Cholesterol / High fiber, low carb diet

AshleyMFitness16

Hey MFPers! I'm looking for some advice.
I'm 23 and have high cholesterol I found out in early 2014 and my old doctor immediately put me on medication. Long story short, it lowered but was still high, and eventually I got the side effects of being on a statin and just stopped taking my medicine, and also stopped seeing the doctor. I decided it was finally time to face the facts and get my numbers checked again, this time with a new doctor. While my numbers are high, they're not as high as I was expecting them to be with being off medication since August. This doctor is giving me the chance to adjust my diet to high fiber, low carb to see if I can make some progress that way, which I'm totally grateful for because I cannot stand being on medication! Problem is, I have no clue what I'm doing! Looking for advice, recipes, go-to snacks and foods for anyone on this type of diet. Google didn't seem to be much help, and I'd rather chat with someone that has some experience doing this!

Thank you for your time

CharlieBeansmomTracey

what type of high cholesterol do you have? I have familial hypercholesterolemia. and if you are doing low carb you will have to up your fats, for people like me I have to follow a low fat,high fiber diet. I eat a decent amount of carbs. I also have to take statins as much as I dont want to.

I have tried low carb high fat before I knew what I had(I was misdiagnosed early on as just having high cholesterol),That for me raised my cholesterol big time. For this first time in over 15 years its at normal numbers.

low carb and high fiber may work for you, or it may not. the only way to tell is try a diet for a few months and go back in say 3-6 months and have your cholesterol levels tested again. as for high fiber, I eat oatmeal,chia seed,flax seeds,hemp seeds and psyllium husk powder which I add to oatmeal(its gross to add to liquids and drink it).

as for low carbs you will want to stick to mainly veggies(avoid potatoes as they are high in carbs),and berries.I was also told to eat whole grain breads,pastas,rice and avoid fried foods,high in saturated fat foods(cookies,doughnuts,cakes,pies),red meats,pork and veal. Oh and to avoid white breads,rice,pastas,etc.They have high fiber breads that you can get too. I eat about 40g of fiber per day.

you may want to slowly up the fiber day by day as you can get gassy and make sure to drink plenty of water, as you dont want to get constipated. for me this type of diet with the statins lowered my cholesterol in 3 months to normal ranges. I had issues with some statins in the past and this one I take is great and no side effects so far. I also take co-Q 10 as statins rob your body of it. so that may help too. For me diet alone did not help, But its possible it may for you.

Its all trial and error really.good luck

nvmomketo

High cholesterol and triglycerides can usually be improved through a low carb diet, unless you have familial hypercholerolemia. A good place to start would be Cholesterol Clarity by Moore. It's an easy to read book with lots of tips.

Low carb usually means very little, or no, added sugar or refined grains. So very little table sugar, honey, maple syrup, or flours. Or go with none. Avoid ingredients that end in "ose" or "extrin".

Low carbers usually avoid or limit whole grains. That would include rice, oats, and corn. We usually limit or avoid root vegetables too like potatoes, yams, carrots and onions.

Fruit is limited too. Especially the high GI tropical fruits like bananas or mangos. Dried fruits are usually skipped.

In the plant world, that leaves mainly veggies, nuts, seeds and low GI fruits to go with your meats, seafood, eggs, and full fat dairy. These are high fibre plant foods.

As a general rule, a LCHF diet will raise HDL, lower triglycerides, and have very little effect on your LDL numbers except to make it the more desirable less dense type. If you have an out of date doctor who looks at total cholesterol, he may be unhappy as it often goes up (since HDL goes up). A more knowledgeable doctor will be happy with your HDL triglycerides ratios though.

Good luck!

AshleyMFitness16

Hmm..this is all so intimidating to me!! I want to do everything in my power to do it without medication, but this is hard. And the thought of trying something for 6 months and having it fail is discouraging for me...
She also didn't tell me what kind of high cholesterol I have... neither of my doctors have. So maybe I'll start with trying to figure that out.

cwolfman13

Focus largely on whole foods. Get in some regular exercise and drop weight...numbers should come down.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

SmashleyM914 wrote: »

Hmm..this is all so intimidating to me!! I want to do everything in my power to do it without medication, but this is hard. And the thought of trying something for 6 months and having it fail is discouraging for me...
She also didn't tell me what kind of high cholesterol I have... neither of my doctors have. So maybe I'll start with trying to figure that out.

to find out if you have familial hypercholesterolemia(FH) is either have a genetic test done or if you have any or the side effects they cause( some are fat pads under the skin,xanthomas,Xanthelasmas and your liver enzymes often will be elevated). but some liver issues.thyroid issues,etc can cause high cholesterol. Its going to be hard to be high fiber and low carb though,because fruits and veggies,whole grains,etc have a decent amount of fiber and carbs.also if you do have FH, you have to watch your fat intake.

I just got my last test back this am, and my triglycerides are in the normal range still(even lower),my total cholesterol is now normal(it was 1point over normal-its 27pts lower) and all the other numbers have come down too. thats with diet,exercise and one cholesterol med.

Im not saying take meds, but knowing which kind of cholesterol issue you have is best as sometimes FH is misdiagnosed as just high cholesterol. sometimes meds are needed. but you can try the diet and see what happens.

can you be retested in 3 months instead of 6(I get tested every 3 months)?

skyecita

Less meat more fruits and vegetables. Plant-based diets are the healthiest. The book "How Not to Die" was really informative about this. Basically eat mostly fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

skyecita wrote: »

Less meat more fruits and vegetables. Plant-based diets are the healthiest. The book "How Not to Die" was really informative about this. Basically eat mostly fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

there is no proof a plant based diet is the healthiest diet,do you have any claims to back that up? I still eat meat and my cholesterol has went down and is good now. for me I have to watch my fat/sat fat intake,but I still eat meat.

Need2Exerc1se

Fiber is a carb. How can you be both high fiber and low carb?

psuLemon

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Focus largely on whole foods. Get in some regular exercise and drop weight...numbers should come down.

Pretty much this. There are some things I would focus on in the diet.... eliminate transfats and replace SFA with MUFA/PUFA (especially things like fish and nuts). Oats, while high in carbs, has been suggested to support reduction of cholesterol and triglycerides. Some of the studies I have seen suggest that oats can act as a binding agent. Add plenty of fibrous fruits and veggies.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

psuLemon wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Focus largely on whole foods. Get in some regular exercise and drop weight...numbers should come down.

Pretty much this. There are some things I would focus on in the diet.... eliminate transfats and replace SFA with MUFA/PUFA (especially things like fish and nuts). Oats, while high in carbs, has been suggested to support reduction of cholesterol and triglycerides. Some of the studies I have seen suggest that oats can act as a binding agent. Add plenty of fibrous fruits and veggies.

I agree, I eat a good bit of oatmeal and add psyllium husk powder to it as well. I think that has helped mine come down as well.

lemurcat12

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

skyecita wrote: »

Less meat more fruits and vegetables. Plant-based diets are the healthiest. The book "How Not to Die" was really informative about this. Basically eat mostly fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

there is no proof a plant based diet is the healthiest diet,do you have any claims to back that up? I still eat meat and my cholesterol has went down and is good now. for me I have to watch my fat/sat fat intake,but I still eat meat.

Consistent with this, my dad controlled his cholesterol through diet (not everyone can). He was not overweight anyway, and always exercised (if overweight or sedentary, fixing those things usually helps) but cut way back on sat fat by cutting out (mostly, he has it on holidays/special occasions) red meat, as well as limiting dairy fat. Probably some other things I do not recall. He eats lots of fish and chicken (and plenty of vegetables, fruit, and other carbs, like whole grains, potatoes, some rice, whatever).