blood results

[ed34]

Well got my results over the phone today and they are not quite what I was expecting.
Firstly my white cell count is slightly elevated which always seems to be the case with my fasting
blood tests. My LDL is not bad at all, but my hematocrit levels have raised to above 0.5 (normal 0.34-0.4).
I'm now getting concerned about my immune system being so active all the time and now the hematocrit levels raising.
Does anyone have any ideas?

[skydnsr]

You're welcome.  The thinking is that there is a difference between eating grains, which do have starch but which also have proteins that can be inflammatory, and eating starch from, say, root vegetables, which do not have those same proteins.  In addition, it seems that certain oils can help heal inflammation, and other oils tend to promote inflammation.  

Perfect Health Diet is intended to remedy the issue that you mention of every "diet" seeming to miss out on something essential.  I have a hard time thinking that the Jaminets' approach will truly be perfect for everyone, since each individual is different, but it works pretty well for me.  You might have to tweak it some.  You've already started on the grand experiment of finding out which type of diet fits you the best.  

One of the things that I like about the book is that the Jaminets discuss the science behind each aspect of their diet.  I'll be interested to hear what you think about it and what you try next.  I try to always read your posts, and I highly value your input.  

I just checked a book out of the library today called It Starts with Food, by another married couple named Hartwig.  I have heard a lot of good things about this book but haven't started reading it yet.  If I like it, I'll let you know.

[ed34]

Thank you for your input, I will have to go over my notes and see where I made an error in judgement. I thought starch was just simple sugars in long molecular chains, but then like you say, perhaps this is the reason for raised trigs. Every diet I seem to look at is missing some component or other required for a healthy body, such as B12. I will look up the book you recommend and thank you.

[skydnsr]

I looked up the starch diet when you first posted that you were doing it, and I couldn't understand how it could be great, but I trusted that you had researched it and didn't say anything.  Now, I think maybe this starch diet just doesn't agree with you.  For myself, I'm on board with the newer findings that healthy fats are good for you and that we eat too many grains.  You might be interested in a book called Perfect Health Diet, by Paul Jaminet and Shou-Ching Jaminet.  I'm having really good results with their approach.  My trigs went from 202 to 54, and it's not even a low-carb diet.  (It's not high-carb, either -- more like moderate carb.)  My HDL went up from 61 to 71.  LDL essentially stayed the same, bumping up from 103 to 105, but the ratio is better.  Blood pressure is down, weight is down, and I'm happy -- my mood is lighter, and I sleep better than I have in decades.  There's a lot of research to suggest that grains in general, and wheat in particular, are inflammatory, so if your starch diet includes a lot of grains, maybe that accounts for the immune system activation.

[ed34]

oh and forgot to mention, that since this new starch diet, my triglycerides have raised well above desired levels. It seems I can have low LDL or trigs but never both.