I have blood tests once a year as I have high blood pressure and my Doctor calls for tests for glucose, cholesterol, liver & kidney function amongst others. The glucose test relies on you having fasted for at least 12 hours prior. Ideally the same applies for cholesterol, in case you’ve eaten something really rich the day before, but is more affected by what you’ve been eating over previous days. I think you will get a more accurate result if you’ve fasted the previous 12 hours – so make sure you get an early morning appointment so you don’t have to wait too long to break your fast. Hospitals give early appointment priority to fasting test patients.

I made the mistake of starting the diet without having a proper baseline test before the diet. I went from cholesterol drugged up to drug free and the test was done the morning after fast day. The results were that my triglycerides halved, VLDL halved, HDL went up 30% which is all good but my LDL went up from 4.2 to 5.5 from when I was on the medication. What’s worse was that my fasting glucose went to 6.2. It has always been below normal. Generally an unreliable mixed bag.

I spoke to my doctor and I’m going to do the test again in three months before going onto glucose intolerance testing.

After doing some research it appears that with too much fasting your liver can dump sugar into your system to keep the glucose up. I guess we will see in three months.