I've been eating a not-quite-keto diet for about six months now. By not quite, I mean many fewer carbohydrates—goodbye sugar, pasta, bread, a variety of fruit—and more vegetables (though I've always eaten more of those than most), but not gorging on fat, as many on those diets do. The idea of frying up a pound of bacon sounds fun sometimes but it's not for me. I eat modest servings of salmon and, occasionally, chicken. I eat six eggs a week, some cheese, and yogurt. I've been combining this with intermittent fasting, which for me means eating only between noon and seven p.m. and not eating at all two days a week. I have a four-ounce glass of rice wine once a week.
I feel great. I've lost over ten pounds and my mind has never been clearer. I exercise fairly often. Both of my cancers are at bay, I sleep well, and there's been relatively little stress in my life.
Then I got blood work done last week.My cholesterol level has soared. I've read in many places that eggs don't have the kind of cholesterol that damages human hearts, but I'll change to two a week anyway, and have just one slice of cheese a week too. I've also read that keto diets and fasting can make cholesterol go up and that the form of cholesterol your liver is producing isn't harmful. Something to do with the particle size.
My doctor is a good one. He's in his late sixties, a G.P., but the kind of doctor who keeps up with things. I mentioned that after a painful operation in August of 2020 I'd been cleared to use medical marijuana, which is the only kind legal in my state (Pennsylvania, which is technically a commonwealth, not a state, but I was trying to be less wordy. Blew that, didn't I?) but that it did little for me and he said the weed (tincture in my case; I have lung issues and I don't want to smoke or vape) in Pennsylvania was bad because all of it has to be grown and processed in Pennsylvania, which prevents the best strains from being sold here.
I doubt my doctor has taken a hit in his life and I was surprised he knew so much about it. He's on a bicycling trip this week, a vacation, and will get in touch with me when he returns. I know he'll want to put me on statins. I'll resist this unless scans show real problems and want a recount after a month or so of improved eating and without a thirty-six-hour fast before the blood draw.
