gaining weight without the cholesterol?

[SunTzu]

As I understand it, cholesterol is a precursor to steroid hormones like testosterone so it's a fair bet you'll require some for putting on muscle.

[Portillo]

Thanks Teh El Macho. Im still a bit confused, is it ok to drink/eat lots of whole milk and whole cheese because it does have alot of saturated fat in it, i understand i need to gain weight and i am drinking whole milk every day at the moment.

What do you mean by lower extremities, do you mean my legs or core area?

[Teh El Macho]

Well, what else is in the lower part of your body? Yep, your legs. Anything from the hips down. :tongue3: This is explained somewhere in the stickies btw.


And don't worry about the saturated fats and all that ****. Work hard and it will work itself out. If you were overweight, then that would be an issue, but you are not. If you are concerned with whole milk, then use skim milk.


As SunTzu said, you needs fats, cholesterol for your body to manufacture steroids hormones. In fact, you need fats.

The problem is that people nowadays do not earn the calories they ingest. That's why all the precautions and warnings around fats become necessary... for those people that are overweight. You are not one of them.

[muddy]

I disagree with the contention that you can be unconcerned with fat intake and cholesterol levels just because you are young and/or skinny. It can catch up with you later.

I try to keep fats around 30% total calories. I would be even more concerned if I had diabetes in my family.

Some refs found with a quick search. I would be interested in seeing conflicting information if it exists.

http://www.aheartylife.com/2006/05/1...n-thin-people/
http://www.manythings.org/voa/00/000816sr_t.htm

[Teh El Macho]

As I said, the big caveat is in the amount of training he does.

Wants to grow + is skinny -> work ass off + eat like a cow

Take "work ass off" and then he should be concerned about fat intake.

Wants to grow + is skinny + eat like a cow - work ass off = fatass

The only time it will catch up is if he 1) stops working his ass off while 2) eating like a cow. It's all about "earning your calories". You work your ass off, you can eat like a cow and grow.

I hardly see how being unconcerned with milk and cheese consumption (in addition to keeping a 1/3 protein, 1/3 carbs, 1/3 fibrous greens as previously mentioned) will put the guy at risk of obesity IF he's working his ass off (even with diabetes running on his family) :icon_scra:

[TheRuss]

I disagree with the contention that you can be unconcerned with fat intake and cholesterol levels just because you are young and/or skinny. It can catch up with you later.

Well, the CrossFit guys have something to say on the subject...

Your body produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat. The production of cholesterol increases when you eat little cholesterol and decreases when you eat much. This explains why the ”prudent” diet cannot lower cholesterol more than on average a few per cent.

The only effective way to lower cholesterol is with drugs, but neither heart mortality or total mortality have been improved with drugs, the effect of which is cholesterol-lowering only. On the contrary, these drugs are dangerous to your health and may shorten your life.

-CrossFit Journal, November 15th (PDF)

Now, I'm not saying I agree with this. The CrossFit folks tend to overplay their hand in terms of theory.

My personal theory, though (and I didn't make this up, but I can't remember where I read it, so take it with a grain of salt) goes as follows: cholesterol levels rise in response to cardiovascular issues, not as a cause of them. This would explain why driving down cholesterol directly (eg. with drugs) doesn't improve health, but interventions that address other cardiovascular risk factors (eg. exercise) also affect cholesterol levels.

[muddy]

here is an interesting case ... a fit athlete with high cholesterol that brought it back into control with diet (or so the article implies).

http://www.healthmad.com/Fitness/Ath...lesterol.14479

[TheRuss]

That article switches from ancedote to "studies have shown" halfway through, but never switches back. All he says about himself is "I run marathons, had a blood test, and it indicated that I have high cholesterol."

Not a lot to work with, even by n=1 study standards.

[muddy]

That article switches from ancedote to "studies have shown" halfway through, but never switches back. All he says about himself is "I run marathons, had a blood test, and it indicated that I have high cholesterol."

Not a lot to work with, even by n=1 study standards.

here's a study (far from the only one) that concludes diet is effective in reducing cholesterol

http://www.uky.edu/PR/News/Archives/...erson_jama.htm

and another that concludes that only drugs can lower cholesterol

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...57C0A965958260

.... funded by Merck & Company (guess what they sell)



Personally, Im sticking with the theory that I can avoid drugs in the future by keeping a healthy diet now.

[TheRuss]

here's a study (far from the only one) that concludes diet is effective in reducing cholesterol

This sounds reasonable to me.

interventions that address other cardiovascular risk factors (eg. exercise) also affect cholesterol levels.