Are high levels of "good cholesterol" always good for you? A new study suggests perhaps not if you have diabetes.
HDL (high-density cholesterol) is supposed to be the "good cholesterol," or the "healthy cholesterol." It removes excess cholestero...
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Could HDL Be Bad for You?
Helen
Friday, January 18, 2008 at 04:39 PMre: Could HDL Be Bad for You?
Gretchen Becker
Friday, January 18, 2008 at 07:43 PMHelen, yes, it is confusing. There are so many factors to consider, and no one has all the answers yes.
Re the raw diet, the fact is that if you start with people on a standard American diet, any diet will produce a great improvement. The real question is how many people will stay on an all-raw diet for the rest of their lives.
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Can HDL be bad for you?
Helen
Saturday, January 19, 2008 at 08:13 PMThanks for the reality check Gretchen. I've been lurking on "raw" sites for about a month - and they've said some pretty amazing things. I'm just going to get back on a path of moderation and test test test for a while and see what my numbers do. Thanks again for what you and David do for all of us.
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cooking fish in coconut oil?
Karen LaVine
Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 11:39 AMi really enjoyed reading your thought provoking article. was nosing around to see what else is out there about myristic acid and i found this:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17564735?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
based on the summary of this study, it looks like lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) needs both myristic acid and ALA to move cholesterol into HDL?
so if you want to reverse atherosclerotic processes, we may need BOTH myristic acid and ALA? what are your thoughts?
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Karen
replyre: cooking fish in coconut oil?
Gretchen Becker
Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 04:41 PMHi Karen,
That abstract says myristic acid plus ALA helps get cholesterol into HDL. But the article I wrote about concerned the ability of HDL to relax blood vessels, which is a different thing.
Also, I assume the experiments mentioned in the link were done with nondiabetics. The research I wrote about said that diabetic HDL reacts differently.
replyre: re: cooking fish in coconut oil?
Karen LaVine
Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 07:04 PMgood points, well taken. thanks for the thoughtful answers.
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I thank God that you and David Mendosa are smart enough to understand all of this stuff and to share it with us. After having controlled by TypeII with diet and exercise for a couple of years I just spent the last six months ignoring the fact that I have diabetes because I was dealing with other physical problems. So I've had my cervical spine surgery and am ready to go back to work.
I've spent a lot of time online and reading books while I was recuperating and I've just become sooooooo confused and cynical about drugs, diets, doctors and all the information that is out there. How in the world does one have a clue about what to do?! I have a follow-up appointment with a cardiologist in February and have many questions for him. Like the latest study about Vitorin. And how diabetes and the heart are so intertwined. I'm sure my diabetes was caused by taking the drug Zyprexa for depression. I can't help but wonder what would happen if I just totally quit all drugs and just exercised and ate right.
And who knows what "right" means. Have you heard about the diabetes experiment in Patagonia, AZ - Raw for 30 days. It is supposed to work wonders - but it's not low carb.
I'm just rambling out of frustration. I just don't think I can now think about HDL.
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