New to MFP...any ideas on lowering cholesterol?????

leslisa

"Leslisa...I tried Niacin once when it was really high in my 20's.......BAD REACTION....how does it do for you??? "

I'm fine with it. I've been taking it for about a year now.

Honestly, I don't know if it helps or not since I made so many modifications at the same time. Examples: 30 minutes light cardio to intense cardio, limiting canned soup (this was really hard, I love Cambell's), changing the types of carbs I eat, eating 6 or 7 small meals a day instead of 2 larger, etc.

I should have added, I drink 8 cups of water, 2 cups of green tea (1 caf, 1 decaf), and 1 cup of rooibos tea a day, too (I'm in the bathroom a lot . The green tea and rooibos are not doc recommended, didn't come in any of the doc provided literature, etc., but I was pretty desperate to stay off meds since I'd tried that route and felt like *kitten* the whole time I was on them so I checked out what might possibly hit all three of my issues and both came up.

I think it's awesome you are trying natural solutions. Best of luck to you. I hope they work as well for you as they are for me. :glasses:

myfitnessnmhoy

I don't know what to try first...but one thing that keeps screaming out in the posts (that I'm not already trying) is FIBER.

Fiber is good, but try natural sources for it first. And drink lots of water.

Also, one thing that should also be screaming out is exercise. It's about the only way to increase your HDL while decreasing your LDL and the only side effect is that you feel better about yourself and develop better muscle tone and have more energy. Oh, and the ability to eat a lot more delicious food without feeling guilty.

pantsdailyon

Really, if the HDL, BP and triglycerides are OK, you probably don't need to worry all that much. Do some research and speak with your doctor and a dietician/nutritionist. High cholesterol in and of itself, with no other negative factors, isn't as bad as people think.

Glad someone mentioned that. There are 2 types of LDL, dense and "fluffy", and only the dense ones are bad. IIRC, they estimate the ratio of the 2 using your LDL and triglyceride numbers. If your triglycerides are good, you'd have fewer of the dense LDL.

pantsdailyon

Leslisa...I tried Niacin once when it was really high in my 20's.......BAD REACTION....how does it do for you???

Have you tried "flush-free" niacin?

msprouse8

Also, one thing that should also be screaming out is exercise. It's about the only way to increase your HDL while decreasing your LDL and the only side effect is that you feel better about yourself and develop better muscle tone and have more energy. Oh, and the ability to eat a lot more delicious food without feeling guilty.

I have been exercising....I've been doing everything right. My HDL shows that. I just need to try the fiber I guess...I mostly drink water only...except for occasionally a v8 fruit fusion or lite lemonaid, but that is rare......

msprouse8

Glad someone mentioned that. There are 2 types of LDL, dense and "fluffy", and only the dense ones are bad. IIRC, they estimate the ratio of the 2 using your LDL and triglyceride numbers. If your triglycerides are good, you'd have fewer of the dense LDL.

Yeah my numbers were as follows. Cholesterol 240, Triclycerides 146, HDL 49 and LDL was 168.

coconutbuNZ

Gosh it's hard to understand why someone as healthy and as fit looking as you can have a cholesterol which is too high. What has your doctor advised?

yarwell

Yeah my numbers were as follows. Cholesterol 240, Triclycerides 146, HDL 49 and LDL was 168.

the risk charts have Total/HDL on the axis - 240 / 49 in your case is 4.9 which is above average. Mine's 4.0 and I eat a lot of meat.

ChasingSweatandTears

Most conventional medicine regarding cholesterol is crap. My FIL's cardiologist had him on margarine, of all things. He would use margarine for everything. His levels were awful. I'm not saying you're as clueless as he was, but here's his story:

After he ended up in the hospital for 4 days due to skyrocketing blood pressure which wouldn't come down, (his cholesterol and triglycerides have been horrible for a few years now) he decided his diet needed to change. I took him grocery shopping, taught him how to read a food label, and he ONLY consumes these fats now:
olive oil for low - moderate cooking and drizzling (This is his primary form of fat)
coconut oil for moderate to high heat cooking, in moderation
cold pressed grapeseed oil and butter flavored grapeseed oil (not heated, not for cooking, just for drizzling)
Butter on special occasions.

He has been BANNED from the margarine, even the so called "healthy" ones.

While I believe butter is fine in moderation, and I eat it, the man needed more plant based fats and would be consuming WAY too much butter so HE decided to cut it out of his daily life completely.

He also cut out almost ALL PROCESSED FOODS with the exception of whole grain bread.
He also no longer drinks cow's milk (that's due to sugar content which he needs to watch due to extremely high triglycerides) He has switched to unsweetened almond milk and he loves it.

He takes omega 3 fish oil three times a day, he snacks on nuts and he eats eggs. He goes for a 30 minute walk about 4 days a week.

Everything is changing! His cardiologist is extremely happy and told him to keep doing whatever he was doing because it's working. HIS MEDICATIONS ARE BEING REDUCED.

I have eaten eggs, olive oil, butter in moderation, red meat, coconut oil, etc for years and years. My HDL, LDL and triglycerides are all at a balance that wards off heart disease. Dietary fat is not your enemy with the exception of trans fats. Those should be completely eliminated from your diet altogether. Read food labels, if it says "hydrogenated' avoid it like the plague, even if it says there are "0" grams in it, because the FDA allows those grams to be rounded down if they are under a certain amount. If it's hydrogenated, it's trans fat and it will harm you.
Add AS MANY sources of monounsaturated fats as you possibly can to your day, including avocados. I would track monos rather than sats in your food diary, because honestly that will make more of a diference. You want to avoid sauteeing or cooking with your plant based fats (except coconut oil) as much as possible. Heat actually changes the molecular structure of fragile plant oils and at that point they can take on qualities like trans fats and cause oxidative tissue damage.

You are doing great living an active lifestyle, keep it up and it's your best friend along with increasing your monounsaturated fats to help reduce your cholesterol levels and get the ratios closer to where you want them.

I'm not a dietician, I have formally studied nutrition, not that it makes a difference, most of the material I formally studied was questionable. However I have had a passion for nutrition and the healing properties of food since I first stepped foot into my Dad's garden and then learned to read. I've always studied everything I can get my hands on about nutrition and I believe this has kept me very healthy despite my formerly sedentary lifestyle. I'm 35. So take my opinion with a grain of salt if you desire, but hopefully there is something helpful in here for you to research more on your own if you wish And bottom line, dietary speaking, eliminating as much processed food as you can and not fearing anything in it's whole and natural form will help you tremendously.

msprouse8

Gosh it's hard to understand why someone as healthy and as fit looking as you can have a cholesterol which is too high. What has your doctor advised?

I know!! I know I need to loose at least 10 more pounds to be inside my healthy BMI weight, but I really want to loose 20 more lbs at least. I don't feel overweight, I think I carry my weight well, but I feel out of shape and I want to feel better, have more energy, be healthy.

I was in SHOCK over my labs. My last cholesterol test was 2 years ago and it was 203. (Which is still high, but not as bad as this time) 2 years ago, I was not watching my food or exercising at all! I grabbed my labs off the fax Monday anticipating lower than 200 level. Shocked, aggravated....disappointed....all of the above. I'm gonna keep trying. My doctor said she would watch until I turn 40. I the past, they had held off on the meds because I was of child bearing age and had no children. We have 1 child who is 5 now and I don't anticipate anymore so that is why I feel she will press the issue this time. I am reading EVERYTHING that's being posted on this thread and I appreciate everyone's input greatly!!! Thanks so much!!!! Some of the stuff I'm already doing....but there are things I will try for sure.

ChasingSweatandTears

I'm probably going to get flamed for this but I don't care, it may help you. This is not about calories, it's about your heart health.
I took a look at a few days of your food diary and a few suggestions I would make if you were my family member:

Ditch the eggo waffles, find some sort of protein waffle or pancake you can make up in advance and keep on hand instead.
check your peanut butter to make sure it's not hiding any hidden hydrogenated oils
Ditch the chips, baked or otherwise
BAN the american cheese and that goes for cheese whiz or velveeta if those are in your diet!
Get rid of the white bread, any white bread
Ditch your salad dressing and just use hugh quality = flavorful olive oil and lemon on your salads
Any Fried fast food = trans fats = bad
Stop eating things like Ritz crackers = trans fats
Quit buying precooked meats and cook up your own on the weekends. Those are loaded with sodium.
Seriously avoid the majority of processed foods, there are so many healthy convenient foods out there now that can help you with this. If it says KRAFT, oscar meyer, etc steer clear. And if it says in small print "unilever" keep in mind, Unilever has manufactured chemicals for years, do you really want to get your food from them?

Totally repeat that this is just my opinion, and totally not trying to sound like a critical know it all Hope this helps. Good luck and feel free to message me, add me if you want

ChasingSweatandTears

I have been battling my cholesterol for 2 years now and although I just started "dieting" for weight loss, I have been doing all I can to lower my cholesterol numbers(bad triglycerides and HDL) the past year or so. My physical 5 weeks ago was the first time I have had normal cholesterol numbers.

The things I have done:

Oatmeal or high fiber ceral every morning.
I was taking Red Krill instead of fish oil tablets, but was switched to Lovaza by my doctor. This is a mega dose of fish oil by script.
I stopped drinking milk and started using Almond Milk.
Only eating red meat once a week.
exercising 5 days a week.
quit smoking

Good luck to you!

Another one for Almond milk yay My FIL loves it

ChasingSweatandTears

I also forgot to add I agree about the fiber try oatmeal or 7 grain toast instead of eggos And if you make yourself a high fiber piece of toast spread with some real almond butter you got yourself a satisfying heart healthy breakfast Sigh... wish I could have toast!

loope1

I haven't read throught his entire thread, so I don't know if someone has already suggested the South Beach diet or not.
My husband and I both did this. It was designed by a cardiologist for ppl who were high risk cardiac patients.

They also have an online plan where you can plan your meals and print out grocery lists. We really enjoyed the recipes and variety.
You may simply have to add in more carbs/fruits than the plan calls for since you work out.

Good luck!

msprouse8

I also forgot to add I agree about the fiber try oatmeal or 7 grain toast instead of eggos And if you make yourself a high fiber piece of toast spread with some real almond butter you got yourself a satisfying heart healthy breakfast Sigh... wish I could have toast!

Thanks! I will try to comprehend all of this...it's a lot. I just about feel a lil overwhelmed right now with all this information. The choices I make with my foods are all about my time (which I don't have much of). I don't have time to do a lot of the things you are suggesting. I have to cook and prepare things differently for me already than I do my husband and child. They don't want to eat heart healthy stuff when they dont have issues. That already takes more of my time. I changed my salad dressing from ranch to balsamic Vin. and to tell ya the truth, I'd rather eat bare lettuce than put just olive oil on it. Sounds just gross. I just hear things like "buy the white wheat bread...it's the same as whole wheat and it's better for ya" ...I'm like, "Sure, that way my family will still eat it"....so I will get that. Now I'm hearing it's not good enough. I can't eat a lot of fruits, I have a gag reflex I can't control when it comes to mushy things so Oatmeal is out. In the mornings, the Whole wheat Eggo Waffle is convenient and easy as I eat at my desk while I'm working. It's definitely going to take a lot of work and I'm just going to have to incorporate it slowly until i get it done. It just boggles me the amount of Sodium is in those processed foods...but I don't have time to make my own sandwhich meat......it's just crazy...... O well...now my head is hurting and I am feeling stressed....better go get my run in before I say I don't feel like it! LOL

ChasingSweatandTears

I also forgot to add I agree about the fiber try oatmeal or 7 grain toast instead of eggos And if you make yourself a high fiber piece of toast spread with some real almond butter you got yourself a satisfying heart healthy breakfast Sigh... wish I could have toast!

Thanks! I will try to comprehend all of this...it's a lot. I just about feel a lil overwhelmed right now with all this information. The choices I make with my foods are all about my time (which I don't have much of). I don't have time to do a lot of the things you are suggesting. I have to cook and prepare things differently for me already than I do my husband and child. They don't want to eat heart healthy stuff when they dont have issues. That already takes more of my time. I changed my salad dressing from ranch to balsamic Vin. and to tell ya the truth, I'd rather eat bare lettuce than put just olive oil on it. Sounds just gross. I just hear things like "buy the white wheat bread...it's the same as whole wheat and it's better for ya" ...I'm like, "Sure, that way my family will still eat it"....so I will get that. Now I'm hearing it's not good enough. I can't eat a lot of fruits, I have a gag reflex I can't control when it comes to mushy things so Oatmeal is out. In the mornings, the Whole wheat Eggo Waffle is convenient and easy as I eat at my desk while I'm working. It's definitely going to take a lot of work and I'm just going to have to incorporate it slowly until i get it done. It just boggles me the amount of Sodium is in those processed foods...but I don't have time to make my own sandwhich meat......it's just crazy...... O well...now my head is hurting and I am feeling stressed....better go get my run in before I say I don't feel like it! LOL

I know we've already talked but I'm just seeing this. I would tell your family that they may not have problems now, but making changes will help ensure they WON'T. I'll email you soon with a list of stuff you can swap out and I think you got off to a good start at the grocery store today you don't have to change everything all at once. Staying healthy is a lifelong journey. :flowerforyou:

gmhvin

bump

citygirl4ever

bump...great info