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Comment by copperx | Hacker News Reader

I recently visited my GP and I had a high cholesterol reading. He suggested me to reduce sugars and white flours, get a reading in a month, and depending on that he'll decide whether to prescribe statins.

It surprised me that he didn't mention reducing saturated fats or meat consumption. It made me wonder whether refined carbohydrates play a role in high cholesterol. I think I'll have to take a look at the research.

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I've collected a lot of research on low-carb diets. In my previous job as a neurology professor, I had access to all of the most medical journals, and was able to save a lot. I have been on a ketogenic diet for 2 years now, and my LDL cholesterol went from 180 to 130, my HDL from 28 to 80, and my triglycerides from 140 to 75. Plus, I lost 70 pounds, no migraines for 2 years, and my anxiety and depression have all but disappeared. 75% of my calories are from fat (50/50 saturated/unsaturated, mostly from red meat, oils including coconut, olive, and avacodo, butter, plus a TON of vegetables). This is pretty typical.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzEPvoDPVTV5SzJlSHV0Y21rZ0...

On page 29, there is a cool paper showing ultrasound cross-sections of blood vessels before and after a low-carb diet, and the resulting dramatic decrease in inflammation.

That's great! I've saved the document.

Seeing now that you were a neurology prof, I have a question.

About 10 years ago I followed a diet similar to the [Slow Carb Diet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow-Carb_Diet) in order to lose fat slowly over a long period of time. One of the unexpected side effects was that I felt extremely clear-headed. I was doing software development at the time and I remember being able to breeze through some thinking tasks. Years later, I was feeling foggy so I used Modafinil and it gave me a similar effect. The low-carb acted as a nootropic on me.

Is there any mechanism that you know about that could make this possible?

Or was it all on my head?

I believe it completely. This was one of the first effects I felt, before I had gotten deep into the literature. I remember after being on keto for a week, I was walking through a parking lot, and all of a sudden it was like my head popped through the clouds. I had a sudden burst of energy, my anxiety dropped, and I felt like skipping to the car. The keto flu disappeared, and I felt HAPPY for the first time in years. All in the course of 5 minutes. Over the next few weeks, I realized this had extended to my work as well: I felt focused, clear-headed, and able to work more quickly than I had in years. I used to get 1-2 migraines per month. I haven't had one in two years. I started the diet for weight loss (70 lbs now), unaware of the other benefits. It turns out this is starting to be supported by literature, though it is still a new area of study.

I started this because of my work in the pediatric epilepsy department I worked in. Nearly all of the kids that came through were put on a very low carb diet; it significantly reduced or eliminated the seizures in about 60%+ of the cases. Naturally, I wondered what was going on. It turns out that there are a number of neurological benefits. It has been shown to treat bipolar disorder [1], schizophrenia[2,3], ADHD[4], and so on. A lot of these are small studies. I am fine with that. If you have a patient who has been schizophrenic for 50 years, and no medication has worked, then a dietary change reverses most symptoms in a week, I feel comfortable saying something significant is happening, even with N=1. (A few years back at a Society for Neuroscience meeting, some NIH director made the point that if I say I have engineered a flying pig with wings, and bring it out on stage as proof, it doesn't make sense to say repeat it 10 or 100 times; the proof is sitting in front of you!). I have only cheated twice in two years, and both times I was groggy for days, and felt the depression creeping back. I realized this was how I ALWAYS felt previously.

[1]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11918434 [2]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26547882 [3]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19245705 [4]http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/129/2/330

Please see the PDF document on http://www.atkinsexposed.org/ and let me know how it relates to your research.

I'd give Peter Attia a look: http://eatingacademy.com/start-here

His writing is incredibly in depth, and he's covered cholesterol extensively.

Also be sure to see the following very critical review of this person begging us for money - http://plantpositive.com/a-very-serious-low-carber-nusi/

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