Eats

[BJPENNSTATE]

Haha truuuuuu.

[Floyd1982]

I'm fine with you disagreeing with me. I have low cholesterol, ~140, and good HDL #s. I'm in my 30s, don't smoke, I exercise, I don't drink to excess, my BP is great, etc. Yet right before Thanksgiving, I had to have a stent put in because, out of the blue, I started having chest pains and they discovered that one of my main arteries was 90% blocked. The rest of my heart was 100% healthy. So, in response, I've done a LOT of reading up on heart disease, as you might imagine. I've also talked to my board-certified cardiologist at length about this.

The reading I've done indicated that moderately high cholesterol is a very bad predictor of heart disease, that conventional wisdom about cholesterol causing heart disease simply isn't true, and that drugs like Lipitor, for example, may lower the risk of heart disease and do lower cholesterol, but they don't reduce the risk of heart disease because they lower cholesterol. My cardiologist agreed with each of those points and agreed with the further point that eating foods high in cholesterol is not likely to significantly raise your blood levels of cholesterol, just like lowering your intake of cholesterol isn't going to significantly reduce you blood levels of cholesterol - another piece of conventional wisdom re: cholesterol that simply isn't true.

Also, I think there was a little misunderstanding between what I was trying to convey and what you understood me to be saying. Cholesterol attempts to fix damage to an artery before the rupture; I was referring to any stress on the arterial wall, not a full-blown rupture.

I don't have the sources in front of me so I can't cite you anything right now.

I believe that is what you heard and it may very well be true. Perhaps in your case, genetics played a bigger role, that is a greater risk factor than cholesterol. I am of te understanding that a perfectly health person with bad genetics can (like you) develop CHD.

I also heard literature is now coming out that suggests an aspirin a day is worthless in fighting future heart attacks along with some interesting, not known anecdotes about Tylenol and liver failure (different topic altogether, don't try to OD on Tylenol).

I believe we could find out more that turns traditional thinking on its head but believe this particular stance is in its infancy and the information should be used with caution. I don't think there is enough overwhelming evidence to claim cholesterol doesn't play an initial role, seems somebody could have a genetic disposition to ruptures or injury. Interesting though...

I will have to run this by a cardiologist sometime but the. Again they are usually smug dick-heads. No wonder you got along with them. Zing!

[Floyd1982]

I, too, have seen studies -- quite new and controversial, but extremely compelling -- that suggest that inflammation causes arterial build-up and not high-fat/cholesterol in the diet as we've assumed for 40 years now. I'll find them later and post. Here's something to start with, but more fleshed-out, published studies do exist:

http://www.sott.net/article/242516-H...-Heart-Disease

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mar..._b_290687.html

http://www.cbn.com/health/naturalhea...olesterol.aspx

http://www.docsopinion.com/2012/06/0...heart-disease/

Shut up Baph....

Paleo.com and the huffington post aren't reliable sources...















Ha, I kid...

[Floyd1982]

Man.... Trying to eat clean is freaking hard!!!!! I'm day 5 out, no diary, no grains, and no sweets. First couple days weren't that bad, ate some banana fritters, eggs, chicken, home-made salad dressing, just finished making a bowl of paleo-friendly chili and it was okay BUT the craving for a Kit-Kat right now is ridiculous. Got a whole bag in our candy jar and it is hard to resist.

Other thing seems to be that I'm constantly hungry, it's like I cannot fill up, no matter what I eat, I have constant cravings. It is also expensive as sh!t, I dropped over $110 just on my own groceries this week, not counting the $100 my wife already dropped.

I don't know man, I think I may just try to clean my diet up a bit but not completely bar myself from certain foods...

[jamesod]

Man.... Trying to eat clean is freaking hard!!!!! I'm day 5 out, no diary, no grains, and no sweets. First couple days weren't that bad, ate some banana fritters, eggs, chicken, home-made salad dressing, just finished making a bowl of paleo-friendly chili and it was okay BUT the craving for a Kit-Kat right now is ridiculous. Got a whole bag in our candy jar and it is hard to resist.

Other thing seems to be that I'm constantly hungry, it's like I cannot fill up, no matter what I eat, I have constant cravings. It is also expensive as sh!t, I dropped over $110 just on my own groceries this week, not counting the $100 my wife already dropped.

I don't know man, I think I may just try to clean my diet up a bit but not completely bar myself from certain foods...

When I went from a normal US diet to one fairly low in carbs, I had some severe carb cravings for a while. It gets better. It's a lot easier, though, if you don't have a bunch of ****ty food there tempting you. I feel for you.

[Floyd1982]

When I went from a normal US diet to one fairly low in carbs, I had some severe carb cravings for a while. It gets better. It's a lot easier, though, if you don't have a bunch of ****ty food there tempting you. I feel for you.

My wife doesn't give two sh!ts about eating healthy though. Guess that isn't fair, she just wants to cut back but loves pasta, chocolate, and other things that aren't great for you but says it is stupid to knot eat them at all so she will continue to buy and stock crap food in our cabinets.

[Floyd1982]

Do you ever drink while on your diet? One thing I will find hard is giving up my Crown and Coke or Maker's Mark and Sierra Mist/7-up. I'm trying to get past the craving before I decide to even try to drink a soda, I'm gonna give this 3-4 weeks and if I'm not feeling any better, I'm not gonna deprive myself for nothing but if it makes me feel better, I will continue.

[jamesod]

Do you ever drink while on your diet? One thing I will find hard is giving up my Crown and Coke or Maker's Mark and Sierra Mist/7-up. I'm trying to get past the craving before I decide to even try to drink a soda, I'm gonna give this 3-4 weeks and if I'm not feeling any better, I'm not gonna deprive myself for nothing but if it makes me feel better, I will continue.

Yes, that's hard for me because I like craft beers. So, I have a couple of those maybe once a week or so. I'm not trying to be the fittest person on the planet, just trying to be in fairly good shape. Beyond that I drink Jack and Diet, Miller Lite, or Vodka and club soda (make it a good vodka, though - club soda doesn't mask the taste of the liquor like tonic does). I also just started drinking Johnnie Walker Black with just a splash of soda and that works too.

[Baphomet3]

When you start withholding permission to enjoy life's simple pleasures, that's when you start seeing diets break down. This isn't Hell Week. We aren't casing for 300. Your high school reunion isn't next weekend. I had three tacos and two beers at the game last night. But I'm clean 80% of the time and I crush it in the gym. It's fine.

[boonebaker]

When you start withholding permission to enjoy life's simple pleasures, that's when you start seeing diets break down. This isn't Hell Week. We aren't casing for 300. Your high school reunion isn't next weekend. I had three tacos and two beers at the game last night. But I'm clean 80% of the time and I crush it in the gym. It's fine.

Agreed. I've knocked soda out of my diet, which I never was too big on to begin with so it wasn't tough. But I still go out and get wasted nearly every weekend like every 24 year old should. One thing that makes it easy for me, I never get a hangover that makes me feel bad all day, and rarely get one that makes me feel bad past the first 30 minutes of being awake. So I have no problem getting hammered on Friday night, getting up at 7 am, watching soccer, then going to work out before playing 2 hours of basketball.