Cholesterol UP despite lifestyle changes! :noway: :angry:

Birdie

My doctor said it was carbs driving it up (I don't eat red meat). He told me to jack up the exercise and cut out all white substances. No noodles, rice, bread, sugar, potato, & corn.

lope

What does your sugar intake look like? Recent findings that 'unhealthy carbs' are the big contributor to bad cholesterol. Eat more veggies... that doesn't mean corn. Corn is a grain. Ween yourself from grains too. Just sayin'

lope

Check this out: it's a good read.

http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/how-did-we-come-to-believe-saturated-fat-and-cholesterol-are-bad-for-us

I owe a lot of my success to my son's nutritionist/trainer/coach who is working on his dr in nutrition. The above article mirrors his advice.

Show this to your dr and see what he says... dr who prescribe meds instead of nutritional ways of healing are not looking out for your well being... just sayin'

lope

Your Dr. is spot on!!!

lope

My doctor said it was carbs driving it up (I don't eat red meat). He told me to jack up the exercise and cut out all white substances. No noodles, rice, bread, sugar, potato, & corn.

Your Doc is spot on!!!

Keiko385

Given that I have been losing weight (and plan to continue doing so for some months still) I am going to flat out refuse to do further cholesterol tests at this point regardless of what the doctor says because I feel that the weight loss is affecting the readings.
I will wait until I'm no longer on a reducing diet and only then re-test, and only then stress about the results.

Oh, but for now I will take the krill oil based on the other health benefits!

Thanks all....

It makes sense to me that the lipids would get wonky while your diet is changing, just keep adding more healthy foods that are known to lower it. I dont know how often you get tested but your numbers were not that high up for US standards, I've had worse readings over the years

yarwell

But my latest readings are as follows: UK (US)
Total 5.8 (224)
LDL 4 (155)
HDL 1.1 (43)
Triglycerides 1.46 (129)

Total / HDL ratio of 5.3 is worse than mine, on Atkins type diet I have 5.05 total and 1.26 HDL

joannathechef

Do take fish oil and Naicin (flush free) daily this will make a big difference

diverdiza

My sugars are pretty good (in my opinion) - and come mostly from fruit and vegetable with some grains (interesting that corn counts as a grain?)
yarwell thats a great HDL!!
Trish I certainly am adding more and more healthy foods and (just as important??) CUTTING OUT the really unhealthy stuff. Talk about sugars - in December I was going through a full store-bought chocolate cake in a matter of days and then going back and buying another! :blushing:
Iope - not sure about cutting out all the white substances but for now will certainly cut down.
Joanna - I read niacin mentioned on another cholesterol thread but got confused because someone said there was a right form and a wrong form so I haven't pursued this yet. I have started taking the krill oil (2 days so far). I read somewhere else that choline helps the liver use the chosterol for the right purposes but that's another topic I haven't read enough on yet..

Birdie

My sugars are pretty good (in my opinion) - and come mostly from fruit and vegetable with some grains (interesting that corn counts as a grain?)
yarwell thats a great HDL!!
Trish I certainly am adding more and more healthy foods and (just as important??) CUTTING OUT the really unhealthy stuff. Talk about sugars - in December I was going through a full store-bought chocolate cake in a matter of days and then going back and buying another! :blushing:
Iope - not sure about cutting out all the white substances but for now will certainly cut down.
Joanna - I read niacin mentioned on another cholesterol thread but got confused because someone said there was a right form and a wrong form so I haven't pursued this yet. I have started taking the krill oil (2 days so far). I read somewhere else that choline helps the liver use the chosterol for the right purposes but that's another topic I haven't read enough on yet..

I bought the krill oil pills for awhile because they were small and easy to swallow (even though the cost a lot more). But did you notice how LITTLE omega 3's are in there? I ended up going back to a fish oil that contains far more.

MinnieInMaine

Interesting note about lipids fluctuating during weight loss! Mine went down quite a bit initially (2010 & 2011) but this year they were up a bit just like yours. My doc's not too worried about it though because my ratio is really good and total is still only borderline high.

As far as your stats go, I know you're in the UK but according to the AHA, your total is only borderline high, your HDL is under 50 which is fine for women, your LDL is only borderline high and your Tris are normal.

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Cholesterol/AboutCholesterol/What-Your-Cholesterol-Levels-Mean_UCM_305562_Article.jsp

If your doc tries to force you to take statins - protest strongly!

A few other things you can do with your diet that I learned from a nutritionist years ago:

- Eat more leafy greens like kale, spinach, broccoli
- Eat more whole grains like steel cut oats and 100% whole wheat breads
- Ok to eat red meats but go with the leaner cuts. And check your labels...just because it's ground turkey doesn't mean it's leaner than the ground beef in fact sometimes it can be worse!
- If you must use margarine, try the ones that say no trans fats and use olive & canola oil for sauteeing and in dressings.

diverdiza

I bought the krill oil pills for awhile because they were small and easy to swallow (even though the cost a lot more). But did you notice how LITTLE omega 3's are in there? I ended up going back to a fish oil that contains far more.

I hadn't noticed the relative quantities - thanks for pointing it out. The initial recommended does on the ones I bought is double the maintenance so I'm getting enough in for now and since I got a 2 pack for the price of 1 the cost is ok but you're right in the long run it may work out more - when this lot is finish I may also re-evaluate.

Interesting note about lipids fluctuating during weight loss! Mine went down quite a bit initially (2010 & 2011) but this year they were up a bit just like yours. My doc's not too worried about it though because my ratio is really good and total is still only borderline high.

As far as your stats go, I know you're in the UK but according to the AHA, your total is only borderline high, your HDL is under 50 which is fine for women, your LDL is only borderline high and your Tris are normal.

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Cholesterol/AboutCholesterol/What-Your-Cholesterol-Levels-Mean_UCM_305562_Article.jsp

If your doc tries to force you to take statins - protest strongly!

A few other things you can do with your diet that I learned from a nutritionist years ago:

- Eat more leafy greens like kale, spinach, broccoli
- Eat more whole grains like steel cut oats and 100% whole wheat breads
- Ok to eat red meats but go with the leaner cuts. And check your labels...just because it's ground turkey doesn't mean it's leaner than the ground beef in fact sometimes it can be worse!
- If you must use margarine, try the ones that say no trans fats and use olive & canola oil for sauteeing and in dressings.

Thanks for these points - believe me I WILL protest - in fact I'll flat out refuse to even test again at this stage. And I'll do my utmost best to eat "right" (although the more I read the more that in itself is confusing because one camp says eat lean and the other says carbs are the issue and fats are fine!)