Cholesterol and low carb: What’s the “skinny” on high LDL? — Diet Doctor Podcast

"He's just an engineer" was all I needed to hear. Someone who hasn't been trained, indoctrinated, or brought up with the standard medical dogma is exactly what we need to look at things from a different perspective.

I'm definitely a Hyper Responder since my Cholesterol levels have been registering with High LDL/HDL, and Low Trigs levels my Mental Clarity, health, body composition, and energy levels have been at its best in 2 decades. As a result I listen to my body, I don't worry about LDL levels anymore and if I'm wrong on my stance that's a chance I'm willing to take because before I could name 5-10 things that bother me health wise on a daily basis such as Migraines, Inflammation, Brain Fog, Prediabetes, High Blood Pressure, Anxiety attacks, depression, insomnia, sleep apnea low Vitamin D levels and the final one that help me to learn me was a pulmonary embolism. Its amazing in 3.5 years not one of these symptoms have retuned and my weight has fallen 75 lbs. By the way statins are garbage and disrupts your health in a major way.

I am 70 yrs old male and at 68 yrs old I cut 95% of junk food from my diet and my LDL went from 98 to 178 and my A1c is 5.0

Thank you so much for all the information. Such a relief. Being underweight with low body fat, my high cholesterol numbers (HDL 114, LDL 183, TG 79, TC 313) look pretty rare to my doctor. Now I know the numbers are normal since I am on low-carb diet all the time. I just hope my doctor can understand this and can stop pushing me for medications

As an engineer I would like to point out that engineering is still science…. Like we still do all the physics and chemistry etc and depending what you specialize in, some of us take a few biology courses

Hey. I’m a hyper responder. I am a ifbb figure competitor. I’m always really lean, less than 12% body fat all the time and 7 % during competitions. I went keto to combat highish blood sugar. My A1C dropped from 6.0 to 5.5. My HDL is 70 ish my LDL went from 110 to 167. My hormones went for almost none to amazing. My energy is so much better. I’m 55 and have never done any steroids!!!

My LDL was in normal range when I was 40lb overweight . Now in normal weight with excellent blood test except for the high LDL! My HDL went high, TG is down to 40 on Low carb diet..

I love this guy. Back in the day when I was in university, we could always pick out the engineers. No offense, but they were a bit odd, no one understood what they were talking about. Fast forward to 2021, and I now totally understand everything Dave shares. His work is awesome and he is so humanistic in what motivates him. 👍👍

I believe Dave is right on. I lived the SAD American diet and vegetarian with worsening health, with insulin resistance high blood sugar, higher triglycerides to HDL levels worsening even being athletic. I started keto and intermittent fasting within 3 months blood sugar back under control, blood work showed lower triglycerides higher HDL and slightly higher LDL levels. And I feel 100 percent better, lots of energy, fatigue gone. Sorry none believers, Dave is spot on.

DR. Brett, you do an excellent job at interviewing. You have a great knack for summarizing your guests' comments succinctly. Thank you!

Congrats on this new study! I would love to have Dave as a guest speaker for my next courses on keto at Stanford!

I didn't hear any mention of one group of patients for whom the ketogenic diet offers new hope - Multiple Sclerosis. Improved function in many organs, especially the brain where many report a newfound clarity. How about an episode highlighting this in a special episode ?

Dave is my hero. As an LMHR myself, his beautifully balanced approach and often-expressed "cautious optimism" certainly helps me stay calm with my high LDL (plus high HDL & Low Triglycerides). I am unable to change my diet since I feel sick if I up my carbs or stop IF. That Dave keeps fighting the good fight in the name of true science despite detractors, is remarkable. And as he so succinctly puts, doing so to the benefit of LMHR's & the clinicians trying to support them. My recent CAC scan = Zero! Almost 60 female, BMI 22, daily 20-30min walks with my dog; strength training 2-3times a week. Been keto for almost 2 years now.

Great information. Luv the entire content.

In February my LDL was 241, HDL was 46, and Triglycerides 71

I have been in low carb since I was 11 years old. Not because I was obese, but because I could feel that I was so sleepy if I ate too much carbs since that age. My diet look weird at the time, especially in Asia, since everyone eat rice except me. I don’t really like to eat fruit, bread, pasta, potatoes too. I prefer eating protein and veggie. At age 21, I started skipping breakfast, because it just made me hungier around lunch & dinner time. If I wanted to eat ice cream or cheesecake, it became my meal not my dessert. When I had my cholesterol checked for the first time at age 21, it was 220 total, & my doctor thought it was because I ate too much processed food which I didn’t not. I’m 47 years old (Asian woman), so now I have been in low carbs for 36 years. I exercise regularly at least 4-5 times a week combine cardio & resistance, my weight is 56kg, my height is 167cm. My cholesterol total result always above 220. The last time I check in 2018, my total cholesterol is 322, HDL 94, LDL 211, triglycerides 58, HBA1C 4.8. I refuse to take statin, I took once, it made me headache. I notice the more I exercise, the higher my HDL & LDL result. The weird thing prior recovered from covid last April, every time I ate, a few minutes later I was very sleepy despite still eating low carbs. The sleepy effect was gone after 3 months.

LC. For 7 years and high LDL 155, never concerns about it (Trigs/HLD ) ratios 1.7, last year. I cut out the HEAVY CREAM and my LDL went down to 105 and my ( Trigs/ HDL) to 0.9mg/dL. Happy 49years old 57kg, 168H, very athletic, muscle mass 42kg, BMI 19,

Outstanding interview.

Great podcast. Also found the article at diet doctor on lowering ldl on keto to be very helpful. I plan to try some of the strategies. Also hoping it might help my sleep a bit too.

Wow! I just found this video. I spent 30 years in software-centric engineering and I can really relate to the way Dave views the world (root causes, open sources, etc.). I am a bit underwhelmed with many health practitioners' lack of investigative rigor before making consequential recommendations. Anyway, I absolutely love the idea of open sourcing lab tests (anonymously, of course)! Hopefully someday this will evolve into one of the world's most valuable data sets for human health. Thank you Dave and Dr. Scher. Looking forward to the results of Dave's new study!