okay, just came from a regular checkup and blood test and my doc says that my LDL levels are very high, and that I need to get them down. He doesnt want to go the prescription med way and I agree with that. I’d rather do it naturally.
he says given my age(36) its possible that this can be taken care of now, thus preventing any issues down the road.
he also said that while it may very well be genetic in nature to a certain extent, he advised that a dietary change be taken right away. at the moment I dont eat terribly, but I also dont eat perfectly as well.
I take Flameout on a daily basis(which i just started a couple of months ago). If anybody has any helpful suggestions on foods to avoid and others that would be beneficial I would greatly appreciate it.
I had my mother do the following for three months and at her next checkup her total had dropped 52 points. I don’t remember the exact breakdown, but I know most of that was from her LDL.
Don’t eat anything white, take two CholestOff tablets twice a day, take two Red Yeast Rice pills twice a day, take two fish oils pills three times a day (you taking Flameout covers this), take one serving of Benefiber twice a day and take 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds once a day.
My mother was over 70 at the time and not nearly as active as I hope you would be. So the not eating anything white may not be as important for you. However, the above worked very well for her and she lost 12 pounds in the process.
My cholesterol was high starting when I was around 25. Not real high, but higher than it should be, especially at a young age. I did everything I was told. I stopped eating eggs, cheese, and just about everything that had any amount of fat in it. I also started running a lot. I ended up skinny fat and watched my cholesterol climb higher and higher for three years.
I decide running sucks and I am going to start lifting again. I stumble upon T-Nation and start doing a lot of reading, start reading other people like Jonny Bowden. Needless to say my diet completely changes. I only eat reall foods, nothing processed or in little foil bags. I start eating avocados, eggs, and cheese and lower my carbs considerably. After about two years I get my blood checked again. My cholesterol was down almost 50 points and was the lowest it has ever been. After dramatically INCREASING my fat intake, my triglycerides were way down. They were never high, but they were about 1/3 of they were when I first started having cholesterol issues.
I don’t know what you’re diet looks like now, but once I stopped eating low quality food, everything else took care of itself.
-Ensure that you are at a healthy body weight and have decent body composition (12-15% BF). This can be accomplished through smart dieting.
-Exercise regularly (both weight training and cardiovascular exercise). Some form of cardio may be of benefit to you a few times a week.
-Increase consumption of fruits and vegetables.
-Decrease excessive consumption of saturated fat/dietary cholesterol. You should still be able to eat both in moderation without too heavy repercussions.
-Lean meats, fish, unprocessed carbohydrate sources (whole grains, potatos, rice, etc), low-fat dairy, healthy oils, nuts,fruits, and vegetables are the types of foods that should make the bulk of your diet (although, you do not really need each subgroup of food nor is there only one way). Of course, other food can be included like fattier meats, eggs, and sugary food, however in moderation.
These are some guidelines that will most likely cause a significant decrease in cholesterol if all of them are followed.
[quote]MODOK wrote:
Contrary to what is floating around here and elsewhere, there is zero correlation between dietary cholesterol intake and cardiovascular disease. Framingham Heart Study, the Tecumseh Study, WHO European Coronary Prevention Study, and many others have concluded this. So anyone telling you to decrease you intake of saturated fat is living in 1985. It is much more important to examine the total dietary composition rather than to focus on lowering a single macronutrient. Newer research has indicated that its actually a SPECIFIC type of LDL- sdLDL levels which are actually the risk factor most closely related to heart disease. sdLDL levels are linked more so to obesity, insulin levels, glucose levels, and metabolic syndrome than to any dietary considerations. Do some research on these subjects, it will help you out tremendously.[/quote]
Yes, even the R.D.s at my school (and I mean the ones who are usually stuck in 1985) are teaching the updated recommendations. I’m not sure why the dietary cholesterol/saturated fat thing is still getting passed around.
ETA: I should note that my peers, on the other hand, are still stuck on the dietary-cholesterol-BAD bandwagon. I had a fellow honors student in my program lecture me about my egg consumption a few weeks ago. He got an elevator descent’s worth of smack down.
At least in theory, more fiber could contribute to lower LDL, by binding to bile salts in the small intestine and lowering reuptake of bile salts. Since bile salts are pretty useful, your body should start producing more bile salts. This is good because bile salts are synthesized from cholesterol. So it should, at least in theory, help.
Could someone who’s studied medicine for more than six months please comment on how much sense this makes? And if it will have a noticeable effect?