Cholesterol
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jen_092
Posts: 254 Member
Last October when I was 20 pounds overweight I got a high cholesterol reading from some blood work. I had just turned 24. The only advice my doctor gave was to cut back on cheese. I don't eat a lot of meat, so this suggestion seemed to make sense at the time. For the past five years I've basically only been eating boneless skinless chicken breast and lean turkey as far as meats go. Bacon on rare occasion.
Well, I lost the 20 pounds and I'm still working on losing a bit more. Without blood work to confirm, I'm guessing, this alone might have helped? I currently eat a cheese stick almost every day for protein and it has only 10mg of cholesterol. I'm just confused about the whole thing. First, how could my cholesterol be high at such a young age? And second, why would my doctor just tell me to eat less cheese, and is there better advice anyone can give me about how to keep it low without medication? I'm not urgently worried, but just have been thinking about it lately as I try to up my protein.
Well, I lost the 20 pounds and I'm still working on losing a bit more. Without blood work to confirm, I'm guessing, this alone might have helped? I currently eat a cheese stick almost every day for protein and it has only 10mg of cholesterol. I'm just confused about the whole thing. First, how could my cholesterol be high at such a young age? And second, why would my doctor just tell me to eat less cheese, and is there better advice anyone can give me about how to keep it low without medication? I'm not urgently worried, but just have been thinking about it lately as I try to up my protein.
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Replies
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Exercise helps, but I would think your cholesterol wasn't that high if cutting back on cheese was the only suggestion. Was that the last bloodwork done? You may be worrying over nothing.1
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Exercise helps, but I would think your cholesterol wasn't that high if cutting back on cheese was the only suggestion. Was that the last bloodwork done? You may be worrying over nothing.
Oh, should have mentioned I started exercising, too. Yes, that was my last bloodwork.
I guess I'm just assuming that as I age, I might have to keep doing more and more to control my cholesterol since clearly I have some genetics stacked against me at least a little bit. It was so disappointing to hear that result at my age along with a high blood pressure reading (which has definitely gone to normal now).0 -
Some people have genetic high cholesterol, and only medication will help. That sort of can show up at any age. For that matter, so can lifestyle related cholesterol, however, dietary cholesterol has very little connection to blood cholesterol. Blood cholesterol is primarily produced by your body rather than digested and absorbed. As to what will help, that I cannot comment on since I don't know.2
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Take a look at The Great Cholestrol Myth, Cholesterol Con, or Cholesterol Clarity. Peter Attia also has some great blogs on cholesterol.
Total cholesterol, IMO, is a pretty useless test. HDL and triglycerides are more useful to know. HDL tends to increase with more fat in the diet, and triglycerides go up with (processed) carbs..... Cheese avoiding cheese might lower HDL which is not a good thing.1 -
jenxbowers wrote: »Exercise helps, but I would think your cholesterol wasn't that high if cutting back on cheese was the only suggestion. Was that the last bloodwork done? You may be worrying over nothing.
Oh, should have mentioned I started exercising, too. Yes, that was my last bloodwork.
I guess I'm just assuming that as I age, I might have to keep doing more and more to control my cholesterol since clearly I have some genetics stacked against me at least a little bit. It was so disappointing to hear that result at my age along with a high blood pressure reading (which has definitely gone to normal now).
Hard to say - my mother has high cholesterol and has to take meds. The doc tried to put me on it too about 5 years ago, age 50ish or so, but I told him I'd lay off the bad foods lol. It worked, whatever I did. I just got results back today and bad is only 4 points high, but the past 3 it's been under.
Shy of another test, I would continue down the healthy path and unless it's in the danger zone as confirmed by a doctor, try to not worry it so much.1 -
In most cases it may not just be the cholesterol in foods that increases your cholesterol, it's the total saturated fat in your diet. My cholesterol was nearly 300 mg/dl when I was eating a high-fat low-carb paleo diet. I was 145 lbs so still within normal bmi. When I cut back on added oils, cheese, meat, chicken and all fatty foods in general, my cholesterol went down and has been ranging from 170-190 ( normal is <200) in the last 2 years. I keep my total dietary fat at under 15%.3
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Traveler120 wrote: »In most cases it may not just be the cholesterol in foods that increases your cholesterol, it's the total saturated fat in your diet. My cholesterol was nearly 300 mg/dl when I was eating a high-fat low-carb paleo diet. I was 145 lbs so still within normal bmi. When I cut back on added oils, cheese, meat, chicken and all fatty foods in general, my cholesterol went down and has been ranging from 170-190 ( normal is <200) in the last 2 years. I keep my total dietary fat at under 15%.
I just received the same information from my new doc. My saturated fat was wayyyyyyy too high. In general saturated fats are animal fats, maybe not as you might think. My worst offender was Ben and Jerry’s.
Dietary cholesterol intake has little to do with your blood level.1 -
markrgeary1 wrote: »Traveler120 wrote: »In most cases it may not just be the cholesterol in foods that increases your cholesterol, it's the total saturated fat in your diet. My cholesterol was nearly 300 mg/dl when I was eating a high-fat low-carb paleo diet. I was 145 lbs so still within normal bmi. When I cut back on added oils, cheese, meat, chicken and all fatty foods in general, my cholesterol went down and has been ranging from 170-190 ( normal is <200) in the last 2 years. I keep my total dietary fat at under 15%.
I just received the same information from my new doc. My saturated fat was wayyyyyyy too high. In general saturated fats are animal fats, maybe not as you might think. My worst offender was Ben and Jerry’s.
Dietary cholesterol intake has little to do with your blood level.
Ahh, thank you! (and everyone!)
My macros are pretty balanced but my daily saturated fat seems to be about 20-25g per day. Woops.0 -
jenxbowers wrote: »markrgeary1 wrote: »Traveler120 wrote: »In most cases it may not just be the cholesterol in foods that increases your cholesterol, it's the total saturated fat in your diet. My cholesterol was nearly 300 mg/dl when I was eating a high-fat low-carb paleo diet. I was 145 lbs so still within normal bmi. When I cut back on added oils, cheese, meat, chicken and all fatty foods in general, my cholesterol went down and has been ranging from 170-190 ( normal is <200) in the last 2 years. I keep my total dietary fat at under 15%.
I just received the same information from my new doc. My saturated fat was wayyyyyyy too high. In general saturated fats are animal fats, maybe not as you might think. My worst offender was Ben and Jerry’s.
Dietary cholesterol intake has little to do with your blood level.
Ahh, thank you! (and everyone!)
My macros are pretty balanced but my daily saturated fat seems to be about 20-25g per day. Woops.
Saturated fat usually affects cholesterol only in that it raises HDL... a good thing.1 -
Eat more avocados,almonds,oats etc.1
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jenxbowers wrote: »markrgeary1 wrote: »Traveler120 wrote: »In most cases it may not just be the cholesterol in foods that increases your cholesterol, it's the total saturated fat in your diet. My cholesterol was nearly 300 mg/dl when I was eating a high-fat low-carb paleo diet. I was 145 lbs so still within normal bmi. When I cut back on added oils, cheese, meat, chicken and all fatty foods in general, my cholesterol went down and has been ranging from 170-190 ( normal is <200) in the last 2 years. I keep my total dietary fat at under 15%.
I just received the same information from my new doc. My saturated fat was wayyyyyyy too high. In general saturated fats are animal fats, maybe not as you might think. My worst offender was Ben and Jerry’s.
Dietary cholesterol intake has little to do with your blood level.
Ahh, thank you! (and everyone!)
My macros are pretty balanced but my daily saturated fat seems to be about 20-25g per day. Woops.
Saturated fat usually affects cholesterol only in that it raises HDL... a good thing.
Oh, I see. Both HDL and LDL were high she said.0 -
jenxbowers wrote: »markrgeary1 wrote: »Traveler120 wrote: »In most cases it may not just be the cholesterol in foods that increases your cholesterol, it's the total saturated fat in your diet. My cholesterol was nearly 300 mg/dl when I was eating a high-fat low-carb paleo diet. I was 145 lbs so still within normal bmi. When I cut back on added oils, cheese, meat, chicken and all fatty foods in general, my cholesterol went down and has been ranging from 170-190 ( normal is <200) in the last 2 years. I keep my total dietary fat at under 15%.
I just received the same information from my new doc. My saturated fat was wayyyyyyy too high. In general saturated fats are animal fats, maybe not as you might think. My worst offender was Ben and Jerry’s.
Dietary cholesterol intake has little to do with your blood level.
Ahh, thank you! (and everyone!)
My macros are pretty balanced but my daily saturated fat seems to be about 20-25g per day. Woops.
Saturated fat usually affects cholesterol only in that it raises HDL... a good thing.
not true with people who have familial hypercholesterolemia. we make too much cholesterol so we have to eat low sat fat and fats. for people with FH when we eat too much fat and foods higher in cholesterol, we store it in our bodies,our liver cannot process fats and cholesterol effectively, it then gets stored in the body and results in xanthomas and xanthelasmas.
we can even get "fat pads" on our bodies,which looks like fluid filled cysts. our livers signal to our brain to make more cholesterol even when its getting enough fats and cholesterol,which is why a low fat,high fiber diet is recommended along with meds. I tried LCHF before I knew about my condition and my cholesterol was worse than it ever was,even though I lost weight and was active.I was diagnosed with high cholesterol when I was thin.
my triglycerides are in a normal range for the first time in forever,(even with past meds because I wasnt eating low fat),my HDL is better and my LDL-C/LDL-P are just a few points over normal. I accomplished that in 3 months,Ive had high cholesterol for more than 15 years.2 -
jenxbowers wrote: »Last October when I was 20 pounds overweight I got a high cholesterol reading from some blood work. I had just turned 24. The only advice my doctor gave was to cut back on cheese. I don't eat a lot of meat, so this suggestion seemed to make sense at the time. For the past five years I've basically only been eating boneless skinless chicken breast and lean turkey as far as meats go. Bacon on rare occasion.
Well, I lost the 20 pounds and I'm still working on losing a bit more. Without blood work to confirm, I'm guessing, this alone might have helped? I currently eat a cheese stick almost every day for protein and it has only 10mg of cholesterol. I'm just confused about the whole thing. First, how could my cholesterol be high at such a young age? And second, why would my doctor just tell me to eat less cheese, and is there better advice anyone can give me about how to keep it low without medication? I'm not urgently worried, but just have been thinking about it lately as I try to up my protein.
if you have family members that have high cholesterol, get genetically tested if you can afford it to see if you have Familial Hypercholesterolemia. most people are misdiagnosed and told they just have high cholesterol(I was one of them).I was in my mid 20s when I was told I had high cholesterol,but not FH.
you can have low fat cheese,but if your cholesterol is genetic then you may need meds as well. with FH if you dont watch your cholesterol it can increase your risk of heart attack,stroke,TIA and you can also become diabetic down the road.My biggest worries.
I know for me I have to watch my intake of fat and sat fat,and eat high fiber.my sat fat is set to 23. most days im under that,some days a little over but not by much.I also know that eating so low fat/sat fat that when I do eat something fatty,or fried I suffer with stomach issues which never was an issue before. so I avoid those foods.
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I just got my test results back and eas told to start a low fat high fiber diet and continue excerising. I am looking for diets (recipes) to start this. Didn't know about the cheese, that makes me sad. I love cheese!1
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I just got my test results back and eas told to start a low fat high fiber diet and continue excerising. I am looking for diets (recipes) to start this. Didn't know about the cheese, that m
akes me sad. I love cheese!
Eat the cheese. Unless you are one of the rare few with familial hypercholesterolemia, fat will not negatively affect cholesterol. That old myth has been proven wrong repeatedly. It was partially based on those with FH.
It would be like telling people to avoid all grains because gluten makes celiacs malnourished. It just isn't true for 99% of the population.1 -
I just got my test results back and eas told to start a low fat high fiber diet and continue excerising. I am looking for diets (recipes) to start this. Didn't know about the cheese, that makes me sad. I love cheese!
you could always find low fat cheese. they do have it. I eat that from time to time. I also have some regular cheese once in a blue moon. I just eat less than a portion and make sure it fits into my fats/saturated fat. but I dont make it a daily habit.
today I had some shredded mozzarella, but I ate a small potion of it with my breakfast.it just means I have to watch the rest of my fat/sat fat intake for the rest of the day.its been a month or more since I had cheese.I really dont miss it though.
just find ways to make a little of it fit ,and just gauge your fat/sat fat intake the rest of the day when you eat cheese or other higher fat foods. My grandma had high cholesterol years ago and they told her to cut out the cheese too,but she ate a LOT of it.but she would have some now and then.1 -
I think adopting a primarily whole foods diet consisting of a lot of veg, whole grains, legumes and lentils, lean sourced proteins (most of the time) and good fats combined with shedding 40 Lbs and regular exercise has helped my numbers immensely.
I still have "fun" but my diet is way better than it used to be. I love Friday 'cuz it's pizza and movie night...1 -
I just got my test results back and eas told to start a low fat high fiber diet and continue excerising. I am looking for diets (recipes) to start this. Didn't know about the cheese, that makes me sad. I love cheese!
some high fiber foods are fruits,veggies,beans,lentils,oats,chia,flax,high fiber breads,I also use psyllium husk powder in my oats but some people cant tolerate it. low fat means cut down/out on eggs,cheese,high fat dairy,fried foods,cookies,cakes,fatty cuts of meat(opt for leaner meats).read labels and look for those with lower sat fat/fat numbers1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »I think adopting a primarily whole foods diet consisting of a lot of veg, whole grains, legumes and lentils, lean sourced proteins (most of the time) and good fats combined with shedding 40 Lbs and regular exercise has helped my numbers immensely.
I still have "fun" but my diet is way better than it used to be. I love Friday 'cuz it's pizza and movie night...
wish I could still eat pizza, the last few times I did it caused me tremendous stomach issues.doesnt matter what kind or where its from either. never had an issue until I had to go low fat
oh well 1 -
Exercise helps, as does cutting back on animal products (plant-based foods don't contain cholesterol). Additionally, eating more plant-based foods means getting more fiber, which helps to lower cholesterol by binding to bile acids and thereby eliminating them from the body through the stool instead of being reabsorbed into the system. Your body uses cholesterol to make bile salts, so when you remove bile, your body has to use some of its stored cholesterol to make more, thereby reducing total cholesterol levels.
Other than diet and exercise, you can't really change your genetics. I've been vegan for going on 3 years (no consumption of cholesterol) and still have high cholesterol just because that's how my genetics are. However, doctors aren't worried so much anymore about the level of TOTAL cholesterol you have, but rather the ratio of good to bad cholesterol. If that ratio is very high, then you shouldn't be too worried. If you're still bothered by it, cut back on animal products (no need to eliminate them altogether unless that's you're intention, which I fully support
), keep up with regular exercise and you should be fine. 2
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