Lowering cholesterol

[WendyMS]

My doctor tells me diet doesn't make any difference for me as I'm not overweight. Any comments would be helpful. Thanks.

[Anne76]

Weight has nothing to do with heart disease. Please look up Dr Esselstyn

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to Anne76]

I don't know how you've drawn that conclusion from reading Dr. Esselstyn. He believes in a plant-based diet with no oil. Anybody on such a diet will inevitably lose weight and reduce the strain on their cardio-vascular system.

Yes, people with normal weight can get heart disease but that is likely from a lack of exercise and poor nutrition.

The vast majority of people with CVD are above their optimal weight.

[Paul12 in reply to Anne76]

And see his paper showing success .... for patients already on statins

[sandybrown]

Did you doctor do a QRISK analysis and explain the results?

What are your total cholesterol and lipid numbers?

Human body makes 80 % of cholesterol on demand and 20 % from food and drinks intake.

A doctor has duty to explain how life style change can help towards a healthy life. Regular exercise and food and drinks intake control can help.

Keep a copy of the printed blood test results for future reference.

[Paul12 in reply to sandybrown]

QRISK2 is better

[Penel]

What you eat can make a tremendous difference to your health, it's not just about weight.

General advice on lowering cholesterol is to cut out all sugary food and drink, along with refined/ processed carbs (white bread etc). Keep some healthy fats in your diet, such as olive oil. Go for high fibre foods, lots of vegetables, cook from scratch whenever possible. Find some exercise you enjoy and aim to do it several times a week.

[kasibarndoor in reply to Penel]

The diet LCHF stands for low carb high fat, olive oil is OK but avoid PUFA (corn and vegetable oils) eat animal fat and butter, cream & cheese. This will have the effect of increasing your HDL, you will burn any unwanted fats and you do not need to restrict or count calories. It will also help to reduce your blood pressure, which is also helped by taking garlic and or black garlic supplements.

[sandybrown in reply to kasibarndoor]

What are PUFA’s?

PUFA stands for Poly-Unsaturated Fatty Acid.

In chemical terms, that means that the fatty acid has more than one (poly) double bond in the carbon chain. They’re unsaturated because they’re missing out on what saturated fatty acid has — hydrogen atoms. That makes the bonds sort of incomplete, in a sense. So, imagine a chain of links that are sort of missing a joint or two, on each and every link — it wouldn’t be very strong or stable. Because of this instability, polyunsaturated fatty acids are very much prone to oxidation, which is basically getting their chain all kinds of messed up and broken, and causes problems with how your body reacts to the acid.

Omega-3 and Omega-6 There are two main types of PUFA’s — omega-3 and omega 6 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Omega-3 essential fatty acids are found in fatty fish, shellfish, liver, and in some seeds like flax. They’re good for us in moderate amounts.

The biggest problem with this omega-6 stuff is that our bodies just aren’t meant to handle much of it. Our fat cells are comprised of very, very little omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, and are instead are made up of mostly saturated and monounsaturated fat. So when we start consuming the oils from these foods in concentrated form, instead of eating moderate amounts of the actual foods they came from, we wind up with a serious imbalance, and the various health problems that result.

[kasibarndoor in reply to sandybrown]

Thanks for that I think in summary we should avoid poly unsaturated fats and eat saturated fats. This is the opposite of what we have been told for years, the good news is eat butter and cream (preferably double it tastes better) not margarine and low fat products.

[Penel in reply to kasibarndoor]

LCHF diets do not suit everyone. Very low carb diets can adversely affect hormone levels in some women, affecting thyroid function and fertility. Eating a moderate amount of high fibre carbs (mostly veg) and making sure to avoid sugar etc may give a better outcome.

[arty_sax]

Your doctor is right. Lack of exercise is the biggest killer. Work out your max heart rate with your doctor. Aim to exercise to get 85% of this max bpm... for 20 mins every other day. You will then be fine. I had a heart attack 6 mo ths ago.... now i feel great!!

[sandybrown in reply to arty_sax]

Very little information in the post, has the doctor has offered life style change?

The machines that give out heart rate are not very accurate!!, please be careful at the starting point of any exercise in a machine.

The basic way to calculate your maximum heart rate is to subtract your age from 220. For example, if you're 45 years old, subtract 45 from 220 to get a maximum heart rate of 175. This is the maximum number of times your heart should beat per minute during exercise.

In this example 85 % heart rate is equal to 140.

[jackdaw50]

Hi, Sometimes it is a case that lifestyle alone will not lower cholesterol. It can help but I was prescribed statins as my doc didn't think lifestyle by itself would lower it that significantly. Ask more questions from your doc and then make an informed decision.

[sos007 Ambassador]

You need to provide more context if you are looking for constructive feedback.

Diet plays a role in your cholesterol levels, but so does exercise.

For the body to be healthy and in balance, prepared to fight off disease and father time, it is important to eat fresh foods and exercise daily at least 30 minutes with an elevated heart rate over 120 bpm.

In the National Geographic identified 'Blue Zones' around the world where there is an unusual amount of longevity, the diet is primarily plant-based, more specifically focused on legumes such as beans, chick peas and lentils, with plenty of locally grown vegetables and fruit, as well as dairy from pasture-fed goats and sheep, fish a couple of times per week, and meat once every couple of weeks. Due to hilly terrain there is also exercise daily simply from going about their daily work.

If you want to know how I did it, check out all of my posts:

healthunlocked.com/user/sos007

[Paul12]

If you read here you will learn that low cholesterol is not what you want

statincrap.blogspot.co.uk/?m=0

[Nannyval]

I'm not over weight my cholestrol was really high it's 5 .6 now eating the right food I looked up food to bring down Cholesterol on line there is so much information and it's all good