cholesterol reduction - what you did

[masraum]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

How do you feel about fish?

Before I got married I would eat fish three or four times a week... just because I loved it.

At that time I had no cholesterol problems.

Love fish, love sushi, will happily eat sardines, etc....

[masraum]

Here's an interesting series of articles.

article on fiber
Fiber: Why It Matters More Than You Think : Experience Life

My Doc tested my cholesterol particle count saying that it was a better indicator than the usual test.

The Diet-Heart Myth: Why Everyone Should Know Their LDL Particle Number

The Diet-Heart Myth: Statins Don’t Save Lives in People Without Heart Disease

The Diet-Heart Myth: Cholesterol and Saturated Fat Are Not the Enemy

The Diet-Heart Myth: How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Naturally

[aigel]

Originally Posted by masraum

When I go into get my bloodwork done, I usually juice fast for 2-3 days prior.

Uh - that's not good. You are skewing your results there. You want to behave normally before the blood test and not go on a diet. You need to be honest with yourself.

G

[aigel]

Before I'd touch any meds, I would go see a nutritionist. And log my food with his or her help. Often we eat more crap than we think, i.e. 2 quarts of ice cream a week is a lot of fat. And we may not be terribly honest with ourselves either. It is human. Add a 5x/week cardio program, logged as well, then report back. I am a big fan of letting your body do the job and take meds only for acute issues. You never know what side effects you get, especially if you take something over decades.

G

[masraum]

Originally Posted by aigel

Uh - that's not good. You are skewing your results there. You want to behave normally before the blood test and not go on a diet. You need to be honest with yourself.

G

My Dr and the group that does the wellness screening for my company both recommend fasting before bloodwork. I think I've actually read that the numbers are meaningless unless you were fasting. I do occasionally juice fast when I'm not going in for a test as well.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by masraum

My Dr and the group that does the wellness screening for my company both recommend fasting before bloodwork. I think I've actually read that the numbers are meaningless unless you were fasting. I do occasionally juice fast when I'm not going in for a test as well.

Not an expert, but any metabolism related blood work that I had ever done did require "fasting" - however, it meant only having water for 8 or 12 hours before the test. Not going on a diet 3 days prior.

Cheers!

G

[NY65912]

The doc told me that "being good" for a few days or a week prior to a blood test has little to no effect on the numbers.

[masraum]

interesting. THat's one of the things that me and the missus are curious about, how long does it take for changes to effect cholesterol?

We haven't looked that up yet, but will research it a bit.

[enzo1]

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by masraum

Love fish, love sushi, will happily eat sardines, etc....

That was about 75% of my diet (before I got married) and I had no problem with cholesterol back them.

[masraum]

So, I had 2 tests 11 days apart in Oct

1 total chol 236
2 total chol 256

1 hdl chol 51
2 hdl chol 44

1 ldl chol 167
2 ldl chol 190

1 triglyc 141
2 triglyc 111

11 days, and basically the same diet and fairly radically different numbers. I'm beginning to think this is mostly hooey. This article was interesting too.

A Reporter Eats His Way to Lower Cholesterol: Do You Need Lipitor, or Can You Do It With Food? | Dr John La Puma

linked from
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/eating-your-way-to-lower-cholesterol/?_r=0

Journalist Tom Burton, a former colleague, wrote about his own efforts to lower cholesterol without drugs for The Wall Street Journal.

He ran four miles most days and had given up red meat and most cheese. But his bad cholesterol was 169 mg/dL — far above the 100 mg/dL most doctors recommend.

After documenting his eating habits, Mr. Burton was advised by his doctor to cut out a favorite dish — roast chicken with the skin on. He was told that more of his protein should come from fish, beans and nuts. He phased out the chicken as well as shrimp and squid, which are high in dietary cholesterol. He began including steel-cut oatmeal, eggplant, roasted soybeans, whole-wheat pasta and Brussels sprouts in his diet. He also increased his exercise. His cholesterol numbers were slow to move, but eventually they did, dropping 33 percent.

33%, pretty impressive, except that I didn't do anything differently and mine went up by nearly 10% in 11 days.

I'd like to have it tested daily for a month or two to see what the results were.

I think it's funny how getting the test done at the Dr office takes a week to get the results, but when my company has the wellness test done in the basement of my building, I have results from a pin prick on my finger in 2-5 mins. I need one of those machines at the house.

[jyl]

I think those numbers look like a normal variation range.

[Geronimo '74]

What I am doing (doctor's orders)
Eleminating as much saturated fats as possible.
Fishoils are good
No eggyokes.
Eat veggies
Oats for breakfast
Eat more fruits

I messed up and had a weekend in which I ate 3 hamburgers, pizza and fries....
For people with high cholesterol even a single slip up like this should be avoided.
Cholesterol in blood takes months to go down, it's a slow proces. After my first bloodtest the doc told me to do another in six months.

I lost almost 20 lbs in the last three months following this diet. No candy!

I have a history of high cholesterol on one side of the family and a history of heart failure on the other....
Not a good combo....

[onewhippedpuppy]

I just had mine tested for the first time at age 33 through a free health screen at work, and my total cholesterol came back as 250. I come to Pelican and there's already a thread on it!

I'm following a lot of the advice on this thread, so thanks. It's been on the back of my mind that I needed to improve my eating habits and lose some weight, this will be a good catalyst. I tend to eat lots of processed foods, but no more. Yesterday was oatmeal for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and salmon for dinner.

[mreid]

Diet is everything!

In addition to the excellent advice above, a fish oil supplement daily, if you drink French pressed coffee filter it before drinking, red wine (the wife and I have 1 or 2 glasses every night), we walk the dogs every night, and great sex 3 to 4 times a week.

My cholesterol went from 270 to 180 over nine months by following the plan above.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I'm dropping my bad habit of drinking regular beer, Spaten is going back to being a treat vs the norm. One light beer max, if I want a nightcap I'll go with a drink mixed with diet pop. I'll share the sex suggestion with the boss.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by mreid

Diet is everything!

In addition to the excellent advice above, a fish oil supplement daily, if you drink French pressed coffee filter it before drinking, red wine (the wife and I have 1 or 2 glasses every night), we walk the dogs every night, and great sex 3 to 4 times a week.

My cholesterol went from 270 to 180 over nine months by following the plan above.

Yes, we've added a good fish oil, vitamin D, I'm getting ready to start taking and then ramping up on the niacin. Apparently, pantethine which is the precursor for vit B5 is also helpful as well as plant sterols/stanols, but I'm not taking those, at least, not yet. I am going to be ramping up my soluble fiber as well. I usually have flax meal a couple of times a day. I already eat lots of fruits and veggies, but I'm ramping those up a bit too. I'm cutting out stuff made with refined flour (though I didn't have much) and will be cutting back on the stuff with lots of sugar. Exercise will also be happening regularly. I'm not a big drinker, but I've started having a glass of wine each day.

[widgeon13]

Genes help a lot as well.

[masraum]

Genes help a lot as well.

I like to wear them, but I have to wear dress pants most days.

[widgeon13]

"I have to wear dress pants most days."

I wear bermuda shorts most days