Lowering cholesterol

[Etoile]

I have been a vegetarian for 16 years. I'm very overweight, but I'm reasonably healthy. I had my cholesterol tested recently, and the total number was 203 - I don't remember the two separate numbers. The bad was "too high" and the good was "too low" though.

So I'm supposed to watch my diet and stuff. The problem is, I don't think my diet has a whole lot to do with it. My biological father had a heart attack when he was 28 and died of congestive heart failure at 50; I don't know anything else about that side of the family but I suspect it's one of those familial things like you hear about on TV.

So will watching my diet do much good? I'm already a vegetarian, which I know tends to lead to lower cholesterol. I'm supposed to cut back on eggs and cheese, right? I love cheese, dammit. What else am I supposed to do? Should I ask for medication? How often should I get rechecked? My doctor basically called me, told me what my levels were, and that was it.

 

[amber_petite]

Hey sorry to hear that,

If you want to decrease your cholestrol level you can do the following:
reduce cheese intake
choose reduced fat milks
dont use butter, or use polyunsaturated margarine (there are also margarines that are meant to help decrease your cholestrol)
watch out for pies, pasties, chips, cakes - alot of these have a high concentrated of saturated fats
and generally losing weight

There are also drugs out there called statins (eg atorvastatin, simvastatin) which chemically reduce your cholestrol level and might be worth investigating

hope this helps
amber

 

[Etoile]

Oh yes, I should mention that I only drink skim milk, thank you Amber!

 

[RawHumor]

Also, the bottom number can be increased by increasing your activity level... get more exercise, or more strenuous exercise.

 

[amber_petite]

Hey
there are also foods that can help lower cholestrol
this includes:
Oatmeal and oat bran
walnuts and almonds
and omega-3s
this site will give you background on why these foods help
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cholesterol/CL00002
also with exercise to increase your good cholestrol you need to be doing about 40mins of high intensity exercise to see a significant change
but any exercise is good!

 

[Etoile]

Yep, I've been working on that...busted my foot yesterday so I'm laid up but I've been trying to increase over the summer. I have been sedentary for years, so high-intensity isn't in the cards yet, but I'm working on it.

But won't increasing the lower number mean the overall number goes up and/or stays the same? How do I make the numbers go DOWN?

 

[amber_petite]

what you want is to increase your good cholestrol which takes fat from the tissue in your body to be used up eg during exercise
you want to decrease the bad cholestrol because it takes fat and dumps it into your arteries hence causing cardiac disease

have you also checked your blood pressure recently?

 

[Etoile]

Yeah, my blood pressure is pretty low. Higher than it was when I was a skinny thing, but it's still well within normal ranges.

 

[sugaredwalls]

I think hereditary does play a role in your cholesterol levels and unfortunately you do have that going against you. You have 2 pluses in your favor though, you're aware of the situation and want to do something about it and you don't eat meat. Definitely call your doctor back and make another appt to discuss your test results. Unless you have an extreme issue, they don't get back to you, which is fucked up IMO. In situations like yours, you have to be pro-active and then you can ask about diet, the possibility of meds and all that good stuff.

Cheese is a toughie, I'm with ya on that one! It's good and life would really suck without it. I totally don't get how people can hate cheese.

That being said, go for the big flavor cheeses and you don't have to use a lot of it. Cheddar, blue cheese, goat cheese and anything of the Parmesan variety is what I'm talking about.

Eggs are not completely bad either, if you make an omelette or something, use one whole egg and the rest egg whites. You can use that egg substitute but that shit makes me want to hurl, I just do what I mentioned and it lowers the cholestral considerably when you limit the yolk part.

And whole wheat pasta, especially the ones with the omega 3 supplemented in it. Being a vegetarian, taking fish oil supplements may not be all that appetizing to you. Walnuts are a good source of omega 3's as well.

Good luck!

 

[Etoile]

Thank you sugaredwalls! What a great post.

Yeah, I have a friend who does NOT eat cheese, except on pizza. We had a party and I bought some lasagna at Costco to make for everybody, before I knew he didn't eat cheese. When he saw it he said "oh...not hungry..." and finally admitted it was the cheese. So we pulled out the backup in case we ran out of lasagna - butternut squash ravioli. Not cheese, squash! But he wanted to know if it had cheese, and wouldn't you know it, halfway down the ingredients, it did. So we made him our own potstickers, no cheese there. But damn, he hates cheese! LOL.

Walnuts, eh? We have walnuts actually. My mother-in-law buys these HUGE bags of walnuts sometimes. I could do that. And we do have whole wheat pasta!

 

[sugaredwalls]

Yeah, walnuts! People always assume nuts are just a high fat food but walnuts and almonds (sorry, not the really good salted and honey roasted kind) pack a lot of nutrition.

Toast the walnuts for a few minutes in a 400 degree oven, that makes them taste really good in salads or pasta. Don't leave them in for any longer than 5 minutes or they will burn and taste bitter. I use them a lot to cook with because even though I'm not a vegetarian, I don't eat a lot of meat and I'm allergic to shellfish.

Also, not to lecture but the more you can stay away from bottled salad dressing the better. Even the no fat ones have a lot of sodium and use sugar to replace the fat. Investing in some good olive oil and some vinegars such as balsamic, sherry or champagne is way better tasting and better for you. Also, using Kosher and sea salt is better because it only has 1/4 of the sodium that regular table salt has.

 

[Etoile]

I don't do much cooking myself, but my wife cooks with kosher salt and she usually puts olive oil/balsamic on our salads. There's usually a LOT of feta cheese in there too, gotta cut back on that. But the vinegar gets to me sometimes...I gotta fall back on my childhood favorite of RANCH now and then. I do get the fat free stuff.

Have you tried those Salad Spritzers? How are those?

 

[sugaredwalls]

LMAO that you mentioned those salad spritzers! I'm a teacher and when my S/O and I used to teach at the same school, we would giggle in the staff room because at lunch, you would see all these teachers take out their salad dressing spritz and go to town! We used to call it the 11:30 spritzing hour! lol, guess you had to be there but it was funny to watch everyone whip out their salad spray at the same time.

They're not too bad, a bit chemical and fakey tasting to me though. Rice vinegar and sesame oil and some ginger might be a nice alternative to stronger vinegars for you. I love any kind of peanut dressing or any kind of dressing made with lime or lemon.

 

[Etoile]

I think my mother in law might have one actually, the raspberry vinaigrette one...I'll have to steal some the next time we make a salad!

 

[Fleshgod]

Hey
there are also foods that can help lower cholestrol
this includes:
Oatmeal and oat bran
walnuts and almonds
and omega-3s
this site will give you background on why these foods help
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cholesterol/CL00002
also with exercise to increase your good cholestrol you need to be doing about 40mins of high intensity exercise to see a significant change
but any exercise is good!

Very good advice^also look into "red yeast rice" it's a vitamin helps lower bad cholestrol and raise good,i cant say enough about the benifits of exercise you dont have to be balls to the wall but you have to do something,cardio at a steady pace get your heart rate above 120 but not over 130-135 you will become a fat burning machine..i am a bodybuilder i can help you if you'd like.

 

[Primalex]

Don't bother with anything.

a) Nobody^1 really knows if food at all matters regarding the amount of cholesterol in the blood.
b) There is no correlation between weight and cholesterol.
c) The medicine against high cholesterol will decrease the likelihood of an heart attack - but increase the possbility of other death reasons. The average life span of people under medication does NOT increase.
d) There is indeed a gene defect that will lead to high cholesterol levels even though your diet is normal.


(^1 Nobody means those people who count. People who don't count are advertising companies, "healthy food" producers, neighbors...)

 

[Bandit58]

I'm female, 50 years old (51 in October), not overweight, reasonably fit - and I have high cholesterol I go to the gym 2-3 times a week and I do a fair bit of walking as well.

I'm making some small changes to my diet and will be re-tested in 6 months.

*I'm cutting down on eggs (I love them and would eat 2 a day, now cutting down to one every 2nd day).

*I eat red meat 4-5 times a week - that won't change much. I always trim excess fat and grill instead of fry. We use canola oil spray for cooking and margarine instead of butter - I haven't eaten butter since I left NZ We've always eaten multi grain bread as well.

*I'm cutting down on cracker biscuits which I used to eat 3 of them 3 times a day, now 2 biscuits only once a day. I do eat the occasional chocolate biscuit tho

*I'm increasing the amount of fruit from almost none to 2 servings a day, and I always eat vegetables with my evening meal.

*I hardly ever eat cheese, yoghurt or ice cream, but I use full strength milk - and that won't be changing. Sir hates trim milk as well. He is on medication for high cholesterol and His levels are good.

Not sure how much more I can change, but we'll see what happens in 6 months

 

[bakedbeams]

My SO has high cholesterol too he's 48yo. Family history. He takes fish oil capsules says they are supposed to help. Rides his bike about 100ks/week. Has just started on Statin medications. His dr's told him porridge helps.

I think he's supposed to get checked about every 3 - 6 months.

He's scottish, and everything he eats he tries to deepfry (even bl**dy eggs)!!, not to mention he'd eat the rind off the bacon if I let him!!

 

[amber_petite]

Don't bother with anything.

a) Nobody^1 really knows if food at all matters regarding the amount of cholesterol in the blood.
b) There is no correlation between weight and cholesterol.
c) The medicine against high cholesterol will decrease the likelihood of an heart attack - but increase the possbility of other death reasons. The average life span of people under medication does NOT increase.
d) There is indeed a gene defect that will lead to high cholesterol levels even though your diet is normal.


(^1 Nobody means those people who count. People who don't count are advertising companies, "healthy food" producers, neighbors...)

Sorry
but a) there is evidence out there looking at food choice and cholesterol levels, higher saturated fats = higher cholesterol
b) there is a corrleation between BMI and cholestrol levels
c) high cholestrol = more chance of having a cardiac related event; including myocardial infarction, angina, ect
d) there is a gene defect, however this is an interaction between environmental factors and genes, hence more care is needed with food intake

and this information is from the people who supposely count. The more care you take in your food choices and the more long term decisions you make in your lifestyle style the more you decrease the risk factors associated with heart diesease, it is never just "genetics" it is an interaction between this and other factors

 

[mls11603]

hey i just wanted to say good luck your isnt that high so you shouldnt have to much trouble me on the other hand im scared to death my number is 701 and extremely high is 400 im on meds and waiting to see if they work and also trying to change my diet im not over weight either the doc told me it was hereditary. That changing my food may or may not help because it was hereditary. If neone else has had theres this high or any info for me please pm me. And again good luck

 

[Primalex]

Sorry
but a) there is evidence out there looking at food choice and cholesterol levels, higher saturated fats = higher cholesterol

There is evidence out there that aliens visited our planet. So what?
For years it was said, that eggs increase cholerestol - because they do have a lot of cholesterol. Suddenly, eggs don't increase cholesterol.

http://www2.canada.com/victoriatime...?id=2137fc70-c658-433a-9524-29c1d1803efc&k=33

Nobody changed the eggs, so.. your explanation?

b) there is a corrleation between BMI and cholestrol levels

Source?

There is a correlation between BMI and heart diseases. There is none between BMI and cholesterol.

c) high cholestrol = more chance of having a cardiac related event; including myocardial infarction, angina, ect

Okay, you didn't understand what I wrote. Let me rephrase it:
If you don't treat high cholesterol, then you will die when you are 60.
If you take anti-cholesterol medication, then you will die when you are 60.

There is no increase in the average life span. The difference is just why you die - either due to CVD or due to medication side effects.

and this information is from the people who supposely count. The more care you take in your food choices and the more long term decisions you make in your lifestyle style the more you decrease the risk factors associated with heart diesease

Yeah, but this wasn't the question. The topic is not if healthy living will decrease the chance of heart diseases. It's about cholesterol - and even the WHO has cholesterol not listed as "convincing source" for increased CVDs - unlike f.e. satured fatty acids. But it's not about these here. (and even for satured fatty acids, they had to exclude certain ones, which suddenly turned out as healthy..)

 

[bobinks2]

For years it was said, that eggs increase cholerestol - because they do have a lot of cholesterol. Suddenly, eggs don't increase cholesterol.

Nobody changed the eggs, so.. your explanation?

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the original study that claimed that eggs raised your cholesterol and therefore shouldn't be eaten was paid for by the dry cereal goods manufacturers associiation (or whatever the name of the industry association for the people who make breakfast cereals is). Maybe we could scratch our heads and try to figure out why the breakfast cereal manufacturers wouldn't want us eating eggs for breakfast.

 

[amber_petite]

There is evidence out there that aliens visited our planet. So what?
For years it was said, that eggs increase cholerestol - because they do have a lot of cholesterol. Suddenly, eggs don't increase cholesterol.

http://www2.canada.com/victoriatime...?id=2137fc70-c658-433a-9524-29c1d1803efc&k=33

Nobody changed the eggs, so.. your explanation?



Source?

There is a correlation between BMI and heart diseases. There is none between BMI and cholesterol.



Okay, you didn't understand what I wrote. Let me rephrase it:
If you don't treat high cholesterol, then you will die when you are 60.
If you take anti-cholesterol medication, then you will die when you are 60.

There is no increase in the average life span. The difference is just why you die - either due to CVD or due to medication side effects.



Yeah, but this wasn't the question. The topic is not if healthy living will decrease the chance of heart diseases. It's about cholesterol - and even the WHO has cholesterol not listed as "convincing source" for increased CVDs - unlike f.e. satured fatty acids. But it's not about these here. (and even for satured fatty acids, they had to exclude certain ones, which suddenly turned out as healthy..)

No sure on the egg thing, one of the explanations I have heard for that is that there was also the confounding factor that the eggs were fried in oil hence it wasnt the eggs that increased cholesterol levels but rather the method of cooking,


BMI and Cholesterol
studies have shown a significant BMI-dependent increase in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels, up until the age of 60 where the effect isnt as strong, this relationship is particularly apparent in the male 20-29 age group.

also BMI is a good predictor of cholesterol levels
Sources
Impact of body mass index on cholesterol levels of Japanese adults
Suka, M.1; Yoshida, K.1; Yamauchi, K.2
International Journal of Clinical Practice, Volume 60, Number 7, July 2006 , pp. 770-782(13)

Brown C., et al. Body Mass Index and the Prevalence of Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease

Abbasi F, Brown B, Lamendola C, McLaughlin T and Reaven G (2002) Relationship between obesity, insulin resistance and coronary heart disease risk Journal of the American College of Cardiology



There is no increase in the average population lifespan but there is an increase in the individual's lifespan who is at risk of having a fatal cardiac event. This is particulary important for people who are at risk at a younger age ie those people who have an abnormally high cholesterol level in their age group who are under 50. Statins have been shown to increase life expectancy.

one such study: Lifetime cost effectiveness of simvastatin in a range of risk groups and age groups derived from a randomised trial of 20,536 people.
Heart Protection Study Collaborative, Mihaylova B, Briggs A, Armitage J, Parish S, Gray A, Collins R
Year: 2006

but are a heap more out there

 

[simplegirl]

exercise helps, as you already know.

Alcohol is a major culprit, if you happen to drink. Not only is it high in sugar, but the alcohol prevents the fats from being properly eliminated.

Smoking is a major culprit for low "good cholesterol". If you do smoke, quitting will help that increase.

And flours (breads, etc...) whole grains are best. White flour foods convert to sugars and then stored in fats. Whole grain (such as multigrain bread) take longer to digest and the energy is better utilized.

 

[Etoile]

Yikes, alcohol, really? I'm not a major drinker but I do partake about once a week. Good to
know.

Have never smoked.