Food

[old man emu]

6 minutes ago, newsaroundme said:

I'd love to know what you decide on for salad dressing. I do love olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

My doctor today told me to use olive oil, but not to cook with it as the cooking polymerises the fatty acid chains, turning the unsaturated molecules into saturated. I looked at some balsamic vinegar while I was at the shops today, but decided on a small bottle of Paul Newman' vinaigrette as a started to my change from mayonnaise and salad dressing.

[newsaroundme]

2 minutes ago, old man emu said:

My doctor today told me to use olive oil, but not to cook with it as the cooking polymerises the fatty acid chains, turning the unsaturated molecules into saturated. I looked at some balsamic vinegar while I was at the shops today, but decided on a small bottle of Paul Newman' vinaigrette as a started to my change from mayonnaise and salad dressing.

I didn't know that about olive oil. I hope it's easy for you to adopt the recommendations you were given. 

 

I hope that vinaigrette is nice too. 

 

 

[willedoo]

On 10/09/2024 at 6:12 PM, old man emu said:

Went to the doctor today to review blood test results. Doctor say my HDL and LDL cholesterol are above desired levels, but didn't panic. Then the doc tells me that my higher cholesterol levels are due to my genetics. Now I've got to consider cutting some placental animal fat from my diet to see if I can knock those levels down. The doc also said that my blood sugar level rose slightly, so classifies me as pre-diabetic. And I thought I was doing pretty good as I've lost 4 kgs in the past three months. Not a massive lot, but slow and steady wins the race. I should be able to shed a bit more as I increase the amount of exercise I get through cracking on with the reno.

They say diet only accounts for about 20%-30% of blood cholesterol, the rest being made in the liver. I've heard of vegetarians who have to take statins because their livers produce too much. I'm sort of in that category, not a vegetarian but a pescatarian and eat almost no food containing cholesterol but still have to take statins to keep total cholesterol under 4. Because I've had arterial disease I'm in the same target category for cholesterol as Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders and diabetics. For others the target is 5.6.  I don't like being on statins because of the side effects but don't have a lot of choice due to a flaky liver that makes too much and has trouble excreting excess cholesterol.

 

Statins are a last resort treatment if things like diet and exercise don't do the job. I think the olive oil and fish oil helps.

[willedoo]

On 10/09/2024 at 6:12 PM, old man emu said:

HDL and LDL cholesterol are above desired levels

HDL is the good one. If there's a problem with it, it would be because it's too low. I don't think they have an upper limit for HDL, the more the better. That's where stuff like olive oil and Omega 3 come into the picture - it raises HDL levels. From what I understand, the HDL works in transporting excess LDL back to the liver for excretion.

[willedoo]

Having said that about HDL levels, the level of HDL still adds to total cholesterol which has to be under a certain limit. If the overall level is too high, lowering the bad LDL would be the plan. Having HDL high enough to cause a problem in the total figure if LDL was low would be unusual. It would be hard to get it that high through diet. Eskimos might do it.

[onetrack]

I've read that when you lose weight, your cholesterol level goes up. This is because the fat and cholesterol which is stored in your body organs, and especially the liver, has nowhere to go but into your bloodstream.

Thus, your blood tests show up elevated cholesterol levels for some time after you've initially lost a fair bit of weight. The cholesterol levels then eventually come down to normal levels, once the fat and cholesterol in the bloodstream is eliminated.

 

I'm fortunate in that I don't have, and have never had, a cholesterol problem - despite eating a lot of red meat and also scoffing lots of butter. My most recent blood test came back with excellent results for every single item on the list - except for my PSA, which is elevated by about 30% on the last test.

 

My GP was concerned enough about the elvated PSA level, to actually phone me to check to see if I was O.K., and to check I had another appointment with my urologist soon. I assured him I was fine and my next appointment with my urologist was the following week.

When I saw the urologist, he wasn't unduly concerned about the rise in the PSA level. He says PSA goes up and down substantially, can be affected by strong exertion (I told him my PSA level was likely to be up because of the amount of exertion I indulged in, shifting my entire workshop contents. I lost about 4 or 5 kgs as a result of that effort) -  and he said PSA can vary considerably from person to person.

 

He said PSA was only one of the factors they look at, when keeping up surveillance of prostate tumours, and it can be unreliable.

[old man emu]

The problem with interpreting the results of blood tests is that an individual's results are compared to a population average. Your blood chemistry on the day you give your samples could vary because of a lot of factors, as have been indicated above. Also there is the makeup of the individual. My doctor claims (without determination) that I am genetically disposed to a higher than average LDL concentration. But if that is correct, then it also implies that my metabolism is the product of my ancestors' evolution. If high LDL levels didn't kill them before they could breed, then my levels shouldn't kill me. Naturally, I'll monitor those levels to see if an adverse trend is showing itself. A bit like doing regular engine oil analyses to monitor engine wear.

 

Another thing that I have found out about myself from a cardiogram is that I have a T2 inversion in my heart's operation. Can't tell you what that means, but the inversion is common in about 5% of the population ( don't know which population sub-group - Caucasian, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asian etc.) The fact of the inversion was only commented upon as if occurs in the other 95%, then it's an indicator of heart trouble.

[willedoo]

Cholesterol levels are only a guide. Some people with high levels never have a problem and others with low levels can still get blockages. When I had the stroke caused by an almost blocked carotid artery, my total cholesterol was 5.5, so it was still within target levels. Regardless of that, I had an 85% blockage in the right artery and still have 40% in the left. They were and are cholesterol/plaque blockages and not calcium buildups.

 

Even if a GP didn't want to order a carotid artery ultrasound under bulk billing, it's not that expensive and gives good peace of mind if you can get a referral as a paying patient. If there's any build up of plaque the images will show a fairly accurate image of it. The specialists get concerned when a blockage reaches 70%. That's the level at which they recommend surgery. After my experience, I think an ultrasound of both carotid arteries is a good idea even for unsymptomatic people past a certain age. There's a lot of blood pressure pushing past plaque buildups in carotid arteries and if they are unstable and a piece breaks off, it can be in the brain in a flash. I was just lucky the piece lodged in the retinal artery and not a major brain blood vessel. Blockages can be fatty cholesterol plaque, calcium or a mixture of both. The calcium/plaque mix is the most unstable as the two materials don't bond very well.

 

They also sent me for a calcium score test for the coronary arteries. It wasn't available under bulk billing so with the medicare refund I was out of pocket about $70. According to that, my calcium deposits were half that of average for my age, so good news. I still don't think that tells if you have plaque deposits in the carotid arteries, maybe a stress test is the one for that. The thing I learned is that a good cholesterol reading doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have a growth building up in the artery. Scans and tests is the only way to know that.

 

Weird things can happen with cholesterol deposits. The one I still have in the left carotid artery is fairly typical - 50mm long extending vertically to block 40% of artery diameter. it's a reasonable distance inside the inner carotid artery and is long and low making it stable. They have said it is unlikely to ever be a problem. The bad one they cut out was just inside the doorway of the inner carotid artery where it branches off the outer artery. It was only 12mm wide but extended up almost to the top of the artery. Right at the V where the two arteries divide it was like having a door almost shut and would have been copping a heap of vortex forces from the blood pressure. The constant battering it was copping broke a small piece off it which caused a blockage in the retinal artery further up the line. It was an unusual growth to appear in someone with good cholesterol levels.