Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

astronaut23 wrote: Oh and she was worried about my HDL being low but I'm not concerned about it at all. I remember Dr. Esselstyn says low HDL is not a concern with people eating this kind of diet. That when the total is this low then high HDL is not needed. High HDL is needed when people are consuming lots of cholesterol and need the HDL to transport it back to the liver for clearance.

Dr. McDougall on this topic: http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2004nl/ ... pufav5.htm (scroll down)

But is there any way to boost HDL other than eating animal foods because my HDL was higher when eating animal foods...no doubt about that but my LDL was over 200 also...

Exercise. Which is a good idea anyway. But there is no need to worry about it (see article above).

I had a similar drop in cholesterol. From 250 to 90 with ldl of 31 in 7-8 weeks (can't remember exactly). My cardiologist didn't even call me, just sent a letter with the numbers saying continue taking medications (40 mg lipitor and 10 mg bystolic). My regular doctor advised me to cut them in half and is going to retest in a month.

One truth McDougall states is that doctors receive little to no training in nutrition. They don't even think of it as a possible treatment. My doctor confirmed this when I asked her about her training in med school.