The Feldman protocol…picture this scenario….

You’ve been following a low carb or ketogenic diet. You’ve lost weight, your acid reflux is gone, your blood pressure’s normal for the first time in years, your blood sugar’s better, you’ve been able to ditch some of your type 2 diabetes meds, you have more energy, and your joints no longer feel like you need to spray them with WD-40. You feel like a new person! Your doctor is thrilled with all this … until your cholesterol results come back.

Everything looks great, except this one thing. And now, you’re about to get lectured on how dangerous your high fat diet is. If you’ve been enjoying a host of benefits from a low carb or ketogenic diet, but your doctor is on your case because your cholesterol has gone up, this post is for you! We will introduce the Feldman protocol and show you how to use Heads Up as the ideal location to track your progress.

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GAH! My Cholesterol Went Up on Keto!

Most people who adopt a low carb or ketogenic diet will see their cholesterol levels and other lipid markers improve. Typically, triglycerides (TG) go down and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) goes up for everyone. But while most see their Total and LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) go down, a small fraction see these two markers increase instead. 

Naturally, this sets off major alarm bells in their physicians. All too often, when medical doctors see one reading of “high” cholesterol, they are compelled to write a prescription for cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, regardless of any other physiological parameters. Even if a patient’s fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, triglycerides, liver enzymes, waist circumference, or other measures of metabolic health have improved, the minute they see cholesterol above a certain threshold, the patient is sure to leave the office not only with a prescription for statins, but also with a warning that their high fat diet is ruining their health.

If you fall into this category–you know a low carb, high fat diet (LCHF) is right for you–but you don’t want to start a war with your doctor, there’s good news: you can likely lower your cholesterol in a matter of days to please your doctor, and you don’t have to banish butter to do it.

The Feldman Protocol

Dave Feldman, software engineer and creator of cholesterolcode.com, has been doing some fascinating research on cholesterol, and he’s created a protocol that shows cholesterol content and lipoprotein particle numbers can change more quickly than we ever thought in response to the previous few days’ diet.

Feldman’s work provides a protocol that can be used to significantly reduce your total cholesterol, LDL-C, and LDL particle number in just days. (Well-known and long-time low carb researcher and physician Mike Eades, MD, wrote about Dave’s protocol here.)

There are three variations of the Feldman protocol available:

1. Three and a half days, one blood test
2. Six and a half days, two blood tests
3. Ten and a half days, four blood tests

Each requires the individual to follow a very prescriptive diet followed by a set of lab tests which can be ordered directly by the individual. You can learn more about each of these protocols and how to test them yourself here.

Tracking the Feldman protocol with Heads Up Health

Heads Up is the perfect place to track your results as you adopt a low-carb lifestyle and experiment with the Feldman protocol.

(In fact, Mr. Feldman is working with Head Up Health for tracking his own labs and for many others taking part in his experiments…)

Step 1: Tracking lab test results

As part of the protocol, you will be required to obtain lab testing to test your cholesterol levels. Chances are you already have years of previous lab test data kicking around as well. Heads Up can help you centralize all your test results into one secure online location so you can put this data to good use.

Feldman protocol – tracking lab test results

There are three ways you can track your lab test results with Heads Up:

1. Electronically connect your medical facility:
   • Heads Up can electronically connect to thousands of medical facilities across the US to instantly centralize your medical test results. Just create your Heads Up Health account and search our database of supported medical facilities.
2. Manually enter results yourself:
   • If we cannot connect to your facility electronically or you live outside the United States, you can easily enter your test results manually. It only takes a few minutes to enter results from a basic lipid panel test.
3. User our Concierge Service to enter labs on your behalf:
   • If you prefer, we can do the data entry on your behalf. Just upload a copy of the PDF into the ‘Concierge Service’ folder in your Heads Up account and our medical records professionals will transcribe the data. You can learn more about our Concierge Service here.
     • Note: Typically there is a fee for this service. However, for all Feldman protocol lab tests, we are offering the Concierge data entry service at no charge (just mention to Concierge Service that your data is from a Feldman experiment and the costs will be waived).

For more information on tracking lab test results with Heads Up Health, see the video below:

Step 2: Tracking macronutrients

You can electronically link your MyFitnessPal account to your Heads Up account so you have access to your nutrition data alongside your lab test results. In addition to the standard MyFitnessPal metrics (protein, fat, carbs etc.), Heads Up will automatically calculate advanced metrics like insulin load, glucose:ketone index and more.

Feldman protocol – Tracking Macros

Note: If you would prefer not to fuss with nutrition apps, you can also just enter your daily macros manually into your Heads Up account during your protocol. For Cronometer users, we will soon support CSV upload into your Heads Up profile.

Step 3: Tracking other metrics

Heads Up also provides the ability to track all other health metrics as part of your self-directed approach to health. You can easily connect additional devices (Keto-Mojo, LEVL, FitBit, OURA Ring, Withings, Ketonix, etc.) and apps (Apple Health). You can also track ketones (blood, breath and urine), blood sugar, body composition, blood pressure and any other metrics you deem important to track.

Step 4: Connect your care team

You can also easily share your Heads Up profile with your healthcare practitioner and other members of your care team using our “Care Team Access” feature.

What’s next?

The Feldman protocol has now been tested by over fifty people and have shown consistent results. More information is being published daily at cholesterolcode.com. The protocol can be a powerful tool for your low-carb/ketogenic lifestyle.

Having the data to properly track your progress over time can be equally important. Heads Up can help you track all of your vital health metrics so you can  be sure your health is improving and that you have the data to back it up!

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In addition to what we’ve covered above, Dave Feldman and I are cooking up new ways to make it easier to test, track and analyze your results. Stay tuned…

Dave & Dave at Low-carb Breckinridge