Confused about low cholesterol and red meat
setaylor86080
Posts: 210 Member
Okay I went to the doctor and she told me my cholesterol was a little high by like 5 points. So she wanted me to go on a low cholesterol diet but everything that she asked me to do I already do except for one thing. She wants me to lower my red meat to 1 or 2 times a month. I am ok with that and I can do it. So when I went to the store I was looking on the back of stuff and noticed that red meat has only5-10 mg more cholesterol in it compared to ground turkey or chicken. the ground meat I get is the 97 - 3. So why should I cut back the red meat. does she just mean like steaks or roasts? How much cholesterol should I try to stay under a day? Is this something that I should just call her up and clarify? Also does anyone out there do something for a substitute?
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It's basically a canned speech and most Dr's are just repeating that dogma. The ratio's are more important as are triglyceride levels, HDL levels etc........get a referral to a specialist if you can. Your Dr. will probably just repeat what they said because as you know red meat is the devil. As far as how much cholesterol to consume, well, in Canada were I reside the powers that be have determined that we don't need to restrict cholesterol, so it would depend in which Country you live because many don't restrict it.
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All red meat is not created the same, some cuts are better than others. The Dr. gave you this advice probably to entice you to broaden the spectrum of your diet and to avoid big macs.0
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Here's the problem. 100g's of sirloin for example has about 65mg's of cholesterol and 1 egg has 210mg's. Telling someone to only eat red meat a few times a month might equate to 200 mg's but if someone has 1 egg 4 times a week, which is not uncommon they would be consuming over 3000mg's oveer the same time period. Boneless skinless chicken breast has 60mg's. It's more than likely that a Dr. might have heard that eggs are not bad for us from the recent research and editorials. Basically they don't know very much regarding cholesterol and are just repeating the standard dogma.....I don't see it changing very much either.All red meat is not created the same, some cuts are better than others. The Dr. gave you this advice probably to entice you to broaden the spectrum of your diet and to avoid big macs.0 -
I was able to lower my cholesterol primarily through exercise and eating more soluble fiber (oats, beans). I rarely eat fried foods and try to keep my fat at or below 30% of my daily calories.0
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Routinely doing HIIT raises HDL quite a bit as does weight training. It's very important that we have HDL well above recommended levels to help facilitate and work in tandem with our immune system to help transport blood cholesterol back to the liver. these exercises also help to increase particle sizes of all lipoproteins.I was able to lower my cholesterol primarily through exercise and eating more soluble fiber (oats, beans). I rarely eat fried foods and try to keep my fat at or below 30% of my daily calories.0 -
Congratulations, you are more observant than most!!! You are absolutely correct that white meat is also loaded with cholesterol. ALL animal products have cholesterol, and the most effective way to lower your cholesterol is to lower the amount that you take in. That means in order to lower your cholesterol, you need to limit ALL animal products, and foods that contain them.
It's really just a matter of swapping out your current foods for other foods. For instance, if you regularly make chili, add an extra can of beans, and leave out the meat. If you normally have eggs for breakfast, instead have oatmeal and fruit. Try to have a salad before dinner each night, as each bite of green leafs you eat, is a bite of meat you wont eat. Each thing you can swap out will help reduce the overall cholesterol intake.0 -
Congratulations, you are more observant than most!!! You are absolutely correct that white meat is also loaded with cholesterol. ALL animal products have cholesterol, and the most effective way to lower your cholesterol is to lower the amount that you take in. That means in order to lower your cholesterol, you need to limit ALL animal products, and foods that contain them.
It's really just a matter of swapping out your current foods for other foods. For instance, if you regularly make chili, add an extra can of beans, and leave out the meat. If you normally have eggs for breakfast, instead have oatmeal and fruit. Try to have a salad before dinner each night, as each bite of green leafs you eat, is a bite of meat you wont eat. Each thing you can swap out will help reduce the overall cholesterol intake.
Cholesterol containing foods have little to no effect on our cholesterol levels since the body makes virtually all of the cholesterol for our bodies. Most times (except for a few people and its actually rare) the more cholesterol you eat, the lower your cholesterol levels are.
When I was on strict Atkins (eating protein, fat and green leafy vegetables) my cholesterol actually dropped too low. And I was eating a ton of red meat. Steaks, hamburgers, roasts almost all the time.0 -
that will never compute with this guy, nice try though.Congratulations, you are more observant than most!!! You are absolutely correct that white meat is also loaded with cholesterol. ALL animal products have cholesterol, and the most effective way to lower your cholesterol is to lower the amount that you take in. That means in order to lower your cholesterol, you need to limit ALL animal products, and foods that contain them.
It's really just a matter of swapping out your current foods for other foods. For instance, if you regularly make chili, add an extra can of beans, and leave out the meat. If you normally have eggs for breakfast, instead have oatmeal and fruit. Try to have a salad before dinner each night, as each bite of green leafs you eat, is a bite of meat you wont eat. Each thing you can swap out will help reduce the overall cholesterol intake.
Cholesterol containing foods have little to no effect on our cholesterol levels since the body makes virtually all of the cholesterol for our bodies. Most times (except for a few people and its actually rare) the more cholesterol you eat, the lower your cholesterol levels are.
When I was on strict Atkins (eating protein, fat and green leafy vegetables) my cholesterol actually dropped too low. And I was eating a ton of red meat. Steaks, hamburgers, roasts almost all the time.0 -
and the most effective way to lower your cholesterol is to lower the amount that you take in.
best I can piece together from the interweb/studies is that the best way to lower cholesterol is to eat a reasonable caloric intake, maintain a healthy weight, and exercise regularly. Food intake is tertiary to genetics and what I just mentioned.
Almost everything else you can read has something conflicting.0 -
OP: Please read this from a very world renowned Dr. Here are Dr Ravnskov's credentials.
Born 1934 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Graduated 1961 from the University of Copenhagen with an MD.
1961-1967 various appointments at surgical, roentgenological, neurological, pediatric and medical departments in Denmark and Sweden.
1968-79 various appointments at the Department of Nephrology, and the Department of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital, Lund, Sweden; 1975-79 as an assistant professor at the Department of Nephrology.
1973 PhD at the University of Lund. A specialist in internal medicine and nephrology.
1979-2000 a private practitioner. Since 1979 an independent researcher.
Honoured by the Skrabanek Award 1999 given by Trinity College of Dublin, Ireland for original contributions in the field of medical scepticism.
Honoured by the 2007 Leo-Huss-Walin Prize for Independent Thinking in Natural Sciences and Medicine.
Member of International Science Oversight Board
Member of the editorial board of Cholesterol
Member of the editorial board of Journal of Lipids
Director of THINCS, The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics
http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm
Cholesterol is not a deadly poison, but a substance vital to the cells of all mammals. There are no such things as good or bad cholesterol, but mental stress, physical activity and change of body weight may influence the level of blood cholesterol. A high cholesterol is not dangerous by itself, but may reflect an unhealthy condition, or it may be totally innocent.
2 A high blood cholesterol is said to promote atherosclerosis and thus also coronary heart disease. But many studies have shown that people whose blood cholesterol is low become just as atherosclerotic as people whose cholesterol is high.
3 Your body produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat. The production of cholesterol increases when you eat little cholesterol and decreases when you eat much. This explains why the ”prudent” diet cannot lower cholesterol more than on average a few per cent.
4 There is no evidence that too much animal fat and cholesterol in the diet promotes atherosclerosis or heart attacks. For instance, more than twenty studies have shown that people who have had a heart attack haven't eaten more fat of any kind than other people, and degree of atherosclerosis at autopsy is unrelated with the diet.
5 The only effective way to lower cholesterol is with drugs, but neither heart mortality or total mortality have been improved with drugs the effect of which is cholesterol-lowering only. On the contrary, these drugs are dangerous to your health and may shorten your life.
6 The new cholesterol-lowering drugs, the statins, do prevent cardio-vascular disease, but this is due to other mechanisms than cholesterol-lowering. Unfortunately, they also stimulate cancer in rodents, disturb the functions of the muscles, the heart and the brain and pregnant women taking statins may give birth to children with malformations more severe than those seen after thalidomide.
7 Many of these facts have been presented in scientific journals and books for decades but are rarely told to the public by the proponents of the diet-heart idea.
8 The reason why laymen, doctors and most scientists have been misled is because opposing and disagreeing results are systematically ignored or misquoted in the scientific press.0 -
Your cholesterol will go down if you lose weight and exercise more. Red meat is not the cause of your cholesterol. Your 100 extra pounds of body mass and lifestyle are (also genetics, but your cholesterol is much higher now than it will be if you lose that extra fat and exercise more).0
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Also, if you want a big cholesterol shocker, look at shellfish...0
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.... and the most effective way to lower your cholesterol is to lower the amount that you take in....
This is not supported by science, unless you are one of the few people who are so-called responders (meaning your bloody cholesterol levels correspond to dietary cholesterol - which is not the case for most people).
Most recent research indicates that the biggest influence on blood cholesterol is the mix of fats and carbohydrates you eat, not the amount of cholesterol you eat from food. Being at a healthy weight and getting exercise matters too. Your genetics also play a role.
A decent article that synthesizes and summarizes current studies:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fats-full-story/
"A body of scientific studies shows only a weak relationship between the amount of cholesterol a person consumes and his or her blood cholesterol levels." Watching dietary cholesterol is, however, important for people with heart disease.
For what it's worth, here's my anecdote: I eat red meat 2-3 times a week; it's from pastured cows 99% of the time. I eat chicken almost daily, and have an egg or two a day as well. I eat cheese almost daily. I also eat nuts, nut butter, olive oil, avocado, and coconut oil all the time. I eat a lot of plant-based products. I limit ultra-processed carbs quite a bit. My overall cholesterol last it was checked was 155, HDL 69. You sure wouldn't see those numbers if blood cholesterol was tied (for me) dietary cholesterol. Perhaps most importantly, I'm at a healthy weight and exercise regularly. I'm obviously not a "resoponder" but the mix of fats and carbohydrates in my blood appears to be pretty good.0 -
As far as I'm aware, cholesterol in food has nothing to do with cholesterol levels.0
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Saturated fat is the issue. The more saturated the worse it is. Saturated fat and possibly sugar can cause cholesterol to go up. These may cause more plaque build up in arteries. Red meat is connected with inflammation of the arteries, too. Mine jumped up after switching to coconut coconut milk thinking it was healthier. I was surprised after all the hype about coconut milk. I have started to eat red meat just once a week. No more coconut milk, either. Trying to lower sugar intake, as well. Not diabetic but thought it might be a good habit to focus on at the moment.0
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Recent reseach is showing that the cholesterol we consume in food has little to no relationship to the actual cholesterol level in the blood. Although, the last time I checked, there are still a variety of foods that have a positive impact on overall cholesterol ratios by raising the good cholesterol numbers (like olive oil, fish, etc.). I have dropped my bad cholesterol numbers and raised my good ones significantly during my weight loss, but I sitll eat eggs and red meat every single week, usually several times. I think what has the big impact on cholesterol is exercise and simply the weight loss itself.0
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It's basically a canned speech and most Dr's are just repeating that dogma.
My experience as well. I've had a Dr's office tell me to reduce red meat even though my total cholesterol was under the threshold.
Anyway, I think the current recommendation is to pay more attention to ratios of cholesterol and triglycerides - the absolute numbers don't matter as much as their relationship. See this for example:
http://www.yourmedicaldetective.com/public/523.cfm
Or this
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664115/
And I cringe to give out a Dr. Oz link but this is actually a pretty good explanation I think.
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/cholesterol-facts-vs-mythsYour cholesterol will go down if you lose weight and exercise more. Red meat is not the cause of your cholesterol. Your 100 extra pounds of body mass and lifestyle are (also genetics, but your cholesterol is much higher now than it will be if you lose that extra fat and exercise more).
Best advice you've been given. IMHO concerning yourself with red meat and cholesterol are pretty pointless given the other things you have to focus on.0 -
As I understand it, dietary cholesterol actually has very little to do with your blood cholesterol levels. Eating foods high in saturated and trans fats can have an impact (although I've heard sat fats are now thought to have less to do with it).
As someone else pointed out, animal fats in general can be a problem so shooting down red meat is kind of silly. Say you think fried chicken (with skin on) is perfectly ok because at least it's not red meat - obviously that's not a better choice. Point is, cuts and preparation can also play a factor. As long as you're going with the leaner cuts of animal meat and cooking them in such a way as to not add unhealthy (trans/sat) fats, you should be just fine.
Side note: make sure you're eating whole grains, green leafy veg and getting some cardio in as these also can help with your lipid profile. Also consider adding in some healthy fats (fish oil). Genetics do play a factor but doing all of this can help. I'm borderline with my cholesterol levels due to genetics but my tests will come out better when my diet is heatlhy and I exercise regularly.0 -
I eat eggs nearly every morning and animal products at all three meals, and sometimes for snacks. My total cholesterol is fine and my ratios are in the "ideal" range. But I also make sure I average about 35 grams of fiber a day, most of which comes from veggies and a little bit of fruit (but also from dark chocolate and popcorn--popped in bacon fat and coconut oil.). I avoid sugar as much as possible and eat wheat products only a few times a month.0
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Anecdotal evidence only here, but I eat a ton of red meat, white meat, fish, eggs, milk and cheese, and my cholesterol has been on a steady downward trajectory since I started losing weight and exercising more.
I respect anyone's right to be vegetarian or vegan, but to say that it's necessary to lower cholesterol and improve health in general is dishonest. I believe it's a moral choice, and that the health arguments are greatly exaggerated in order to win people over to 'their side' of a moral debate.
By the way, there is an equally dishonest movement that insists that carbohydrates and sugar are to blame for high cholesterol levels - not animal products. This movement would have you cut out an entirely different segment of your diet.
You pays your money, you takes your choice.
Personally, I chose pay attention to the changes in my own body as I changed my eating and activity habits, and concluded that a moderate, balanced diet coupled with staying active is all you really need for optimal physical and mental health.0 -
Saturated fat is the issue. The more saturated the worse it is. Saturated fat and possibly sugar can cause cholesterol to go up. These may cause more plaque build up in arteries. Red meat is connected with inflammation of the arteries, too. Mine jumped up after switching to coconut coconut milk thinking it was healthier. I was surprised after all the hype about coconut milk. I have started to eat red meat just once a week. No more coconut milk, either. Trying to lower sugar intake, as well. Not diabetic but thought it might be a good habit to focus on at the moment.
There is nothing wrong with saturated fat nor is there anything unhealthy about coconut products to include the meat, oil, water and milk.
Coconut is one of the healthiest food items a person can consume and all of the coconut is consumable.0 -
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She's given you the medical recommendation based on research done so far. Though she's only giving part of the advice if that's all she told you. You need to replace that red meat with other protein sources like lean poultry, fish or vegetable proteins.
If you eat less red meat and replace those calories with sugary foods or processed grains, you may see your cholesterol go up instead of down.0 -
Sugar reduces cholesterol levels.She's given you the medical recommendation based on research done so far. Though she's only giving part of the advice if that's all she told you. You need to replace that red meat with other protein sources like lean poultry, fish or vegetable proteins.
If you eat less red meat and replace those calories with sugary foods or processed grains, you may see your cholesterol go up instead of down.0 -
Sugar reduces cholesterol levels.She's given you the medical recommendation based on research done so far. Though she's only giving part of the advice if that's all she told you. You need to replace that red meat with other protein sources like lean poultry, fish or vegetable proteins.
If you eat less red meat and replace those calories with sugary foods or processed grains, you may see your cholesterol go up instead of down.
Sugary desserts do not.0 -
If you say so.
Sugar reduces cholesterol levels.She's given you the medical recommendation based on research done so far. Though she's only giving part of the advice if that's all she told you. You need to replace that red meat with other protein sources like lean poultry, fish or vegetable proteins.
If you eat less red meat and replace those calories with sugary foods or processed grains, you may see your cholesterol go up instead of down.
Sugary desserts do not.
EDIT TO ADD: why not take a look at Harvard and then tell us what you think. Even though Harvard is extremely bias toward a plant based diet <I'm sure they would have to admit that sugar and refined carbs lowers cholesterol levels, I'm sure they don't want to appear to ignorant or too bias. But I'm guessing they;ll leave out the why and continue with their status quo.0 -
Easy fix. Limit yourself to proper portion sizes and work out more. Eating healthy and exercising helps increase your HDL (good cholesterol) and decrease your LDL (bad cholesterol) and Tryglicerides (fat in the blood).0
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QFT.Easy fix. Limit yourself to proper portion sizes and work out more. Eating healthy and exercising helps increase your HDL (good cholesterol) and decrease your LDL (bad cholesterol) and Tryglicerides (fat in the blood).0 -
QFT.Easy fix. Limit yourself to proper portion sizes and work out more. Eating healthy and exercising helps increase your HDL (good cholesterol) and decrease your LDL (bad cholesterol) and Tryglicerides (fat in the blood).
QFT?0
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