Let's talk about cholesterol

inertiastrength

My hdl:ldl ratios improved greatly when I lost 80lbs. I included a decent amount of fish oil, ate a serving of walnuts, and tons of egg yolks. Dietary cholesterol doesn't affect serum cholesterol for most people as I understand it.

ETA: Basically I included a decent amount of better fats in my diet

NicoleKhb

Hi, my cholesterol was always high due to genetics....juice 20 lemons, add 12 cloves of garlic (pieces) and mix in a food processor....pour in a jar to keep in the fridge and add 1 tbsp to a glass of water every night and drink + keeping fat intake low, you'll soon see a drop in your cholesterol....i went down from 8 to 4.5.

nvmomketo

quebot wrote: »

nvmomketo wrote: »

quebot wrote: »

aggelikik wrote: »

quebot wrote: »

aggelikik wrote: »

In the real world, there are restrictions when it comes to food and cholesterol: avoiding animal fats, avoiding fried food, eating lots of fiber etc.
In the interner, including MFP, not so much... So it is a matter of what you think is more likely: your dr, who has trained for years in medicine does not know how to deal with a very common medical condition and is not up to date (because for example he is illiterate and cannot read medical journals and peer reviewed studies on the issue to get up to date) so you trust a bunch of strangers who can google, or your dr might actually know something more than the random hairdresser, musician, computer scientist, plumber etc who replies on such topics

I hear ya, but I also know (as someone who deals with Dr's in my profession daily) that Doctors are often busy working and sometimes do not read recent studies. At times they might have read them but have personal non-evidence based bias because they are human. I am simply hoping to get some talking points to discuss with him as well as my nutrition to make sure I'm going at this in a way that will yield a difference without sacrificing something my body my need. I feel like it's our personal responsibility to become informed and be joint decision makers with our care providers. I am a huge fan of evidnce-based care and I want to do my best to bring that out of my care provider. I'm already learning a lot. The input here is giving me a jumping point to ask the right questions, jump into my own research, and have a good convo with my care provider to make sure the plan we are making is scientifically based and not out of habit or bias.

I agree on being informed but I am pretty sure that if there is some valid information out there that "everyone" knows, the dr knows it too, as he/she also reads at least the news. On the other hand "everybody" probably just sees some news headlines, where the news are already distorted, has no scientific background to interpret the news, and often jumps to some arbitrary conclusion that is convenient
For the cholesterol example, I see a lot things like "eat as many eggs and bacon as you like" on the internet. When asking our pediatrician (my youngest child has cholesterol issues, genetic), she explained that the current research proved that up to an egg per day is safe, that the 5 egg omelettes I have been reading about are not medically recommended and that food high in animal fat is off limits. So, yes to a 2 egg omelette every other day, loaded with vegetables, no to the daily 2 egg with sausages breakfast. With this info, doing my own research on the original Harvard study from where all the "dietary cholesterol is not important" started from, I also verified that what was initially written and recommended and what many sites on the internet communicated are two very different things.

Now, if a dr cannot explain, or is not willing to discuss things with you, then personally I would be looking for a new dr. There are bad professionals in every job, and a dr can be bored, rude, or just ignorant, like everyone else. If I cannot trust my dr to give up to date advice on something as trivial as cholesterol issues, I would not trust him/her for anythign more complicated either.

Oh! I agree! As far as talking to my dr, He'll gladly discuss this info with me when I ask more about it. I simply didn't ask at my last visits because I didn't know to ask. The cholesterol info I'm reading is new to me. I'm not big on animal fats. Since I effed up my digestive system (untreated celiac for years), I can't tolerate a lot of animal fat. I can tolerate very little. But ❤I love hard boiled eggs❤ with a big love. It's easy for me to want to eat at least one or two a day. I quit doing it daily because it was using up my daily budget of cholesterol, but now I'm curious if it's that big of a deal.


Someone posted in the forums (I wish I remember who) about something they read about cholesterol levels increasing because of stress (related to the fight or flight response). My cholesterol levels skyrocketed when I was going through divorce, and I am hoping to look more into that too and talk to my dr about it. Does anyone have any experience with that?

I'm another celiac who was undiagnosed for a few decades. It's amazing what you can get used to as "normal".

Anyways, After a year or two of GF eating, you intestines may heal enough to handle more foods. I got cheese and low lactose dairy products back a few years ago once my intestines healed.

I still have issues with fibre though. I can eat meat but veggies, especially raw veggies, can cause me a fair bit of pain still. I guess I am the opposite of you. I find meat to be more digestable than plant matter.

And eggs should be perfectly fine unless you are one of the rare few with familial hypercholesterolemia.

Stress definitely can wreak havoc with cholesterol levels... That may be harder to fix than if it was adiet issue though.

All of this creeped up on me, because I wasn't dealing with very much pain associated with digestion. But all of the sudden I got an extreme case of intestinal bleeding that seemed like it took forever to go away. My gastro was amazed that I wasn't feeling pain. I felt slight discomfort and bloat, but that's the most I could say I felt. I did have a SUPER long list of other things that became a problem though. I actually do ok with meat. I just cut off as much fat as I can before cooking. It makes up 50% of my diet. I can't handle any grains including rice or quinoa. No dairy (although I sneak in some hard cheese occasionally and it seems to settle ok). And most veggies are fine. It's not a very diverse diet. As far as stress related cholesterol, I started therapy last month to start handling my divorce baggage. It's step one in dealing with stress. I have no idea how long it takes for your body to recover from that sort of thing. I read in one study that stress can have an affect on your body for up to 3 years. Ugh. That's no bueno. All I can do now is try to reduce it and learn to cope better/healthier.

Yikes. I hope it is a LOT less than that for you. I hope things improve for you soon.

NateSamuel

cholesterol issues are no joke, believe me i know, but there are things that you may not have even heard of that could could really benefit you
something like this for instance https://tinyurl.com/mq9hmhe .is something that was recommended to me as somewhere to start looking at different options, or even something to pair with other plans and ideas to start getting the help you need, this specific one may not be what your looking for, but like i said, it could be a good place to start.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

I have genetic driven high cholesterol,fats and cholesterol for me do have an affect on my cholesterol levels as my liver cannot process it the way it should. I had to go on a high fiber,low fat/cholesterol diet with meds because without meds it still was high. I was thin when first diagnosed with high cholesterol. so for some losing weight wont help.I know fats and cholesterol have an effect on me as before I knew I had the genetic high cholesterol(called familial hypercholesterolemia) I tried keto for a month or 2 and it raised my cholesterol(triglycerides,LDL-C and LDL-P) even higher than it was. since I started the diet and meds I now have a normal cholesterol level,never had one in the 15+ years I have had it.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

NicoleKhb wrote: »

Hi, my cholesterol was always high due to genetics....juice 20 lemons, add 12 cloves of garlic (pieces) and mix in a food processor....pour in a jar to keep in the fridge and add 1 tbsp to a glass of water every night and drink + keeping fat intake low, you'll soon see a drop in your cholesterol....i went down from 8 to 4.5.

the fat intake being low is what caused it to go down.

GaleHawkins

nvmomketo wrote: »

I think total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol mean next to nothing.

Low HDL can be an indicator of problems, as can high triglycerides.

Dietary cholesterol tend not to affect those numbers.

Carbs will negatively affect those numbers but not all carbs: refined grains and added sugars tend to be the main problem.

Fats will tend to bring up HDL and lower triglycerides, with monounstaurated fats, and polyunsaturated fats (but not vegetable oils), seem to help a great deal. Saturated fats tend to affect people differently. Most find saturated fats are relatively neutral.

Peter Attia's blog has a great series of on cholesterol and heart health. I also like the books Cholesterol Myth, The Great Cholesterol Con, and Cholesterol Clarity.

Same here. My total/LDL cholesterol numbers are like 300/200 with Triglycerides @75 and HDL @86. CAC score just came in @9.3 and good flow to all four limbs at Age 66.