Cholesterol tips (to bring it down)

loriepaulin

Hi MFP friends,

I need some assistance and guidance if you will. I need to bring down my cholesterol by 10 points. It's nothing my doctor is putting me on meds for yet but he will be rechecking it again come June of this year.

If anyone was successful in lowering theirs, I would love to hear what kind of foods you naturally incorporated into your diet to do so.

Right now my main food staples are:
Eggs
Turkey Bacon
Oatmeal
Grilled chicken
Apples
Pears
Grapes
Clementines
Banana's
Nuts (Almonds, pistachios, Walnuts, etc)
Honey Nut Cheerios
Greek Plain Yogurt
Fish (which I am going to start adding more salmon since I read that could help)
and occassionaly red meat (steak)
Whole Wheat Bread
Green Tea
Zero Vitawaters
Quinoa
Red or Green Peppers
Tomatos


That's about the majority of my food on a constant basis. We are ordering some fish oil too that my boyfriend gets from a good place online. If there is anything anyone has done themselves they can think of to add to this list I would greatly appreciate the help.

Thanks for reading!

katmumn

Hi-

My cholesterol was slightly high last time it was checked at the beginning of December. My overall diet looks similar to yours, but since then I've increased the Omega 3s in my diet (salmon, walnuts, and a supplement) and also have oatmeal as my afternoon snack while limiting the amount of higher cholesterol foods (red meat and eggs). My employer has everyone get an annual health assessment and my blood draw was this morning. I'm curious to see if 2 months is long enough to make much of a difference. I will get the results in about 10 days.

My doctor also referred me to a cholesterol education class that starts tomorrow night. I will post anything new I learn from the class.

DoOrDoNotThereIsNoTry1

Red yeast Rice extract

fuzzieme

Since it only comes from animals, try not to eat as many foods derived from animals

heymirth

20mg Zocor was the only thing to bring mine down after seeing a nutritionalist

WBB55

Do you need to lower your OVERALL cholesterol or just your LDLs?

AnninStPaul

Which number is driving it up? My total cholesterol approaches "borderline high", but it is my "good" cholesterol that is driving the number up. As my "bad" cholesterol is reasonable, my physician isn't worried about it (with that, family history, and a bp that is usually 100/70, I'm not worried either),

I do take an Omega 3, eat oatmeal 4x/week, and love red meat (as in my kids and DH complain, "steak again?"). I am not a fan or margarine, and eat the yolks as well as the whites.

That said, it's a lot more about genetics than anything else.

trainguy917

Since it only comes from animals, try not to eat as many foods derived from animals

Your blood cholesterol count and the cholesterol content in meat are not the same thing. That one contributes to the other is a matter of debate.

AnninStPaul

Since it only comes from animals, try not to eat as many foods derived from animals

Yes and no - your liver makes cholesterol. Depending upon their genetics, a vegan could have high cholesterol while a carnivore could be mid-range. Medications such as Zocor (the statin family) work by blocking a naturally occurring enzyme in the liver than controls cholesterol production.

Laurayinz

Exercise, cardio in particular, seems to have brought mine down well.

eatcleanNtraindirty

Since it only comes from animals, try not to eat as many foods derived from animals

Sorry but that is 100% false. Vegetarians are often diagnosed with high cholesterol. It is becoming increasingly apparent from university studies that cholesterol and how the body breaks it down is much more genetic and inherited then it is from diet.

There have been new studies in the past few years that have shown that eggs, which once were thought of as causing high cholesterol (hence the egg white craze) are actually not responsible for high cholesterol.

Your theory of animals being a cause, much like eggs, is a fallacy from the correlation theory. Just because something has high cholesterol, i.e. eggs, does not mean that it is the cause that the body has high cholesterol.

eatcleanNtraindirty

Fish oils, krill oil, flaxseed oil (all high in Omega 3) are proven to help bring down LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and raise HDL (good cholesterol) as well as decrease blood pressure. Fish oil also helps with the growth of hair, skin, and nails. Fish oils and a liquid or powdered form multivitamin (90-100% absorption of nutrients from liquid or powdered vitamin vs. ~10% absorption from tablets, gummies, or chewable vitamins.) are two of the best things we can take as we age.

ModoVincere

first off, 10 points?
That's probably within the range of acceptable error of a basic cholesterol test. Not a big deal in other words.
However, if you want to lower your cholesterol, I assume what you are really saying is that you'd like to reduce your LDL (bad) and either keep your HDL where it is or even increase it.

The standard formula for total cholesterol is : TC =LDL + HDL +20% of Triglycerides.

If you have normal triglycerides, you can probably cut 5 points off your TC by reducing your triglycerides. You reduce them by cutting back on carbs and saturated fats while getting plenty of cardio. (FWIW, my triglycerides are usually at 70, where normal is 150 or less).
Additionally, eat a high fiber diet. Things like oatmeal and buckwheat pancakes (limited portion size) can help reduce your TC by preventing absorption of some of the Cholesterol in your food.

Adequate Omega 3 intake is helpful in reducing both LDL and Triglycerides as well.

If those steps don't work, Red Yeast Rice extract can be added to your regimen. This is the stuff lovastatin is extracted from. Lovastatin is also known as monocolin K.....there are numerous other monocolins in RYR extract, but the lovastatin has been removed so that it can be sold over the counter.

loriepaulin

Thank you!!

loriepaulin

Lower my LDL