vegan with no oil.
If you are consuming a lot of grains, remember: excess grains are converted to triglycerides, which are stored as fat and raise total cholesterol
I have eaten a lot of whole grains in my diet for years and have a very low cholesterol level. I highly doubt grains are the cause of high cholesterol.
My total cholesterol before going vegan in 2010 was 155. HDL was 62. Two years into being vegan I had a free fasting screening offered at work and my cholesterol went down to 125, HDL 57, LDL 62, glucose was 86, triglycerides were 27. I eat a very healthy vegan diet, whole, very little processed food. I even make my own flax milk.
I did read somewhere that HDL sometimes does go down a little for vegans due to the lack of DHA/EPA in the diet. I think it is crucial to make sure you get enough helathy fats in the way of ALA by consuming flaxseeds, walnuts, chia seeds, leafy greens by the lb each day, sunflower seeds, avocado etc. Just a serving or two each day is good enough. I also supplement here and there with vegan DHA but not consistantly. Also make sure you are eating enough. Restriction and low body fat can sometimes actually cause worse cholesterol problems. It seems to be something that happens to anorexics mostly.
But like others said, it could be genetic. Your cholesterol was high even before you went vegan so I doubt a plant based diet is the cause of worse scores.