The High Cholesterol Support Thread.

[Annette]

I thought I would start a thread on this since I didn't see any. If you or Dh have high cholesterol and are trying to lower it, welcome to this thread. Others are welcome as well.

My DH has high cholesterol again (at 237) and he's pretty upset about it. His parents both have high cholesterol so it might be hereditary. His doc told him he needs at least 30 mins of aerobic exercise daily, which neither of us have been doing except on weekends. We go hiking and biking on weekends and we were biking for a little bit when it was still light out after work. Now that its dark outside when we come home, what are our options before we go out buying a treadmill or elliptical? He works in a small office with no gym or showers so running during lunch isn't an option. I don't know if I should have him join a gym? He feels that he wouldn't use it.
He does not need to lose weight since he is fairly thin already.
If anyone here joined a gym, did it encourage you to work out?

I also know his eating habits need work. Does anyone know what kind of foods in addition to oatmeal are supposed to help with lowering cholesterol?
I have to warn you that DH is an extremely picky eater, no fruits or veggies at all. He's tried but nearly gagged on them (something about not liking the texture), although he told me he will try salad again.
If I want to introduce veggies, what would be good to start with?

Neither of us like fish, so that is probably out for now.

Thanks in advance.

[ginandchris]

Hi Annette,

My DH had borderline high cholesterol earlier this year, I think his count was 220ish. With that I looked into what foods were good at lowering cholesterol. Like you it is hard for him to work out on a consistent basis, so we started with just changing his eating habits.

He does do the oatmeal every single day. It does get boring, but he doesn't mind it so much anymore (he's been doing this for 7 months now.) he does eat other things in addition to the oatmeal and sometimes the oatmeal is a side dish if we go out to eat for breakfast.

If your DH doesn't like oatmeal he can also eat plain cheerios as well. Fiber is really good at lowering cholesterol is what I have heard. The last change my DH did was start to take a supplement called policosanol. It is a natural derivitive of the sugar cane. I did the research on it and figured why not try it.

So, last month DH went back and had his level checked and he went down 54 points! :eek: I know this was just on him doing those 2 things. He didn't exercise consistently AT ALL. Hope this helps!

[Annette]

Thanks Gina! Wow 54 points! Thats great! My DH is hating his new diet already. He says he's always hungry now.

[ginandchris]

Sure not a problem. Glad I was able to help. I know it is a big change in lifestyle to adjust your eating habits, but your health is important. Just so you know my DH was skeptical about the policosanol, but now that he's seen the results in just 7 months he's convinced.

[Ki Ki Marcus]

My Dh has high cholestrol as well as Diabetes.

Things we have done, just in food:

Switched to a lot more chicken. We use ground turkey or ground chicken in place of hamburger whenever possible. Or we get the lowest fat content of ground beef (93% lean ground serloin) and when we eat steak it HAS to be filet mignon (which is much more expensive but the leanest cut).

We use only fat free or 2% cheese.

We use only fat free salad dressing.

Oatmeal or high fiber content cerel.

Fat free sour cream.

Skim milk.

And believe it or not, lowering his sugar/startch intake also helped his cholestrol level. I could post those things, as well, if you like.

[LeslieandPaul]

I'm 5'3" and 115 lbs and I have high cholesterol. Go figure! High cholesterol and triglycerides are hereditary in my family. My dad takes Lipidor (or did take it) and my sister and I are supposed to be tested annually. I go to the doctor next week and I'll get the paperwork to go get my test. Unfortunately I have awful eating habits and drink tons of pop.
Last year my numbers were : (mmol/L):
Triglycerides: 1.1-good
LDL: 4.3-high
HDL: 1.5-okay

They're down from the year before. I've been trying to exercise more, but I really need to eat better! Anyone have suggestions for healthy snacks that taste good?

[jnshanna]

I'm in the same situation that Leslie is. I'm 130 and 5'6" and I have extremely high cholesterol. The drs tell me that it is hereditary for me. So I took Lipitor for a couple of years and that drastically reduced my levels but now that I'm TTC I've stopped taking it (it can cause birth defects) and my levels have gone right back up. I'm also terrible at eating good foods. REALLY terrible! I love food and have the hardest time eating things that are healthy. I really need to get with the program though before I get pg because I'll need to work on my diet then for sure. I'll have to find my last blood work when I get home to share my levels. It's kind of embarassing how high they are but I'll share them anyway. :)

That supplement sure does seem to do the trick, Regina! Wow!

[LeslieandPaul]

Today was day one of better eating. I barely snacked all day (this is big for me, since I snack constantly), and I only had one glass of Pepsi! Hopefully I can keep this up!

[Sarah051504]

Can I join? I actually don't have high cholesterol anymore (currently at 174) but just over a year ago it was 227. How did I lower it? Well I think it was a combo of things, I have PCOS and my Dr started me on a new med for it and ever since then I've seen the numbers steadily fall but in combanation to the med I have stopped eating all sugar, refined flour, potatoes, and rice, I only eat whole grains now.

When my cholesterol was high, my problem was with the triglycerides, they where through the roof! Actaully they are still high but not by enough to effect the overall number.

The one thing that I haven't been able to do, is exercise, I just can't get motivated.

[Annette]

And believe it or not, lowering his sugar/startch intake also helped his cholestrol level. I could post those things, as well, if you like.

Really? Please share. DH seems to think that because his triglycerides are fine, its okay to have stuff with sugar in it. We eat starch often, I didn't realize it contributed to high cholesterol.

Odd, I haven't gotten the email notifications....

We did buy a bag of flax seeds. It contains omega 3 fatty acids and it also claims to reduce cholesterol, so we've been sprinkling the seeds on our food. Tastes pretty good. We found it in the organic food aisle at the grocery store. We also bought the smart balance butter alternative. We also eat oat cereal like cheerios or oatmeal squares or regular hot oatmeal. He has to be more consistent with it. Eating oatmeal for only a week is not going to help much. He tried eating salad again the other day but he had a lot of trouble eating it. We think its a mental block of some sort since he's never eaten salad in his life.

The one thing that I haven't been able to do, is exercise, I just can't get motivated.
Same here!! I even belong to the gym at work, but when I am done with work, I just want to go home. We'll go out on weekends for hiking or biking, but during the week its hard cause it gets dark so early. We're thinking of getting a treadmill. Anyone have one? Any recommendations?

[jennylou]

My cholesterol was 215 a few months ago. We have changed our eating habits, and I really should get it retested. I also have PCOS, which is one of the side effects. Because mine wasn't that high, my doctor told me to try diet and excercise. DHs was really high when they tested (295!), he too has changed his eating habits so we hope that it has gone down...he definitely needs to go and have it tested again though...off to send him a reminder email.

[LeslieandPaul]

We did buy a bag of flax seeds. It contains omega 3 fatty acids and it also claims to reduce cholesterol, so we've been sprinkling the seeds on our food. Tastes pretty good. We found it in the organic food aisle at the grocery store.


You can also grind the flax seeds and you can barely taste them. My mom puts them in spaghetti sauce, and you can sprinkle them on top of cereal and oatmeal. I have flax seed in the fridge, i just need to use it.

[jnshanna]

Yep, my nutritionist told me about flax seed a few years ago but I'm not very good about putting it on my food. It's supposed to be great because it binds to the fatty parts of foods we eat and pulls them through digestion so that they don't become cholesterol. I know that's a highly technical way of describing it, huh? LOL ;) I've seen that they also have flax in pills but I haven't asked if that is effective in the same way the actual seeds are.

I'm terrible about excercising too! Good to here I'm not alone. I'm just so not modivated to do it.

I checked my last blood work and here are the results. It's scary just to look at them! :eek:

Overall cholesterol is 393 (this is down from the first time I was tested years ago. Back then it was 466!!)
Triglycerides are 133
Good Cholesterol is 58
Bad cholesterol is 319

I'm not sure why the good and bad don't equal the total though. The lowest mine has been in the past 4 years is 276.

[Sarah051504]

I looked up my exact numbers when I got home and here is my progression

Normal Ranges
HDL: 35-75
LDL: 60-130
Triglycerides: 10-140
Total Cholesterol: 125-200

09/17/04
HDL: 48
LDL: 118
Triglycerides: 308
Total Cholesterol: 228

01/31/05
HDL: 55
LDL: 107
Triglycerides: 192
Total Cholesterol: 200

06/24/05
HDL: 58
LDL: 85
Triglycerides: 179
Total Cholesterol: 179

10/17/05
HDL: 62
LDL: 90
Triglycerides: 174
Total Cholesterol: 187

Between June and Oct. we sold our house and moved in the the ILs while our new house was being built. I was under so much stress I'm surprised I lived through it. I'm hoping when I go back and have my levels checked in April they will be heading down again.

[Annette]

Sarah - That is awesome progress!

[lil_geek]

I'm going to pop in here!

I have borderline high cholesterol... and 2 days ago was told I have hig Blood Pressure! I am 26, well within my 'healthy' weight and I go to the gym (okay, irregular... but 4-5 times per 2 week period) AND I am likely the healthiest eater in my family.

On the oatmeal thing.. it needs to be REAL oatmeal, right...can't be the instant stuff?

[LeslieandPaul]

A good tip on oatmeal and breakfast cereals that I got when I found out about my cholesterol problem-if it has less than 3 grams of fiber, don't bother. I really like mini wheats-they've got 6 grams of fiber, taste good, and the sugar content isn't too bad.

[Ki Ki Marcus]

And believe it or not, lowering his sugar/starch intake also helped his cholestrol level. I could post those things, as well, if you like. Really? Please share. DH seems to think that because his triglycerides are fine, its okay to have stuff with sugar in it. We eat starch often, I didn't realize it contributed to high cholesterol.

Odd, I haven't gotten the email notifications....

We did buy a bag of flax seeds. It contains omega 3 fatty acids and it also claims to reduce cholesterol, so we've been sprinkling the seeds on our food. Tastes pretty good. We found it in the organic food aisle at the grocery store. We also bought the smart balance butter alternative. We also eat oat cereal like cheerios or oatmeal squares or regular hot oatmeal. He has to be more consistent with it. Eating oatmeal for only a week is not going to help much. He tried eating salad again the other day but he had a lot of trouble eating it. We think its a mental block of some sort since he's never eaten salad in his life.

The Flax Seed... works on lowering Cholesterol by lowering triglycerides. We learned about Flax seed in DH's diabetes class. (DH sprinkles it on his low-sugar ice cream to help regulate blood sugar levels.)

Lowering sugar/starch intake can lower cholesetrol levels. This statement, though true, was a little misleading. Sorry. I did it on purpose because I'm lazy and this can sometimes take awhile.

High triglyceride levels will sometimes be explained to patients as being "pre-diabetic". Frequently doctors don't even bother to explain that having high triglyceride levels is how they figure out a patient is "pre-diabetic". They'll just suddenly annouce "Hey! You're pre-diabetic!"

If you have insanely high triglycerides, you ARE pre-diabetic. What does this mean? It means you can regulate your sugar now (with diet and exercise) and never officially be diagnosed as diabetic or wait awhile and you WILL BE diagnosed as a Type II Diabetic. (Which may or may not require medication but absolutly will require it one day if not delt with immediatly.)

Now I, personally, dislike the term "pre-diabetic". I find it misleading. This is something that will never go away. You will have to monitor the way you eat, excerise and watch your sugar levels for the rest of your life. If you start doing this as soon as you find out you have insanely high triglyceride levels... it may never get worse for you than adjusting diet and exercise.

All this to say: If you manage your triglyceride levels, you escape being diagnosed as diabetic, and your overall cholesterol levels will also drop. Why do the overall cholestrol levels drop? Because triglyceride levels tie in to your over cholesterol numbers and because the foods that have high sugar/starch levels tend to also have high fat levels.

Next... How to control triglyceride levels or How to escape the dreaded "pre-diatic" catch-phrase.

[Ki Ki Marcus]

Okay. So you've figured out that basically you are a diabetic in training. You want to curb the onslaught. The question is "How?"

-Lower sugar intake
-Lower starch intake
-Increase fiber intake
-Increase protien intake
-Excerise


High triglycerides are a direct result of too much sugar in your blood stream. So, you reduce your sugar intake. But did you know that starch is just sugar in disguise? Yep. As soon as startch hits your digestive system it turn into sugar.

What contains starch? Potatos for one. White flour for another. Does this mean you can never have bread and pasta again? No. You just need to switch from white bread to whole grain bread. (And yes, they make whole grain hamburger buns.) Instead of regular pasta you need to eat whole grain pasta or spinach pasta. Instead of white rice, eat brown rice (not to be confused with fried rice... otherwise known as flied lice in our household.) Switch to whole grains whenever and wherever possible. But also generally reduce your starch intake.

And don't ever think of drinking fruit juice. When you eat a piece of fruit you are getting fibar with that fruit sugar. But a small glass of juice will contain the sugar of several pieces of fruit without the beneifit of fiber.

You want to increase your fiber intake. Fiber, when eaten with sugar (either naturally occuring in food such as fruit; or placed there, such as ice cream), will help the body absorb more of the sugar instead of leaving it to float around in your blood stream. (Ergo my DH eats low sugar ice cream and puts flax seed on it. The fiber in the flax seed helps his body to absorb the sugar in the ice cream. But not enough to increase his serving size.)
----Increasing your fiber intake will increase your HDL's (good cholesterol) and lowerd your LDL's (bad cholesterol). Yet another way that dealing with triglycerides affects overall cholestrol levels.

You also want to increase your protien intake when eating sugar. Protien helps the body to absorb whatever sugar you are eating, just like the fiber does.

When you have desert, you want to eat it with your meal. No, not between bitefulls of steak and green beans. Just after that, though. Don't wait an hour or two. If you eat desert with your dinner, the protein and fiber from the meal will help the body absorb the sugar from the desert.

Exercise. You don't have to go to the gym for an hour a day. (Though, it helps.) Take a 15-20 minute walk after dinner. Even 10 minutes is better than not moving around at all. Exercise will burn off the extra sugar floating around in your system. If it's burnt off, it can't sit there and slow your blood down. The point isn't to lose weight by moving about a little after eating. It's about burning off the extra sugar in your blood.

Mostly, though, I'd suggest a diabetic class. Because if you have insanely high triglyceride levels, you need to behave as a diabetic. If you eat and excerise as a diabetic, your triglyceride levels may drop to normal ranges and you may be able to maintain those levels for the rest of your life. Without all the nasty side effects of having Type II Diabetes.

Okay, I'm getting lazy again. It's going to take awhile to go much deeper than this. But if you have questions... I'll gladly take awhile longer.

[Annette]

KiKi - thanks for the detailed explanation. I will have to show this to DH. He still has yet to eat a whole piece of fruit or a whole serving of veggies. Its so frustrating...

[Ki Ki Marcus]

My DH is hating his new diet already. He says he's always hungry now.

Annette,

I ment to respond to this earlier. He shouldn't be hungry. If he's hungry he isn't eating enough. My DH makes this mistake at times, and I have to remind him to eat more. It is less about quantity and more about quality. (Okay, It IS about quantity if he's eating junk. He can have that, just in small doeses.)

If he continues to starve himself he will eventually get a mentality along the lines of "well I just can't do this so I'll eat whatever I want and just die sooner." Which is how my DH describes it.

You asked for a good vegetable dish... I'll give you my easy one from memory.

Green Bean Casserol
2 Cans green beans
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
Splash of milk
Fried onions (They come in a can and are made by French's)

Drain the green beans and mix them with the soup, splash of milk, and 1/2 the can of fried onions. Once all mixed up, sprinkle the remainder of the can on top. Cook at 350 for about 30 to 45 minutes. (Until the top is bubbeling.)
Serve.

Reheats in the microwave easily.

[2kCougar]

Joining!
I had my cholesterol checked for the first time in about 10 years. To my surprise, it was over 200. I seriously should be on the commercial for lipotor. My stats are: 5'8", 115lbs, bp 105/60--and I have high cholesterol?! I don't exercise, but I have a job that always keeps me moving and I really don't eat unhealthy food. I can't find anything significant in my diet that would contribute to my cholesterol b/c almost everything I eat was cholesterol free.

I'm really going to try the policosanol. My dad takes fish oil. supposedly that helps to lower cholesterol.

[LeslieandPaul]

I saw the doctor today and he said I only need to get my cholesterol checked every 5 years! But i still need to do what I can to keep my numbers at the right levels.

[mgrace]

Bumping this up. I'm freaked out that I'm going to end up with high cholesterol and while I love fruits, veggies and try to eat whole grains and not a lot of red meat, I need to be better at eating that way.

I'm not a fan of oatmeal, the texture gets me, but does steal cut oatmeal taste better? I think I'll buy some flax seed, too.

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

Ooh! My favorite way to improve cholesterol: eat avocados, nuts and fish regularly. Raise your good cholesterol and drop your bad, and enjoy yourself while doing it!