Anybody try and successfully reduce their cholesterol levels?

Ok, here are my numbers from my recent blood test and what they say is normal. I am a 43 year old male who is perhaps 15 lbs. above ideal weight.

CHOL: 260 (ideal below 200)
HDL: 46 (normal at least 40, ideal at least 60)
LDL: 168 (ideal below 130)
LDLDIR: 108 (no specs given, have no idea what this is)
TRIG: 230 (normal below 150)

My diet flunctuates but two things I have been doing more of the past few months is eating sweets and drinking beer. Would either of these two account for my higher readings, particularly the triglycerides? My exercise routine has been sporadic at best over the past several months as well.

Anybody work on and successfully reduce their cholesterol levels without prescription medicine? What was your method? What is puzzling is the note at the bottom frome the doctor. "Your results showed high total cholesterol. They require no treatment". One would think from that statement that they are ok but I don't really think they are ok or certainly can be improved upon.

Mine was 274 and I started drinking 8 packets of tea tech and it is now 215 (non fasting.. the 274 was fasting!)


I'ts available @ vitamin shoppe or www.Teatech.com

taste is ahhhh.... aquired LOL

Results I can't deny

Manzerick, did you make absolutely any other diet or exercise changes besides drinking the tea?

I was able to reduce mine from around 215 to 185 by basically cutting as much fat from my diet as possilble and now only eat red meat once a month. So no more double cheeseburgers for lunch 2 - 3 times a week and limited sweets. My triglycerides also came down from 270 to 160 - 170 range. Other big benefit was that I lost 20 pounds in a period of about 6 weeks. My doctor basically told me that if I was not able to make changes in how I was living I would end up in a hospital eventually wondering why I had a heart attack - scared my into making permanent changes in the way I live. That was 6 years ago and I am still sticking to the same diet today. Primarily eat boneless/skinless chicken breast and ground turkey based meals.

I also have been excercising on a pretty much daily basis for the last 3 years and lost another 20 pounds and improved my cholesterol numbers even further. In my opinion a much better solution than taking medication to do the job. Don't get me wrong - the meds available today are life savers for those that are living in the danger zone.

I have run on long enough.

Cheers,
Tim

P.S. Another method I tried 20 years ago that worked very well was taking large quantities of Niacin - Vitamin B3. But don't do this without checking with your doctor first - forces your liver to metabolize the cholesterol in your system and should not be messed around with.

Sounds like an "old school" doc you have there geepondy. Mine would be freaking out.

About 5 years ago, my LDL was at 134 and my doc got out his prescription pad. Being still somewhat young myself and taking no prescriptions meds, I didn't like the idea of cholesterol lowering drugs and liver function tests for the rest of my life. Well, not without a fight.

I asked the doc to wait 6-months to see what I could do with lifestyle modification - and I got on it.

Long story short, today my HDL is 59, LDL is 92, Trig 58 - Total cholesterol is 163.

The modifications required to make that change were life modifications - not just one thing or a magic pill. Here's some of them:

1. Exercise - 5 to 6 days a week. 1/2 hr. of cardio - 15 mins of weights
2. Substitute Benecol (brand) for butter.
3. Substitute grape seed Mayo for the real thing.
4. Turkey burgers if I really need a burger.
5. No red meat (which I love - but don't anymore)
6. I take a few supplements including fish oil (important) and garlic.
7. Eat more fish, veggies.
8. Eat less pizza, fast food.

I just realized that the above list is much longer than I can put down here, so I'll stop.

My humble suggestion: Give yourself a few months and make some small changes. See what happens on your next blood test. I remember feeling so excited that I could actually make a change in my overall health. So was the doctor.

At your age, this sounds more like a "wakeup call" than an emergency. But left untreated it might become one someday. You really can make a difference now!

Carry on, and best of health!

Bill

Just to give the medicated comparison, I'm 53, overweight, and have been taking cholesterol-reducing meds since a heart attack four years ago (three stents were installed). I watch my diet better, quit smoking, don't drink much (any more), but don't exercise enough. I have a sedentary lifestyle.

On the date of the attack, total was 209, LDL was 134, HDL was 37 and triglycerides were 191. Six weeks ago, total was 115, LDL was 49, HDL was 45, and tri was 105.

The LDL level of 49 is correct; my previous four tests were in the 56 - 59 range. I take Vytorin to reduce production and block absorbtion of cholesterol, and since it is so effective, I take Niaspan and a couple of fish oil tabs daily to increase HDL.

I'm a believer in the meds.

geepondy said:

My diet flunctuates but two things I have been doing more of the past few months is eating sweets and drinking beer. Would either of these two account for my higher readings, particularly the triglycerides? My exercise routine has been sporadic at best over the past several months as well.

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Beer and sweets are both easily converted to fat if eaten in excess. They could certainly account for high cholesterol levels. In general, your cholesterol level rises with your weight, all other things being equal. As for exercise, while diet is important exercise is even more important. You can be fairly healthy on a diet of mostly junk provided you exercise enough. On the other hand, if you eat the healthiest diet in the world but don't exercise you'll likely have loads of health problems.

Anybody work on and successfully reduce their cholesterol levels without prescription medicine? What was your method? What is puzzling is the note at the bottom frome the doctor. "Your results showed high total cholesterol. They require no treatment". One would think from that statement that they are ok but I don't really think they are ok or certainly can be improved upon.

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You have a smart doctor. Too many doctors these days are obsessed with numbers to the point that if any reading isn't almost textbook they'll prescribe a drug to treat it. For example, I've heard of people put on blood prssure medication for a BP of 130/90. Long term of course any drugs will cause more problems than they solve but it's a quick fix plus the doctor avoids confrontation with the patient by not having to suggest a lifestyle change. While your numbers are a little off, it's certainly nothing imminently life threatening. I'm sure minor changes in diet and/or more exercise will fix the problem.

A big problem with cholesterol reducing drugs besides the expense and the side effects is that they mask an unhealthy lifestyle. My father was on Lipitor for quite a few years. Because his cholesterol readings were OK he didn't think any lifestyle changes were needed. As a result he continued his sedentary lifestyle, ate all sorts of fatty foods, continued piling on the pounds, etc. The last year he apparently experienced the worst side effects of Lipitor-lethargy, constipation, muscle weakness, liver problems, start of kidney problems. In the end his lifestyle plus these side effects caused the heart attack which killed him at only 71½. He could easily have lived another 20 to 30 years had he changed his lifestyle instead of relying on drugs. I say this to warn anyone who relies on drugs that they are heading down the same path. Do whatever it takes to get off them all. In the end they're all bad news. I salute your doctor for not taking the easy way out like my father's doctors did.

The hard truth of the matter is that if most people focused on diet plus exercise they wouldn't need any drugs. My mom is proof positive of this. She will be 68 in January. She takes no prescription drugs at all except when she goes to the dentist for things like root canals. Last blood test all her readings were well within the norm. Her diet is good but not 100% health food. However, she does move around a lot. She gardens, and has been walking 7 miles round trip to some of her doctor's appointments.

As for myself, I try to walk a few miles a day although I do miss some days. I also cycle a few times a week. I have no idea what my cholesterol is since I haven't been to a doctor since 1980 but my BP last week was 115/64. I'll admit my diet leaves much to be desired and I'm about 15 to 25 pounds overweight, depending upon my estimates of how much muscle mass I have. However, I feel exercise makes up for most of my other poor habits. If only the weather were conducive to riding every day I'd probably lose the extra pounds.

BTW, many experts on longevity feel that carrying a little extra weight when you're young isn't a big deal but as you age it becomes more important to shed those extra pounds. Unfortunately, it seems most people pile on the pounds as they get older when they should be doing the opposite. This kills them in the end. Ideally you should aim to be your proper weight by the time you're in your 60s if you aren't already, and then lose a little each decade after, aiming for maybe 10% to 20% underweight by your 80s. A calorie deficit has been proven to aid longevity in other mammals. Basically this deficit causes your body's repair mechanisms to go into overdrive in order to get the body into top condition so as to use every scarce calorie as efficiently as possible.

After thinking about it... I did

I watch fried foods but still go to taco bell or a burger joint 1-2 times a week


The main change was drinking a Myoplex for breakfast over a bagel and CC...

Also eat more greens plus bars

Thanks for the intersting posts thus far. Ok, two things I think I could start doing regarding the diet is drinking green tea and taking a fish oil supplement both of which I've only heard good things about. Regarding the fish oil, I tried a supplement a few years ago but was getting disgusting fish oil burps/breath. Do they make a version that doesn't cause that?

I dropped mine a little but just eating a little less. Mine wasn't too high, but at 29, I didn't want to let it get away from me and get too high. Mine was 210 a couple of years ago and I was starting to get a small belly...

I started eating a bowl of cereal, Cherrios or Frosted MiniWheats, and instead of eating lunch I eat 3 "bars", granola, peanut/granola, and a Quaker Cereal bar for a snack when I would usually eat lunch, 2 to 3 hours after getting to work, and then eat the sandwich I made for lunch about 1 to 2 hours before I get off work. This is more like an early dinner. Then I might eat another bowl of cereal for a snack before bed. Reeses PB cereal is the BOMB!!! :rock: or another couple of granola bars...

This "system" helped me lose about 15 pounds and my cholestoral is running around 185 to 190. I am fairly thin as it is though. 5ft 7in, 130lbs ATM. I started this to get my slowing metabolism back up. It seems to have worked. :thinking:

On the weekends I EAT... Usually a nice rib dinner one night and a NICE tenderloin steak dinner the next.

me $0.02...

Hey guys,

I had an MI (heart attack) in 1985 when I was 33 years old. I've been a cardiac patient for a very long time -- much longer than most cardiologists have been doctors...

Unlike most cardiac patients I studied the disease and in the late 90s it all came together in my head. The only problem is that my method is not sexy. It does not involve injections, pills or surgical procedures. There is no obvious way to make money from it so you probably won't hear about it anywhere else.

When I started it my chol level steadily dropped to around 125. (no typo) Through many lipid tests over the years I have got to the point where I now eat pretty much anything I like -- and my chol has still never hit 150. Bear in mind that I live and eat in New Orleans.

As I got into the age where normal people traditionally start to have MIs I wanted to tell my friends who were starting to have heart problems what I had found out. I typed out a little thing I could give them after each of them had their MIs. It is reprinted below:

--------------
Hi-

Sorry this has taken so long. It will sound a little overly complex at first but it really isn't. If you give it a good shot it will become second nature in no time. I would print this and just read it a few times in the next couple of days.



About the oat bran...

If you looked up the stuff I gave you when you were here and want to implement something, here is the 'quick and dirty' of it:

Bracket ALL meals and ALL snacks with a little bit of oat bran (OB).

I started out with 1 teaspoon BEFORE and AFTER meals/snacks. Put it in the bottom of a big, tall tumbler, add an inch of water, swish it around and drink it. If there is any OB left in the glass after that, add more water and do it again. That's pretty much IT.

I also add OB to low fat ice cream and anywhere els it works. Use your imagination.

I also take a 'dose' of OB before I go to bed.

The OB not only sops up the fat (where the cholesterol is), but having a little bit in your intestines stops the chol that has already been taken from your blood by your liver from being INSTANTLY RE-ABSORBED back into your blood as it drips into your digestive tract. DO THE RESEARCH!

None of this is sexy. There is no money to be made from this, which is why you'll never hear about this from anyone else.

This is how I've kept my chol under 150 for over 8 years. And I pretty much eat as I like.

BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE! POTIENTIAL HAZARDS!!!

1, ) OB may cause you to rethink your vitamans as more will be evacuated from your system. DO research.
2, ) FIBER affects different people differently. Your body may not tolerate it as well as you'd like at first. In the above method the fiber is also RAW which can also make it harder for some people. You have to start out with light doses.
3, ) Taking OB this way can KILL YOU if you choke on it, so be careful and think about what you are doing, AS YOU DO IT, particularly at the begining.
4, ) If you take OB in some other way and you don't get enough water with it, it can HARDEN LIKE CEMENT in your intestines and have to be surgically removed.

I started out at the 1 tsp dose and VERY SLOWLY worked myself up to my current dose, which is 2 HEAPING TABLESPOONS OB before AND after each meal/snack, with an additional dose before bed.

DON'T START OUT AT THAT DOSE!!!!!

Also, If you get into this and ever exceed a 1 TABLESPOON dose, DON'T take it all at once. YOU WILL CHOKE! Take the first half and ONLY WHEN YOU ARE SURE that it's down without any trouble, take the second half.

Some brands of OB are ground finer than others which makes them more palatable. (Mother's, Quaker are easy)

NOTE: I'll be grading on details. WHEAT bran won't work for this. Oat MEAL ia a waste of time. OAT BRAN. Only OAT BRAN. Only OAT BRAN.

The type I routinely use is very course and I put it in a food processor for 6 min (for a 1 lb box) to bust it up. I'm currently buying it online in 50 pound lots.

I keep track of how much OB I use and since 08/24/00 I have gone through 800 lbs in this manner (08.19.06). Perhaps it would be more accurate to say it has GONE THROUGH ME. (That, like mine, is now a very old figure.)

Anyway my highest chol has been 135 and my lowest has been 106 (no typo). Remember, I DO NOT TAKE ANY CHOLESTEROL LOWERING DRUGS. At the clinic they let me schedule cardio consults once every 12 mo instead of once every 4 months for everyone else, and my chol numbers are are stable enough that by mutual agreement I have a lipid profile once every 12 mo instead of every 4 mo for everyone else. I've been doing this since about 1998.

In spite of the fact that I take no chol lowering drugs, I have had the lowesr chol numbers OF EVERYONE AT THE CARDIAC CLINIC for YEARS.

As you may have noticed, I feel very strongly about this issue. It's a comlicated subject to write up which is why it has taken me so long. If I start out with too much detail it becomes unmanagable. There is a great deal of details I have not filled in here as I needed to just get it WRITTEN, but it's ALL true. Do the research.

Do not hesitate to email or call me with ANY questions. Really.

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OK, so that's it. Carefully take a bit of oat bran BEFORE and AFTER every meal and BEFORE and AFTER every snack and again just before bedtime if it won't interfere with your meds. Of course you can do the research and there is more but that is the bulk of it. If you are interested, DO THE RESEARCH FOR YOURSELF.

Note the warnings. If they sound severe bear in mind that there are hazards in ANY treatment -- and oat bran is pretty safe if you don't choke or take it with too little water -- it's not like it's going to eat your liver.

If you try my method KEEP DOING LIPID PROFILES so you can see how you are doing.

While I feel very strongly about this and have had outstanding results from this simple program, I'm kinda burnt out on people who just have to have some sexy program or they can't get a nut.

I love this place and I love the people and that's why I took the time to respond with something that really has worked for a long time for me -- in spite of the fact that I've never known anyone besides myself who even tried it. It's just not sexy enough for the 21st century. I am just putting it out there in case anyone actually wants to try a really low-tech approach that works better than the drugs OR eating like a monk all the time. Good luck.

I haven't had a heart attack, but several of my doctors have when they first saw my cholesterol results. It's a heriditary problem in my family.


Without treatment, it'saround 500. My mom and brothers have similar levels. I had myself convinced that it was not a problem. A blocked artery changed my mind about that.

With medication (Vytorin and Niacin), diet and excercise It's in the 140's. I avoid red meat (and anything else with lots of cholestrol), eat lots of salmon and fiber and walk a fair bit.

I bought a home cholestrol tester it did HDL, Total and Tri) to better understand what was going on. I found that my diet was a major culprit. I love red meat and shellfish. My family is REAL good at absorbing cholestrol from our food. I dropped to 300 just by changing my diet and moving around more.

Due to the past problems with clogged arteries, my cardiologist wants my cholestrol under 100 even if it kills me. I'm afraid it might.

Daniel

I haven't mine checked since I was in College and I thing it was the 120 range. My exercise has gone to almost no existant, but I do take the stair to my office as much as possible (6th floor), eat oatmeal everymorning and eat alot of nuts for snacks. When I eat cereal I ususally eat something heavy on the bran side. I eat whole wheat bread 95% of the time and try to get in as much fruit as possible. I still eat pretty much whatever I want though. I am currious to see what my numbers are.

Sorry about forgetting..I use Omega 3-6-9 for www.vitamins.com (VItamin world brand or puratin pride...same company)


Also I use the straight fish oil (omega 3) in conjunction with it... HDL went up while total number went down...


SOrry for the piece mail for answers...It's been awhile and I forget what I added after the shock of over 270!!!

geepondy said:

Thanks for the intersting posts thus far. Ok, two things I think I could start doing regarding the diet is drinking green tea and taking a fish oil supplement both of which I've only heard good things about. Regarding the fish oil, I tried a supplement a few years ago but was getting disgusting fish oil burps/breath. Do they make a version that doesn't cause that?

Click to expand...

GL,

Sounds like your body makes a ton of it's own cholesterol -- a factor generally overlooked in cardiology. Consider working oat bran into your diet -- particularly a bit at bedtime. It can have a huge impact on non-dietetic(sp?) cholesterol. It just flows around and around in your blood until your liver slowly takes it out -- and then your liver drips it into your intestines where it goes right back into your blood, to do more damage.

It's good you got it under control when you did...

Thanks for the advice Sub_Umbra. I have to be careful with added fiber due to diverticulosis. Big problems when that kicks up. It was a good reminder that I'd stopped having oatmeal for breakfast last year. I'm enjoying a bowl as I type. Thanks for the reminder.

Daniel

My mom had low cholestrol til her first verbrate was removed after it pinched her spinal collume last year. Now, shes more active, eats less, lost 75 lbs while in the hospital last year and for some unknown reason has high cholestrol, but her diabetes is under control to the point she doesnt take anything for it.

Timely advice. Not too long ago I had a nasty motorcycle crash. Between that and the resulting hip surgery I'm pretty much out of the exercise circle. But oat bran I can do. :thumbsup: Thanks SU.

:buddies:

geepondy- One thing you might try is keeping your fish oil capsules in the freezer (as long as the instructions on the bottle don't tell you not to). This helps to prevent them from releasing the oil until they get into the intestines, which should help cut down on fish breath. Another thing to keep in mind is that fish oil may decrease vitamin E levels, so it's probably a good idea to take a daily multivitamin, separate from the fish oil. You probably don't need to take pure vitamin E supplements.
Edit: BTW, alcohol and sweets definitely will increase your triglycerides. TG also tend to fluctuate alot, so the next time you get them checked, they could be OK even without med. I'd be more concerned with the LDL- not an emergency, but certainly worth working on. And keep an eye on your fasting blood sugar, which can affect TG's. Fasting glucose <100 is normal, 100-125 is pre-diabetic, and consistently >=126 is diabetic range.

A couple days after 9-11-01 I started giving blood every time I could.

I don't know about all the individual numbers, but my total went down slowly with every donation. I wasn't outrageously high to start with, but it was pleasing all the same!

If a doctor got to really testing me, I imagine my life would change BIG TIME... though maybe not.

That said, my Grandad whom I take after seriously ate sausage and eggs and all sorts of "bad" stuff and got to 85.

I don't eat QUITE as bad as he did, and with good genes I just reckon I'll be okay.

Also I take a multi, fish oil, ginko and E each morning.