How Intermittent Fasting and a Low Carb Diet Helped Me Lower My LDL Cholesterol and Glucose Naturally. And Lose Weight Fast!
Photo credit: Witthaya Prasongsin
This article contains health and weightloss advice. I am not a health or weightloss professional. Please the seek advice from a medical professional before starting any diet program.
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Like many Americans around the country, I received terrible news from my doctor that my bad cholesterol (LDL) and sugar levels (glucose) were too high. At 125 lbs. I was shocked that I was now considered pre-diabetic. I had always thought if I kept my weight down and exercised every day, I would stand among the healthy. I thought I knew enough about nutrition to be healthy. Obviously, I was wrong. But what I learned from trying to get my cholesterol and glucose levels down naturally was that I still had so much more to learn.
I believe most people try to make smarter food choices when provided with reliable information on what causes illnesses such as heart disease. This is why grocery store shelves are lined with organic, multi-grain, GMO-free options. But heart disease and diabetes still rank in the top 10 leading causes of death in America, we have more to learn.
Thought out my life, my weight has been all over the place, from 185 lbs at one time in high school down to 103 lbs at my lowest after my divorce. The way I had been eating prior to my new diet (which I thought was healthy), my body fluctuated around 126 to132 lbs. But at 5" 4, I prefer to keep a healthy weight of around 125 lbs.
I’m a researcher at heart, so after learning from my doctor that my LDL and glucose levels were high, I did a ton of internet research on how to lower my LDL and glucose levels without drugs. It was important for me to try to conquer this naturally because statins have so many dangerous side effects, from muscle to nerve damage (you can learn more about harmful side effects of statins here). You wind up replacing one problem or another. A lot of people don’t want to do it the natural way because it takes work. They would rather take a pill and continue eating what they want, even with all the risks.
After overcoming black mold positing and massive panic attacks (you can read about how I overcame panic attacks here). I am grateful for my health every day and will do what I can to maintain good health.
After much research, I decided to try intermittent fasting and a low carb, low sugar diet to see if that would help lower my levels. I wouldn’t call it keto because I still maintain a lower-fat diet, but I have added more healthy fats like avocado and salmon. I also stopped eating processed foods and stick to foods that are as natural as possible.
I was surprised to discover with this new way of eating that I was eating more per sitting now than I had before. You can eat twice to three times as many veggies than processed carbs. Prior to eating a low card diet, I was eating a lot of salads and chicken breast, but I was also eating processed frozen vegetables like creamed spinach, sometimes a Lean Cuisine, canned soups (tomato bisque or chicken and wild rice), and lots of carbs from wholegrain bread and brown rice. Wasn’t that healthy? I believe the average American would consider that to be a healthy diet. I was also a big snacker. I held this old-school belief that eating throughout the day kept your metabolism active. But I made sure to only eat healthy snacks like cauliflower puffs and beet chips. In reality, I knew nothing about eating healthy.
My Results
By intermittent fasting and eating a low carb, low sugar, non-processed foods diet, I wound up not only lowering my cholesterol and glucose levels out of the pre-diabetic stage; I also increased my HDL levels(good cholesterol) and lost 12 lbs fairly easily! The weight just fell off.
Here are my results over 4 months without any drugs:
LDL: 223mg to 139mg (less than 200 desirable)
HDL: 54mg to 63mg (40 to 59 Good/60 or higher prevents heart disease)
Glucose: 120mg to 93mg (Desired 80–100)
THE PLAN
The following is the schedule and exact menu of what I’ve been eating daily to maintain these results. Your results may vary. Again, please seek advice from a medical professional before starting any diet.
INTERMITTENT FASTING
First Meal: I no longer eat breakfast. I eat my first meal around noon or 1:00PM.
Second Meal: I eat my next meal at 6:00 or 7:00PM
Snack: At 10:00PM, I have a small snack. A handful of blueberries and walnuts. Something low carb and low glycemic.
No snacking in between meals anymore. If I’m ravenous, which hasn’t been too bad. I’ll have a carrot or mini cucumber to tied me over.
LOW CARB FOODS
Lunch
This is what I’ve been eating. You don’t have to follow what I eat exactly if there is something you don’t like. The idea is just to eat low-carb, low-sugar, and healthy fats. And no high refined carbs, high sugar, or processed foods. Remember, I did this for health reasons, not for weight loss, but the weight came off so fast and easily on this plan.
Note: I pre-made the salads, beans, and veggies in advance.
A large bowl of green salad. I like to mix broccoli slaw into my salad.
Salad dressing: half of a lime squeezed and a little pink salt.
You can add olive oil if you’d like.
Small piece of salmon (organic wild-caught canned or fresh) or chicken (free-range organic).
A cup of black beans
You can also make my summer Black Bean Avacado salad.
You can find the recipe here.
Sliced avocado
(3 slices. Skip if you eat the black bean avocado salad)
A cup of diced cucumbers with just a little lemon, olive oil, and salt to taste. You can add dill too.
A cup of freshly chopped beets. Prefer the ones in vacuum-packed bags.
Dinner
Dinner is not much different from lunch, except I may have a sautéed asparagus mushroom instead of cucumbers. And I may have a half-cup diluted with hot water bone broth. I dilute it because the organic brand I buy is high in sodium, and sodium makes your liver work harder.
Staying Motivated
Some of you may have difficulty giving up your favorite high carbs, sweets, fried, and processed foods. Even if the health benefits are so worth it. You may wonder how do I stay motivated?
Reason 1: With intermittent fasting, by the time 1:00 pm rolls around, I’m hungry. I’m looking forward to eating my salads.
Reason 2: I love veggies. So if you love fresh veggies too, this won’t be very difficult for you.
Reason 3: Fear is a good motivator. I’m a life coach. We work with moving people past their fears to achieve their goals. But in this case, I wanted to get my bad cholesterol and pre-diabetes levels under control.
Reason 4: The biggest reason is my father and oldest sister both died from diabetes-related illnesses. I watched both of them suffer greatly before they passed. Two people so full of life and love. I often said my dad was like a “caged bird” at the end of his life. My father had type 2 diabetes, which means his body was producing too much insulin. My dad, like me, should have been able to manage his diabetes by eating the right foods and staying away from the wrong ones. But he didn’t. He chose to continue eating foods high in carbs and salt. My dad, like me, also looked very healthy before he fell ill with diabetes-related kidney failure at the age of 69. His kidney failure robbed him of his life even before he died five years later.
My sister had type 1 diabetes. Her body was not able to produce enough insulin. Insulin is created by the pancreas and helps the body process glucose. My sister thought she was careful in monitoring her glucose levels, but what she didn’t do, was she didn’t watch what she ate to control glucose levels. Her diet consisted of high carbs, unhealthy fats, and diet soda. And when she couldn’t walk or stand up to cook any longer due to neuropathy in her legs and feet, she relied on fast food to nourish her body because it was easy. My sister died four months short of her 50th birthday.
We say that diabetes killed them. What I realize now is that their food choices killed them.
I don’t blame them. I blame our lack of education on what refined carbs, sugar, and processed foods affect our bodies.
GET EDUCATED
Understand the Health Benefits of a Low Carb/Low Sugar Diet
I learned from YouTube, not from my doctor, because my doctor didn’t provide me with any information. Luckily, as a life coach, many of my friends are health coaches, so I had some basic knowledge and investigated further. What I learned was that by lowering the risk of insulin resistance and inflammation in the body caused by high carbs, high sugar, and processed foods, you reduce the risk of getting a number of diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s, and stroke later in life.
The Risk of Eating a High Carb, High Sugar, Processed Foods As You Age
You may think, “I’m young. I don’t have to worry about this?” But if you believe that for way too long, eventually, it catches up with you. What happens when you eat a diet of refined carbs and processed foods in your 20s — 30s, like pizza, paninis, and even plant-based burgers. You’re fine. You’re fine. You’re fine. Then all of a sudden, you reach your 40s and 50s, and you’re no longer fine. You now have high cholesterol or are pre-diabetic or both like me. I thought I was fine keeping my weight down to 125 lbs. Exercising every day, but I wasn’t. I didn’t realize what an impact these types of foods have on our bodies. Our bodies can’t process these types of foods.
INFLAMMATION/INSULIN RESISTANCE CAUSED BY FOODS
When you’re younger, you don’t know that your liver and the pancreas are working hard behind the scenes to keep your blood clean. Cleaning out all of that sugar, processed gunk, and toxins out of your body. By the time you reach your 40s or 50s, your liver says, “I can’t do this anymore.” You go to the doctor. You feel fine, but you get your test results back and find out you have high cholesterol, are pre-diabetic, or high blood pressure. All these are symptoms of illness to come if you don’t take eating healthier more seriously now.
High carb, high sugar, and processed foods can cause inflammation and insulin resistance in your body which are the leading causes of diseases such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. As explained here in these videos by popular YouTube health expert Dr. Eric Berg.
Inflammation and Insulin Resistance Lead to the Top 7 Causes of Death in the U.S.
#1 HEART DISEASE
According to the American College of Cardiology article, 48% of Americans have heart disease caused by the foods we consume.
#2 CANCER
Again, refined carbs, processed foods, and sugar can also lead to cancer. Here is an article on 6 foods linked to cancer, so you can start preventing it now.
#5 STROKE: High Cholesterol Leads to Stroke
Texas Medical Center reports over 100 million Americans have high cholesterol.
#6 ALZHEIMER’S: A diet high in sugar and processed foods also leads to Alzheimer’s, as per Alzheimers.net.
#7 DIABETES
You may not have diabetes now, but knowing what foods you should not eat to prevent Diabetes Type 2 applies to you too. Cleveland Clinic lists the worst foods for diabetics, but these foods also cause diabetes.
WHY NOT TAKE MEDICATIONS?
People think, what’s the big deal? We have medications that can help you with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. And you can manage it with meds and keep eating what you want. But more often than not, these medications cause further complications and illness. Take a look at statins, for example. Statins can cause fatigue, muscle and nerve damage, memory loss, and liver problems. This article, “More Doctors Wonder If Statins Are Worth The Risk?” goes further into depth.
Prior to this diet plan, I thought people who strictly ate whole foods were extreme. Had I had more information when I was in my 30s or 40s on what those foods could do to my body, I probably would have eaten even better. I am glad to have caught my LDL and glucose levels before any illnesses developed in my body. I hope to keep everything under control. This is a new way of life to stay healthy as I get older.
I hope this information helps you to become more educated on how the food you affects your body to make changes in your diet so you can live a long, happy, and healthy life.
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Kat OM is a resilience mindset coach based in New York City. Her signature program, Mindful Resilience, provides 21 tools and lessons to help keep you emotionally resilient through life. She is also the author of Resilient Love: Turn Your Wounds into Your Wings. You can also find Kat OM at: KatOMLife.com | IG: kat.om.transform.your.life | FB: katOM30