How to lower cholesterol?

amother

OP ↓

Sun, Aug 04 2024, 8:41 am

My triglycerides are fine, my blood pressure is fine.

I eat a low-carb diet. No sugar, other than whole fruit. Grains only on shabbat and then it's whole wheat. No ultra-processed foods. I was avoiding eggs, cheese, and mayo for a long time, but it didn't seem to help with lowering cholesterol, so I do have those currently. I eat lots of fruits and veggies, fish, yogurt, chicken breast, nuts and seeds. It's a pretty healthy diet, and I'm not sure what to tweak to get my cholesterol down.

One thing to keep in mind, I previously had a pre-diabetic A1C, but it was down the last time I tested.

So I want to tweak my diet to lower cholesterol without raising blood sugar.

Should I add in oats, barley, beans? Would that help? Would it negatively impact the sugar situation? Do I need to cut out eggs and cheese?

Or should I keep my diet as-is and focus on adding more exercise into my life?

Thank you for your advice.

amother

Whitesmoke

Sun, Aug 04 2024, 8:58 am

If your blood sugar is truly under control I would take a good hard look at thyroid function.

Avoiding animal fats is a myth and outdated.

amother

Yarrow

Sun, Aug 04 2024, 9:04 am

I see an endocrinologist regularly And have my blood work done, including thyroid, as suggested above.
The only thing that helps me without being on medication is taking red yeast rice two in the morning two at night and vigorous exercise at least four times a week.

amother

↑ OP

Sun, Aug 04 2024, 9:11 am

amother Stonewash wrote:

How much exercise do you currently do?

I exercise about an hour a week. I know that's not enough. Should I assume that increasing the exercise is more important than tweaking diet right now?

amother

Nemesia

Sun, Aug 04 2024, 9:33 am

I have a friend who eats only plant based diet with zero cholesterol consumed zero meat eggs chicken no dairy no sugar etc etc and none of that lowered her cholesterol, exercises one hr a day etc. there’a sometimes nothing left to do and it’s just a genetic predisposition and meds is the only way

amother

Gray

Sun, Aug 04 2024, 12:15 pm

Do you get adequate sleep? Can you possibly have sleep apnea? Do you eat too little or too much? Do you have regular ( normal) bowrl movements? All of those can affect cholesterol levels.

amother

Dodgerblue

Sun, Aug 04 2024, 12:20 pm

amother Nemesia wrote:

I am on a gluten free diet and don't have a lot of time to prepare fancy things so I end up eating rice cake tuna and vegetables.
I barely eat meats or fried foods.

I lost a lot of weight the last year and I exercise regularly bh.

I was shocked that my cholesterol is on an all time high.
I think its from stress.

amother

Lightcyan

Sun, Aug 04 2024, 3:07 pm

Check your ASCVD score online to check your heart attack risk. I have officially high cholesterol and the doctor wanted me on statins but the specialist plugged in my numbers and said I'm fine and don't have to do anything different.

Heart attack risk includes triglycerides, blood pressure, weight, genetics etc It's not just a cholesterol number.

amother

Cognac

Sun, Aug 04 2024, 3:42 pm

High cholesterol is a myth! The body needs cholesterol to survive. People on cholesterol meds and with a low cholesterol are likely to have dementia. Normal numbers used to be 300 until the medication came out and they wanted to sell that. Dont stress about it!Check out Barbra O'Neil on YouTube she talks about the myth of high cholesterol. Our system is making us sick

amother

Quince

Sun, Aug 04 2024, 4:05 pm

amother Dodgerblue wrote:

I am trying to be completely gf. What do you do about shabbos? You just have Tuna and rice cakes for lunch? What about breakfast? I would love to lose weight being gf!

As for op, I heard that old fashion oast (like oatmeal) daily could really help! I used to do it but stopped. Interestingly, my doc never mentioned cholesterol at my last visit so I will guess that for the first time in a while, my cholesterol is down BH.