25 with High Cholesterol. Say What?

Your title say cholesterol but the narrative says blood pressure....

Anyway, there's not always a correlation between diet and blood lipids (it may be hereditary) but there are definitely things you can do that are very affordable that may help.

Bump up soluble fibre - oatmeal is great & dirt cheap (I eat it almost every day with blueberries, raisins & cinnamon etc etc) don't buy the little packets, they're full of sugar & sodium. Add more nut (like almonds) to your diet, eat more beans (get the dried ones, less expensive than canned and less sodium)

Eat more fish that's high in omega 3 fats (salmon, bluefin tuna etc)

Watch out for trans fats (avoid processed food - it's also less expensive to cook from scratch using basic ingredient)

Losing weigh may help too, I seem to recall that losing as little as 10lbs can significantly lower your LDL & exercise regularly.

Are you on the pill? Dumb question, but it made my cholesterol go through the roof when I was.

Otherwise, honestly... it's genetics. My LDL is worse now than when I was 75 lbs heavier and eating junk all the time. But yeah - fiber and nuts help.

crystalewhite wrote: »

My husband inherited his family's high cholesterol, unfortunately. I think it was in the 400s when we first started addressing it. We were able to lower it 100 points over a year by just cutting out processed food and adding in more soluble fiber like Brian has mentioned. He still has to take medicine, but I think he was able to either switch meds or cut the dosage because he lowered it so much through diet.

If you do still seem to be sluggish after getting into a regimen of working out and eating better, you might have to go get some more blood work. I had severe drag-a** and couldn't figure out why. Doctor did a full thyroid panel and more, which was not fun. Turns out I had no testosterone in my system and a B-12 deficiency. Fixing those made me feel like a whole new person.

Did you have anemia? B12 deficiency can cause it.

I actually JUST commented this on another cholesterol related thread, apologies for reposting the same comment but I definitely wanted to share the insight in hopes that it will help you:
I suggest cutting out animal products (animal flesh, dairy, eggs) for at least part of the day or week. Cholesterol only comes from 2 sources: what our own bodies produce and what comes from animal products we eat. Cutting that 2nd source out of the equation was the only thing that worked for me. I started with "vegan before six" which means you only have plant based meals for breakfast and lunch, but are allowed to have animal products with dinner.
Best of luck to you!