Fortunately, I am not a meat eater. I do like an occasional piece of salmon, but right now I want to see if I can get my cholesterol down with diet and exercise. I know it will not effect my Lp(a). If my numbers don't start coming down significantly in a month or so, I will have to go on the statin. I have an appointment with my primary care doctor Tuesday and will find out my calcium score (fingers crossed, but I'm not expecting good results). How do you do with adding beans and maintaining good blood sugars? Thank you, Sue McMahon

I have made many diet through the years. It was easy to go paleo about 10 years ago (and you probably realize that it is a vegetable heavy diet). Slowly moving away from carbs and towards keto. All organic food, grass fed/finished meats, wild caught salmon and sardines, pastured eggs and eventually got to a 16/8 eating window. I am now in cyclical ketosis, lean, muscular, high energy and consume no seed oils or soy except for nattokinase, occasional legumes & nuts. I do take supplements, no drugs. My lipid ratios and inflammation are stellar. Doing great for someone who is approaching 70.

Hi Sue - thanks for your excellent observations. I agree with you 101% that compliance is key to a healthy diet (and other lifestyle changes).

Until late 2018 I ate unwisely, no junk food, but while I tried to make lowfat choices (chicken breast, sandwiches, breads and cakes, lots of pasta, rice, steel-cut oats for breakfast), my health was declining, I was obese and prediabetic. At the end of 2018 I 'got religion' and vowed to change. I asked my cardiologist whether he recommended low carb or low fat, he said go with low carb. I did some reading about low carb vs. low fat and concluded the Ornish/Esselsteyn regimes were too strict for me and I'd never be able to stay on them. I realize they work for many and people swear by them. I decided to give lower carb a try.

I immediately eliminated any foods with added sugar, and did a lot of reading about LCHF (I started with Dr. Lustig's "Fat Chance" and several books by Gary Taubes, and Nina Teicholz' "Big Fat Surprise"). By mid-March 2019 I was eating low carb, and by the end of 2019 I was eating very low carb (any carbs came from green leafy veggies, full-fat dairy, and once every day or two a buttered mini-pita). I can't say I eat keto because I don't measure macros, I just eat what I want until I'm full. I try not to snack. I don't eat bread/pasta/rice/potatoes. I eat lots of eggs, cheese, full fat dairy, salmon and sardines. I do try to limit beef to 1x a week. Since I've maintained a 50 lb weight loss since spring 2019, and my lipids are vastly improved since late 2018 (now - HbA1C 5.1, then 5.8; now - HDL ~ 75, then, HDL ~ 40; now TGs < 85, then TGs > 200; now, LDL is large fluffy pattern A, then, I don't know but expect it was pattern B; morning blood sugar is 85-90), I'm fairly confident that this is a manageable lifestyle for me. I spend a lot of time reading nutrition books to keep reinforcing the importance of what I'm doing. I feel like it has done much more for me than rosuvastatin.

Edit - I've added a lot of fermented foods to my diet - besides yogurt I eat at least one of kimchi, natto, sauerkraut and pickles each day. Despite these salty foods my BP is 115/75 (I do take 5 mg amlodipine), I think salt is not a problem for me because I'm very insulin sensitive (fasting insulin is 3 uIU/mL and my Quest insulin resistance score is 5, more than a bit below the sensitive/impaired cutoff of 33).