Hello everyone, I have just had my fasting blood results. They are down from 6.9 to 6.2. Is this a significant drop?

[gillyflower88]

[Mike262]

It's just over a 10% drop so its reasonable, but I would suggest you keep working with your GP to get it below 4 if you can. This is the level my GP tells me the Cardiologists look for. You don't saw how you've achieved this and over what time period? Are you on statins, if so which one and have you modified your diet?

[gillyflower88]

Hello Mike, thanks for answering. I was diagnosed a year ago. I did not go on statins and have been trying to lower chol by altering my life style. Diet etc. I am not a great fat lover but dairy was a biggy. My risk factor is low and my Dr isnt too concerned. I don,t want to take stats. So 10% doesn,t look too wonderful but I,ll persevere.

[hugh_m]

Chino,

Don't lose heart, it took me a few years to get from 7.3 down to 4.9 and that was with Simvastatin. Since my heart attack in August I've got it down further to 3.3 but Apart from the change to Atorvastatin I've gone on a vegan type diet with no more than 2 grams of sat fat per day, plus a lot of exercise (and stopped smoking)! My sister has managed to reduce her Cholesterol by diet alone; it took her a few years to achieve it. Keep going!!

[gillyflower88]

Thank you Hugh M,heartening news, no pun intended. I shall keep going.

[foodblog]

Hi Chino

Just wondering if you are exercising as well? I had a level of 6.5 and brought it down to 4.8 through altering my diet as you have and also exercising 5 times a week. I have never found it easy to stick to an exercise regime so I decided to take brisk walks around my neighbourhood. I keep it to half an hour which seems manageable. My children laugh at the pace I walk as they find it slow, but it is brisk for me which is what counts I think. Not so easy to keep motivated as the weather gets colder but I am trying!! A report in The Lancet recently reported that being moderately fit as a middle aged or older person is as helpful as being an unfit person on statins - in terms of preventing early death.

By the way I am starting a new blog in January in which I will put up the recipes I used (and still use) to help reduce my cholesterol. If you are interested I will let you know when it starts and you can link in to it if you like.

Good luck!

[gillyflower88]

Thank you foodblog for your reply which i found most informative. I do walk the dog but he,s not as young as he was so not a brisk walk. I probably need to do more and I do need to drop a bit of weight. I,m finding this difficult but have dropped a few pounds. It was recommended that I lose 10% of my body weight which would be 8kg. I would welcome your recipes and any tips. Thanks again

[foodblog in reply to gillyflower88]

I was also told to lose weight (groan!) and lost 6 - 7 kg. I think that doing the exercise increased my motivation to eat less because of the effort I was making to do the walking. Some research has shown that women who exercise regularly actually put on weight. There are two reasons for this - firstly exercise makes one hungry so one eats

more. Secondly, after exercise one sometimes thinks 'oh I deserve a treat since I have exercised today'. I try telling myself 'since I have worked hard to exercise I don't want to ruin it by eating the children's leftovers/ chocolate etc do I?' Sometimes the answer is no and sometimes it is YES!

[gillyflower88 in reply to foodblog]

Hmm, and Christmas is daunting too

[foodblog]

My plan for Christmas is to try to avoid the mince pies etc on the days leading up to the 25th and then on the day itself making a decision to eat a bit of everything. I don't want to end up feeling deprived or being the party pooper. I will try not to eat third helpings though!

[gillyflower88 in reply to foodblog]

Yes, you are right. A good plan. If I can drop a bit leading up to the day it will give me a little advantage too. Looking forward to your recipe blog in January.

[Seahorse]

You are all doing a fantastic job and should be really proud of yourselves! Keep up the good work.

[gillyflower88]

Thank you Seahorse, I for one will keep going. If for nothing else but to see if I can.

[sandybrown]

All, my strong belief is that we need to fully understand the following four, total cholesterol , LDL,HDL and Triglycerides fasting blood test and also HbA1C as well. What food to eat to reduce these test result values. Good Luck.

[gillyflower88]

Thank you bala, yes just what foods do we need to eat to reduce numbers!!! i read endless articles. All differing and Dr has no particular advice,apart from Patient uk website.