Reducing Cholestoral Levels

HurlingBoy

I am in my late 30s and 6 months ago I had a blood test and my Cholestoral was 7.4. My doctor wanted to put me on medication but I said I would make lifestyle changes and I have now got this down to 6.7. Still lots of room for improvement but I am wondering if I maintain my current lifestyle will I see another reduction in 6 months time. I haven't made radical changes but eat porridge, a banana and benecol yogurt for breakfast so I think this has been the main reason for the reduction. I was already exercising regularly. 
My question is should I expect a further reduction or will it level out at 6.7. Do I need to further improve my diet and get more exercise to reduce the number further to within healthy levels?

fishy_fishy

HurlingBoy wrote: »

I am in my late 30s and 6 months ago I had a blood test and my Cholestoral was 7.4. My doctor wanted to put me on medication but I said I would make lifestyle changes and I have now got this down to 6.7. Still lots of room for improvement but I am wondering if I maintain my current lifestyle will I see another reduction in 6 months time. I haven't made radical changes but eat porridge, a banana and benecol yogurt for breakfast so I think this has been the main reason for the reduction. I was already exercising regularly. 
My question is should I expect a further reduction or will it level out at 6.7. Do I need to further improve my diet and get more exercise to reduce the number further to within healthy levels?

I'm not shilling here, but the happy pear do a 4 week plan called the happy heart diet that's specifically aimed at lowering cholesterol. It's vegan, but more specifically it's whole food plant based diet. It's not chips with a side of veg!

I've just done 2 weeks of it mainly aiming to lose weight as my cholesterol is fine. I'm not gonna lie, it's kinda challenging in that there's a lot of cooking, but the food is so tasty. They have a private Facebook group for support where you can interact with them, they do live q&a sessions and people share tips and progress etc. From that group I can see that people really are getting fantastic results lowering their cholesterol.

It might be what you're after in that it could bring it down just that bit more so that it's in a healthy range, and then you can go back to eating similarly to how you are now to maintain it.

Tar.Aldarion

What were you eating for breakfast? The best thing is to increase your fresh fruit and vegetable intake, and I mean you should be mostly eating whole foods and veg. If you are overweight, lose some and it does wonders. "The biggest influence on blood cholesterol level is the mix of fats and carbohydrates in your diet—not the amount of cholesterol you eat from food."

Eating cholesterol itself also affects cholesterol levels to some degree, try cutting it out for a while and see how it goes (animal products are the source, cholesterol is only found in them.)

2xj3hplqgsbkym

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Eating cholesterol itself also affects cholesterol levels to some degree, try cutting it out for a while and see how it goes (animal products are the source, cholesterol is only found in them.)

Trans fats raise your bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and lower your good (HDL) cholesterol levels. Eating trans fats increases your risk of developing heart disease and stroke- these are found in fried and baked foods and margarines e.g. Doughnuts, cakes, crackers, biscuits, ready meals etc..., not just animal foods.

Martina1991

HurlingBoy wrote: »

I am in my late 30s and 6 months ago I had a blood test and my Cholestoral was 7.4. My doctor wanted to put me on medication but I said I would make lifestyle changes and I have now got this down to 6.7. Still lots of room for improvement but I am wondering if I maintain my current lifestyle will I see another reduction in 6 months time

I'm surprised your doctor advised medication first. You're right to change your lifestyle first. Keep doing what you're doing and try to avoid trans fats! Good luck.

NIMAN

Maybe a list of do's and don't in terms of foods might be worthwhile on here?

Eat/Do more:
Porridge
Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, mackerel and herring, walnuts, almonds and ground flaxseeds.
Increase soluble fibre, oats and oat bran, fruits, beans, lentils, and vegetables.
Add whey protein, found in health stores
Do an much exercise as possible
Stop smoking

Eat/do less of:
Saturated fats, found primarily in red meat and dairy products
Bakery products, biscuits, crisps, microwave popcorn, pizza

s7ryf3925pivug

Moshe Miniature Pelican wrote: »

Trans fats raise your bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and lower your good (HDL) cholesterol levels. Eating trans fats increases your risk of developing heart disease and stroke- these are found in fried and baked foods and margarines e.g. Doughnuts, cakes, crackers, biscuits, ready meals etc..., not just animal foods.

Well it's not exactly what he was talking about, but yes trans fats are definitely a major concern. Unsafe in any quantity.

Margarine, shortening (veg or animal) and partially hydrogenated oils [fully hydrogenated oils don't have them] are normal sources, of which shortening is the worst. All should be completely eliminated from the diet by everyone.

In terms of what we eat, typically this translates into lower quality baked goods (margarine or shortening) and fried food from a chipper (shortening usually used, except for big chains). They can be present in a wide variety of processed foods though.

My wife fixed her cholesterol levels in a couple of months with the single diet change of not eating chipper chips, and she didn't even eat them that frequently in the first place. (She was vegetarian and ate almost no dairy, so the culprit was pretty easy to identify I guess.)

HurlingBoy

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

What were you eating for breakfast? The best thing is to increase your fresh fruit and vegetable intake, and I mean you should be mostly eating whole foods and veg. If you are overweight, lose some and it does wonders. "The biggest influence on blood cholesterol level is the mix of fats and carbohydrates in your diet—not the amount of cholesterol you eat from food."

Eating cholesterol itself also affects cholesterol levels to some degree, try cutting it out for a while and see how it goes (animal products are the source, cholesterol is only found in them.)

I was eating Special K, OJ, Cereal bar. I changed job also and my new job is alot less stressful than my old job. I've seen some sites saying that stress can be a contributing factor although my doctor dismissed this.