At 09:28 AM 7/24/98 -500, you wrote:
>I guess its a hold-over from my grain/dairy/lo-fat infested diet
>mentality but its hard to understand how you're able to keep to
>normal cholesterol levels and maintain a healthy weight, not to
>mention weight loss!

>hi-carb diet. How are all of you faring as far as weight-loss, b.p.
>etc...?

Superb. Stupendous. My endocrinologist *cannot* figure me out. I don't make
my own cortisone so I've been on cortisone replacement therapy since I was
5. I apparently require a dose that's a lot higher than average - my
pediatric endocrinologist settled on 60 mg. and I've been on that dose for
a good 25 years. When this Dr. tried to reduce the dose down to 30, I only
got as far as 45 mg and was a mess (skin rashes, no energy, etc.) They've
put me back on 60, and now I feel normal again.There are a lot of side
effects that should be going along with that dosage, but I have NONE of
them - and I credit low-carb for much of that. I *should* have bone loss -
but instead my bone density is 119% of that expected for a woman my age
(41). I should have high cholesterol and used to when I ate low fat/high
carb. It used to be 219 - on low carb it's 195. My "good" cholesterol is
now 89, my "bad" cholesterol is 66, my ratio is excellent. My BP has always
been good, that seems to run in my family, but on one Dr. visit it was
actually a little *low* (but maybe I didn't get enough salt that day - when
you don't make cortisone, you *crave* and need a lot of salt). Let's see
what else - my blood glucose is excellent. Oh yes, and I'm supposed to be
"weak" not only from the cortisone, but also since my surgery, I'm not
making much testosterone (yep, women do make a little in their ovaries).
Well, I'm not weak, I regularly heft 40 lb. boxes of chicken backs that I
feed my dogs as part of *their* paleo diet.

The Dr. and his NP can't figure it out (even though I told them both that I
eat low carb and don't follow any of the "cholesterol rules"). I'm supposed
to be a mess of side effects from the cortisone and I'm not. In all the
ways that are measurable, I'm probably much healthier than the average
person who makes all the cortisone they need. So, rather than insisting on
reducing my dose to 30 mg. we've decided to keep it at 60 (since it's
worked well all these years) and just do a bone scan and bloodwork every
year to keep an eye out for the side-effects I'm supposed to have.

I've been eating low carb (CAD) off and on for about 4 years, and very
consistently since Feb. of '97. Over that time I lost about 70 lbs. I've
had more problems staying on it since I had my hysterectomy last year, but
am finding a Neanderthin-style program a lot easier. I have about 50 more
lbs. to lose and I *think* it's starting to come off again. (I briefly
tried Atkins for 3 weeks, and nothing much happened at all.) The thing is,
even if you sort of go off low-carb and get a bit carried away, you don't
regain all the weight you lost (I didn't anyway). You don't lose while
you're only half on it, but you don't rebound back to your old weight and
then some.

I'm finding that on Neanderthin, for dessert, I can have pecans and dates,
and it tastes as sweet to me as cookies and pies, but doesn't draw me off
into a binge like the CAD reward meals had been doing. The thing is, even
when I'm not low-carbing as I should, a lot of the habits remain - the
cholesterol values are from bloodwork done when I was only about 80%
CADding. On occasions when I've been "very good" my cholesterol has been as
low as 175. So yes indeedy, it *does* work. Someday the medical
establishment will wake up and "get it". Until then, I'm going to keep on
breaking all the rules.

Kathy Partridge
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Artworks website: <http://www.borg.com/~atelierk/>
|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|
Atelier Golden Retrievers & Goldens Portrayed
Member GRCA, up in central New York