high cholesterol

[bonsante]

Total cholesterol of 7.3 mmol!!! and yet I eat a healthy diet. How can I bring it down. I already eat 8-10 portions of vegetables per day, olive oil, flaxseeds, nuts, seeds, avocado, wholemeal carbs. Any advice will be gratefully received.

[benwl]

Try reducing the fats - cut out the olive oil, and moderate the nuts, seeds and avocados (all of which are relatively high in fat)

You don't say if you are overweight or not - if you then losing weight will help.

[bonsante in reply to benwl]

Thank you. , I will bear that in mind. I have recently increased all of these replacing meat and some dairy, in the hope it may increase my HDL pending another blood test. I am of normal weight. I have previously found that cutting out the so called baddies had no effect and my cholesterol has increased over the years and particularly now post menopause.

[benwl in reply to bonsante]

There's a bit of debate over which cholesterol level is the best metric -total, hdl/ldl ratio etc.

Personally I found that when my total cholesterol came down, the hdl/ldl ratio went up (which is good), so I think targetting total cholesterol is probably better than just trying to increase HDL.

Generally I aim for around 10-15% of calories to be from fats. I don't add any fat whilst cooking, and don't use any fatty spreads. Neither do I eat meat or diary, and I use balsamic vinegar rather than oil based salad dressing.

[Ninn]

this very similar to my own experience. The only way i found to lower it was to cut out all animal products. I started with meat, small decrease, then cheese, cream, fish and lastly yogurt. The biggest drop came after cutting out eggs and all dairy. I now follow a whole food , plant based diet as advocated by Dr Greger at Nutrition Facts and his book How Not To Die, which I recommend. I dont miss meat at all as my diet is now much more varied and interesting, it also helps reduce weight.

[G1nny]

Cholesterol levels are often hereditary.

[Praveen55 Star]

bonsante

1. First of all, you should try to understand the real issue.

2. T.C. on its own is not sufficient to assess risks for CVD.

3. It is better to have complete lipid profile including T.C., HDL, Triglyceride (TG) and LDL ( calculated).

4. Dietary cholesterol has very little effect on the blood cholesterol for most people. Some people who happen to be 'hyper-responder' a genetic disorder may experience dietary cholesterol raises their blood cholesterol. Otherwise, our bodies tightly regulate the blood cholesterol level. When our dietary cholesterol level is low, liver makes more. When we eat food with high cholesterol content, liver makes less.

5. TG:HDL Ratio is considered to be more important for heart disease risk assessment.

6. Regarding diet:

Try to reduce the carb intake in your diet, particularly the processed and simple carb including fruit juices. Consume healthy fats e.g. extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and butter. Avoid vegetable and seed oil.

High intake of carbohydrate raises the insulin level which allows the dietary fat to be stored as triglyceride.

The excess carb is also converted into fat and stored as triglyceride.

high carb and high fat diet is the worst combination.

Most important is GET THE BLOOD TEST DONE FOR LIPID PROFILE. Blood sample will be collected after overnight fasting (10 hrs) for this test. Once you know your numbers you can take right steps.

[Want2BHappy3]

Are you sure of that? A reading of under 200 is acceptable.

[Praveen55 Star in reply to Want2BHappy3]

There are two different units in use for measurement of cholesterol.

mg/dl and mmol/l

200 mg/dl = 5.17 mmol/L

[Want2BHappy3 in reply to Praveen55]

This is what my results say.

[Vacyone]

Well if you consume all that healthy stuff, and walk daily a few thousand steps, it’s the doc you should be asking. I’ve been on ramipril for high blood pressure since my late forties. I also have great diet,but, my hereditary genes kick in, and that says, high pressure.

Any tips you receive though, I’d be. Grateful for the knowledge.

Good luck

[bonsante]

I think you have made some very good points and maybe the fruit and salad are raising my levels and I need to look at my portion sizes. I have returned to full fat dairy as it made no difference when I cut it out previously and now I have osteoporosis.

[bonsante]

Thanks to all who answered and the very good points made. I have now had a repeat blood test including blood glucose level and now awaiting results. I fear my TG will still be too high as I have not been tackling it from that aspect.

In the UK blood lipid screen is now taken randomly and no longer requires fasting.

I think I have inherited high cholesterol along with labile hypertension which in my case occurs in response to exercise. I am the recommended weight for my height , non smoker, almost tee total, generally healthy eater and walk 10,000 steps per day, yoga, pilates twice and swimming once per week. My mother was healthy too but due to poorly managed high blood pressure had a major stroke in her mid 60s. At least I have the chance to make changes. Awaiting a cardiology appointment on Tuesday to hopefully rule out angina as a cause of my backache.

[Kai-- in reply to bonsante]

.

Supplemental cholesterol resources (search 🔎 results) confirming/ supporting benwl & Ninn ’s suggestions 👍👍 — if of interest, bonsante:

. . . • Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: google.com/search?as_q=Cald...

. . . • Dr. Michael Greger NutritionFacts.org: nutritionfacts.org/?s=reduc...

. . . • T. Colin Campbell CNS (Center for Nutrition Studies) : nutritionstudies.org/?s=cho...

. . . • Dr. Michael Klaper: google.com/search?as_q=Dr.+... ; DoctorKlaper.com: google.com/search?as_q=Doct...

. . . • Dr. John McDougall: google.com/search?as_q=Dr.+... , Dr. McDougall’s Health & Medical Center: drmcdougall.com/health/educ...

. . . • Vegsource: google.com/search?as_q=Vegs...

. . . • Dr. Neal Barnard: google.com/search?as_q=Dr.+...

. . . • Dr. Dean Ornish: google.com/search?as_q=Dr.+...

.

Best wishes reducing 📉 your cholesterol to your desired level, bonsante. 😌 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞

.

If you like wading "further into the weeds" 😁 , you might like:

. . . • healthunlocked.com/healthye... . . . • healthunlocked.com/healthye...

. . . • healthunlocked.com/healthye... . . . • healthunlocked.com/healthye...

. . . • healthunlocked.com/healthye...

.

[Kai-- in reply to Kai--]

.

If you like videos 📹 , bonsante, these might be of interest? 🤔

• Valerie and Ed lowered their cholesterol and blood pressure [5+ minutes]: m.youtube.com/watch?v=RV5ea...(Not working as expected?)

.

.

• The Truth About Cholesterol! - Dr. Michael Klaper [6+ minutes]: m.youtube.com/watch?v=YZrmd...(Not working as expected?)

.

.

• Cutting Through the Cholesterol Confusion with Dr. Barnard [38+ minutes]: m.youtube.com/watch?v=xQOXb...(Not working as expected?)

.

.

• What Is The Healthiest Cholesterol Level To Prevent Disease? (• Pamela A. Popper • Kim A. Williams • Colin Campbell • Caldwell B. Esselstyn) [27+ minutes]: m.youtube.com/watch?v=sXzlr...(Not working as expected?)

.

.

😌 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞

.