Lowering Cholesteral

Jenn316
Jenn316 Posts: 21
in Food and Nutrition
Have you lowered yours without medicine and what did you do?

Replies

  • dwood1976
    dwood1976 Posts: 12 Member
    I am curious to know as well. I am 36 and was told by my doctor 2 weeks ago that I have high cholesterol :(
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,023 Member
    Reducing the saturated fats in you food consumption is recommended. But high cholesterol can be present just because of genetics. If you parents, grandparents had it, then more than likely so will you.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • 714rah714
    714rah714 Posts: 759 Member
    It is possible to reduce your cholesterol by diet and exercise, but only by so much, since your liver produces 75% of your cholesterol
  • jw17695
    jw17695 Posts: 438 Member
    My cholesterol was 278 spring of last year. I switched to a plant based diet (vegan). My cholesterol dropped about 100 points. I've always eaten very clean but genetics were always fighting against me. This was my last attempt at trying to save my health before the doctors were going to intervene.
  • baldzach
    baldzach Posts: 1,841 Member
    From what I understand (someone can google this to back me up or to debunk me completely), cholesterol is largely formed as your body's response to inflammation. Cholesterol in your food (hi fat products, animal products, etc.,) has been shown to have little direct correlation with the amount of cholesterol in your blood. It is much more related to the amount on inflammatory foods you eat (high acidic foods, processed sugars and flours especially) that raise your cholesterol. This is why when people move to a more plant-based, Mediterranean-style or paleo-style diet their cholesterol drops -- they are usually cutting out much of the processed food products from their diets.

    Someone can double-check me on this, but I'm pretty sure that's accurate.

    ETA: Here are some sources to back me up:
    http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20100420/high-sugar-diet-linked-lower-good-cholesterol
    http://chriskresser.com/cholesterol-doesnt-cause-heart-disease
    http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/05/added-sugars-worsen-cholesterol-levels.html
    http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/cholesterol-refined-foods-raise-your-cholesterol.html
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
    Reducing the saturated fats in you food consumption is recommended. But high cholesterol can be present just because of genetics. If you parents, grandparents had it, then more than likely so will you.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Well for some people increasing the amount of saturated fats and cholesterol and removing the PUFA's results in lower cholesterol.

    That is what happened in my case. My overall cholesterol decreased, but my HDL is very high and my LDL is very low and vLDL is almost non-existent.
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
    From what I understand (someone can google this to back me up or to debunk me completely), cholesterol is largely formed as your body's response to inflammation. Cholesterol in your food (hi fat products, animal products, etc.,) has been shown to have little direct correlation with the amount of cholesterol in your blood. It is much more related to the amount on inflammatory foods you eat (high acidic foods, processed sugars and flours especially) that raise your cholesterol. This is why when people move to a more plant-based, Mediterranean-style or paleo-style diet their cholesterol drops -- they are usually cutting out much of the processed food products from their diets.

    Someone can double-check me on this, but I'm pretty sure that's accurate.

    Pretty much happened in my case.

    I dropped all of the processed foods, added in large amounts of fats (particularly saturated fats) and my cholesterol has went down, way down.
  • ACSL3
    ACSL3 Posts: 623 Member
    One of the reasons a plant based diet works for lowering cholesterol is because usually when people switch to that diet they increase their fiber. Unless you're already eating a lot of soluble fiber, increasing it can help lower cholesterol. The three foods highest in soluble fiber are oatmeal, lentils, and pears. However, eating more of any fruit/vegetable will increase your fiber intake. I realized a couple of years ago that my cholesterol was high (which was concerning to me and my doctor given my younger age). I dropped it into a much better range by just eating the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. You can use a calculator like this one if you want to be more specific about it (http://www.choosemyplate.gov/myplate/index.aspx). It'll ask for your age, weight, sex, etc and give you the amount of each food group they recommend you get.

    Hope this helps! :-)

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