Cholesterol

[masraum]

I posted a thread about cholesterol back in late Oct because mine came back high (total 256 - HDL 44 - LDL 190). I was relatively thin at about 195# and 6'2". I don't smoke and don't drink. But, my father and grandfather both had heart issues (and both were more overweight than me and were both smokers and drinkers). I really didn't want to get on statins, especially after some of the threads I've seen here about side effects. The missus and I did some research and went on a high fiber diet with reduced sugar, breads and pasta (processed sugars and flours). To increase the fiber, we ate lots of beans, hummus, avocado, and fruits. Most days we have a fruit smoothie in the morning. We also had lots of hummus, lentils, beans, and squash. What I didn't do was worry about red meat, pork, eggs, butter, milk, cream, etc.... As a matter of fact, I've had more red meat, bacon, butter, eggs, and cheese since I started trying to reduce my cholesterol than I did before. I've also lost about 10#

I've also been taking 2000mg of Niacin a day and drinking a glass of red wine a day.

I've also been taking welchol, but I haven't been very good about taking it. I'm going to stop taking it and test again in three months while sticking to the same diet so see if the welchol has much effect.

I went back for another test a week ago and got my results. My total Cholesterol is now 164, HDL 51 and LDL 190.

[Evans, Marv]

Great that you were able to reduce your cholesterol that way. Nothing seemed to do it for me except for statins. I tried a similar regimen as you & it didn't work at all.

[pete3799]

I just started on 10mg. Haven't been back to the Dr. yet to see if they work or not.
Take it just before bed and haven't noticed any side effects.

[Evans, Marv]

If you're taking statins, you will notice side effects if you have any. If you start to experience muscle ache, you should stop & let your doc know. You might experience side effects on one statin and not another.

[futuresoptions]

I am 45, eat what I want but add garlic and tumeric to everything I eat or at least 90% percent of what I eat. I went in for my check and it was at 58, came back after a month and this was after eating barbacoa for breakfast, mojellas and tripas during this time and my level was down to 54. I guess that it could be genetics, but one thing is for sure, the garlic, tumeric thing and we have not had real butter in the house in over 15yrs. We use a ton of smartbalance. Olive oil is our oil of choice for most dishes and canola oil is used when we don't want that olive oil taste to what we are eating. All meat is trimmed, skin is removed from chicken unless we are having fried chicken and all of the meat we use is cooked first and then drained before adding anything else to it. Done every once it a while it will make no difference probably. But if you make it part of your daily routine with no questions asked, you will see improvements. Normally we only have eggs once a month, but here lately we have been having them once a week. I will be going back to my once a month routine here very soon.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by masraum

My total Cholesterol is now 164, HDL 51 and LDL 190.

Is this a typo? These numbers don't seem to add up.

My cholesterol is around 240 or so (I forget the exact number, but it was tested last summer), but with the recently changed guidelines for cholesterol, my doctor does not recommend medication. Come to find out, the exact cholesterol number isn't very important - there are other risk factors (which I have none) that are more important in determining whether or not you need to be medicated.

My Dad had a massive heart attack a few years ago. His cholesterol number (tested not long before his attack) was 194. His arteries were clogged. I read once that 50% of all people admitted to the hospital for a heart attack have cholesterol number below 200.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Awesome results. I found out late last year that I'm on the low side of high cholesterol (don't recall the number) and have taken a similar approach. The biggest sacrifices for me have been sour cream, fatty meats like pepperoni, processed foods, and trying to drink more light beer. I've been eating a lot of hummus, avocado, cooked fajita style chicken, and trying to mix a drink for a nightcap (with diet pop) as opposed to drinking something like a Spaten. I need to go back in for another test, but I definitely feel better.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by IROC

Is this a typo? These numbers don't seem to add up.

According to the Dr, there are other types of cholesterol besides HDL and LDL so the numbers don't necessarily add up to the total.

My cholesterol is around 240 or so (I forget the exact number, but it was tested last summer), but with the recently changed guidelines for cholesterol, my doctor does not recommend medication. Come to find out, the exact cholesterol number isn't very important - there are other risk factors (which I have none) that are more important in determining whether or not you need to be medicated.

My Dad had a massive heart attack a few years ago. His cholesterol number (tested not long before his attack) was 194. His arteries were clogged. I read once that 50% of all people admitted to the hospital for a heart attack have cholesterol number below 200.

My Dr doesn't actually look at just the numbers either. He also looks at inflamation (C-reactive protein), Cholesterol particle size, cholesterol particle count, and cholesterol oxidation. Since most Drs don't look at that stuff, and most folks concentrate on the total and HDL/LDL, I didn't think there was much point in posting the rest.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by masraum

According to the Dr, there are other types of cholesterol besides HDL and LDL so the numbers don't necessarily add up to the total.

My Dr doesn't actually look at just the numbers either. He also looks at inflamation (C-reactive protein), Cholesterol particle size, cholesterol particle count, and cholesterol oxidation. Since most Drs don't look at that stuff, and most folks concentrate on the total and HDL/LDL, I didn't think there was much point in posting the rest.

I think triglycerides are the other things in the overall number.

What recent studies have shown is the the actual cholesterol number - taken by itself - is not a good indicator of whether or not a person is destined for heart disease. The things that they are now using to make the statin/no statin determination are factors like smoking, diabetes and family history. OK, google to the rescue:

The guideline recommends statin therapy for the following groups:

•People without cardiovascular disease who are 40 to 75 years old and have a 7.5 percent or higher risk for heart attack or stroke within 10 years.
•People with a history of heart attack, stroke, stable or unstable angina, peripheral artery disease, transient ischemic attack, or coronary or other arterial revascularization.
•People 21 and older who have a very high level of bad cholesterol (190 mg/dL or higher).
•People with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes who are 40 to 75 years old.

So...the overall cholesterol number isn't extremely important (with the exception of the LDL portion). My cholesterol "number" is between 240-250, but I have none of the above, so I am low risk and no statins. YMMV.