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Hi everyone
Firstly, congratulations on the brilliant site. I used to read Dr M’s posts over on the MESO-Rx forum but as it’s a male-oriented site, I only lurked and didn’t ever post. I’m really glad this site exists as I find the integrative approach to brains/hormones/nutrition very interesting and informative.
I am looking for advice on how to balance out my fat and oil intake and get an adequate supply of the right Omegas without eating any dairy or eggs.
For years I ate a high carb/low fat, pescatarian diet. Carbs are pushed heavily by the Diabetic dieticians in my country (I have Type 1 Diabetes) and I used to think that meat was bad for you. I ate fish most days instead.
12 months ago (while trying to sort out my health problems), I started low-carbing and reintroduced meat into my diet. My new diet consisted of: (all organic) meat, fish, lots of veg, fruit (mainly low-carb eg. berries and apples), nuts, rice, potatoes and a small amount of butter and olive oil. For a treat I eat very bitter 99% cocoa solids dark chocolate!:) Low-carbing seems to help a lot with my BS control. Fortunately, I’ve never had weight problems.
Recently my hormone doc sent me for some allergy testing and the results showed that I have bad sensitivity to dairy, gluten and worst of all eggs (as well as avocadoes :confused:). I have now cut out dairy, eggs and am eating totally gluten free. This means I am no longer getting good fats from butter, eggs or avocadoes.:(
After reading the Fish Oil thread, I began to wonder if I have the balance all wrong. Maybe I am not getting enough Omega 3s. If you can spot something that needs changing, please let me know. Also by not eating butter or egg am I missing out on a lot?
WRT animal fats, per week I eat….
– organic beef or venison steak 3x a week as well as chicken, turkey, bacon/ham most days for lunch/brekky.
– oily fish (mackerel/salmon/trout) 3x week – I would like to eat more but my doctor says that it would expose me to too much mercury.
My current daily fat intake looks like this….
– 1 Tblsp olive oil – used for cooking/dressing
– 1 Tblsp of flax seeds (high in A Linoleic A) – I eat flax to aid digestion and for fibre so I prefer the seeds to flax oil.
– 1 Tblsp of Hemp Oil (high in Omega 6, has some Omega 3 too) – not sure whether Good Oil is a good oil to use or not as it seems high in Omega 6.
– 1 Starflower oil capsule (contains 230mg GLA and 2mg Vit E) – used for severe dry eyes.
– 2 Vegepa capsules (containing a total of 560mg EPA and 18mg GLA and 2mg Vit E).
Vegepa is quite heavily marketed in my country as the ‘best’ fish oil based on the work of Professor Puri (neurologist) who argues that the good effects of EPA are diminished when combined with DHA. I’m not sure if he’s right or not and there is some controversy over the claims made about the product. Vegepa is quite expensive so I’m open to better alternatives as long as they are pharma grade.
I would like to improve my cholesterol too as I don’t really fancy getting put on a statin. Most recent numbers last month (when I was still eating butter and eggs) were….
HDL 95 mg/dl [40-109]
LDL 153 mg/dl [0-114]
Total Chol 258 mg% [140-200]
Triglycerides 51 mg/dl [30-170]Vit E 13.8 µg/ml [10.0-19.0]
Vit E/Chol 7.3mg/g [5.4-9.2]Any advice appreciated.
Thanks
Kyoto 🙂IMO, you can gain more benefit of low-carb eating by eliminating the rice and potatoes. When selecting fruit select those on the low glycemic index end of the scale, thus reducing further the carbohydrate control on cholesterol.
Aside from the total cholesterol, the HDL level is good and the triglycerides are at a reasonable level. You might also want to have the fractional components of LDL evaluated.
There are some doctors who would not suggest a statin unless you have had a previous heart attack or blockage. If a drug or vitamin intervention is a must then have your doctor consider high-dose niacin. Remember, cholesterol is needed by your body. Driving the level too low is harmful to proper health. Inflammation of your circulatory system is how cholesterol can have a negative effect; look at those factors.
I would cut out the Omega 6 supplements and dietary additions altogether; typical diets already have a high or too high amount of Omega 6. I would then increase your Omega 3 supplements to the equivalent of 8 grams fish oil using typical EPA/DHA softgels. These supplements with your fish meals will provide a good supply of EPA.
Your 99% dark chocolate is fine in moderation as a treat. 85% is all I can find but has minimal sugar content.
I am not a health care professional; If I got anything wrong HAN or Dr M should be by to make adjustments.
DHA is essential for nervous system function. Almost all of the Omega-3 in the nervous system is DHA. Thus, eliminating DHA from the diet is not a good idea.
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Aside from hereditary illnesses with high cholesterol production, a high total cholesterol generally means a person may have a hormonal deficiency – thyroid or one of the steroid hormones.
The liver monitors thyroid and steroid hormone levels. When there is a deficiency, the liver makes cholesterol from sugar.
The source of high cholesterol is from sugar not from dietary cholesterol.
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Frequently, a food allergy may occur when a person eats a specific food too frequently. If one eats eggs every day, for example, one may develop an allergy to eggs.
It may be beneficial to cycle through the foods one eats to avoid developing food allergies.
Thus, if one has an allergy to eggs or dairy products, it may be useful to go off these foods for a time then to recheck if one still has an allergy to these foods after a few months. If the allergy is gone, then one can cycle these foods back into the diet.
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