I had a physical at 40 and all of my numbers are great....except...my cholesterol. Thyroid, glucose, b-12, every panel they ran was perfect. But here's the downer:
Total cholesterol 279
Triglycerides 117 (low to normal range)
HDL 43 (low range)
LDL 213 (very high)

I need to lose some weight. Probably 40 lbs. I was thinking about doing a Mediterranean-type low carb diet with a lot of fish, olive oil, leafy greens without the grains. I really don't want to go on blood pressure meds because I know people who have had bad side effects.

I have a follow up appointment next week, just looking for some advice beforehand.

I've seen lots of people get off cholesterol meds by lifestyle changes. But it is far more common for people to start a lifestyle change and then slowly revert back.

I think exercise will help your HDL, and dietary changes will help your LDL and triglycerides. Cut back on carbs and especially sugars, and it'll help your triglycerides. LDL is a little harder to fix, but increasing your dietary intake of natural fats from things like avocados, salmon, nuts, even beef, coconut, etc., is probably where I'd start.

My recommendation to you would be to talk with your doctor and come up with a plan for the next year. Basically get a cholesterol test every 3-4 months, during which time your goal should be to lose weight, exercise, and experiment with dietary changes. If you stop showing progress, and you remain in an unhealthy range, then let him start you on what he thinks is best. If you show progress and get down to a healthy point, then you win.

Also, I think there's some debate swirling right now about diet and cholesterol and statins. From my personal research, I follow a high fat, moderate carb diet, and minimize my intake of processed carbs substantially. I find it hard to recommend this type of diet to people I don't know because the currently accepted standards out there do not support it, and the mediterranean diet (which relies heavily on quality fats) is well supported. So I think you're right in choosing that as your starting point.

I don't always agree with bigtruck by I do here. Don't ask me to remember where I read it, but current research shows it is the carbs and the sugars that cause high bad cholesterol.

The body is good at turning excess energy into fat. Sugar and highly processed carbs are easy energy to turn into fat/cholesterol. Hell the government all but said so in their last recommendations. They just st can't come out and say whoops we've been wrong for the last 60 years because big sugar paid us a lot of money to say it is fat not sugar causing all the problems.

I'm a 45 275 pound powerlifer. I eat almost nothing but meat vegetables and nuts. Deez nutz! My BP IS 130ish over 70ish with a resting heart rate in the low 60s. My cholesterol and blood sugar are phenomenal.

must add at least three 30 minutes cardio exercises weekly. this is the hard part (to me anyway)

bigtruckguy3500 said:

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I've seen lots of people get off cholesterol meds by lifestyle changes. But it is far more common for people to start a lifestyle change and then slowly revert back.

I think exercise will help your HDL, and dietary changes will help your LDL and triglycerides. Cut back on carbs and especially sugars, and it'll help your triglycerides. LDL is a little harder to fix, but increasing your dietary intake of natural fats from things like avocados, salmon, nuts, even beef, coconut, etc., is probably where I'd start.

My recommendation to you would be to talk with your doctor and come up with a plan for the next year. Basically get a cholesterol test every 3-4 months, during which time your goal should be to lose weight, exercise, and experiment with dietary changes. If you stop showing progress, and you remain in an unhealthy range, then let him start you on what he thinks is best. If you show progress and get down to a healthy point, then you win.

Also, I think there's some debate swirling right now about diet and cholesterol and statins. From my personal research, I follow a high fat, moderate carb diet, and minimize my intake of processed carbs substantially. I find it hard to recommend this type of diet to people I don't know because the currently accepted standards out there do not support it, and the mediterranean diet (which relies heavily on quality fats) is well supported. So I think you're right in choosing that as your starting point.

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This is great advice! Thank you. I will talk to the doctor about making a plan.

To the others who replied, appreciate your comments, too.

Hoosegow said:

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I don't always agree with bigtruck by I do here. Don't ask me to remember where I read it, but current research shows it is the carbs and the sugars that cause high bad cholesterol.

The body is good at turning excess energy into fat. Sugar and highly processed carbs are easy energy to turn into fat/cholesterol. Hell the government all but said so in their last recommendations. They just st can't come out and say whoops we've been wrong for the last 60 years because big sugar paid us a lot of money to say it is fat not sugar causing all the problems.

I'm a 45 275 pound powerlifer. I eat almost nothing but meat vegetables and nuts. Deez nutz! My BP IS 130ish over 70ish with a resting heart rate in the low 60s. My cholesterol and blood sugar are phenomenal.

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I love your approach to diet. My BP and HR are about the same as yours. Just the cholesterol is messed up.

I think I forgot to mention that there is a relatively small subset of the population the does respond unfavorably to eating dietary cholesterol, which is why it'll be important to get blood work every 3-4 months to make sure you're not one of those people. For example, after your first blood work on just apure mediterranean diet, if that's ok, then start adding eggs into your diet (even one month of 2-3 eggs a day a month before your second blood test would work), and see how your cholesterol responds.

Hoosegow said:

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I don't always agree with bigtruck by I do here. Don't ask me to remember where I read it, but current research shows it is the carbs and the sugars that cause high bad cholesterol.

The body is good at turning excess energy into fat. Sugar and highly processed carbs are easy energy to turn into fat/cholesterol. Hell the government all but said so in their last recommendations. They just st can't come out and say whoops we've been wrong for the last 60 years because big sugar paid us a lot of money to say it is fat not sugar causing all the problems.

I'm a 45 275 pound powerlifer. I eat almost nothing but meat vegetables and nuts. Deez nutz! My BP IS 130ish over 70ish with a resting heart rate in the low 60s. My cholesterol and blood sugar are phenomenal.

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I have struggled with this for years. Took stations for years until the side effects started piling up. Cannot tolerate them at all anymore. I get the muscle/joint pains.

Read a book a while back that has a pretty intelligent taken on what hoosegow says. The great cholesterol myth was the title.

I haven't had particular success with lifestyle changes but will first to admit that my dietary changes have not been consistent enough..

2-3 teaspoons, 2-3 times a day.

I dropped 70 lbs and 40 cholesterol points doing paleo + crossfit.

Check out this website. A lot of what he has to say makes a lot of sense to me as far as eliminating sugars and grains, eating good fat, etc. I've been trying to follow his guidelines and find that they're not too difficult. I like that he actually shows which foods are better than others and why.

https://www.dietdoctor.com/how-to-lose-weight

I have a history of family heart disease and cholesterol is just one of the factors that I monitor. I recently started reading The Great Cholesterol Myth. It focuses on other factors of heart disease and states that cholesterol is a relatively small component. Sugar is one of the bigger factors according to the book and what others stated above. In my experience start small. Ten pushups before you start your day, ten pushups before bed and move forward. Just starting somewhere was the hardest part for me and now I have actually stuck with not only eating better, but working out much more frequently. For me just sticking to the little things has resulted in weight loss, however that was not my main focus. Good luck

You are all fantastic and have made me feel so much better. And the ACV is a great idea. I love Braggs.

Thanks for such well informed responses.

TampaBayAg said:

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2-3 teaspoons, 2-3 times a day.

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I have seen this. Tried it, but even after a couple three weeks of doing it, REALLY hate the taste. Is there anything concrete and substantiated out there actually supporting the benefits?

aggieiniowa said:

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I have a history of family heart disease and cholesterol is just one of the factors that I monitor. I recently started reading The Great Cholesterol Myth. It focuses on other factors of heart disease and states that cholesterol is a relatively small component. Sugar is one of the bigger factors according to the book and what others stated above. In my experience start small. Ten pushups before you start your day, ten pushups before bed and move forward. Just starting somewhere was the hardest part for me and now I have actually stuck with not only eating better, but working out much more frequently. For me just sticking to the little things has resulted in weight loss, however that was not my main focus. Good luck

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Agree completely.

The thing that most struck me about the book, and why I mentioned it, was, 1) it was not selling something, 2) it does not just say ignore high cholesterol. It focuses more on the ties with sugar and the fact that statins were developed that could control things with a simple pill instead of the hard way. Lord knows most would rather take a pill than change habits. There are some conspiracy type vibes to it, but honestly, even as a well educated reasonable individual that doesn't see conspiracy around every corner, I have a hard time discounting a lot of it. I have a strong suspicious history may end up supporting some of their theories as to why we took the road we did and how it was wrong.

As someone with no family history (adopted) and crappy numbers despite reasonably healthy habits, this subject has been very personal to me for a long time. Glad to see some good discussion about it.

My numbers were similar to yours 6 months ago.

I took Cholestoff
****load of Fish
Beans, Beans Beans. Dropped my total to 207 and got HDL up to 75
jogging

loser97 said:

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My numbers were similar to yours 6 months ago.

I took Cholestoff
****load of Fish
Beans, Beans Beans. Dropped my total to 207 and got HDL up to 75
jogging

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Congratulations! I just ordered some Cholestoff last night. Hoping to have good results.

I CANNOT eat beans. They do a number on my stomach, but I was planning on incorporating some flaxseed for fiber into my diet and lots of greens. Hopefully that (with ****load of fish!) and exercise does the trick.

Will try CHolestoff!

I did a quick glance at the research. Best I can tell is that it can help with satiety and improve weight loss in humans, and it helps with insulin sensitivity in diabetic rats.

bigtruckguy3500 said:

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I did a quick glance at the research. Best I can tell is that it can help with satiety and improve weight loss in humans, and it helps with insulin sensitivity in diabetic rats.

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Are you talking about ACV? I've heard that, too.

I am wondering if the capsules are as effective as the liquid. I picked up some CVS 450 mg ACV capsules. I don't like that they have rice powder as an ingredient, though.

Absolute said:

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TampaBayAg said:

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2-3 teaspoons, 2-3 times a day.

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I have seen this. Tried it, but even after a couple three weeks of doing it, REALLY hate the taste. Is there anything concrete and substantiated out there actually supporting the benefits?

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I had the same issue at first. I can usually chug down stuff like that and move on but this was unbearable. My wife dilutes it with a 12 ounce HEB lime carbonated water. It's actually somewhat enjoyable to me like that.

bigtruckguy3500 said:

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I did a quick glance at the research. Best I can tell is that it can help with satiety and improve weight loss in humans, and it helps with insulin sensitivity in diabetic rats.

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Seems to claim to do just about everything. Always skeptical about that. But it doesn't seem like there is a huge downside / danger to it.

Has anyone here seen actual results from it?

Quote:

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Tried it, but even after a couple three weeks of doing it, REALLY hate the taste.

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Put it in a fruit juice. I know -- fruit juices are typically no-nos when it comes to diet, but I don't think half a glass of grape juice once a day is going to hurt anyone. It could help.

As far as results, my acid reflux issues (minor) are all but gone.

Hoosegow, not to hijack a threats but I'm trying to better manage diet in conjunction with heavy barbell training...do you increase your carb intake (even relatively good carbs like oatmeal and fruit) around heavy training days vs rest days?

Good red wine!!!!

Cheerios!

My friend had some concerning cholesterol numbers and started an ACV (specifically Bragg's) cocktail that is just about 8 oz of water, a tablespoon of ACV, and a small amount of local honey. She says her numbers have gotten much better since she started the ACV.

Another friend says a pinch of salt can neutralize the acidity a bit to help you get it down.

Have started mixing it in a small glass of apple juice. Helps a lot to make it tolerable.

Just checked my total cholesterol is 170 with my at home test. I will check again in a few days to see if it is a fluke.

Is that the only change she made to her diet/exercise?

For a couple of years my doctor told me that my cholesterol was close to the point that I should start taking meds but not quite there. In the Fall of 2015 he suggested I start taking red yeast rice extract. At my physical in the Fall of 2016 (after the worst year for me in terms of physical exercise and diet) the cholesterol numbers had improved enough we didn't even discuss medication.

Red yeast rice actually contains the same active ingredient in lovastatin, a cholesterol medication. It's a relatively weak statin, but it is a statin.

Red Yeast Rice lowered mine some 50 points

When I was in med school, I was a guinea pig for a couple of studies in the metabolic center. Long story short, we were given three different diets for a period of time, then extensively studies at the end with glucose tolerance testing, blood and urine testing, etc. One of the main parameters of the study was a lipid profile. When we were given a diet which was very high in olive oil, my blood cholesterol really plummeted. This was with no change in anything else in my lifestyle. My recollection of the results was that they were pretty significant.