Andrew,
What drives up cholesterol and decreases HDL is not high
dietary fat intake, it is high carb intake.
Your problem with exhaustion after intense aerobic effort
suggests you have hypoglycemia which is a warning sign of
developing diabetes. I had that about ten years before I was
diagnosed. What happens is your blood sugar surges after a
meal, but then goes low as your pancreas play's catch up and
pumps out insulin, perhaps too much, to clear the blood
sugar. When you exercise when you have a low blood sugar,
you go a whole lot lower and feel like you have lead in your
legs. If the hypoglycemia "goes away" it is actually a sign
your blood sugars are getting worse, not better, which many
of us here did not understand.
High carb intake leads to very high post meal blood sugars,
and they are thought to be a huge part of what stresses your
pancreas and leads to the death of the cells that produce
insulin. The very worst carb is probably the high fructose
corn syrup that is in sodas and much junk food. It not only
raises blood sugar but also raises triglycerides. There is
some intriguing research that shows that the combination of
high triglycerides and high blood sugar at the same time in
your blood stream leads to destruction of beta cells (via
their effect on causing the growth of amyloid deposits in
the pancreas).
So the best thing you can do to avoid type 2 diabetes now is
to cut way down on carbohydrates, especially white flour,
white sugar, and potatoes. Your goal is to keep your blood
sugar from getting so high that you a) get a reactive low
later, and b) poison your pancreas cells.
I'd suggest starting by eliminating all sugary sodas and
"energy drinks." A lot of "healthy" spritzers are pure
hummingbird food--i.e. sugar. A single health food juice
bottle can contain 50 grams of sugar. This is murder on your
pancreas. Substitute either seltzer or diet sodas. The ones
with Splenda taste a lot better than the older ones did.
Don't eat bread or pasta as a routine food. Go for small
portions when you do eat them. Read labels and learn how
much carbohydrate is in the various foods you eat. Sometimes
you'll be surprised. Yogurt with fruit is extremely high in
sugar, regular cheese is a lot better for you.
If you catch the problem early and cut down on the carbs,
you can decrease the stress on your beta cells and lower the
high blood sugars that poison them ("glucotoxicity" is the
technical term.)
However, you might want to do some further research to
make sure you aren't actually in the early stages of
diabetes. The fasting glucose test is a very poor
diagnostic criteria as it diagnoses people many years
after their post meal blood sugar levels are in the
diabetic range. Ask your doctor if you can get your blood
sugar tested after a high carbohydrate meal or if you can
have an hba1c test. The latter is also helpful for gauging
how abnormal your blood sugar is, though it is not as good
as a 2 hour post meal value.
I sure wish someone had told me this stuff years ago before
I burnt out my pancreas eating the "healthy" high carb ****
that was exactly not what I needed to eat.
-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight.
Type 2 diabetes, hba1c 5.2. Cut the carbs to respond to my
email address!
Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips,
recipes, strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/
Looking for help controlling your blood sugar? Visit
http://www.alt-support-
diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm
"Andrew" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi there,
>
> I am a 26 year old male with very low HDL and signs
> which may indicate pre-diabetes, and I am curious what I
> can do to curb any trends in this direction.
>
> I have a family history of heart disease, diabetes, and
> obesity. When I was 20-21, I was able to reduce my
> bodyfat percentage significantly through the use of good
> diet & exercise combined with chromium picolinate and
> pyruvate. Recently I have been focusing on lifting
> weights vs. aerobic exercise and my fat levels have
> risen considerably. There is no reason to believe I am
> eating significantly more fat, so I am worried that this
> may be an indication of something else. I have very low
> HDL, but total cholesterol is in the margin of normal.
> It is very difficult for me to sustain significant
> aerobic activity - i.e. say more than 2-3 miles of
> running - I don't know if this is because of poor
> cardiovascular health or poor energy transfer/metabolism
> or some sort of strange combined effect. Any advice or
> thoughts on supplements (niacin, chromium, etc) that can
> assist this problem and any insights on my exercise
> pattern? Would appreciate your help. Thanks.
