Discussion Board

I recently had a blood retest for my Vitamin D levels, which increased 11 points in 3 months after supplementing, now at 34. The better news was on the total cholesterol (TC). After dropping 64 points in under 3 months from 216-199, today my TC stands at 175 and I am still closing in on that <150 number. My triglycerides (started at 269, Oct 2011) still are elevated at 208, down only 2 points from 210. Both of those numbers are still higher than they should be.

Based on reading I thought I could knock it off to the weight loss (30+ pounds), but I am rethinking it could still be the beer (sugar) I drinking weekly that is keeping this number high. Based on McD book, I am exercising, eating high fiber and while weight loss as tapered off a bit I am still losing weight.

I know it's more important to read the overall TC, which is 175, the LDL (bad) is now 99 down from 120 (which is down from 172) when I started eating this way. The HDL did drop 3 points from 37 to 34, but that could be accounted by the overall drop in the TC number.

WebMD says "alcohol consumption has strong effects on triglyceride levels. Drinking more than two for men can raise triglyceride levels considerably." This is really the only suspect I can point to that's causing my trigs to remain elevated. I drink what equates to a 6-pack over the course of a 7-day week. Is that enough to cause this number to stay so high?

Depending on how sensitive you are, yes, it can be enough.

In addition, excess weight, excess body fat, inactivity, added concentrated sugars, refined/processed grains, etc

In some people, even dried fruit, fruit juice and also fruit can raise levels in those very sensitive

In Health
Jeff

Thanks for the comments Jeff. I am down nearly 33 pounds from 216 to 183 and close to my personal goal of 175 pounds. I walk daily and exercise (weights) 4 days a week. Unfortunately it's been a bit more difficult to track sugar intake, but I can guess I am around 40-60 grams daily. That leaves one vice, the alcohol. I don't eat an excessive amount of fruit. Daily it will usually be a small serving of raisins or a banana. How does someone know if they are sensitive?

By them reacting to those items and seeing their numbers improve when they remove them.

However, realize the problem is not the foods but the insulin resistance they have, which, will get better over time.

In Health
Jeff

Thank you much again for your response, Jeff. I appreciate it.

Re: 40 to 60 grams of sugar per day. What kind of sugar are we talking about? A teaspoon of sugar is 4 grams of sugar and it looks like you are between 10 and 15 teaspoons of sugar a day. Isn't that a lot of sugar? This amounts to about a can of coke per day.

Didi