bushytailed said:
Doc claims that she has a couple other patients that made the switch to plant based protein powders, along with some other dietary changes, and were able to lower their levels. Honestly I'm not sure how much the switch from whey came into play. I know I need to change some other things (I snack on a lot of cheese cubes), but I'm willing to try a plant based protein powder if someone recommended it.
Thanks for questioning my question. I'm questioning her rec too.
When manipulating multiple variables at once, it's hard to pin down exactly what made the biggest difference. I'd say there are probably a lot more areas to target in most peoples' diets before they need to worry about a serving of whey protein a day. That being said, whey isolate does have lower cholesterol and fat than concentrate (though it's debatable that dietary cholesterol has an effect on blood levels).
I'd worry about cleaning up the rest of your diet first. I've been pleasantly surprised by pea protein, though I still primarily stick with whey. I used to do soy protein for a while - taste was usually fine, texture wasn't great though. But that's another vegetarian option.
I will say that I did a vegan experiment early in the year where I went 3 months without any animal products. I also lucked into some free Evolve Pea Protein shakes, so I didn't even need to use whey. My cholesterol went down about 21%. LDL went down 26%, HDL went down 17%, or something like that. Overall ratio of LDL to HDL improved. So maybe there's something to it. But I was also sure to avoid processed crap - remember, Oreos are vegan.
