Cholesterol Help

Exercise and weight loss will help with your ratio of HDL/LDL. What does too high mean, HDL should be high.

TOTAL cholesterol might not be as important as TOTAL LDL and/or the ratio of the two. HDL (the "good" kind") should be as high as most people can get it. 40 at least. LDL (the "bad" kind) should be as low as possible. Preferably under 100. However, some studies are showing it's more about the ratio of TOTAL Cholesterol to "good". With the aim being 3.5:1, but anything better than 5:1 isn't being shown by studies to raise cardiovascular disease risk. To find your ratio, divide your TOTAL cholesterol by your "good" HDL number.

If you have 220 total and your HDL is 20, then you have a ratio of 11:1. But if your HDL is 55, then you have a ratio of 4:1, which means even though your "bad" cholesterol might be above 100, your ratio is well within the range not shown to increase cardiovascular risk.

http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/finding-the-ideal-cholesterol-ratio
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cholesterol-ratio/AN01761

[Edited to fix some H/L typos]

I agree with below comments, along with possibly a stronger focus on what you eat for meals. You say you lost weight, but I didn't see if it was with exercise or mainly diet. Exercise is must, along with nutritional habits. Certain foods might help lower ...oatmeal, etc. ; might try to incorporate some of these in eating habits if not already doing it.

There are certain things you can change in your diet and your doctor should have provided you some guidance. Salmon and flax are really good to help cut out some of the LDL. Eggs, butter and cheese are some of the worst sources of cholesterol so try to avoid consuming much dairy. Obviously fried foods are really bad for cholesterol.

In the end, you'll probably see more benefit from the standard diet and exercise.

I am pretty sure that cholesterol is produced in the liver from the fats we consume, I would say really watching yand lowering your intake on high fat foods would help. We only need a small amount of healthy unsaturated fats a day....I think the major cause is from the saturated and trans fats. Maybe do some research into that! That is what I understand from it.

Actually as far as diet is concerned, everything influences our cholesterol levels, not just fat. If we wanted to just lower our cholesterol we could just eat refined carbs and sugar, that does a good job doing that, but that doesn't mean that's what we should do. There's much more to it.

For example, in LDL cholesterol there's different particle sizes and the small dense ones are atherogenic, the ones to watch out for. Two people could have identical LDL of 100 and one could have 3 times as many particles, that isn't what we want. High triglycerides and low HDL is the quick way your Dr can determine whether someone has ApoB/Lp(a) type particles and it's extremely accurate, and of course if someone has higher HDL and low triglcyreides then they more than likely have mostly the larger more buoyant LDL particles which are less atherogenic and some say protective, which I quess you could when looking at the alternative. Those refined carbs and sugar I mentioned actually lower HDL cholesterol and lower LDL but also increase triglycerides and increase ApoB type lipoproteins, not good at all, even though it lowered out total cholesterol.

Exercise and weight loss will help with your ratio of HDL/LDL. What does too high mean, HDL should be high.

This is true and to add to the above comment. There are different types of LDL and if it is the fluffy LDL, it is not dangerous to the body if it is high. Only small particle vLDL is harmful.

I am pretty sure that cholesterol is produced in the liver from the fats we consume, I would say really watching yand lowering your intake on high fat foods would help. We only need a small amount of healthy unsaturated fats a day....I think the major cause is from the saturated and trans fats. Maybe do some research into that! That is what I understand from it.

Sorry, but saturated fat has nothing to do with causing heart disease or high cholesterol.

http://www.sott.net/article/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease

I've been doing some serious research lately as my father was diagnosed with heart disease and required a stent.
According to Dr. Esselstyn it is very important to keep all fats very low (about 10% of total calories) and eliminating animal products.
there are alot of other doctors supporting this advice too.

My cholesterol is about 220 also. I refused to be 31 years old and on Lipitor or some other drug like that at such a young age. Diet( eating the rigth foods ie spinach, oatmeal, kale, fruits, salmon, chicken, and other low fat foods), excercise, and red yeast rice pills (over the counter at any cvs or walgreens) has helped me get down to 196 in 4 months.

There are certain things you can change in your diet and your doctor should have provided you some guidance. Salmon and flax are really good to help cut out some of the LDL. Eggs, butter and cheese are some of the worst sources of cholesterol so try to avoid consuming much dairy. Obviously fried foods are really bad for cholesterol.

Dietary cholesterol has very little effect on blood cholesterol, so cutting dairy and "eggs, butter, and cheese" is essentially pointless. Blood cholesterol is more of an indicator of overall health, which can be manipulated through diet & exercise.

The notion that eggs have a negative effect on blood cholesterol is just an "old wives tale" perpetuated through the years by the uninformed.

Reducing cholesterol is simple: get healthy. I've yet to meet a non-overweight / non-skinnyfat person with bad cholesterol.

Heck, I used to eat up to 8 eggs every day, along with bacon and butter, and my cholesterol levels are perfect. Just eat right, workout, and get healthy.. the cholesterol will follow.

Bump to read later. Even though I've lost weight and upped the exercise, I got a call to discuss the cholesterol on my blood tests from my doctor's office today. I'm upset and disappointed!

Okay, I am not at all a cholesterol expert (which is why I posted the question....).

My Total cholesterol is 220
My HDL is 43 which I thought was okay...but, I guess could be higher
My LDL cholesterol is 148
My ratio is 5.1

I have lost the weight mainly through diet, but with some exercise (about 3 times a week).

What diet specifically which foods and food groups, what type of exercise and do you still have body fat to shift? Are you just calorie counting or are you eating specifically for cardiovascular health and hypercholesterolaemia? How intensively are you training, assuming the doctor has cleared you for intense activity? Have you had targeted advice on either from someone other than your regular doctor (registered dietician, health/ fitness professional with an honours degree)?

My doctor gave me 3 months to improve my cholesterol. i didnt know what to do so I did nothing for the first month. I did some reading and came to the conclusion that I needed to get with the program. I lowered my total cholesterol by 20% in the matter of 2 months by simply taking these every day:

1200 mg fish oil capsules
PGX fiber supplements
Niacin
Oatmeal with cinnamon and walnuts

And eliminating or restricting these:

Butter
Eggs
Fried foods
Cheeses
Red meats

At my follow up appt I had lost 17lbs (which was 8% of my weight)

Hmmm....basically just counting calories. And, no, it's just my family Dr. that I've talked to. I am going to try fish oil...several people have suggested that.

Definitely up your intake of the long chain omega-3s but do also be careful not to take in too much omega-6s because the balance is key. This is helpful, some of the foods might surprise you given you have been calorie counting but Medscape is sound
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/775156