Best diet to help to reduce high cholesterol?

benol1

Besides getting more active, what types of food should you try to eat to help lower cholesterol?

What are some big things (and maybe not so obvious) to avoid?

I just got my first cholesterol results back, and they were high (250), so I want to try to reduce the numbers for my next checkup, so I can avoid having to go on meds!

Any feedback would be appreciated, thank you!!

This will give you some food for thought:

http://nutritionfacts.org/topics/cholesterol/

HollisGrant

Besides getting more active, what types of food should you try to eat to help lower cholesterol?

What are some big things (and maybe not so obvious) to avoid?

I just got my first cholesterol results back, and they were high (250), so I want to try to reduce the numbers for my next checkup, so I can avoid having to go on meds!

Any feedback would be appreciated, thank you!!

Lots of great suggestions.

I have (had) very high cholesterol. Exercise will lower it. Cholesterol in food comes from animal products (meat, eggs and dairy). There is no cholesterol in plants.

I cut out sugary junk food and 99 percent of dairy, especially cheese. I'm not much of a meat eater -- I did eat fish 2-3x a year, which I've stopped doing. I also stopped eating eggs.

I added some good fats like olive oil and avocado because they lower the bad cholesterol.

Breakfast: I usually eat steel cut oats. Oatmeal lowers cholesterol.

Lunch and dinner: I eat lentils for protein (1 cup has the protein of 3 eggs), with stir fried vegetables and brown rice. I also eat a lot of steamed leafy greens like kale and collards. Food high in fiber like leafy greens and beans will lower cholesterol.

Snacks: fruit

BrianSharpe

Meat, dairy as 10% or less of your total diet = reduction in cholesterol levels.

No meat, No Dairy.

Didn't read. Cholesterol is in animal products. Get rid of animal products and your cholesterol should decrease.

so much fail........

Exercise, weight loss and ..........http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cholesterol/CL00002

I'm not a huge oatmeal fan (except in winter when it comes into the comfort food category) pretty much every day my breakfast includes a sort of home made yogurt parfait what contains 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/4 cup all bran buds and 100 to 125ml (approx 1/2 cup) yogurt (Greek yogurt works well) and in the evening I drink a teaspoon of a psyllium based product dissolved in water.

This, combined with exercise, was at my doctors suggestion. Cholesterol levels don't always respond.......if your dr suggests meds use them.

FrenchMob

No meat, No Dairy.

Didn't read. Cholesterol is in animal products. Get rid of animal products and your cholesterol should decrease.

This is exactly what you SHOULDN'T be listening to. Wow.

ndj1979

No meat, No Dairy.

Didn't read. Cholesterol is in animal products. Get rid of animal products and your cholesterol should decrease.

come on ..I eat meat and dairy all the time and my cholesterol is considered 'excellent' at last physical...

OP - I think if you make better choices then you can lower your cholesterol. Don't eat a lot of greasy, or fired foods all the time (they are OK in moderation)..just make better choices and you can still eat meat and dairy.

what does your diet currently consist of? Identify what is making your cholesterol higher and then cut those foods down, or out..

ndj1979

Besides getting more active, what types of food should you try to eat to help lower cholesterol?

What are some big things (and maybe not so obvious) to avoid?

I just got my first cholesterol results back, and they were high (250), so I want to try to reduce the numbers for my next checkup, so I can avoid having to go on meds!

Any feedback would be appreciated, thank you!!

Lots of great suggestions.

I have (had) very high cholesterol. Exercise will lower it. Cholesterol in food comes from animal products (meat, eggs and dairy). There is no cholesterol in plants.

I cut out sugary junk food and 99 percent of dairy, especially cheese. I'm not much of a meat eater -- I did eat fish 2-3x a year, which I've stopped doing. I also stopped eating eggs.

I added some good fats like olive oil and avocado because they lower the bad cholesterol.

Breakfast: I usually eat steel cut oats. Oatmeal lowers cholesterol.

Lunch and dinner: I eat lentils for protein (1 cup has the protein of 3 eggs), with stir fried vegetables and brown rice. I also eat a lot of steamed leafy greens like kale and collards. Food high in fiber like leafy greens and beans will lower cholesterol.

Snacks: fruit

i eat four eggs a day and cholesterol is fine..

eggs are considered a "good" source of fat...

DianneP6772

My entire life- my cholesterol was excellent - around 140. Then a few years ago i had stopped eating oatmeal and it went up to
199. Started back on Oatmeal (changed nothing else) and it went down to 160. Started MFP in May 2013, started losing weight, sometimes had oatmeal twice a day - and now 29 lbs lighter and just had it checked again - 137 !

OATMEAL and lose weight - just my thoughts - it worked for me.

Celuwen

Cutting back on processed meat might help, but probably not. Eat well, hit your macros, lose weight if you need to and exercise regularly. I think exercising regularly and eating well 80% of the time will do all you can lifestyle-wise.

ngyoung

And these are my numbers if anyone has advice or suggestions!


CHOLESTEROL 252
HDL 67
CHOLESTEROL, NON-HDL 185
TRIGLYCERIDE 111
LDL 163

Looks like you need to just bring up HDL and lower Trigs and some LDL. Easiest way to get better HDL/Trig ratio is to cut down on your sugar and refined carbs.

marsellient

Exercise and weight loss! I agree with the oatmeal, too. Eat fish. Check out plant sterols and fish oil supplements. These things are working for me.

emilyc85

And these are my numbers if anyone has advice or suggestions!


CHOLESTEROL 252
HDL 67
CHOLESTEROL, NON-HDL 185
TRIGLYCERIDE 111
LDL 163

FWIW, my lipid profile in 2006 was somewhat similar to yours:
Total 230
HDL 42
LDL 171
Triglycerides: 87

This year:
Total 183
HDL 68
LDL 104
Triglycerides 55

So I went from borderline to near-optimal. This was done by losing weight and increasing overall activity level. You will note from my ticker and diary that I eat a lot of various meats and fast food.

I was interested in this topic as well because, well, my cholesterol is at 237 (I received no other info). This gives me hope that I can lower mine because according to my diary I am rarely over on cholesterol, yet it has been steadily on the ride I realize there are foods I can eat to help it, but just losing weight seems to help

Thanks everyone and good luck on your continued fitness goals!!

RonW956

My entire life- my cholesterol was excellent - around 140. Then a few years ago i had stopped eating oatmeal and it went up to
199. Started back on Oatmeal (changed nothing else) and it went down to 160. Started MFP in May 2013, started losing weight, sometimes had oatmeal twice a day - and now 29 lbs lighter and just had it checked again - 137 !

OATMEAL and lose weight - just my thoughts - it worked for me.

I'm a strong believer in oatmeal also.... That, and a occasional shot of metamucil

TigerBite

Higher fiber foods are excellent for lowering cholesterol levels - just have a bowl of high fiber oatmeal every morning! Do NOT listen to anyone who tries to tell you that the food you eat makes your cholesterol higher, though - it has been proven that is not the case....I listened to them for a while and cut eggs out of my diet along with bacon. Didn't have ANY impact after a whole year of that! The following year, I ate high fiber oatmeal for breakfast and lowered my cholesterol by over 20 points just from that alone. Now I've added exercise into the mix and hope for a good number.

^^^^&
THIS

Cholesterol is largely based on genetics ... Recent research has indicated that it's not as big of a deal as it has been made out to be ...

AbsoluteNG

I haven't posted on here for a while and try to stay away because you will receive a lot of bad and harmful advice, especially from the people who constantly promote eating more and eating lots of "dietary" cholesterol.

You are with out a doubt receiving a lot of bad advice on this so hopefully I can help clear things up. Some people are saying that dietary cholesterol has no impact on serum levels are wrong and reading that information incorrectly. That information comes form statistics and those statics say that for 80% of the world population, dietary cholesterol has no impact on cholesterol levels. That does not mean for every single person in the entire world, eating red meat and eggs does not increase serum levels. It is a completely wrong and harmful to your body way to interpret that information because the other 20% will constantly see a rise in cholesterol. Let me rephrase that, there is a chance that you fall into the 20% category of people that will see a constant rise in cholesterol if you constantly ingest more dietary fat.

There is only one way to know if dietary cholesterol will raise your levels and that's to get a lipid panel test once you've changed your diet and only then can you make correct changes. However, the standard medical advice is to stick to a low fat BALANCED diet instead of wasting your time going in and out of a clinic getting tested.


I was following a ketogenic diet and losing weight but my cholesterol went sky high, over 300. I only made a decision to get a lipid panel test after reading the section in Lyel McDonald's book. I believe there is a section that he talks about people that can eat a high fat diet and people that can not. He said what i basically summed up earlier, that there is a group of people who can not and should not eat a high fat diet. While my diet was an extreme diet high in fats, the key point you need to take away from this is that dietary cholesterol can raise your levels and the only way to know is to get a lipid panel test to see if you follow in that category. The way your body regulates cholesterol is not the same as the next person, it's based on genetics as someone said earlier.


http://aaron.emascc.com/diet/ebooks/Lyle_McDonald_-_The_Ketogenic_Diet.pdf

.

fobsgonewild

Bump

Lot's of differing opinions and advice, but all good information to research. My main take aways so far:

#1 Increase your physical activity! Your body can possibly "balance itself out" after some consistent, long term work out regiment.
#2 Modify your diet, but this is where everyone has lots of varying opinions. I personally believe that everyone's body processes your food slightly differently (I am by no means a scientist or nutritionist). I received one personal message that really educated me about LDL/HDL levels (hopefully the user doesn't mind I am sharing this..):

"HDL does not cause plaque build up in your arteries. a high HDL (about half or more of your LDL) is fine. it's the low-density lipids that are buoyant and travel through your blood stream. they are sticky and build up on your artery walls.

there are 2 ways to lower your LDLs. one is to force your body to use them to process certain foods. your body uses LDLs to separate whole grains. people telling you to eat more fiber should not be taken seriously. bran is a fiber, but it's worthless in controlling your LDL. it will make you go to the bathroom, but your body uses LDL to separate the bran from the grain. if it is already separated, your body doesn't need to do any work or use any LDLs. whole grains, even if just a flour, still have the bran attached to the grain and needs to be separated. whole grain oatmeal is awesome."

Does anyone have anymore information on the different types of cholesterol, and how to manage them more effectively?

Thanks!

jonnythan

there are 2 ways to lower your LDLs. one is to force your body to use them to process certain foods. your body uses LDLs to separate whole grains. people telling you to eat more fiber should not be taken seriously. bran is a fiber, but it's worthless in controlling your LDL. it will make you go to the bathroom, but your body uses LDL to separate the bran from the grain. if it is already separated, your body doesn't need to do any work or use any LDLs.

Wait what? I've never heard that and couldn't find any info online to back it up. Do you have a source for this claim?

fobsgonewild

Wait what? I've never heard that and couldn't find any info online to back it up. Do you have a source for this claim?

I tried a quick google search on this, nothing turned up for me either... but I'll keep investigating!

If anyone else has any insight, please share!

jayjay12345654321

there are 2 ways to lower your LDLs. one is to force your body to use them to process certain foods. your body uses LDLs to separate whole grains. people telling you to eat more fiber should not be taken seriously. bran is a fiber, but it's worthless in controlling your LDL. it will make you go to the bathroom, but your body uses LDL to separate the bran from the grain. if it is already separated, your body doesn't need to do any work or use any LDLs.

Wait what? I've never heard that and couldn't find any info online to back it up. Do you have a source for this claim?

My doctor told me this back in 2006 when my cholesterol was in the 250s. I got it down to the 180s eating a packet of instant oatmeal each morning at work out of a little styrofoam coffee cup within a few months.

I found this Harvard article, but it doesn't go into scientific detail, it just says "it does" basically.

"Eating whole instead of refined grains substantially lowers total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or bad) cholesterol, triglycerides, and insulin levels."
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/health-gains-from-whole-grains/

I'll keep looking.

Carnivor0us

High serum cholesterol is due to your body reacting to inflammation. Cholesterol itself isn't bad, you just need to find out what your body is reacting to. Oatmeal is fine, but inflammation is usually due to high insulin levels.

magerum

Exercise.