Todd wrote:
> In fact, 9 or so months later, still on the paleo diet, I was tested
> again.  I don't have all the numbers in my head, but I 
> remember my total 
> cholesterol had dropped to about 250 (from that high of 302) 
> and my HDL 
> had inched up a bit more, to 48.  My TG stayed under 100, and 
> may have 
> dropped a bit more.
> 
> Even my last set of numbers, from last fall, showed a
> continued rise in 
> HDL, with little increase in total cholesterol.

That's a very different story than the figures you reported in your intial
post, Todd. When you look at all three sets of figures instead of just the
first two, the picture looks much better:

                Jan. 1997   June, 1997	Around March 98
Weight          252         217		?			
Total
cholesterol     226         302		250
HDL             32          35		48
LDL             120         246		~180?
Triglycerides   160         97		<97

That HDL increase was actually significant--it brought you up from an
unhealthy level to an average level. The subsequent dropping of LDL is also
interesting, though you would still have had far to go to reach the levels
of HG's (30-70). 

The two people I know whose LDL went up on a NeanderThin-type diet didn't
stick with it, so I wasn't sure if that was a permanent or temporary
phenomena. Your experience suggests it might be temporary for at least some
people, though one case is not solid evidence. It looks like if you had
tweaked the diet a bit by reducing SFA's you might have achieved fairly
healthy numbers in another year or so, and even with the high SFA levels
your numbers were beginning to improve significantly.