Hi all, l, My cholesterol is 6.2 and I collapsed and was unconscious from a stabbing heart pain. I’ve been under a huge amount of stress & just hoping you can share your top tips that helped you lower your cholesterol.
top tips to lower cholesterol before ... - British Heart Fou...
top tips to lower cholesterol before Christmas
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Happierwhen
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Medication and diet. Eat lots of oats, fresh fruit and veges, legumes, and high fibre foods.
Have a read through this: health.harvard.edu/heart-he...
Thanks- I’ll check it out.
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have you been considered as diabetic. Or pre diabetic. If so, the. NHS run help sessions by XYLA. I have just finished the nine month XYLA course and I have improved my activity and lost the excess weight. Your GP or surgery can invite you for the course.
By all means use Christmas 2024 as a goal to start your recovery, but Christmas 2025 could be a more realistic permanent recovery goal.
Good luck
Sooty
Thanks Sooty ⭐️
It makes a difference knowing a bit more about you, and if you have a heart problem or require any medication , and what your diet and lifestyle was before.Your score of 6.2 I assume is your total Cholesterol. That is the number made up of your LDL cholesterol (bad) and HDL Cholesterol (good). You want your LDL Cholesterol to be low and decrease the most.
If your GP has ruled out a heart problem and your recent incident was caused by general stress and lifestyle the options to try are very straightforward.
Look at your diet. A nutrient rich Mediterranean style diet.
Cut out saturated fat and processed and fried foods.
Grill , bake,poach, steam or microwave food or use only a small amount of polyunsaturated oil or olive oil in a pan or air fryer.
Restrict saturated fats generally have healthy fats like olive oil spread , sunflower ,olive oil and avocado.
Restrict processed sugar products and avoid artificial sweeteners.
Reduce salt intake and sugar from restricting snacks , and using processed foods like sauces , baked beans and soups with less salt content.
Eat more foods with soluble fibre, lots of vegetables and moderate portions of fruit.
Replace " white carbs" like peeled potatoes, rice, pasta, bread , sugar and some packet cereals with smaller portions " complex carbs" like skin on potatoes, wholewheat , multi grain and seeded bread, brown or wild rice, wholewheat pasta oats and portions of other grains , beans , pulses.
Choose better protein options like lean chicken, pork , and fish , including some oily fish , restricting lean red meat to once a week and only having processed meats like sausages or bacon and deli meats as occasional treats.
Go vegetarian for a few meals a week and replace meat with Quorn or veggie protein options there are so many out there now it's not just soya.
You can have eggs , dairy or dairy free products , live yoghurt varieties is a good option and helps your digestion, you can have better quality semi skimmed and full fat milk products but limit cheeses small occasional portions and lower fat options.
Avoid low sugar labels because these often contain more fat and artificial sweeteners
At the moment while you adjust to creating a Diet for Life that you will enjoy but you want your cholesterol to improve more quickly you could choose to have a plant sterol or plant stanol product like Benecol, taking daily with the right diet choices it can help reduce your cholesterol that only needs to be lowered for general health reasons. If you don't want Benecol you can still change your fat and spread options and get a one a day British Plant Stanol / Sterol supplement instead , you can get them at Holland and Barrett or online to fit your budget.
Try and cook it homemade but make it easy with one pot soups , stews or traybakes or easy steaming so it doesn't use up too much time or energy if you aren't well enough to stand in the kitchen or don't have the time.
Look at the portion sizes you eat , are you eating more calories than you need for energy each day, do you need to lose weight as well or is your weight ok.
Basically, you are looking at eating portions that only have the calories you need , not skipping meals which can make you eat too many carbs and snacks and drinking the recommended fluids each day also helps you improve your cholesterol and helps stop the hunger pangs.
Look for choosing healthy options that you also enjoy.
Food needs to be a pleasure not a punishment , it's just that some foods are best kept to SMALL occasional treats (once a week or once a month) .
You want to create a Diet for Life , not just for a quick fix before Christmas, but a diet that you are happy to stick to all the time to keep you healthy.
Something that you can eat every day with a little of what you fancy from time to time to stop you falling off the wagon and running for the crisps and cakes.
The word Diet just means what you eat to keep well not to lose weight , it doesn't need to be a quick fix fad diet, or some form of medieval torture.
It should also be something that is healthy but fits in your monthly food budget.
Nobody needs to spend loads on special foods and drinks and go bankrupt to eat sensibly and help them keep well.
Make the same food changes for the whole family , especially if you are in charge of cooking , not just for you.
This removes temptation from your cupboards but it also means you aren't watching everyone else tuck into a plate of sausage and chips while you fiddle with a piece of chicken and a salad.
If you are having cholesterol issues it won't just be you so the changes will get the family fitter too.
You can treat something like Christmas like a slightly extended occasional treat , just like a roast dinner once a month, but be sensible with it.
Don't overfill your plate with roasted foods. Have more white turkey meat and maybe that treat of one pig in a blanket from lower fat sausage and bacon , a small portion of roast spuds , use healthy fats instead of lard for roasting and less if it, look for healthy stuffing recipes and make healthier gravy with only the turkey juices not the pan fat. Put more lovely vegetables on your plate.
Have your rare treat of a small portion of pudding but be wise in your topping options.
Put out healthy snack options like some unsalted roasted nuts , dried fruit , baked corn chips , fruit , dark chocolate , popcorn but with less sugar, and don't graze and gorge , just pick at it when you need to.
If you have a buffet , and you cater it, don't put loads of the fatty breaded rubbish out for everyone else then feel stuck yourself . Put out cold turkey , chicken, lean cooked meats, fish options , eggs, lots of salads , less mayo, mini jacket spuds, veg sticks and healthy dips , mini sweetcorns, you can have a cheese platter but restrict your portion and choose healthier cheese options, have wholegrain crackers etc. etc.
Believe it or not you can choose to make a healthy trifle or cheesecake , or simply do what your Mum did add fruit to a jelly , put it in a nice bowl then serve it with a little ice cream or creme fraiche.
It's possible to do Christmas and not serve up Coronary Heart Disease on the plate.
It's making more sensible choices while eating on special occasions , on holiday , at the weekend and on nights out that makes for a " Diet for Life" that lasts and stops you passing out over the dinner table.
Such a well thought through and informative response.
I would only add 1) move more. Try to fit exercise into your everyday life. 2) statins work-really well- but they are not a licence to eat anything and everything . (They are also non addictive so if need to be changed or tinkered with there is no withdrawal. )
By consistently eating carefully and moderately, exercising regularly and taking any prescribed medication , you would give yourself the best possible health outcomes.
Yes I thought I'd stick to the question of diet but you do need to move more too. Keeping active throughout the day to a level you can cope with , even if it's a few minutes oer hour strolling and stretching , but also doing some physical activity or exercise through the week within your comfort zone or skillset. Especially if you don't have an active lifestyle or a desk job.
And more rest if you have a physically active job or you are always on the go. Relaxation, Stress Reduction and a good sleep pattern are vital too.
Oh it just dawned on me, seems obvious but maybe it is worth adding to the conversation , alcohol should be kept to a minimum and smoking avoided!
Anyone considering or already using plant stanols or sterols should read this....
heartuk.org.uk/healthy-livi...
Important take-aways are
-Whilst plant sterols and stanols can be helpful in lipid management, you have to consume between 1.5 to 3g per day for them to be effective and then at best they will only reduce total cholesterol by up 10% and therefore are not as effective as prescribed medication
- if you already take ezetimibe, plant stanols/sterols are really of no use to you since they both work in the same way within the gut (and ezetimibe is likely to be more effective imo)
- if you are already on lipid management medication it is recommended that you share this with your GP if you intend to take plant stanols/sterols on a regular basis
- there is no conclusive evidence about the effectiveness of stanol/sterol supplements (as opposed to foods containing these)
My take on plant stanols are they are probably beneficial for someone who is prepared to spend money on them (they are expensive compared to similar non modified foods if bought regularly) and they don't take lipid managing medication, but if you are already a heart health victim your medication should be what you need, plus all the other measures that we are advised to do necessary to reduce the risk.
Yes , but I'd added that because the person is new and didn't have a profile so I had no idea with the poster was a generally healthy person with a high cholesterol, or a person that has a heart health or cholesterol problem that needs more intervention or is already taking a statin or a statin alternative.Many generally healthy people find adding plant sterol foods to their diet do get them lower results quicker while combining them with a better diet and more exercise.
Some people , especially those with heart conditions , may require a statin for arterial health reasons as well as their cholesterol lowering effect , or require a statin alternative like Ezetimibe if they don't tolerate statins or need more help reducing cholesterol. In which case , unless it gives them peace of mind to include a Stanol/ sterol in their daily regime they don't need one.
Some people , including myself , have Familial HyperCholesteroleimia.
A seldom discussed but incredibly common condition globally which means whatever diet and exercise changes or supplements they use their LDL cholesterol and triglycerides remain high or get higher.
It is a genetically inherited condition rather than a health issue caused by your lifestyle.
It's a condition that causes no symptoms in general and doesn't get picked up until you get tested for cholesterol or another health condition , and doesn't automatically get added to you medical history unless you've tried cholesterol lowering without statins for several months and had no change or it got worse.
It can , however, add to your general risk of coronary problems or stroke.
If you have a direct family member who is diagnosed with Familial HyperCholesteroleimia it's a good idea to get your cholesterol tested sooner rather than later and test out diet only methods if you test high for Cholesterol before taking a statin to see if you have FH.
If you have high cholesterol, coronary artery disease or stroke history in your family history it is more likely than less likely that FH is part of your families genetic profile , so this is why its good to eat a low cholesterol diet in general throughout life and get cholesterol tested even if you have not got symptoms after age 40.
FH people require a statin to reduce the cholesterol as well as Self Care , and often also require Ezetimibe to manage their Cholesterol long term and reduce their risks to those of the generally healthy population..
Familial HyperCholesteroleimia figures for the UK are estimated at 1 in every 250 people in the population, approximately 220,000 UK citizens , but only 8% of those have been formally diagnosed , as most will begin recommended statin treatments before the evidence can be observed.
People should be made more aware of FH by their health care providers and public health because it could well mean that people whom need to will take prevention steps sooner and reduce the number of people whom suffer with cholesterol induced heart problems and strokes every year.
Regarding above, I only commented about using plant sterols/stanols, adding a few cautionary notes about their use to what you had recommended. It wasn't intended as a criticism. However I can't understand why you have now included a whole lot of additional stuff about FH which presumably is aimed at me. Nonetheless I am also likely to have it (natural cholesterol >9) or certainly a related genetic condition (all of my maternal family cousins are the same, one attends a lipid clinic and another has Polygenic Hypercholesterolaemia), so am fully aware of what it entails.
No not aimed at you and I didn't take offence . I'd just added it as the extra info for anyone whom might be reading the replies as it's quite one of those things we could all do with being aware of but nobody seems to discuss , and this is the sort of post that might get the word out to people in general.Usually I'd write at the end of a reply like that that this wasn't just in reply to you but in case it interested everyone, sorry I forgot this time......brain fog!
Take care , Bee
Thanks so much for taking the time to respond and sharing your wisdom. These are the results.
Results
Looking at your results , if you haven't been diagnosed with a cardiac or other health issue yet , it seems like it would be worth trying the diet only route ( with or without plant sterols/ stanols ) first.Get retested after that after three months ( or just before Christmas ) , you would hope to see some reduction by then.
If it's still high , keep it up , see if there are a few more tweaks you could do , look at your general fitness as well , do you keep active , do you get active , do you do too much.
After six months , have another test . If all is fine and you've had no further health problems or been diagnosed with a cardiac complaint , just stick to the healthy regime ( which obviously includes as I said the odd treat day at a sensible level, nobody is saying you can't have the odd small portion of fish and chips , slice of pizza or a slice of cake from time to time as long as your general diet is varied and heart healthy and you think about your portions).
Get copies of your results so you can compare them , if necessary with the GP.
If you found after six months it hadn't improved or it got worse, you could need to discuss the possibility of having FH ( I've discussed it in a reply to Lower field above ) then you might need to try a statin , but you are nowhere near needing to worry on that yet and might not need to at all. If you do need a statin in the future just remember it might be a pill you take each day but you take it to help prevent health issues in the future , not because you are sick.
Thanks so much. That’s what I will do.
thanks so much for the information and it’s really helpful and the encouragement and love the diet for life rather than CHD on a plate.
What an informative post..thank you for taking the time…all the information I need as I have the same situation and am statin intolerant.
Eat garden eggs everyday, make it a meal indeed. Another thing that helped me rid mine totally is a herbal tea (in my country, Nigeria) called RUZU HERBAL TEA. You can browze it online.May the Lord God, the Almighty Healer heal you.
Plenty of diet ideas and the basic principles behind them on the BHF website. And a heart healthy diet is not just about the run up to Xmas, it's all the year round. Also there are other things you are advised to do to lower your heart health risk including exercise, body weight management , smoking and alcohol, also on the BHF site. Finally if you 'collapsed and was unconscious from a stabbing heart pain' I assume you have consulted with a health professional. There are other conditions that govern heart health in addition to cholesterol management and those may need to be checked out.
Thank you - yes it’s has given me quite the scare. Ecg done by doc and didn’t show a heart attack
Looking at your cholesterol test print out posted elsewhere below, and noting that you are on the wrong side of some of the recommended limits, in some cases significantly, you have not told us whether you are already taking lipid management medication such as statins or have been advised to do so. If your results are whilst taking medication I am sure your health professional will be considering further enhancement of that. However if your results are without then be aware that lifestyle measures (diet, exercise, body weight management etc etc) to obtain a better profile can only go so far, and probably would not get you down to your recommended levels, and even if they did, lifestyle measures are literally for life, and as soon as you relax, the advantages are lost (as I found out before I started on statins). Therefore the usual strategy for people such as ourselves is to practice lifestyle measures but enhance them with medication, although there are some who reject medication such as statins, or suffer side effects which prevents their use. Finally it is interesting to note that the Australian authorities appear to have different and perhaps more stringent targets for cholesterol compared to the UK's NHS which I have linked below
High cholesterol doesnt usually have obvious symptoms, but can be in the background causing issues in the body nonetheless. Not all cholesterol is bad or equal. LDL is the bad boy.
First thing to consider, look at your family history. Have close family members been diagnosed with high levels too? What about heart disease?
Secondly, if there is a link with family/genes - probably medication will be a good bet because healthy living, whilst a very good start - doesnt always reduce it significantly enough. Your GP will be best placed to advise on this.
Finally - get medical advice on your chest pain - it is alarming that it causes you to faint.
Best of luck - hope you get better.
Thank you tastelessfood4life - my mum recently has been told she has high cholesterol and Dad had heart disease.
Having been on statins for over 15 years, I recall my consultant telling me that, if there is high cholesterol in the family history, then should I choose just to live on lettuce it would make little difference to my overall cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol levels tend not to wax and wane. If you think that you can bank good cholesterol so that you can eat at will over Christmas then you are mistaken.
My wife was recently put on statins after a blood test revealed a Total Cholesterol level of 5.1. High cholesterol in itself will not kill you but it raises your QRisk 3 score which is a metric that physicians now use to assess your risk of a stroke or heart attack. The calculator is here:
In truth, this is a matter that you should be discussing with your GP surgery as it has your clinical record.
Thanks for this and the link. No it’s not about eating for Christmas just about getting a grip and improving things. I want to enjoy Christmas with my kids etc
Might I respectfully suggest that you delete ‘Christmas’ from your reply and insert ‘time’.
Taking a starting statin dose could reduce your Total Cholesterol level by 30 to 40%. If you then adopt some of the pages of online advice on diet and exercise, you will reach a point where you can enjoy life without worrying too much about the odd day of poor diet. However, recent medical research shows that the real benefits of statins come to the fore by reducing heart attack and stroke risks as you get older. This is why your GP is best placed to provide you with specific advice..
Of note, based on 2 large international studies undertaken last year, NICE has accepted that many patients with diagnosed heart conditions should be on the maximum statin dose irrespective of their cholesterol level. The benefit of increasing a statin dose is not linear: ie, 4 times the starting dose doesn’t give a 4 times reduction in cholesterol.
I should add that I have a love/hate relationship with statins but I accept that a 5mg/day dose of Rosuvastatin is keeping my Total Cholesterol and LDL levels in check.
My statins are at maximum dose and cholesterol is down to 3.0, along with other dietary changes, but struggling to keep my weight down.
I went dairy free 1 year ago. After 6 months my level went from 7.4 down to 5.4.
Hi , I see that you had ecg by doc after you’re stabbing heart pain? Did you have a blood test for troponin count to see if you had a cardiac event ? I had stabbing pain like trapped wind , very painful, didn’t associate with a heart attack. My wife called for ambulance. Paramedics put me on ECG and said all was good but insisted I went into hospital with them to get troponin checked.,Glad I took their advice , first reading came back 74 , second test showed 402 and confirmed I’d had a heart attack. I was kept in and within 15 days had quadruple bypass surgery . A year on I reflect on how lucky I was , that those paramedics insisted I went in for the blood test. 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Hi Happierwhen,
I am sorry to hear that you have been through such a traumatic event and a difficult time. Total cholesterol should be below 5 mmol/L so yours is slightly too high as you have said.
We have lots of fantastic information on our website about how to lower your cholesterol. This page- bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo... covers everything from knowing your levels, diet and exercise tips and statin/medication treatment for those who need it. There is also a lot of very useful information about how to lower and manage your stress levels through such things as hobbies and mindfulness. I would recommend you make an appointment to discuss this further with support from your doctor and access counselling if you need further support.
We also have a team of Cardiac Nurses available on our Heart Helpline freephone number 0808 802 1234 available weekdays 9am-5pm who you may want to speak to.
Take care,
Emily
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