Chapter 2 - Cholesterol, Facts and Fiction

Then how much do you need to restrict your carbohydrate levels if you want to have ideal cholesterol levels and ideal HDL to LDL ratios?

It will vary from person to person, depending on your individual carbohydrate metabolism. But here are a few guidelines that I suggest.

1) If your personal cholesterol picture is outside of the ideal parameters you’ve seen here and you want to correct it as quickly as possible, I recommend restricting your carbohydrate intake 30 grams or less per day for at least three weeks, testing your urine daily in the afternoons or the evenings with “ Ketostix” or “Keto-Diastix” (from any drug store) to make sure you’re producing at least a small amount of ketones daily and spilling zero amounts of sugar into your urine. Do adjust your carbohydrate intake to keep the ketones below 80 mg/dl, however.

2) After three weeks, add small amounts of carbohydrates each day until you test negative for ketones (“zero”). Then back off on the carbs again, just a little, so that you stay at a level where you test between “trace” and “moderate” on your Ketostix daily. This is where you should stay until you reach your ideal cholesterol profile — 180 to 200 total (190 is ideal). When you have your cholesterol checked, look at all three of the readings: total cholesterol, HDL and LDL. Your LDL divided by HDL should be 3 or less; total cholesterol divided by HDL should be 4 or less.

3) Your fat intake will be of little consequence. In fact, cream or half and half will be better for you than skim milk or 2% because the higher the cream content, the fewer carbohydrates it contains per ounce. Most people have difficulty consuming more fat than is safe because the body reaches a satiety point quickly with fat consumption and you just stop before you get more than is safe (as long as it’s NOT being combined with carbohydrates).

4) Enjoy your bacon and eggs or steak and eggs for breakfast but pass on the toast and juice. This is just the opposite of what you’ve

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