How did you successfully lower your cholesterol?

[bookworm1982]

Sorry I know this isn't exactly chatty but thought I would reach more people. My cholesterol is a bit high and I wondered if anyone had any tips on how to lower it? I've obviously googled this but I just wanted some actual advice from those that have lowered it successfully. Thank you!

I’m trying to lower mine too @bookworm1982. I’ve started drinking Benacol, my diet is super healthy already, I’m not sure what else I can do.

Cutting out starchy carbs helped mine. So more fruits/veg/protein/healthy fats and less white carbs. There has long been a lot of panic about eating fat or dietary cholesterol, but actually what inadvertently did it for me was eating a more paleo style diet.

Also, just generally losing weight will help, cutting out alcohol, exercise, basically all the things that generally make you healthier overall.

Eating a grapefruit is the food often cited.

Increased fibre , decreased saturated fat swapped white carbs for brown. Upped exercise. Shot right down. Previously would have said I are really healthy but I actually didn’t eat a lot of fibre and ate a lot of white carbs.

Thanks for starting this thread, bookworm1982. I needed this information too.

By eating a ridiculous amount of veg and fruit, I have a real rainbow diet.

You're welcome. I don't drink much and I do exercise so I'm guessing only my diet can bring it down xx

Thanks for your responses! It starts today!! ❤️

Interesting... I love grapefruit! Guess I'll have to leave the sprinkle of sugar out though :(

My cholesterol is 6. I had a test at work. Plus my BP was higher than it should be.

im 8st 4, 5 ft 1 and healthy, exercise and eat a varied diet (meat fruit fush veg).

no idea where im going wring.

checked with my dad and no history of high cholesterol there

been advised to see the GO for a blood test to see if its the good or bad cholesterol

My doctor advised that some people can eat the perfect diet and still have high cholesterol, as it's just genetic. The only way for them to lower cholesterol is medication. She suggested trying CoQ10 or Ubiquinol for a few months first, as that can help. I'm not sure what mine is at the moment (I tend towards borderline cholesterol genetically) but that was what was advised to my husband.

I think stations are really overprescribed. In Scotland they only prescribe them when cholesterol if over 10! Learned this through a friend.

Statins I meant!

DHs was nearly 9! ( Although his " good" cholesterol was high) He eats a portion of oats with a benecol drink every day, no cakes or biscuits unless they are very low sat fat or baked by me using olive oil. A small amount of the low fat versions of things like meat and cheese. No butter or chocolate ( he loves chocolate). Cutting down on meat and cheese also means we eat more veg and pulses.
We have both lost weight ( not overweight initially but now have BMIs in low 20s) and DHs cholesterol has gone down to just over 5.
So basically he cut out cheese and biscuits and chocolate snacking and eats more oats

I cut out dairy and gluten which brought mine down, but that was probably a sort of side effect from generally losing weight...

@Augustus40 I think something may have got lost in translation across the border, I don't think that's true.

I had an appointment with the practice nurse yesterday & she said take Omega 3. Apparently this mops the bad cholesterol up.
Mine is hereditary & I'm practically vegan. I also exercise a lot. I'm going to try what she suggested, & am booked back in for next year.
She also did a risk score for health problems. Mine was 3.3, when you score nearer to 10 they suggest Statins

I lost 2 stone! And now my cholesterol is in normal range. I was overweight though!

Statins have not been proven to work in women, only men - A fun fact that I found out when researching menopause and heart disease (I have bad genes on both sides of my family) I do take vegan omega 3 capsules (made from algae) and although my cholesterol is on the high side the good/bad ratio is better than average.

Receipts (one of)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1867901/

Ooh be careful though if you do end up on statins. Weirdly grapefruit juice is the one food they tell you to avoid as it messes with the drug. No idea why. How ironic!

Cholesterol over 10 not true!

@Augustus40 I live in Scotland and have recently been prescribed statins, my cholesterol was 7.something. Hopefully it will have reduced when I go back to GP for my checkup

Yes I think my friend was getting confused with the qrisk.

Another thing to consider for some people, certain drugs if you’re on them long term can increase your cholesterol and no diet/supplement will bring it down, no matter how careful you are with what you eat and drink.

Speaking from current personal circumstances - cholesterol suddenly jumped from perfectly normal to over 9 with the combination of necessary prescriptions.

No genetic component, had a lipid referral at the hospital and they confirmed it was due to the drugs and there was absolutely nothing within my control to bring it back down apart from starting statins (in my early 30s). Which was a bit of a shock, and now gutted I can’t have my favourite fruit, as PP said grapefruit interferes with the statin.