have you lowered your cholesterol? how

[Marshtit]

i think it is my lack of exercise is t he crunch
but i have been sent a diet sheet which has annoyed me as i believe my nutrition to be healthy
i guess no cakes or biscuits also is the answer?
i only eat white bread at the weekend for example

There's only so much you can do with diet, especially if your diet is already healthy - which lets face it, for a lot of us it isn't.

The evidence suggests you can lower it about 10% with diet alone - depending on your results, this may be enough but for a lot of people, it won't be.

i might have to give up sausages! i already have cut down on bacon as i am not keen on it

have to stock up on the brown rice and brown pasta as well

Statins were the only thing that did it for me.

You can make a reasonable difference through diet and exercise. If your current diet is not already similar to the diet sheet then you probably can improve your cholesterol by changing it.

You’ve said you eat cakes, biscuits, sausages and bacon so I would think you can make some changes. It’s not going to do you any harm to try it!

I lowered mine by quitting alcohol completely and also diet, but just by swapping items. Like using olive oil to cook with, adding side salads alongside. If I'm out i choose a different option. I knew I couldn't do a strict diet as I would never maintain it, so eat what I used to eat but by cooking myself, swapping ingredients or a different choice in bought items.

Exercise wise I just got a fit bit and walked more in my day to day. Even just around the house, just sat less 😅 but it seems to have worked for me.
I think there is only so much you can do though, I reckon mine will increase at some point as everyone in my family has high cholesterol and all my grandparents died of either heart disease or stroke, so i think there is a genetic disposition. Not to mention i was in my mid 20's when my cholesterol levels came back high in a routine exam.

thank you

I did it through diet, but it was extreme. I followed the nhs guidelines re low sat fat and ate nothing outside of this. I was doing this though, to manage an acute gallbladder problem. I don't think i could have done that outside of the threat of intense pain. As soon as it was removed I stopped the extreme, only low sat fat, food. I now eat some higher sat fat, but I also now exercise and take an entry level statin.

It depends on a lot of things. I have an underactive thyroid which means I am always in an uphill battle with cholesterol. Have you had your thyroid tested?

I did manage to get it down to "normal" but it was with very drastic measures - no red meat at all, no cheese, no full fat dairy, no cakes, no biscuits, no chocolate. Eating lots of salmon and avocado, intermittent fasting and eating overnight oats at lunchtime, daily benecol type yoghurt drink. It worked, but not sustainable really as it's quite restrictive especially when eating out.

I'm keeping up with many of my dietary changes but am now on a low-dose statin too.

I tried to through diet after dr told me it was too high and made a marginal difference.

I then got gallbladder problems and had to more radically and consistently change my fat intake and I now have too low cholesterol (not enough of the ‘good’ ones). I very rarely eat anything with a fat content above 4% and this means I also rarely eat sugary things as a lot of my intake of sweet things was through cake etc (I don’t eat much fruit)

Reducing meat portion sizes, and eating less cheese and butter are sensible. Some meats have less than others. Pork, duck & venison are healthier than beef. Fish is better. Eating vegetarian couple of times a week will help too.

There is a compound in oatmeal that has been found to lower cholesterol so I have porridge every other day.

And I run two or three times a week. It all helps.

Interestingly cholesterol is protective against Alzheimer’s.

oh dear!
is that good cholesterol though or bad?

No - exactly the opposite.

https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/dementia-information/dementia-risk/cholesterol-and-dementia-risk/

I exercise regularly, eat healthily, am a healthy weight, and teetered around 6-7 for years. My bp and resting pulse are good but the potential link with Alzheimer’s convinced me to start statins. No side effects at all.

Mine is always 4.0 or below. I am in my 50s. I eat loads of veg/ fruit/ pulses. Use olive oil and have never used butter or marg as disliked it as a child. I eat lean meat and fish and eggs,walk lots with my dog. I’m slim( bmi 22/23) but do enjoy wine at the weekends.

My doctor said that, as my diet was reasonable, there was probably not much I could do without stating.

I had already made lots of changes to control blood sugar. These were mainly around lots of vegetables and healthy fats. (I already don't drink alcohol)

Anyway, I ignored her. I added a big spoon of ground linseed to my breakfast each day, and switched to benecol spread.

And this helped.

But my cholesterol was only just high, not super high.

DH had high cholesterol and his diet was already very good and he exercises every day. He started eating Greek yogurt with oats, fruit and seeds for breakfast and drinks a glass of beetroot juice every day, and it’s come down. I don’t know if that’s a coincidence.

My cholesterol was always fine and <4. In 2023, I went on a very strict and healthy diet and have lost 9st. I don’t eat butter, cream, red meat, pastries, anything high fat etc. Eat lots of whole foods, pulses, leafy greens.

My cholesterol is now 7 😭
I’m so annoyed about it.

My doc thinks it’s hereditary.

If

that is annoying!

Following. My cholesterol has increased, but I don’t consider I eat that unhealthily. I do have cheese most days, but I don’t have much milk plus have osteoporosis (I’m falling to bits). I also take the dog out.

If you have an hour to spare listen to this really interesting podcast about cholesterol. STEM talk is the podcast from the Florida Institute for Human and Cognition, and it's really great on health topics.
Cholesterol is one of those topics where the research and the general advice floating about don't really match up, so it is interesting to look at what the actual research actually says.

https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalk/episode-169/

Two statins here. I’m sure that 80% of cholesterol is down to liver function, I can’t quite remember the statistic. My cholesterol was in the region of 9 before statins, that was as a 34 year old, size 10, super fit team rower with a good diet.

I'm having the same problem. Have been eating really healthily, really small amounts, lowered carbs a lot, lowered fat, lowered salt. Few rough oatcakes etc as some of the few carbs. Exercising loads.

Lost 20kg. Cholesterol went up. Blood glucose went up. Blood pressure went up. Various other bad things went up.

Fed up!

Following for more ideas. I don't really eat butter or spreads so that one won't help but I guess I could swap the Greek yoghurt (I've been eating half and half full fat and fat-free!) for one of the cholestrol lowering ones or something. I already use olive oil. One tiny piece of cheese a day ,but I suppose that should go too. Almost no meat now, almost no treats.

(actually it's the blood glucose results that frustrated me more than anything; the cholesterol went up, but less dramatically). But I was really hoping to get that down.

the person i spoke to said avocados were not a good food, so i am a bit meh about her as according to nhs website, they are a good fat!
but i cant hide from my results