21 and struggling with cholesterol

thedreamhazer

I went to the doctor this past week for a physical, and they did some routine blood work on me. Then, two days later, I get results in the mail: I have high bad cholesterol. My overall cholesterol was fine (under 200), but my bad was over 100.

I'm only 21, I'm fairly active, and I eat almost entirely vegetarian. Needless to say, I was shocked to find that my cholesterol was high. The thing I got in the mail told me to watch and make sure I was on a low cholesterol diet and to start doing aerobic exercise. While I can do more aerobic exercising (I do about 2-3 days a week now), and I've decided to start eating oatmeal/Cheerios for breakfast, what else can I do? I'm a little at a loss as to what to do...

(PS- My grandfather has very high cholesterol....he had a quadruple bypass in his 50s, so there's some genetic predisposition to high cholesterol in my family.)

CrystalT

I had the same news from my doctor a few months ago. The first thing I did was to update my food diary to track cholesterol. I do my best not to go over the 300 mg limit. I've actually done pretty good. Eat foods with as little cholesterol as possible. I try not to eat more than 2 whole eggs a week (egg whites are ok). Eat lots of fiber. That's why the oatmeal and the Cheerios help. I eat oatmeal for breakfast all the time. Eat lots of fruits & veggies. Make sure you exercise. Lastly, be aware that all of this still may not get it low enough because of your family history. My grandfather died from heart disease. All my dad's siblings have heart disease and dad had a quadruple bipass 10 years ago. I'm working to lower mine, but my doctor was open with me that it may not be enough and he may have to put me on meds.

Good luck!!!

Willow_28

Hi... I am not sure if this website costs money or not but I also have cholesterol problems (I'm a type2 diabetic and it usually runs hand in hand) and I was put on Crestor... in every pack there is this little card with a website on it that has info. for meals, exercise tips, etc. for people with cholesterol problems... its www.crestor.ca... as I said before, I haven't checked it out myself (keep forgetting) but if you wanna give it a look maybe it can help you with the food aspect... well, hope this helped... :happy:
Ciao

kelly_a

I have chol/trig/ldl/hdl issues as well, AND family history. something that has really helped mine is taking a 1000mg fishoil capsule (Omega 3 with EPA & DHA 300mg). I take it with my vitamins. I also take Ground Milled flaxseed ( 30g ) a day in my cereal, yogurt. I raised my HDL 25 points in 6 mos. I also eat fish in my diet, whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies. I am on Crestor 40mg day, and I do eat a boiled egg a few times a week, and my last chol was 175, and I have had it lower. Like Crystal said, diet changes may or may not work. Good luck and do what you can in your diet to help manage it!

gem2wrtr

Hi there -- mine used to be high. I turned vegetarian and it dropped 72 points, but it was still high. I was still eating lots of cheese, butter, and milk products. Stopped that and my blood work has improved even more. Am aiming for vegan this year to make sure I live much longer than my father (died of a heart attack at age 39). I've found that Dr. McDougall has a couple great books, great instant soups and I've read the book "The China Study" which helped. A leaky heart valve I had also improved from moderate to minor. This was confirmed by ultrasound tests at a heart center! My heart doctor was very surprised. Flax seed oil and chia seeds for the omegas, you don't need fish oil. The Crazy Vegan cookbook also recommends shiitake mushrooms to lower cholesterol -- good luck! Laurel