Cholesterol.

[poorbuthappy]

I've had the test (tacked onto other tests) and have been told it's high. It's 7.

Obviously I'm googling/researching etc looking at changing lifestyle etc and wondered if anyone had any hints/tips to help bring it down?

exercise. walking for 40 mins a day is evidently as effective as statins.

Cutting out bad fat. Not so much frying etc but hidden fats in pastry, biscuits and cake- and chocolate.

EAT- oats ( porridge) which helps mop up cholesterol- and increase fruit and veg.

What is your diet like now?

Try eating more fat and cutting down on sugar/carbs.

My diet is crap which is why I'm not surprised tbh.
But there is so much conflicting information. Low fat high fat low carb etc.
everyone's got a different opinion!!

I had high cholestral (7) and was put on statins
I made small changes , used less butter ( did try to knock butter on the head but it didn't work)
Only had 2 or 3 biscuits instead of half a pack
Only had one bag of crisps instead of 2
Cut down on cheese
Drank more water
Resisted the urge for a chocolate bar
Use less oil for frying
Get off at the bus stop before I was due to get off
Limit the sausage rolls out of Greggs
small changes ... Not cutting out , just cutting down and being more aware
My Cholestral is now 4.8
This was 6 months ago

If high cholesterol is familial, it may not be possible to reduce the levels with diet alone.
Cholesterol is made by the liver- we need it in the right amount.
Some people produce too much. For them, diet is not much of an 'add on'- doesn't make much difference.
The connection between high fat diets and cholesterol is blurred now.
You'd be better off reducing carbs and sugar, and taking up exercise.
Increase fruit and veg- aim for 7 portions daily- and eat oats which absorb fats and help it be eliminated from the body ( as does all fibre.)

Mine was 6.1 and I got it down to 5.9 due to my thyroid being low and increasing my meds.

That was a year ago and I am too scared to test again and I have health anxiety which means any tests like this send me into massive panic attacks.

One GP doesn't believe that high cholesterol means much, apparently only 50% of people who have heart attacks have high cholesterol and apparently there is increasing evidence that high chol isn't as dangerous as we think.. the book the cholesterol myth is very interesting.

As someone else said, lots of evidence is now coming out to say sat fats aren't the cause of high cholesterol either.

Although I am saying this it does worry me and mine is probably higher now if anything.

I want my GP to put me on statins before I have another test. One of the reasons is that I have thousands of lipomas and statins are also thought to help with them and my health anxiety makes me petrified of medical tests of any kind and I would rather go on statins then get tested knowing I would have a better result :hmm