I am an uninsured diabetic who just found out that I have high cholesterol as well. Because I have no insurance I see a sliding scale doctor. They pretty much diagnose me, prescribe medication and offer me little to no advice as to what to eat. Can someone offer me some advice on a diet that may work to lower my cholesterol as well as keep my sugar where it needs to be?
Answer:
High LDL, low HDL, and high triglycerides are common in Type 2 diabetics, especially severely insulin resistant Type 2s. I have known individuals diagnosed with Type 2 whose triglycerides were off the charts (1000+).
The best way to lower triglyceride levels is to lower carbohydrates. I dropped mine from 115 to 70 by just cutting out starches and sugars. Most doctors will tell you to limit fat to drop LDL, but my diet is very high in fat (at least 60% of my diet on most days), including saturated fat (yes, butter – lots of butter), and my LDL fell to 81 from the high 120s and my HDL increased 13 points. A traditional diet to improve cholesterol is full of carbohydrates, like oats and low-fat yogurt, low-fat cheese, and milk, but all those foods will raise your blood sugar and that will work against your cholesterol-lowering goals. Dietary fat is really not the enemy and I think a lot of confusion stems from the fact that lipids are known as ‘blood fat.’ There’s this idea comes from equivocating different types of fat, assuming that dietary fat causes blood fat and body fat. I lost about 75 pounds eating more fat, my cholesterol improved by all measures, and my A1c dropped from over 11% to the low 5% range.
So, I would encourage you to cut back on your carbohydrates, especially grains, corn, oats, potatoes, rice, and sugar, even fruit, and to up your protein, healthy fats, including saturated, and non-starchy vegetables.
Exercise can improve HDL and omega-3 fish oil is great for lowering triglycerides, so these are some supplementary moves you can make along with dietary changes to improve cholesterol and trigs.
I’m sorry your doctor sent you home without more info. I, too, was seeing a sliding scale doctor after I was diagnosed and he gave me very few tips. I began panicking, searching the internet for help, and I talked to some great people who told me what to try. I haven’t looked back. Low-carb diets are the way to go if you are a Type 2.
what I was taught in medical school was to use 1-3 gms/day Niacin ( not the no flush kind) taken before bed. for cholesterol
stay away from processed foods (frozen dinners)
try not to eat bread and cookies but if you have the urge eat potato bread and sugar free cookies
don’t eat rice, candy,pretzels, yogurt, cookies,jelly, juice and sugared sodas, milk . if you eat these things eat them with meat and exercise immediately after (long walk 20mins)
start eating lots of chicken and fish cut down on eggs
High LDL, low HDL, and high triglycerides are common in Type 2 diabetics, especially severely insulin resistant Type 2s. I have known individuals diagnosed with Type 2 whose triglycerides were off the charts (1000+).
The best way to lower triglyceride levels is to lower carbohydrates. I dropped mine from 115 to 70 by just cutting out starches and sugars. Most doctors will tell you to limit fat to drop LDL, but my diet is very high in fat (at least 60% of my diet on most days), including saturated fat (yes, butter – lots of butter), and my LDL fell to 81 from the high 120s and my HDL increased 13 points. A traditional diet to improve cholesterol is full of carbohydrates, like oats and low-fat yogurt, low-fat cheese, and milk, but all those foods will raise your blood sugar and that will work against your cholesterol-lowering goals. Dietary fat is really not the enemy and I think a lot of confusion stems from the fact that lipids are known as ‘blood fat.’ There’s this idea comes from equivocating different types of fat, assuming that dietary fat causes blood fat and body fat. I lost about 75 pounds eating more fat, my cholesterol improved by all measures, and my A1c dropped from over 11% to the low 5% range.
So, I would encourage you to cut back on your carbohydrates, especially grains, corn, oats, potatoes, rice, and sugar, even fruit, and to up your protein, healthy fats, including saturated, and non-starchy vegetables.
Exercise can improve HDL and omega-3 fish oil is great for lowering triglycerides, so these are some supplementary moves you can make along with dietary changes to improve cholesterol and trigs.
I’m sorry your doctor sent you home without more info. I, too, was seeing a sliding scale doctor after I was diagnosed and he gave me very few tips. I began panicking, searching the internet for help, and I talked to some great people who told me what to try. I haven’t looked back. Low-carb diets are the way to go if you are a Type 2.
I second TheOrange Evil’s suggestions.
I too went on a low-carb high fat diet after being diagnosed with diabetes. It took a while to be convinced that the conventional medical wisdom was wrong. Dietary fat has little connection with blood cholesterol. After a lifetime of being told eggs (yolks) were high in cholesterol and not good for you, I started eating a two-egg omelette for breakfast every second day. It is an excellent low-carb option so great for blood sugar as well.
After a few months of omelette breakfasts (fried in butter, and laden with cheese and bacon), I saw a distinct improvement in my cholesterol. My LDL and total cholesterol are normal, my HDL is very good, and my triglycerides are insanely good (52).
In fact it is carbs that affect blood cholesterol. People on high carb diets nearly always have high triglycerides, and people on low carb diets nearly always have low triglycerides. This, even though eating low carb by definition means high fat.
For further reading, you can google ‘cholesterol myth’. The information will be completely different to what most of us were taught to believe. But a year on my low-carb diet has convinced me that a lot of what we were taught to believe as medical fact is actually completely wrong – and my blood sugar and cholesterol levels are testament to this!
I completely agree with TheOrange Evil and Tabea!!! I too went on a low carb “diet” when I was diagnosed with type 2. I had high cholesterol and needed to lose quite a bit of weight… Eating low carb/higher fat, I have brought my HbA1c down to 5.7 and have brought my cholesterol and triglycerides to a normal level, I have also lost 6 stone (about 85 pounds). I also walk very briskly for at least an hour a day. I personally find that I can have approximately 100 carbs (or less) a day, spread out over the whole of the day. Some people can have more, some people have to eat less. Good luck, the changes aren’t too hard to make and every once in a while you can have a wee bit of a treat if you feel you need one, just make sure it fits into your carb “allowance”. :0)