lowering cholesterol

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princessathena
princessathena Posts: 1
in Introduce Yourself
I am new here and just learned I have high cholesterol. Does anyone have any good tips to lower it? I am overweight and avoid exercise, but understand this is the first attack to lower my cholesterol. Looking for some good ideas that aren't too painful. Thanks!

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  • lindseymshepard
    lindseymshepard Posts: 4 Member
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    Eat almonds and avoid eggs. Of course, exercise helps the most. I recently started working out 4-5 days a week and have lowered mine several points, after the doc said mine was high about a year ago.

    Good luck!
  • robbiedolly
    robbiedolly Posts: 8
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    Hi;
    I basically started watching what I was eating and exercising due to the same thing. My chloesterol was high, and my sugars were at the high end. So now I'm starting with 1500 cals a day, usually some remaining at the end and I have started walking. I'm a lazy bum! AS in I was driving to work 5 minutes away, but once I went for that first evening walk, I felt amazing!! Also I have noticed a drastic difference in how tired I am, headaches etc, just by cutting out crappy food!! and I'm only on my third day.
    I want to be healthy and happy and feel great for a long time! If you need a buddy feel free to chat!
  • lutzsher
    lutzsher Posts: 1,153 Member
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    The best things you can do is to incorporate 30 minutes of activity each day, even if it is just a walk until you build some strength, and to transition to ONLY eating "clean" and healthy food. Make sure to only eat "healthy" fats such as olive or flax oil, nuts, natural peanut butter and avacado for example.
    Give up all prepared and processed foods at once, they are absolute poison to your body!
  • SaraTonin
    SaraTonin Posts: 551 Member
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    A good idea is to change your MyFitnessPal settings to track your different types of fats. So, track your saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Reducing your saturated fat in favor of increasing mono and polyunsaturated is the key to lowering cholesterol.

    I also recommend fish oil supplements, as Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids also aide in lowering cholesterol.

    And exercise too! If you don't like going outside, try jumping rope or looking on youtube for exercise routines. You'd be surprised how much is out there!
  • glendaaus
    glendaaus Posts: 27
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    My cholesterol was a little high 6 months ago. I went to the health food store and bought some Kolic Cholesterol control - they are a garlic supplement (nothing harmful or nasty). I do walk everyday 30/40 minutes - and I am lazy as well - but find I miss it if I don't do it. My blood tests were 2 weeks ago and it had come down considerably, in fact I don't need another test for 12 months. I think the combination of these two things really helped.
  • glendaaus
    glendaaus Posts: 27
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    Great advice. Clean eating is definitely the way to go - and no "low fat" products either - poison!
  • traceysturn
    traceysturn Posts: 196
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    Not only changing your diet but Fish Oil as well. Per my Dr I take 2 - Omega 3 Fish Oil SoftGels everyday. 1 with lunch & 1 with dinner. I wil be curious come June for my annual appt to see what kind of a difference its made.:bigsmile:
  • Briacha
    Briacha Posts: 160 Member
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    I, too, have high cholesterol and high bp. My dr sad that cardio is very important and eating clean...I am trying...
    add me, we can support one another
  • jennyb612
    jennyb612 Posts: 83
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    I'm in the same boat. Trying to lose weight and lower cholesterol. I did some research on lone and the Name Dr. Janet Brill kept coming up. You can google her. Her book, Cholesterol Down, is great. After reading all of the user reviews on Amazon.com for the book, I decided to try it. Her basic premise is that to lower cholesterol without drugs, you should eat 9 foods every day and walk. (Some of them are the suggestions you've seen here, but there are more you might not have thought of. ). I won't have my next test until Easter week, but if you're interested, I can let you know how I did.

    Good Luck!
  • 6Janelle13
    6Janelle13 Posts: 353 Member
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    Eating healthy is the best way to bring cholesterol down. Also try increasing your fiber as it assists with elimination.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,243 Member
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    What can you do. Well, some of high cholesterol is genetics, and you can't do much about that. Some is diet and lifestyle. To deal with that you need to:

    Control What You Eat--Cholesterol is a result of various things, but a big part of it is eating too many calories. Dietary cholesterol (from say eggs) may or may not have an effect on blood cholesterol, but eating a clean healthy diet that is very high in fiber (think veggies, beans, whole grains) and lower in fat (notice I did not say extremely low in fat) will help a lot. Focus on veggies, fruit, whole grains, beans and lean meats. Keep your calories down as well. If you need to lose weight that will be the major component of losing weight as well. High fiber is particularly important, much higher in fact than MFP suggests. I would shoot for at least 28 grams per day minimum. Work up to that gradually.

    Get Moving--Exercise has a positive effect on cholesterol. You said you don't like exercise, and if you are extremely overweight (in the obese categories of BMI) that would be no surprise. However, whether you like it or not, you need to get up and moving. Starting with walking at least 30 minutes every day would be good, but eventually your body will adapt to that and walking will not do much for you fitness wise then you will need to find something more intense. If you are like many people they find as they lose weight getting active is much easier, and they want to do it more. Find something you like. Exercise DVDs are a great way to increase intensity of exercise. You will also eventually want to incorporate some Interval training and strength training (or the two together) to increase you fat lose, and they will help with other health markers like cholesterol as well.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    Talk to your doctor and see about setting up some time with a dietician/nutritionist who can give you professional advice about foods and supplements you should be eating to help lower your cholesterol. Don't take the advice of people on a message board, it might not be the right advice for your particular situation!

    For instance, what rileysowner posted is what worked for me because that's who my body works. However, one of my good friends has cholesteral #s in the 300's and diet and exercise doesn't do a thing to change that, she has to take meds to keep hers in check.
  • otr12
    otr12 Posts: 632 Member
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    When I found out I was borderline high I read a bunch on the internet and several sources say eat oatmeal. I've been eating 1oz of oatmeal every morning since then. I also started walking 20 minutes a day, adding 5 minutes each week. I'm at 40 minutes a day now. I get retested in 2 months.
    If you'd like to friend me I'll be happy to let you know if it worked.

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