Cholesterol 6.4, got to reduce or take statins

[Wilma55]

I had telephone appointment with doc today following blood test. I was having thyroid check as have put on about 1.5 stone and can't shift it. Did several checks. Thyroid, liver, kidneys all OK but doctor concerned about cholesterol and said if it doesn't come down in 6 to 12 months will need statins.
I am going to try harder to lose weight and cut out fatty foods. Any other suggestions? Has anyone else had this problem? I'm 68, 5'3" and 11.5 stone.

Oats/porridge for breakfast daily can bring it down a little, not enough in itself but helps.

If it runs in your family then there's not much foodwise you can do. You could try live on porridge and a very low fat diet and go for a 30 min walk 5 times a week or just go on the statins. You've nothing to lose by taking the statins.

My GP says up to 70% of cholesterol is determined by your genes...so some people will only be able to change around 30% by lifestyle.

Can you eat more of the good cholesterol such as oily fish?

I had a total cholesterol reading of 6. My consultant (for a different issue) insisted I reduce it or she'd have to stop the drug I'm on for that condition. I looked at the British Heart Foundation website, wrote down all advice about reducing saturated fat (not all fats) and sorted out my diet. In five weeks I reduced my cholesterol from 6.0 to 5.0.

Wow that's impressive! I've looked at Heart Foindation and other sites and will try
Oats
Beans
Nuts
Oily fish
5 a day
Cut out/reduce biscuits cakes pies
Consider benecol products
Will see where I am in 6 months.

As others have said people who have hereditary high cholesterol or BP can only do so much with lifestyle changes. If it is really high then medication is Your cholesterol doesn’t seem off the scales to me, especially given your age and the side effects you could get with statins.

Check out what the health on netflix. Check out forks over knives on youtube and the website online. You can reduce cholesteral significantly with diet. You can reverse heart disease and type 2 diabetes with diet. The type of diet is a whole foods plants based diet. Some people can do this diet and allow for fish/egg whites a couple times of week and keep good results with cholesteral and of course perhaps just doing some of the suggestions can bring it down a little. But if you want to go all in, you can lower it within weeks. Example of what you would eat in a day:

Once cup of dried oats cooked in water with a mashed banana, two tablespoons of flax meal plus berries on top

beans with brown rice, veggies, sweet potato

banana, berry smoothie made w water mixed in

apple and carrot sticks with humus for snack

veggie soup with baked potato and beans

This diet also sorts thyroid issues...and you slim down fast

Reducing cholesterol to any set figure is not the be all and end all. Mine is 4.0... it is too high for me... I had a heart attack anyway (stress hormones frying your arteries are as bad as cholesterol filling them... who knew...)

Statins aren't just for lowering cholesterol though. They also stabilise plaque in the actual blood
vessels so there's less chance of deposits breaking off. I don't get why people hesitate so much with cardiac meds. If your gp asked you to take asprin to prevent a heart attack etc I'm sure you wouldn't delay but that has equally potentially damaging side effects. FWIW I took it for a while when I was having investigations into some cardiac symptoms. My cholesterol is normal but you just have to weigh up the risks/benefits.