My cholesterol is out of this world high - what can I do?

bms34b

So, my cholesterol is ridiculous. VERY high in general, VERY high LDL, high (but not super great) HDL, low triglycerides.

I'm trying to get it better before I go back to the doc to get re-tested.
- Low dietary cholesterol
- Low saturated and trans fats
- High monounsaturated fats
- High SUPER high fiber
- Continuing to work out, walking daily and weight training 3x week

Other suggestions? Target numbers to eat each day? How long until change should be seen? Recipes? I need everything I can get.

dopeysmelly

I switched to plant-based whole foods (no animal products and very limited junk/processed foods) and saw a significant improvement. My LDL went from 202 to 105 in about 4 weeks and is now under 90. I figured i would give it a go for 4 weeks and see what happened. That was 2 years ago..

Forks Over Knives and Engine 2 diet are a good place to start, but understand that you will need to cook most of your food yourself and learn a new way to prep your meals. I don't have a problem with sticking to it at all, but it is a change.

NewMeSM75

Fiber ! Lots of fiber.

ew_david

Lots of vegetables.

bigmuneymfp

dopeysmelly wrote: »

I switched to plant-based whole foods (no animal products and very limited junk/processed foods) and saw a significant improvement. My LDL went from 202 to 105 in about 4 weeks and is now under 90. I figured i would give it a go for 4 weeks and see what happened. That was 2 years ago..

Forks Over Knives and Engine 2 diet are a good place to start, but understand that you will need to cook most of your food yourself and learn a new way to prep your meals. I don't have a problem with sticking to it at all, but it is a change.

I did the same thing my total cholesterol is 116

sullus

I find that the #1 influence on my cholesterol number is how much cardio I'm doing. For me, attempts to control cholesterol via diet were unsuccessful.

JeromeBarry1

Fiber helps. Have oatmeal, not granola, but oatmeal, in 2 servings every day.
Your weight lifting will help, but be certain that you are doing progressive heavy lifting. Press yourself to get stronger. You'll need to eat more protein. Beans, lentils, tuna, chicken.

One thing, there is the least detectable relationship between dietary cholesterol and serum cholesterol. That is, you can't improve your serum cholesterol by cutting egg yolks out of your diet.

On the other hand, if you're over 50 you might be better with higher LDL. That's weird stuff from the Nurses Study.

Unknown

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FreyasRebirth

I have heard that intermittent fasting is great for cholesterol levels. The stuff floating around in your bloodstream is the fat-based fuel your body will run on when it can't get enough energy (or get enough quickly enough) from glucose and glycogen.

ahamm002

Don't go crazy trying to avoid foods with cholesterol or saturated fat. That's very difficult and only minimally helpful. Focus on eating lots of veggies, fruit, and healthy fats (eg fish oil and olive oil). Focus on exercising. Losing weight is also important. Here's some good advice:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/in-depth/reduce-cholesterol/art-20045935

ew_david

FreyasRebirth wrote: »

I have heard that intermittent fasting is great for cholesterol levels. The stuff floating around in your bloodstream is the fat-based fuel your body will run on when it can't get enough energy (or get enough quickly enough) from glucose and glycogen.

I have followed IF for several years now and I just had my first ever high cholesterol reading. IF is good to control your calories, but I don't think it really has any other magical powers.

Nixi3Knox

Not just any fiber but SOLUBLE fiber. The body makes bile from cholesterol, when you get SOLUBLE fiber it binds with bile in the digestive tract and takes it out of the body forcing the body to use more cholesterol to make more bile.

ksz1104

Well, when I got diagnosed with diabetes and I got put on metformin, my cholesterol went from 160 to about 116 in about a month. My Dr said it must have been a lifestyle change but I swear it was the metformin. I have heard lots of fiber and oatmeal.

nvmomketo

Unless you have health issue like hyperlipidemia or familial hypercholerolemia, dietary cholesterol does not worse your cholesterol, and by that I mean the cholesterol tests that matter most: HDL and triglycerides.

Total cholesterol and LDL are meaningless tests for almost all people. Knowing LDL particle size can be helpful to know but that is not offered everywhere yet. It is best to look at HDL (want it normal to high) and triglycerides (normal). Both are often improved by dropping refined carbs and sugars, which reduces your carb intake, and increasing fats. A LCHF will almost always raise LDL, lower triglycerides, and increase LDL size (a good thing). Even those who eat close to zero carbs (an extreme version of a ketogenic diet) generally have excellent lipid panels.

Saturated fats can affect LDL a bit, but unless you have astronomically high numbers, I would ignore it. This excludes the tiny minority who have familial hypercholesterolemia. Dietary cholesterol does absolutely nothing to negatively affect cardiovascular health.

I would get your LDL particle size tested. It will let you know if you should worry about high LDL or not. Not all LDL is bad.

Peter Attia has an excellent series on cholesterol and a nice summary of CAD:
http://eatingacademy.com/cholesterol-2/heart-disease-begin-tell-us-prevention
http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/the-straight-dope-on-cholesterol-part-i

Books such as the Great Cholesterol Con, Cholesterol Myth, and Cholesterol Clarity will explain more.

AmyOutOfControl

I've tried EVERYTHING to get my cholesterol down. Diet, supplements, medications...

My cholesterol has been super high since age 18 (when I was a vegetarian and wore a size 4). I am careful about my cholesterol and saturated fat intake, however, the only thing that works is medication. I am "blessed" with genetically high cholesterol from my Dad's side of the family. It sucks.

SoleTrainer60

My cholesterol is is a little high and my cardiologist wants me to eat lean cuts of meat, chicken without the skin and lots of fruits and veggies. Also, he told me one egg a week.

rontafoya

Any idea WHY your cholesterol is so high? Without that info, I don't know why everyone is spewing so much advice. I never had high cholesterol, but my numbers actually improved eating a ton of eggs, coconut oil, and bacon. Of course I had also started pumping iron so I am guessing I converted a lot of that to testosterone. My point is, this is complex, and without knowing why your numbers are jacked, you are just flailing. One thing I can say definitively is this: if you feel good, energized, alert, and ready to conquer the world after you eat something, that was a good meal. If you feel sluggish, bloated, sleepy...that was garbage you ate.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

bms34b wrote: »

So, my cholesterol is ridiculous. VERY high in general, VERY high LDL, high (but not super great) HDL, low triglycerides.

I'm trying to get it better before I go back to the doc to get re-tested.
- Low dietary cholesterol
- Low saturated and trans fats
- High monounsaturated fats
- High SUPER high fiber
- Continuing to work out, walking daily and weight training 3x week

Other suggestions? Target numbers to eat each day? How long until change should be seen? Recipes? I need everything I can get.

first thing I would do is see if you can find out what type of high cholesterol you have and the possible cause. I have FH(familial hypercholesterolemia) for years they told me I just had high cholesterol,the last year I was diagnosed with FH. for me its high fiber,low fat/sat fat,decent amount of carbs and moderate protein.

I have to limit fried foods,white rice,pasta,bread,cookies,cakes,etc. I also was told to eat whole grain breads,rices,pastas. A lot of times FH is misdiagnosed as just high cholesterol. for me in about 6 months with diet,exercise and meds I was able to get my cholesterol into the normal ranges.FH is nothing to mess with if you have it. for some with certain types of cholesterol issues meds are needed with diet and exercise. for others they can control it with just diet and exercise. knowing what you have and how to treat it would be a start.

LKArgh

What does your dr suggest? You are going to read lots of conflicting things on the internet and most of it is going to vary from anecdotal evidence to nonsense and dangerous advice. Super high cholesterol is not really something to experiment with or to avoid discussing with the dr.
The usual medical advice is low saturated fat (so only lean meats and not daily, olive oil preferably instead of any other cooking fat, limited fried food, limited dairy and preferably low fat), absolutely no trans fat (which means be very careful when buying anything prepackaged - this also is applies to saturated fat which is found in pretty much everything that comes out of a box, from sauces to sliced bread), lots of fish and beans, lentils etc as your primary protein source, limited eggs and seafood, lots of vegetables and fruit, whole grain pasta and bread, and lots and lots of exercise and losign weight if you are overweight.
No guarantee any of this will completely solve your problem, there are people who will need meds no matter what, you cannot fight genetics.

NateSamuel

Give this a read https://tinyurl.com/m5m9war
these types of programs are literally designed to walk you through bettering your cholesterol/blood pressure problems. and this goes for anyone else reading this post with similar issues, i had my problems even back when i was high school and it wasn't until my doc. introduced me to this type of help that i actually started bettering my health. The program i shared with you may or may not be the one for you, but its somewhere to start and thats for sure. Good luck to you my friend

CharlieBeansmomTracey

aggelikik wrote: »

What does your dr suggest? You are going to read lots of conflicting things on the internet and most of it is going to vary from anecdotal evidence to nonsense and dangerous advice. Super high cholesterol is not really something to experiment with or to avoid discussing with the dr.
The usual medical advice is low saturated fat (so only lean meats and not daily, olive oil preferably instead of any other cooking fat, limited fried food, limited dairy and preferably low fat), absolutely no trans fat (which means be very careful when buying anything prepackaged - this also is applies to saturated fat which is found in pretty much everything that comes out of a box, from sauces to sliced bread), lots of fish and beans, lentils etc as your primary protein source, limited eggs and seafood, lots of vegetables and fruit, whole grain pasta and bread, and lots and lots of exercise and losign weight if you are overweight.
No guarantee any of this will completely solve your problem, there are people who will need meds no matter what, you cannot fight genetics.

I was advised just to eat high fiber,avoid sat fats and keep regular fats low,avoid fried foods as much as possible, whole grains,fruits,veggies,lean meats and fish.seafood is fine if its not high in saturated fat which shrimp is not.I also eat low fat dairy and have had no issues with that.I know that coconut oil is a no go for me but may be ok for others. you can have trans fat but you would have to keep that very low too.it pays to read labels too and choose what product better suits you.

yskaldir

LDL number from the basic blood test is not reliable, they just calculate it from some formula. Ask your doctor for a more comprehensive test where they actually measure the number of LDL particles and also the size of the particles.

cmtigger

I took meds and reduced cholesterol in my diet. The meds helped, the diet didn't. So the next thing was to increase meds.

Nixi3Knox

rontafoya wrote: »

Any idea WHY your cholesterol is so high? Without that info, I don't know why everyone is spewing so much advice. I never had high cholesterol, but my numbers actually improved eating a ton of eggs, coconut oil, and bacon. Of course I had also started pumping iron so I am guessing I converted a lot of that to testosterone. My point is, this is complex, and without knowing why your numbers are jacked, you are just flailing. One thing I can say definitively is this: if you feel good, energized, alert, and ready to conquer the world after you eat something, that was a good meal. If you feel sluggish, bloated, sleepy...that was garbage you ate.

Because that's what we do here in the forums. "Spew advice". And gosh darn it, no one has ever benefited from any advice we have spewn forth. I guess we should all go eat worms now. Who knows. It may even improve cholesterol.

valdilda

I had the same problem and when I got my test results I finally went vegan. I haven't regretted it one bit! I prefer eating vegan than taking medication. And as much as it's good for my health, it's also good for the animals and the planet
BTW my doctor actually suggested to eat no animal fats so that's what I needed to hear to transition to vegan completely.
Oh and yes my cholesterol is much lower now.

bms34b

Ya'll, thank you for the responses.

I went with a low dietary cholesterol, low trans and saturated fats, high mono and poly unsaturated fats, and high fiber diet. I exercised 3ish times per week, and had a glass of wine or so occasionally but generally didn't drink a lot.

My cholesterol went from 285 to 203 in 7 weeks!!! My doc is happy, and I am too. I haven't eaten QUITE as clean since I got the good news, but still definitely trying to keep to the same diet that I was to get the cholesterol down.