Cholesterol levels

nallie562

My physical was 6/10/16, and I'm Trying to get a handle on my labs.
My bad cholesterol is 124, up from last year, so I need to get it down it was 111 in 2015
My good is 76 so that's up from 74, that's good.
I'm guessing the bad is up like that mainly due to the eggs I eat, Ive been eating more eggs. I love them they're cheap and yummy.
My husband insists on red meat constantly, which I told him I will cook for him but I'm going back to the chicken I used to eat before him.
Should I be switching to egg whites or no more cottage cheese or milk?
I have 1/2 organic milk with cereal everyday & I do like cottage cheese with fruit.

psuLemon

Dietary cholesterol doesn't really impact the cholesterol in your body. Generally, weight, activity level and genetics have a greater impact on cholesterol. There is a subset of people who are impacted but if anything, I would increase fiber consumption, try to increase unsaturated fats (fish, nuts) and moderate some sat fats.

dopeysmelly

Bad cholesterol from 111 to 124 is OK, and not something to provoke drastic changes IMO. I would hazard a guess that that's within the margin of error if you've eaten a bit more saturated fat over the weeks prior to the test.

Just to give perspective. Mine went from 140s a few years ago to over 200 18 months ago. I switched to whole-food plant-based and got it below 100 recently, but that was a method that worked for me - everyone is different. Basically I eat a vegan diet with a bit of fish and an egg once a week, and love it.

nallie562

So I'm 40, female, 5'8" tall, 120 lbs. run/bike 7 days a wk, plus weight train and swim a few days a week.
I could likely go mainly vegetarian if it was just me, but I cook for 4 other people so that's not realistic right now.
So what would fiber do to help?

Triathlete1502

Here's an article from heartuk.org.uk:

https://heartuk.org.uk/cholesterol-and-diet/six-super-foods-for-lower-cholesterol

Also, there's a cholesterol helpline and email enquiry available on that website too.

All the best!

psuLemon

nallie562 wrote: »

So I'm 40, female, 5'8" tall, 120 lbs. run/bike 7 days a wk, plus weight train and swim a few days a week.
I could likely go mainly vegetarian if it was just me, but I cook for 4 other people so that's not realistic right now.
So what would fiber do to help?

When you say your bad cholesterol, are you talking LDL? How do they compare to others in your family? My LDLs are similar to yours but both my parents have LDLs around the same level.

And my understand is fiber acts like a binding agent. Here is an article: http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/fiber-reduce-ldl-5545.html

dlkfox

Keep the eggs. Increase your fiber.

CaptainJoy

nallie562 wrote: »

So I'm 40, female, 5'8" tall, 120 lbs. run/bike 7 days a wk, plus weight train and swim a few days a week.
I could likely go mainly vegetarian if it was just me, but I cook for 4 other people so that's not realistic right now.
So what would fiber do to help?

Fiber helps keep cholesterol from being absorbed into the bloodstream. If you eat a lot of dietary cholesterol, like that found in eggs or liver, extra fiber would help minimize absorption. Limiting saturated fats is how I drastically lowered my LDL and total cholesterol.

MelaniaTrump

I cut down on saturated fats (I was eating too many).
Total cholesterol down from 201 to 157. Eggs are ok. Eggs soaked in butter, cheese, and bacon grease, not ok.