# My Dr. says I have high cholesterol. Lose some weight and make an appt in 3 months



## NextTimeAround (Dec 15, 2011)

Any advice here. I already take medicine for my cancer. I don't want to have to deal with a second set of drugs.

Any new habits I should take up to lose this wieght? Any food that's better for warding off high cholesterol? And so on.....


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## Yag-Kosha (Sep 8, 2016)

I recently dropped around 60 lbs in 4 months. 

I cut out most sugar/carbs from my diet. Was hard, yes. But it's fairly straightforward. 

Recommend heading here to start learning: https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/

And if you have the time:


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## chillymorn69 (Jun 27, 2016)

Niacin.

Cholesterol lowering drugs have side effects.

Lower carbs and sugar exercise.

Get good sleep.

How high is high?


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## Andy1001 (Jun 29, 2016)

You don’t say what age you are and what if any exercise you take but obviously regular exercise will help you keep your cholesterol level in check.
Cut out as much high fat content foods as you can,creams,cheese etc and also try not to eat too many eggs.You can get spreads for sandwiches that will help and there are drinks you can take which help also.Eat oily fish and eat less processed food.Really,if you google it there is tons of information and diet advice out there.Not knowing anything about your food preferences makes it hard to advice you what to eat.
Good luck.


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## NextTimeAround (Dec 15, 2011)

HDL = 117
LDL = 112
I'm 58 with a bmi of 27.

I already exercise 4 to 5 days a week. Walk whenever I can, We don't own a car.

I'm going to cut Most dairy foods out of my diet but I do like butter. And cheese is great to bulk up a soup without adding carbs.

I avoid most porcessed foods. I eat from home most days.

I am thinking about fasting one day a week. And if that means I get nothing done that day -- it's hard to concentrate when I'm hungry -- then so be it.

When I had to go to the hospital for chemotherapy, well, that was a day lost from life as well.


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## WilliamM (Mar 14, 2017)

I wish you well on your cure from cancer!

Eat sensibly. Exercise regularly.

Please remember you gained it slowly. Don't be in too big a hurry. The key is to change your eating habits for a lifetime. Your extra weight is about 2 extra tablespoons of cheese a day over the last 3 years.


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## Diana7 (Apr 19, 2016)

Cut out white sugar and white flour. No sweets, biscuits, cakes, deserts, takeaways, ice cream etc. No fuzzy drinks either. Eat lots of of fruit, oats, veges, salad, fish, white meat, seeds and nuts. Wholemeal cereals/oats and bread, wholemeal pasta or rice are fine in moderation. 
We are both on statins, we have no side effects. We both already have a healthy diet and exercise daily. My cholesterol was cut in half in 6 weeks on the statins. 

.


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## minimalME (Jan 3, 2012)

I'm on statins too. My cholesterol was 349 - and I'm not overweight, and I don't eat tons of junk. Heredity and stress, most likely. Having said that tho...



Diana7 said:


> Cut out white sugar and white flour. No sweets, biscuits, cakes, deserts, takeaways, ice cream etc. No fuzzy drinks either.




I do love my desserts.

Have you ever read Weston Price's book, _Nutrition and Physical Degeneration_? It's fascinating.


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## Adelais (Oct 23, 2013)

The South Beach Diet...hands down. No "special" foods, no crazy ways of cooking things, and not expensive.

Lose weight, lower cholesterol, never hungry and delicious, easy meals.

My Doc recommended it to me to lower my cholesterol. Not only did my cholesterol go down, I lost 10 lbs!!


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## Ynot (Aug 26, 2014)

If you can lower your cholesterol without drugs, please do so. But don't get on drugs to control it. All drugs do is mask the symptoms, they do not solve the problem. In fact there is a huge on-going argument that high cholesterol is a con. The idea is that it causes heart disease because people with heart disease tend to have high cholesterol. But the reality is what causes heart disease is plague in the arteries (arteriosclerosis) which is formed from cholesterol. However plague (which is actually akin to a scar your body produces to repair damage) forms because the arteries are inflamed by high levels of insulin which is a natural inflammatory agent. So if you can limit your insulin dumps by restricting sugars, you should be able to reduce your chances of developing heart disease. Unfortunately big pharma and the doctors they help educate, would rather you take a drug (and boost profits) rather than take pro-active steps to prevent the problem in the first place.


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## Diana7 (Apr 19, 2016)

minimalME said:


> I'm on statins too. My cholesterol was 349 - and I'm not overweight, and I don't eat tons of junk. Heredity and stress, most likely. Having said that tho...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I too love deserts, cakes, biscuits, sweets etc etc, in fact most things that are bad for us, but sadly cant let myself have them except on rare occasions because I cant afford to put on weight. Its annoying when I see friends who are slim and who can eat these things without ever seeming to put on weight, but never mind.:frown2:


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## Diana7 (Apr 19, 2016)

Ynot said:


> If you can lower your cholesterol without drugs, please do so. But don't get on drugs to control it. All drugs do is mask the symptoms, they do not solve the problem. In fact there is a huge on-going argument that high cholesterol is a con. The idea is that it causes heart disease because people with heart disease tend to have high cholesterol. But the reality is what causes heart disease is plague in the arteries (arteriosclerosis) which is formed from cholesterol. However plague (which is actually akin to a scar your body produces to repair damage) forms because the arteries are inflamed by high levels of insulin which is a natural inflammatory agent. So if you can limit your insulin dumps by restricting sugars, you should be able to reduce your chances of developing heart disease. Unfortunately big pharma and the doctors they help educate, would rather you take a drug (and boost profits) rather than take pro-active steps to prevent the problem in the first place.


For those like us who eat a very healthy diet already and exercise daily but who still have high cholesterol, taking statins is needed.


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## tech-novelist (May 15, 2014)

High cholesterol is meaningless, and statins are poison.

I would never take them regardless of what any doctor told me.

As to how to get your weight under control, yes, carbs are the big problem. You don't get fat from eating fat.


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## Diana7 (Apr 19, 2016)

tech-novelist said:


> High cholesterol is meaningless, and statins are poison.
> 
> I would never take them regardless of what any doctor told me.
> 
> As to how to get your weight under control, yes, carbs are the big problem. You don't get fat from eating fat.



I have no issues with taking them, they have been amazing for me.


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## Ynot (Aug 26, 2014)

Diana7 said:


> For those like us who eat a very healthy diet already and exercise daily but who still have high cholesterol, taking statins is needed.


Yes to lower cholesterol, but there is no need to lower cholesterol, it is a con. But then you are prone to being conned so...

But just so you can't accuse me of your standard tactic of just making stuff up to suit my beliefs:

Have we been conned about cholesterol? | Daily Mail Online


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## MovingForward (Jan 19, 2017)

NextTimeAround said:


> *HDL = 117
> LDL = 112*
> I'm 58 with a bmi of 27.


Is the HDL correct??

Mine is not good and I work out frequently and eat well, Dr told me diet can only change it by +/- 10% and i am so high other than medication not much to do but wait until I am 40.

HDL 42
LDL 170

I did a lot of research though and it is just one risk factor and low cholesterol is actually more unhealthy. A better indicator of heart attack/stroke is supposed to be c-reactive protein to check for levels of inflammation in body.

I take Turmeric and garlic daily, Turmeric is actually great for health even joint pain and arthritis.


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## Yeswecan (Jul 25, 2014)

NextTimeAround said:


> Any advice here. I already take medicine for my cancer. I don't want to have to deal with a second set of drugs.
> 
> Any new habits I should take up to lose this wieght? Any food that's better for warding off high cholesterol? And so on.....


I also got the talk from the doctor about high cholesterol. The best thing I did to drop the high cholesterol reading was eating low fat and exercise. Specifically no more bacon, sausage and other fatty meats. I have some every now and then but not like before I was told. I was eating it every day. I now walk a mile just about daily. I did this for 3 months and had a recheck. I was cleared of high cholesterol. 

Sorry to have to hear this on top of meds you are taking for cancer.


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## Diana7 (Apr 19, 2016)

Ynot said:


> Yes to lower cholesterol, but there is no need to lower cholesterol, it is a con. But then you are prone to being conned so...
> 
> But just so you can't accuse me of your standard tactic of just making stuff up to suit my beliefs:
> 
> Have we been conned about cholesterol? | Daily Mail Online


Don't trust too much what most daily papers say, they change their minds all the time about medical issues. IF you listened to what the daily mail said you would never do anything eat anything or drink anything. I can remember several articles in that paper on statins that said completely different things over the last few years, ranging from 'they are a miracle drug' to 'they aren't helpful' , to 'only a few need to take them' to 'all people over a certain age would benefit form taking them' 

My husband is a scientist with 25 years work in healthcare. He also researches diseases and reads widely on the subject. Before he started taking statins he read widely on that subject as well. He is fine with taking them.


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## Diana7 (Apr 19, 2016)

Yeswecan said:


> I also got the talk from the doctor about high cholesterol. The best thing I did to drop the high cholesterol reading was eating low fat and exercise. Specifically no more bacon, sausage and other fatty meats. I have some every now and then but not like before I was told. I was eating it every day. I now walk a mile just about daily. I did this for 3 months and had a recheck. I was cleared of high cholesterol.
> 
> Sorry to have to hear this on top of meds you are taking for cancer.


Its really great if you can do that by exercise and diet alone. Good that it worked out. For us that didn't work, we both eat very healthily, we don't have bacon or sausages or any fatty meats at all. My husband does 7km rowing or one hours cycling daily as well as walking the dog for 45 mins each morning. I walk the dog daily and row every other day and also do a few light weights on the day I don't row, and with arthritis I cant do much more than that. For our ages, 60 and 61 that is a fair amount of exercise compared to most of our age. 
Sometimes these things are hereditary my husbands father had similar issues.


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## Yeswecan (Jul 25, 2014)

Diana7 said:


> Its really great if you can do that by exercise and diet alone. Good that it worked out. For us that didn't work, we both eat very healthily, we don't have bacon or sausages or any fatty meats at all. My husband does 7km rowing or one hours cycling daily as well as walking the dog for 45 mins each morning. I walk the dog daily and row every other day and also do a few light weights on the day I don't row, and with arthritis I cant do much more than that. For our ages, 60 and 61 that is a fair amount of exercise compared to most of our age.
> Sometimes these things are hereditary my husbands father had similar issues.


Some medical issues are hereditary for sure!


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## FrazzledSadHusband (Jul 3, 2014)

Ground flax meal sprinkled over your cereal, salad, etc. Eat REAL butter, not margarine. If you wonder why, fry two eggs, one in margarine in one pan, the other in butter in an separate pan. Then try rinse out both pans in water only. The butter pan will be clean, the margarine pan will have a sticky film that won't come off.

Drink whole milk, you will feel fuller longer. Drink a glass of metimucil a day. The Physillium fiber will draw the cholesterol out. Learned that trick from my GP years ago.

I've worked in health system administrations. Doctors get comped on the amount & type of drugs prescribed.

Eat natural. Salads, fresh meats, nuts, berries. Cut way back on processed foods & keep up the exercise.


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## NextTimeAround (Dec 15, 2011)

Thanks everyone for all your input.


I'm going to low carb it, try to lose some weight. And then go see the GP. I stepped up my barre classes. I think I get better results from that than straight cardio.


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## Satya (Jun 22, 2012)

@NextTimeAround, once you get into good habits and maintain them, your brain will look at them as the new norm. You'll get cravings (we all do) but I'd recommend a calorie counting app, because you become really aware of calories in and out.


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## NextTimeAround (Dec 15, 2011)

I saw these OTC pills in the vitamin department on sale at Costco. anyone have experience with Nature Made's CholestOff plus or similar non prescription products?


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## Adelais (Oct 23, 2013)

Dr. told me to go on South Beach Diet to lower my cholesterol. It was written by a Dr. for the purpose of lowering cholesterol in his patients.

It was easy, delicious, and not only did my cholesterol go down, but I lost 10 lbs. I was only on it for 2 weeks. If I had to lower cholesterol more and lose more weight, I would have just done the stricter first phase longer.

Cutting out all carbs and eating good meats and veggies are the basis for South Beach. You need "good" oils in your diet, and they will actually help lower the bad cholesterol.

South Beach type eating can become a lifestyle and then the weight is easy to keep off once it is gone.


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## As'laDain (Nov 27, 2011)

NextTimeAround said:


> I saw these OTC pills in the vitamin department on sale at Costco. anyone have experience with Nature Made's CholestOff plus or similar non prescription products?


my father has tried pretty much every pill throughout his life for cholesterol and weight. none of them made much of a difference. 

nettle tea seemed to help, however. he is a lot more energetic and his blood sugar is more stable when he drinks nettle tea.

all that said, nothing has helped as much as changing his diet. cutting out carbs and such. the latest thing i have been trying to get him onto is microgreens. very easy to grow, and they are very good for you. i grow my own. it ends up being about 1.25 per pound. if i were to buy them, it would be about 40 dollars a pound.


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## eric1 (Apr 10, 2015)

Carbs cause cholesterol buildup. Period. Everything we were taught about fats when we were young is wrong.

Fats WITH carbs can be bad. Bad fats can be bad. But the right fats can be incredible for you.


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