Vegan recovery plan; WAS Significance of VERY low cholesterol?

[Guest guest]

I would imagine that diet can make a difference in cholesterol levels. I say

this since I was a vegan for 18 years until about six months ago. One reason

I started that was that my father had high blood pressure, so I would assume

I don't have a propensity to low blood pressure levels. Anyway, I was

concerned about a few health issues as I learned more about problems with

vegan diets and soy foods, so I got tested for various things and switched

to NT diet with raw milk and pastured beef. (I love it!) My cholesterol was

157 (HDL 53; LDL 93). I would imagine that would go up some now, no?

Obviously, I was concered about other issues. I was concered that soy

products had contributed to hay fever/allergies and possible

adrenal/thyroid/fatigue issues, so I was tested for that. Thyroid was

normal, though I guess low normal (1.2 with normal range 0.5-5.2). Zinc

levels were fine. Vitamin A levels were low normal (481 ug/L, with normal

range 360-1200). I am trying to follow the glandular supplement plan in

Cowan's Fourfold Path to Healing book to deal with allergies and fatigue and

to quit caffeine.

I did take B Vitamin supplements when I was a vegan so homocysteine levels

and MMA levels were fine. However, I tested low for neutrophils (1.5

bil/L; normal 2-6.2) and white bood cells in general (3.7 bil/L; normal is

4.4-10.1). My doctor couldn't explain this and a follow up test after I had

switched to an NT diet for a month or so had shown it inching up to the

normal range, so I suspect this might have something to do with a vegan diet

but can't figure out what. Any ideas? Other dietary recomedations?

On the issue of muscle cramping, I always assumed the reason why I

never got cramps playing basketball was that I didn't eat dairy products,

but since switching, I still have no problem

with that and my energy levels remained high as well. And I feel better

off the court. So it was interesting to hear that the lactic acid hypothesis

has been questioned.

Bill

[Guest guest]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I quit caffeine with

adrenal support in the morning- salt/c- a scant tsp of sea salt and extra

vitamin c, citrus peel, and licorice. I do try to do the glandulars, but

can't always afford them.

Whose idea of sufficient are those levels of nutrients and thyroid

activity? An MD, naturopath? Does the WAPF or other traditional foods

organization publish their idea of optimal blood levels?

Have you worked on mineral levels? I know some of them take 6 months of

supplementation to recover. All the vegans I know are visibly deficient

in Fe, Ca and Mg- cavities, anxiety, etc. I had always thought it was

from their high phytic and oxalic acid diets, coupled with the reduced

bioavailabilty of plant nutrients.

I would think that many veg diets are too high PUFA, but I don't know

what search terms to use on onibasu for a high-PUFA recovery diet.

You are lucky you came out of it so healthy. My vegetarian friends are

wrecks. They all have c-sections, hair falling out, mental problems. . .

.. but they will deny up and down that their diet has anything to do with

any of those things. Fortunately I was only vegetarian for a couple

years, and I cheated.

Desh

[Guest guest]

I don't think you will necessarily see you cholesterol go up. Most

cholesterol comes from your liver anyway. As long as you keep it

healthy, drink in moderation, avoid simple carbs and sugar,

cholesterol should stay pretty low.

Cramps can be due to a number of things - food allergies/intolerances,

mineral imbalances/deficiencies, and poor kidney function.

[Guest guest]

>

> I don't know the answer to your question, but I quit caffeine with

> adrenal support in the morning- salt/c- a scant tsp of sea salt

and extra

> vitamin c, citrus peel, and licorice. I do try to do the

glandulars, but

> can't always afford them.

I'm doing all of that except the citrus peel and salt, though I

always add lots of salt to food. I'm going broke on the gladulars, so

am wondering when I can phase them out.

>

> Whose idea of sufficient are those levels of nutrients and thyroid

> activity? An MD, naturopath? Does the WAPF or other traditional

foods

> organization publish their idea of optimal blood levels?

These were the standard levels through testing with a regular MD, so

I guess they are just to ensure agaist gross deficiencies, not ideal

levels.

>

> Have you worked on mineral levels? I know some of them take 6

months of

> supplementation to recover. All the vegans I know are visibly

deficient

> in Fe, Ca and Mg- cavities, anxiety, etc. I had always thought it

was

> from their high phytic and oxalic acid diets, coupled with the

reduced

> bioavailabilty of plant nutrients.

I'm taking Azomite mineral powder--it's kind of weird to be eating

dirt, though. Don't know what minerals it helps with.

>

> I would think that many veg diets are too high PUFA, but I don't

know

> what search terms to use on onibasu for a high-PUFA recovery

diet.

>

I usually used canola and olive oil when I was vegan (and margarine

before I knew better on that). Towards the end, I used flax/DHA oil

since it seemed to help with occasional insommnia/chills. I also

switched off soy for a while, using hemp, almonds, and walnuts. That

seeed to help--now I'm taking cod liver oil.

> You are lucky you came out of it so healthy. My vegetarian

friends are

> wrecks. They all have c-sections, hair falling out, mental

problems. . .

> . but they will deny up and down that their diet has anything to

do with

> any of those things. Fortunately I was only vegetarian for a

couple

> years, and I cheated.

>

> Desh

>

Well, I'm just glad that raw milk and pastured meats are now more

widely available. My wife--who was never vegetarian, just a standard

diet--jokes that it's not fair--I skipped all the bad meat. She said

this after we got some Amish organic beef from a local farm--I think

that did it; you could see the quality of the meat. I wonder if a lot

of people became vegetarian when CAFOs took over. I know that reading

Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma clicked with me--both the health and the

enviromental argument for grassfed beef. Usually, the vegetarian/

environmental argument assumed corn-fed beef (in looking at how many

acres of corn it would take to feed the cow that humans could consume

directly). Curious that I ever thought about grassfed beef, except

maybe ranchers overgrazing on public land, etc. The reference to WAPF

in Pollan's book led me to NT and that was the information I needed.

Thanks,

Bill

[Guest guest]

--- In , " b.coole " <b.coole@...>

wrote:

>

> I don't think you will necessarily see you cholesterol go up. Most

> cholesterol comes from your liver anyway. As long as you keep it

> healthy, drink in moderation, avoid simple carbs and sugar,

> cholesterol should stay pretty low.

>

> Cramps can be due to a number of things - food allergies/

intolerances,

> mineral imbalances/deficiencies, and poor kidney function.

>

I was a pretty heavy drinker for about half the time I was vegan, but

quit a decade ago, so that should be OK. I gather that could have

stressed the liver enough to cause allergies. I always tried to avoid

simple sugars. Occasionally, I used to eat fruit-concentrated treats,

but with the dairy now, I get less sugar and carb cravings.

Bill