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Cholesterol

Roadie2000
Roadie2000 Posts: 1,801 Member
in Debate Club
My most recent blood work revealed my LDL was high, my Triglycerides were high, and my LDL/HDL ratio was 5.1. My doctor told me I should cut down on high cholesterol foods like red meat. I did that for a while and wanted to lose some weight, so I thought I'd try the keto diet for a while. Shortly into that I realized that most of the foods I was eating had a lot of cholesterol, so maybe the keto diet wasn't for me.

After doing a little research I realized there is an overwhelming amount of information on cholesterol, and some of it contradicts what I've always been lead to believe.

Some say the keto diet is actually good for your cholesterol. Some studies say there's actually no connection to heart disease. Some say it's mainly genetic and has little to do with what you eat.

Can anyone "explain it like I'm 5" how to be healthy with my cholesterol? I already exercise plenty, don't smoke, rarely drink, try to avoid red meat, fried foods, and trans fats, and I'm losing weight but my levels are still bad. I don't plan on doing keto ever again, it wasn't for me, but are eggs okay? I get a lot of mixed messages. And what should I try to eat more of to lower it? Does it matter?
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Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    For a lot of people, saturated fat is an issue...more so than cholesterol in foods. Your liver produces cholesterol and when you take in dietary cholesterol, your liver makes less.

    I had high LDL cholesterol and brought it down from 163 to 93. It didn't happen overnight...took me about a year to get it down to that level. Much of my issue is hereditary so I have an uphill battle. I eat red meat, but I overall watch my total intake of saturated fat and try to keep it at about half of the upper limit recommendation. I changed my diet to include a lot of vegetables and some fruit and I frequently eat legumes and lentils. I eat oats about 3-4x per week and keep my fiber intake pretty high.

    Avocados are also a regular part of my diet and they pack a lot of nutrition and the fats in avocados help raise HDL levels. I also have to stay on my cardio game...when I don't, both my cholesterol and blood pressure start to rise. I eat eggs...usually a couple egg whites from a carton and one whole egg about 3-4 times per week.

    I also limit refined carbohydrates and don't eat a lot of sugar...my diet is largely whole foods/minimally processed foods focused. I also take a supplement called Cholestoff Plus which is plant sterols and stanols which "compete" with cholesterol in the blood stream and cause less cholesterol to be absorbed.

    Mine is back up right now...my guess is I started snacking on a lot of cheese again and eating more saturated fat, and my exercise fell off a bit over the winter and I put on about 8 Lbs. I go back in April for a recheck...I don't expect it to be fully normal, but I do expect to see some improvement.
  • lovesretirement
    lovesretirement Posts: 2,661 Member
    edited February 2019
    IMHO...more whole food plant based foods will bring the numbers where they should be. I suggest you research this woe and experiment.
  • amy19355
    amy19355 Posts: 805 Member
    i was interested to read up on a more detailed cholesterol testing that I had done. it measures the size of the cholesterol 'pieces' (molecules?) and reports on the % of big ones and little ones , in each of the 'good' and 'bad' categories.

    now i cannot recall which was the worst one, but, the point is: the ratio of good to bad is another metric for assessing your risk. One size isn't nearly as risky as the other, and, may be behind the reason why diet doesn't change results for everyone.

    i couldn't make any difference with diet. But, I did use the test above to talk with my doctor about adjusting the dosage of statin DOWN to as low as possible. (i had to work a little harder to convince my doc to order the detailed blood test, but, she really didn't have a good reason to deny it to me.)

    hope this is useful.
  • Djolson45
    Djolson45 Posts: 1 Member
    I also did a modified Atkins diet for 8 months and finished with a panel of 200 total, 130ish LDL 60ish HDL and 40 for triglycerides. My triglycerides came down from 130.

    The best recommendation anyone could give is to eat a whole food, fiber rich diet, low in processed and refined carbs, with moderate saturated fat intake.
    I would see if a Mediterranean style diet would interest you.
  • Ed_Zilla
    Ed_Zilla Posts: 207 Member
    I managed to get off of Lipitor and BP meds using diet (75 pounds off) and plenty of exercise. The statin was easiest to get off of when my doc finally quit harping on my total cholesterol and started paying more attention to the good:bad cholesterol ratio. My total cholesterol is still high...so I still monitor annually.

    I do agree with earlier posters that this info is constantly changing.

    I had to quit drinking 100% to get off BP meds...I miss it a bit, but I don’t miss taking BP meds even more, so it works out 👍
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I typically get my blood work done twice per year. My cholesterol and triglycerides are typically up in the winter and down in the summer. In looking at my lifestyle and habits, I typically put on 8-10 Lbs in the winter and am far less active. I lose weight in the Spring and going into summer and I'm far more active coming out of winter.

    My cholesterol and triglyceride levels seem to be more closely tied with my weight and activity than they do carbs or whatever...

    My cholesterol levels typically go up when I eat more saturated fats as well...they always go up when I start getting my cheese frenzy on.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    This new study showed ldl did not change on a lchf diet, but triglycerides and help tend to improve.

    Effects of carbohydrate-restricted diets on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in overweight and obese adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

    Results

    Carbohydrate-restricted diets showed no significant difference in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol after 6, 12, and 24 months. Although an overall pooled analysis statistically favored low-fat diets (0.07 mmol/L; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.02–0.13; P = 0.009], this was clinically insignificant. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol and plasma triglycerides at 6 and 12 months favored carbohydrate-restricted diets (0.08 mmol/L; 95%CI, 0.06–0.11; P < 1 × 10−5 and −0.13 mmol/L; 95%CI, −0.19 to −0.08; P < 1 × 10−5, respectively). These favorable changes were more marked in the subgroup with very-low carbohydrate content (< 50 g/d; 0.12 mmol/L; 95%CI, 0.10–0.14; P < 1 × 10−5and −0.19 mmol/L; 95%CI, −0.26 to −0.12; P = 0.02, respectively).

    https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article-abstract/77/3/161/5241079?redirectedFrom
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    GaleHawkins wrote: »
    fishgutzy wrote: »
    My triglycerides dropped from over 300 down to 45 eating pork, whole eggs, sausage, steak, lamb, real mayonnaise, blue cheese dressing, and substantially lower carbs.
    A1C went back down to the normal range too.

    Good job. That indicates to me that eating carbs is the main source of triglycerides not protein and fat.

    Or he could have and probably has lost weight which typically provides for improved health markers across the board. My guess would be that he's also performing some kind of exercise or physical activity...also known to improve health markers across the board.
  • chriscolh
    chriscolh Posts: 127 Member
    I've been in your shoes. Do you know your family history? High cholesterol and heart disease run in my family, so I have been watching my numbers since I turned 30, and they are always high. At one point, I was exercising regularly, at a healthy weight, and my husband and I tried a vegetarian diet (eliminating all sources of dietary cholesterol) in order to see what effect that had on my numbers. His numbers dropped to a low level, and mine dropped a whopping 9 points, and the total was still over 200. I guess I bring this up to say that the hereditary factor is strong. Sometimes it is diet related, sometimes there's not a lot you can do. My doctor recommended that I concentrate on keeping my ratios in a healthy range (which I can control) through diet and exercise. In my case, my triglycerides do drop when I keep my carbs/sugar intake in a healthy range. For me, that means balancing what I eat with protein, vegetables, and healthy carbs (fruits, starchy vegetables, high fiber breads, etc.) and keeping sweet treats to a "couple times a week" (vs. a couple times a day!). Good luck in finding what works for you!
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I typically get my blood work done twice per year. My cholesterol and triglycerides are typically up in the winter and down in the summer. In looking at my lifestyle and habits, I typically put on 8-10 Lbs in the winter and am far less active. I lose weight in the Spring and going into summer and I'm far more active coming out of winter.

    My cholesterol and triglyceride levels seem to be more closely tied with my weight and activity than they do carbs or whatever...

    My cholesterol levels typically go up when I eat more saturated fats as well...they always go up when I start getting my cheese frenzy on.

    Changes in vitamin D levels might also be a factor, but probably less so than activity changes.

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