Originally Posted by
Carl Spackler
Thanks as always for this. My GP is a cardiologist and a dear friend whom I trust. She lets me eat pretty much what I want (which is about half pizza, burgers and pasta, and the other half salads and other green veggies. I'm on half a Crestor once a week and modestly exercise which has kept my HDL at 60 and my LDL at 60. She insists on good dental hygiene and keeping my sugar intake low which has my C reactive protein (CRP) at around 0.5 because she thinks dental hygiene and low sugar helps to reduce the body's inflammation. What do you think about targeting those three items for heart health?
Carl
Hi Captain Carl - well, that is an excellent lipid profile and doubtlessly the exercise is helping with the HDL.
There is some good evidence that low level inflammation is bad for health, in fact many people believe that the advances in hygeine in the 20th century is responsible for a lot of the lifespan increase we associate with "modern medicine". Simply not having dental abscesses or going around barefoot with sores etc is a very good thing.
So yes, I'd say your cardiologist sounds most reasonable and correct, but would add that less lipid intake might still be a good thing - 50% burgers and pizza is high, should probably be 25% of calories - they are extremely filled with lipids / fats even if your serum cholesterol is low it is not great for health. But again, your cholesterol profile is great, and if it stays that way you should be in good shape.
And stay away from regular use of the energy drinks.
Regarding the great PotatoChip debate of 2015, yes Potatochip you are right, and energy drinks are not typically extremely high in caffeine, only about 2 cups of coffee typically. AFAIK the taurine drinks were popular in Thailand prior to the mass commercialization.