sweets and high cholesterol

beaches222
beaches222 Posts: 437 Member
in Food and Nutrition
ok so I have high cholesterol(high LDL and total cholesterol and I have improved my eating healthy and have been doing so well and have to go back to doctor to see if it improved. I have been still eating sweets though as I didn't realize eating sweets plays a huge roll in cholesterol until today. For people who changed there diets to improve your cholesterol did you cut out all sweets or just limit yourself. I have went almost a month doing well but still having sweets. I go back to doctor in a couple weeks so should I try to limit myself maybe a weekly sweet treat? I got back in a couple weeks and I really want to see an improvement . any suggestions would be so helpful. Thanks.

Replies

  • devilday1805
    devilday1805 Posts: 272 Member
    I limit my sweet treats as much as i can. It seems to help me. I might have one once every two weeks. For my sweet tooth I have strawberries or grapes.
  • paulstephenmarshall
    paulstephenmarshall Posts: 35 Member
    just had my "sweet fix" a little bit of orange aero choccy.counted within my calorie intake, same thing next sunday I guess.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    I have genetically high cholesterol. My parents and sister, as well as my grandparents all have/had it. None of them were more than slightly overweight, and most were in the healthy range. I work out, eat mostly right, but know that not eating sweets is probably going to have little effect. So I'll keep eating the sweets.
  • beaches222
    beaches222 Posts: 437 Member
    Yes that is what I am trying to find out now if it is genetically high or if I can control it by diet. My dad has high cholesterol as well so it may very well be genetic.
  • beaches222
    beaches222 Posts: 437 Member
    Thanks to all for your responses. I so appreciate it.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    Have you been tracking your mono and polyunsaturated fats as well as your saturated fats?
  • helenrosemay
    helenrosemay Posts: 375 Member
    I know my cholesterol went down from 5.9 to 4.9 after cutting down on sugar (processed not from fruits etc) but also fats (sat fat) My doctor did tell me to cut down on sugar (processed)
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    In any event, yes, you can control this through diet and exercise for the most part. Monounsaturated fats, dietary fiber, exercise, etc help to raise your HDL cholesterol levels which in turn lowers your LDL cholesterol.

    Talk with your physician about this first, but if it were me, I would try to control it this way before going on any medication.
  • beaches222
    beaches222 Posts: 437 Member
    Yes that is what I am trying to do . I do not want to go on any medications if possible. My HDL is great but it the LDL and total cholesterol that sucks.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    High HDL helps to lower your LDL levels. Try to keep exercising, losing weight, and eating enough fiber.
  • beaches222
    beaches222 Posts: 437 Member
    Thanks so much for your feedback. It is all so helpful and I will.
  • benol1
    benol1 Posts: 867 Member
    I'm on a whole foods plant based diet now for over ten weeks. I've also reduced my added sugar to nearly zero. I continue to eat fruit and dried fruit. The sugars in whole fruit and dried fruit are metabolised differently than added sugar and fruit juice as a result of the fibre which also acts to reduce cholesterol.
    Kind regards,
    Ben
  • elephant_in_the_room
    elephant_in_the_room Posts: 145 Member
    Have you been tracking your mono and polyunsaturated fats as well as your saturated fats?

    How do you do that? I find that the broken-down levels of different fat (mono, poly, un/saturated, trans) in many foods in the MFP database are not reliable or nonexistent. For starters, for many products they are not listed on the package, so you can't even select the right thing in the supermarked. Yes for margarine and oils, but often not for other foods that contain a lot of fat. Butter to start with. Doesn't list trans fats over here.
  • DatMurse
    DatMurse Posts: 1,501 Member
    Yes that is what I am trying to do . I do not want to go on any medications if possible. My HDL is great but it the LDL and total cholesterol that sucks.
    the ratio is what is important. if you exercise adequately and have an overall healthy lifestyle cholesterol plays a very little role. in fact the countries with a higher cholesterol actually have low risk of heart disease due to their overall lifestyle.(200+ total cholesterol avg)
  • beaches222
    beaches222 Posts: 437 Member
    Yes I agree I really do NOT want to be put on any medications.

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