My cholesterol is REALLY high - can i fix this?

[CholesterolHelp]

I just got blood work results & my cholesterol is 11.2. 🙁

My GP wrote in the report that i need to really critically look at my diet & then retest in 4 to 6 weeks.

I am 56, 5ft 9" & currently weigh 12 13. I was 14 5 last year & i have worked v hard to lose the weight. Target weight is 11 13.

My typical day of eating looks like:

Porridge (made 2 thirds water, 1 third low fat milk). In the past week i've added chia seeds & 3 chopped walnuts as they're supposed to help cholesterol

A coffee & glass of water (i used to have fresh orange juice but have cut it out)

Midmorning - a coffee with low fat milk

Lunch: homemade vegetable soup - this varies - spiced moroccan tomato & chickpea, roast root veg, carrott & ginger, minestrone (beans no pasta), veg & red lentil etc
I usually have a slice of organic seeded sourdough with real butter (cut that out now)

Dinner - salmon with veg & new potatoes, chicken salad etc

I drink 1.5 ltrs water & cut out all the crap & 90% less alcohol. That's how i've lost 20lbs so far.

Now i have had the odd fuck it day where i've had a takeaway / wine but truthfully my diet is the best its been ever

I have added a daily benecol drink, ditched the red meat (rarely eat anyway) & the butter. Cheese was long gone to aid weight loss

Can i turn this around with diet? Has anyone here managed?

I'm worried now

I think your choloesterol is coming from the animal based fats. Trying switching to a low fat, veggie diet.

I believe beetroot juice helps reduce cholesterol.

Would you cut out fish? And chicken?

I love beetroot & eat the steamed vacuum pack ones regularly in salads. I will look for juice

Thanks!

Has doctor not talked about statins?

That diet does not sound like a high cholesterol diet. You may just be someone with naturally high cholesterol which needs managing with medication.

Statins seem to be for you. Your diet is very reasonable from what I can see. There's doesn't seem to be all that much you can change really. Did GP give any diet advice? I'd imagine you are one of those people whose cholesterol is high and nothing will prevent it (familial, hereditary etc.). Did you have OK readings up to recently? If so, then it's not that! So back to the drawing board....

You must be puzzled as to how it's so high, unless you're not telling us about everything in your daily/weekly food intake 😊

Honestly, you should get your thyroid tested, cholesterol levels can be elevated with untreated thyroid issues and sometimes it’s not related to food at all

Google qrisk3 and input your details (ignore standard deviation of two BP readings). If your risk is above 10% you should be offered statins to reduce the risk of CVD.

How much alcohol do you. Currently drink? That, along with weight, hugely affects cholesterol levels. It’s great you’ve lost so much weight already, and have reduced alcohol and now cut out butter, but it can take 3 months for real changes to show so, if butter was a recent thing to cut out and you used to eat a fair bit, that may not show until your next blood test.

Do you know what your triglycerides and ratio are?

High cholesterol can be genetic as well as diet related. Get on a statin before you have a heart attack, seriously.

I'm type 2 diabetic with higher cholesterol than the diabetic nurse was happy with - mine went from 4.9 to 3.1 in a month.

She did say if no change as a result of diet in 4 - 6 weeks then we're looking at statins.

I eat as outlined the majority of the time for approx a year (that's how i lost 20lbs)

I have had the odd thursday night 'i'm exhausted, lets have a takeaway' but not so often as to impact weight loss signifcantly

My last reading, admittedly a few years ago was 6.5 or thereabouts

So i am now feeling terrified since that email came in

No need to cut out fish or chicken - both low fat high grade protein. You can avoid the chicken skin maybe.

Exactly this. There is a genetic link and tbh this level shouldn't be left to a possible dietary control, especially when there are no significant risk factors in your diet. This will increase your stroke risk well above the trigger for considering medication.

I'm very similar to you in terms of height, weight and what I eat. My cholesterol was around 7 which I think is down to genetics and a previously sedentary job. I've been on 20mg Statins since Sept 2024 and my cholesterol is down to around 3-4. I've had no side affects.

What coffee do you drink? If its anythjng other than filter or instant it contains oils that can raise cholesterol.

I don't like chicken skin so never eat that

I had full bloods done & all else fine apart from this

I've added chia seeds / small measure walnuts.

Removed butter - which i only ate on bread or if we had potatoes

I've added benecol

I love red wine but entirely cut it out for weight loss, apart from if i am out for a meal etc which might be once every 6 weeks,& often longer

I have reduced mine from just over 7 to 4.3 by eating healthily, exercise, cutting out alcohol, exercising and plant stenols . Saying that, my diet is quite similar to yours minus the butter. It's taken a year for it to go down and I have lost 2 stone. It seems that doctors are not so keen to rush people onto statins anymore. Do you exercise regularly?

I’m not sure it’s genetic, as it’s recent. Genetic they’d have seen it before, my husband has it for genetics and your age and it was detectable years ago.

whuch says it’s diet, and is why your doc is saying look at your diet. As he or she is thinking the same thing.

but your diet isn’t a high cholesterol one, so it’s odd.

I agree with other posters and think there’s something else going on to cause this. Don’t panic, have a go at adjusting your diet and if it doesn’t come down I’m sure your GP will refer you to the lipid clinic to see what could be the reason that it’s so high.

I don't drive so walk a lot

We have a bean to cup machine & i drink 2 coffes max a day - 1 at home at breakfast & 1 in work

Some days i don't have one in work

I’d go back to the doc.

these conditions can cause high cholesterol

Conditions: Hypothyroidism, kidney disease, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), and lupus can increase cholesterol levels

the only other thing past diet and lack of exercise, is too much alcohol.

I brought mine down by diet and now I don’t need statins, but my level was just on the cusp of needing them in the first place. If yours is much higher you may need to just have the statins. Some people just have naturally high levels

I'm feeling a bit panicky now.

I don't want to be at risk!

I'll be super strict with diet & continue to lose weight & i'll test again & if still high i'll be v happy to take the statin

I would up the fibre (do it slowly and with water). Work your way up to having 30g a day although your diet seems pretty good with the veggies and beans. Fibre helps with removing the bad cholesterol so may help you.

I"ve had full bloods including lupus etc & all ok

But age can manifest a genetically predisposition. And late 50s is the time we find out how good our genes are at keeping us healthy into older age.

I have not read the thread, but:
was this a fasting blood test? If not, redo
you also need the full breakdown ie hdl, ldl etc and the ratio
and finally; with that level you are likely someone with an inherited form of high cholesterol (like me). In which case, all the diet and lifestyle tweaks in the world, while helpful, will not bring it into safe levels. You need statins etc.