My diet

[RRM]

The big difference between you and other people with elevated cholesterol is the fraction of oxysterols.
Particularly oxysterols are found in arterial plaque
There is only one reason why high cholesterol levels are feared:
The formation of arterial plaque causing clogging and infarction.
If there is no such plaque, high cholesterol is totally harmless.
So, you need to find out just one thing: is there any formation of plaque in your blood vessels?

...The hypothesis is that this is caused mainly by damaged (oxidized and glycated) LDL.
...However, to me this implies that cholesterol levels in the blood don't have much relation to this

They do.
(dietary) Oxysterols are harder to remove from the blood, eventually increasing total cholesterol (cholesterol plus oxysterols)
So, more cholesterol is related to more oxysterols, is related to more arterial plaque.

You may have low levels in the blood, but if none is utilized then they just circulate around

Bile acids are made up of cholesterol taken from the blood,
so there always is some utilization going on.

So I just checked, one year ago my total cholesterol was exactly 240, LDL/HDL wasn't measured.
It's amazing that it could just increase to 400 in one year..

May be totally genetic and related to your age.
What is your age?
How much did your diet change the last few years?

[dime]

RRM, I guess you meant more about oxycholesterol, than oxysterol.

It's not so clear about dietary oxysterols.
Rapid hepatic metabolism of 7-ketocholesterol in vivo: implications for dietary oxysterols.

The finding that [(14)C]-7-ketocholesterol is rapidly metabolized and excreted by the liver suggests that diet may not be a major source of oxysterols in atherosclerotic plaque, and that perhaps dietary oxysterols make little or no contribution to atherogenesis.

Oxysterols are also produced in the body itself, by enzymatic oxidation or non-enzymatic (auto oxidation by reactive oxygen and nitrogen species). (http://www.lipidworld.com/content/10/1/44)
Strangely, increased antioxidant status (via supplementation) increased hepatic enzymatically generated oxysterol (http://www.la-press.com/antioxidant-sup ... icle-a1849)

I'm 25 and my diet changed from eating everything (but usually I was avoiding heavily processed food), to variations of the wai diet since 1-2 years ago.

[dime]

For a person of about 68 kg (150 pounds), typical total body-cholesterol synthesis is about 1 g (1,000 mg) per day, and total body content is about 35 g, primarily located within all the membranes of all the cells of the body. Typical daily dietary intake of additional cholesterol, in the United States, is 200–300 mg.[5]

So body produces 1g of cholesterol, at dietary cholesterol intake of 200-300mg. The body production up/down regulates according to the amount of dietary cholesterol. Either way, the daily income of cholesterol is let's say 1.3g. I eat 2.3g of cholesterol a day: even if all cholesterol production in the body stopped, I still have 1g extra income. There must be some limiting factor in the cholesterol recycling step (via the bile) that allows it to slowly pile up in the blood?

I'm limiting myself to 3 eggs a day until the next blood test, I'm just curious what will the effect be on the cholesterol levels. I love egg yolks so I don't like limiting them not one bit, but I don't like my high cholesterol so I have to test with less eggs.

[RRM]

RRM, I guess you meant more about oxycholesterol, than oxysterol.

All oxycholesterols are oxysterols (cholesterol is a sterol).

It's not so clear about dietary oxysterols.

Yes, some are metabolized properly; thats all in here:
http://www.waiworld.com/waidiet/nut-cholesterol.html

that perhaps dietary oxysterols make little or no contribution to atherogenesis.

Ha ha, because some oxysterols are metabolized properly (the ones that the body also makes),
all oxysterols are metabolized properly?
Thats a joke.

Strangely, increased antioxidant status (via supplementation) increased hepatic enzymatically generated oxysterol (http://www.la-press.com/antioxidant-sup ... icle-a1849)

Whats strange about that?

I'm 25 and my diet changed from eating everything (but usually I was avoiding heavily processed food), to variations of the wai diet since 1-2 years ago.

When you are young, you are still 'in transition'.
Due to the influence of still changing hormone levels it takes time before your 'natural cholesterol levels' (genetically determined) have stabilized.
It may be that now that you are 25, your body gets to your 'normal' cholesterol level,
which may be that high, genetically.

There must be some limiting factor in the cholesterol recycling step (via the bile) that allows it to slowly pile up in the blood?

That may be what the body wants it to be;
it may 'willingly' reuptake as much bile acids as it can to get to the level that it is right now.

I'm limiting myself to 3 eggs a day until the next blood test, I'm just curious what will the effect be on the cholesterol levels.

Im much more curious about the health of your arteries.
If they are functioning perfectly fine, and if no areterial plaque whatsoever is detected, you may be perfectly healthy.

[dime]

I'll ask the doctor if there's some way to test for arterial plaque.

[dime]

Maybe I'm just linoleic acid deficient. I don't think I've eaten more than 5g a day, and the RDA is 17g.

Linoleic acid in the diet is associated with lower LDL in the blood

Linoleic acid lowers LDL cholesterol even when saturated fatty acids are not significantly displaced and substantially more when there is such displacement.

[RRM]

That might be it. (or not, of course)
Still, this might be your natural cholesterol level (genetically).

Linoleic acid in % (Wai foods only)
57.8% walnut oil
34.1% walnuts
24.9% Brazil nuts
8.1% olive oil
6.3% hazelnuts
4.2% turkey (adult)
3.8% egg yolks
2.6% lamb-subcutaneous fat
2.0% avocado
1.8% beef-subcutaneous fat
1.7% coconut oil
1.3% macadamia nuts
1.1% chicken breast
0.4% salmon
0.3% tuna
0.2% mackerel

the RDA is 17g.

You will get 7.9 grams of linoleic acid from just one tablespoon of walnut oil.
1 avocado contains 3.4 g. linoleic acid.
A handful of Brazil nuts (35 grams) contains 8.7 g. linoleic acid.

[dime]

The doctor told me the high cholesterol is most likely genetic, since I'm thin and otherwise healthy, and exercise regularly. He just told me to eat less fat, and go back to check again in 6 months. If it doesn't get lower he would consider to prescribe me some pills.

[dime]

A week ago I came across buckwheat honey for the first time, and for some reason I really like it even though it's not very sweet and has some weird farm-like smell. overkees, what are the effects of buckwheat honey, is it very strong antibacterial or something? I just found one study which says that it was better than cough syrup.

[overkees]

How is your gut health dime? Do you have alot of soiling or constipation? Otherwise this might mean that the hydrogen peroxide is harming a damaged gut lining or killing off pathogens and you are experiencing herxheimer. Not to make you scared, almost everybody has a bad gut health only they see that as normal.

I ate 3 days straight 1.8 L of raw honey 3 weeks ago and had no soiling or pains. Only a mild brain fog on the first day. I only let it in my mouth and try not swallowing it but just let it dissolve in your mouth.

The buckwheat is out of own experiemces, it is dark, spicy and stings my sensitive tooth aomething the acacia variety doesnt do for example. Therefore i feel and deduce that its a good honey type.

I cant stress enough how big an impact saliva mixing and chewing is for the no soiling effect to happen. And gut health in general. If itis solid, pathogens will help breaking iy down and using it for their own energy. You must increase the area to speed and ease up enzymatic breakdown and better absorption in general. Also just tasting something carefully lets your body prepare digestion. Therefore it is very good to stop mixing too many products.

[dime]

I think my gut is fine, I don't have any stomach aches whereas just 1-2 years ago pre-wai it used to be a pretty normal thing for me to have pain and bloating. I get constipation only when eating certain foods - bananas, dark chocolate, and perhaps few others. The opposite of constipation can happen if I eat some nuts or similar hard to digest stuff, it takes a week and even more to adapt to these. For me personally it's just a matter of time (few weeks to months) to adapt to a certain diet, during which it may seem like the gut is unhealthy and causing problems or there's an allergy to some food. In my opinion this is perfectly normal, that it takes some time for your body and gut flora or whatever else to adapt to a new situation, which is why it's best to not rush with conclusions and be more persistent.

But seriously, you ate 1.8L of honey in three days?! Or less honey diluted in water? That sounds pretty extreme, I can't imagine why would be good to eat so much honey?

[dime]

I got an OJ press, so from today I'll be eating 100% raw wai, without any slow cooked meat or rice.

[Maia]

Good choice, dime. Welcome to the club!
The more the merrier....

[dime]

I'm already loving it :D

Btw Maia, you are from Brussels? I'll go there in a week or so :)

[Maia]

Tell us all about it! :3

I'm not from Brussels but I live there for the time being.
Just send me a message if you wanna meet up!