lowering cholesterol

[Red Rock]

I know this is kind of a broad topic but I will ask anyway.

How does one lower this if I'm already on a low fat diet. I watch what I eat, use EVOO and all of that "good stuff". Im in the the boarderline high category around 209-210. My doc has not bneen overly concerned but I am.

Any ideas that I can do?

Thankyou,
Ellen

[KnottedYet]

Metamucil.

Lowers cholesterol as much as Lipitor. (2-3 doses a day)

Bear in mind, though, that while Lipitor lowers cholesterol in women, the actual rates of heart disease DOES NOT CHANGE for women on Lipitor. It only works for men.

If your good chol to bad chol ratio is peachy, I wouldn't worry too much.

Knot-total-cholesterol-274-at-age-19-and-KnotDeadYet.

Edit: oh, yeah, and lots of cardio exercise.

[Red Rock]

Ok here is a follow-up woth another question...

How does exercise lower cholesterol?

[KnottedYet]

I dunno, but it does.

My cholesterol was at it's very best (205) when I was eating a high-fat, red meat at every meal, lots of booze, low fiber diet, and riding like a madwoman. (Diet heavily influenced by my German sweetie at the time.)

Supposedly alchohol lowers cholesterol (I had one doc tell me to drink one beer/glass of wine/shot of whiskey a day) but I think it was the exercise that really did it for me.

[Red Rock]

I can't drink due to genetics and the fact that was how my mother died so I do not want to touch the stuff. However, on rare occasions I will but hardly any.

Its hard to type with gloves on at the hospital... sorry for any mistakes.

I guess I just have to work harder about getting my exercise in. Between school and work (7 on 7 off) it is pretty difficult. Not only that my husband does not like to exercise so that does not help.

Ellen

[KnottedYet]

Start taking Metamucil at lunch and dinner.

Works pretty well for a lot of folks.

I'll get my chol retested in a couple weeks (was 255 six months ago), will post if it actually works. (worked great for my mom)

[Thorn]

My mother had the "rare muscular side effect" from Lipitor before it was accepted as real--she never recovered. As such, I refuse to use the drugs so I started dietary alternatives when my doc didn't like my cholesterol results. Unfortuately, I didn't do this scientifically, so I can only say that the following diet changes worked for me and did bring the bad count down 50 points. My doctor is now a happy camper. I am the only one in my family not on Liptor or similar drugs.

+ A glass of red wine every evening (really, how painful is that? :D --edit: oops, sorry to suggest)
+ Vegetarian. I was before, but I cut down on cheese to 4-5 times a week (Hey, I live in Wisconsin, once the cheese capital of the US before we citified--giving up cheese is hard).
+ Removed transfats and bad fats rather religiously--lots of label reading. That meant replacing my afternoon candy bar and/or cookies with either a few dark chocolate Dove bars or a Luna bar.
+ Replaced my morning donut habit with plain yogurt topped with 1/2 c raw thick cut oatmeal, 1/4 c each walnuts, cashews, dried cherries or blueberries and 2T ground flax seed (6 good things before breakfast--ok, during breakfast).

However, I still eat rich foods periodically (we all need comfort foods) and except for the breakfast change, 80% of my diet didn't change. I've since added back to the diet some other things I gave up (my milk chai, for instance) and the cholesterol level is holding.

Good luck.

Disclaimer: I'm a believer that diet, eating real food and exercise can work. I'm not denying that Lipitor and the like aren't required for some, but I tend to believe that American society tosses pills way too easily.

[Melalvai]

I guess I just have to work harder about getting my exercise in. Between school and work (7 on 7 off) it is pretty difficult. Not only that my husband does not like to exercise so that does not help.
I don't know what your exact circumstances are, but that's what I love about bicycling for transporatation. For me, a ten minute investment of my time each day gets me 40 minutes of exercise. Ten minutes is the difference between how long it takes to drive and how long it takes to bike to and from work. I realize that for a lot of folks it's not that simple, but if it possible for you to replace all your <2 mile or <5 mile trips with a bike ride, it could make a huge difference.

School will be over some day. It is sad that it seems impossible to live a normal life until then! I'm done with school but my husband has two years.

[Red Rock]

Thorn-I agree with you on the drug thing. My dad was high and my younger brother, who is a personal trainer, was able to get him down far enough so he did not have to go on statins. That is my goal too. I am a pastry nut-my other job/pastime unfortunatley. But I have cut down on them too. I will have to replace my oils with applesauce and EVOO, I guess. I have to have a brownie now and then or a cake, or some sort of chocolate or I will go nuts!!

I have asked my younger brother for his advice as well.

Ellen

[Tuckervill]

My dad literally did lower his cholesterol and get off medication by going on the Atkins diet. He has blood work every six months and it's still down, even though he doesn't stick to Atkins religiously anymore. He does use real butter and EVOO, etc.

I don't think Atkins is sustainable in the long term (I've read the book), and I get sick during the induction phase. But if it lowers your cholesterol it could be a possibility.

He has a drink every day, too, so maybe it was the alcohol!

Karen

[Thorn]

Maybe, RR, that now is the time to challenge your pastry chef side? I have had some pastries in areas of Spain where they don't have lard or butter, only olive oil. The pastries are actually made with olive oil. Oh, and they're good. Very good.

Oh, and I've read (on the Canadian flax seed web site), but not tried that a 1/4 cup of ground flax seed in water can substitute for an egg. That would reduce the cholestorol of the dish and up the Omega's.

I once met a woman who was a home baker that was diagnosed with Celiac. She embraced it as a challenge to her baking skills....perhaps you could do the same with EVO based pastries? [[insert evil, prodding smily face here]]

[Surlygirl]

My first recommendation would be to see a Cardiologist. My doctors kept telling me my cholesterol was fine. Not so when I saw the Cardiologist. He belongs to the Framingham Heart study. Link below. You also want to have your Tryglicerides checked which many doctors overlook.
I have high Tryglicerides. So had to eliminate the white foods, no potatoes, white rice, white bread, you get the idea. Bread has to say 100 Percent whole wheat as first or second ingredient. I also take 3 Omega fish oil pills a day, has to be the real EPA and DHA not the artificial so check labels. Exercise, which raises good, lowers the bad. Oh and no alcohol, which they have also linked to increase in breast cancer.
http://www.framinghamheartstudy.org/risk/hrdcoronary.html

[alpinerabbit]

Ok here is a follow-up woth another question...

How does exercise lower cholesterol?

LDL goes down and HDL goes up (that's the "good" cholesterol)
I did a pubmed search and understand the following:
Exercise stimulates synthesis, in the liver, of the carrier protein that is called LDL or HDL when it actually carries lipids. So basically you are mopping up the lipids?

the effect is
independent of diet and baseline or change in body fat
Quote from another paper:

Moderate-intensity but not vigorous-intensity exercise resulted in sustained VLDL-triglyceride lowering. Thirty minutes per day of vigorous exercise, like jogging, has sustained beneficial effects on HDL metabolism.
So both long/slow and vigorous training has its benefits.

So go for it....

[Red Rock]

Thank you for all who are helping me with this.

How good are those egg replacments? I have never used them as I would like to eat real and natural food products as much as possible. That is why I have cut down on my egg consumption.

Thankyou for the info alpinerabbit. Perhaps I just have to get my butt moving. My tris are good along wioth most everything else. I have gone with whole wheat everything for a long time. I would really like to get rid of my white bleached flour.

Ellen

[Starfish]

My mother had the "rare muscular side effect" from Lipitor before it was accepted as real--she never recovered.

I also have witnessed this side effect, and it was really awful.

It doesn't sound like RedRock is considering the meds, and also, I realize that every person must weigh and make their own choices regarding their risks, meds, etc.

I just wanted to throw in my experience of having seen this side effect thoroughly debilitate a once vigorous man. He also never recovered. It is just something I think about every time I watch a TV commercial with the little legal warning about the side effects at the end.

[Pax]

I also have witnessed this side effect, and it was really awful.

It doesn't sound like RedRock is considering the meds, and also, I realize that every person must weigh and make their own choices regarding their risks, meds, etc.

I just wanted to throw in my experience of having seen this side effect thoroughly debilitate a once vigorous man. He also never recovered. It is just something I think about every time I watch a TV commercial with the little legal warning about the side effects at the end.

I have resisted my doctors attempts to put me on Lipitor for the last two years. When I'm faithful about my diet and exercise I can keep my cholesterol under control, I just can't bring myself to take a drug to control something that is also fixable with diet and exercise...not when the side effects can be so debilitating!