I had three Lp (a) tests within the past 3 and a half years, and a fourth one taken about 3 weeks ago.
The Journey began in 2018 after being on a keto diet for about a year and a half, which included a bit of animal fat.
That first Lp(a) reading was 90 nmol/l which was "slightly elevated" the standard range being <75nmol/l
I was understandably disappointed at this reading because as far as I was concerned it shouldn't be elevated at all.
Therefor after experimentation and research, by early 2019 I had once again adopted a vegan diet, consisting of a higher carb version of vegan albeit with a lot of vegetables added.
After about 5 months on this newly constructed vegan diet, I had my Lp(a) re-tested and this time it was 59 nmol/l, I was happy because it was no longer elevated, which was a relief since there is this jargon which tries to convince people it cannot be budged by any personal interventions we try.
So I stayed on this diet to make sure this wasn't a fluke, about 8 months pass and I re-tested again and my Lp(a) was hovering around 55nmol/l so I said cool, lemme leave it alone for a while, stayed on the higher carb version of the vegan diet for about a year, then started experimenting with adding in "healthy fats" again. By healthy fats I mean 100% dark chocolate (organic of course) nuts, pumpkin seeds, avocado and of course, everybodies favorite, a good high quality high phenol olive oil.
After doing this for a few months (and I ate a LOT of dark chocolate) I was re-tested and astonishingly my Lp(a) measured at 30 nmol/l which was the lowest it had read since I began recording it.
I realized that I had unwittingly lowered my carb consumption and raised my "healthy fat" consumption thus entering a sort of vegan keto diet, while the entire time maintaining my high vegetable consumption.
I might add that the vast majority of the time I was also intermittent fasting about 17-20 hours a day but still snacking on dark chocolate pieces through out the day and sipping up sugar free latte's.
Of course I will re-test within the next year to see if this diet is worth continuing to maintain, which for now is pretty satisfying. I have low urge to consume food unnecessarily and seem to need less than average meals and maintain a fairly consistent body weight. Though there are rare days when I do suddenly feel uncontrollably hungry, these days are few and far between.
I do find it interesting that animal based Keto elevated my Lp(a) whereas the vegan version of Keto presented the lowest reading yet.
Thanks for reading.
Edited by TheFountain, 23 May 2022 - 07:33 AM.
