Well, the doc has me on a medication for cholesterol and I'm eating oatmeal several times a week. I could cut meat out of my diet altogether but from what I can tell, that makes your sack atrophy and fall off.

Seriously, I can't become a vegetarian.

For those of you who are concerned about your cholesterol, what measures do you take to control it? I don't want to end up back in the hospital.

I was on a low does statin for a few years,


it made me hurt (hips, legs, a common side effect I was told)

I watch what I eat, and take a red yeast rice, (or red rice yeast,, can never keep that straight) and a few Fish Oil pills and my Cholesterol dropped, so I got off the Statin


granted, it was never that high to begin with,

I presume you are taking a statin. They are very effective at lowering cholesterol. More so than any diet. Dietary changes like the Mediterranean diet help as well. Drastic changes in diet seldom last. Some people have naturally high cholersterol. Lowering your stress level and exercising are additonal aids. It is important to be rigourous about taking your meds.

I have borderline cholesterol. Not high enough for prescription statins, but enough that I eat oatmeal a few times a week and take red yeast rice supplements daily, which bring it down to a normal level.

On top of Lipitor, my Dr. has me take fish oil pills.

Outside of medication his is big thing is eat fried foods in moderation and exercise in some way/shape/form/fashion.

Low carbs, paleo diet more or less. I eat mostly meat, fruit, some vegetables. Only 10% carbs, and my cholesterol is super low. I eat lots of meat, every day.

I cut out carbs and doing so controls both cholesterol and triglycerides. I’ve dropped 55 lbs since Jan ‘19 and 12 of that is since COVID upended my routine.

Once or twice a week, I eat:

bacon

sausage (usually breakfast sausage once and once spicy sausage with my BBQ)

beef (usually brisket once and prime grade NY Strip steak once)

I eat chicken, lean pork (eg loin), and seafood rest of week.

In addition to cutting carbs, the biggest change for me was the drastic increase in the amount of vegetables I eat. I plead the fifth as to how many I ate before, but now I eat two servings of vegetables for lunch and two servings of vegetables for dinner.

Previously, I had been on a statin (A dozen years Lipitor then 5 or 6 years Crestor). I haven’t taken a statin in over a year and my joints feel so much better. My lipids went up but values are still good.

I'm on the tennis courts on average 3 times per week for no less than 2 hours at a pop. Still on a -statin. If I dropped 20-25 lbs., that MIGHT help, but not sure. My salad intake has increased 10-fold over what it used to be...overall diet isn't that bad. No sweet tooth. Some are just gonna have high cholesterol no matter what. Better living through chemistry, though!

I have borderline cholesterol and been taking Metamucil with all my meals and I have seen it decrease. Just make sure you ease into the full dose over time. I also added walnuts and almonds for snacks and I eat more fish. Basically high fiber foods should help.

quote:

Originally posted by bonfire:
I have borderline cholesterol and been taking Metamucil with all my meals and I have seen it decrease. Just make sure you ease into the full dose over time.

Haha. Yeah. Drastically upping your fiber intake all of a sudden tends to have dramatic effects.

I can’t tell you what works since I haven’t found anything it I’ll share what I’ve tried. I spent a couple years eating the Paleo diet due to gallbladder problems. I ended up having it removed then due to issues from removal started taking Colestipol. That lowers my cholesterol some. Metamucil did nothing to lower it, cutting out dairy did nothing to lower nor did exercise. Maybe if I was a vegan but honestly I’ll take my chances. A guy I once knew told me about his father. He said the guy was disciplined, ate healthy and exercised his whole life. When this guy that did what he was supposed to in order to be healthy was in his final days of suffering from colon cancer he said “I should have eaten what tasted good”.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Drastically upping your fiber intake all of a sudden tends to have dramatic effects.

You mentioned oatmeal. If you’re not already eating “real” oats (meaning something other than the instant packages), get some good steel-cut oats and try those. They’re far better for you. I like Bob’s Red Mill steel-cut oats, personally. You can doctor them up with a little fruit, peanut butter, honey, whatever works for you. You can also make a big pot one morning and store some in mason jars in the fridge then reheat later.

Try to eat less refined crap - doughnuts, breads, cookies, pastries, etc. I cut carbs more than anything and don’t worry too much about meat intake. The old line about shopping the outside perimeter of the grocery store is good advice - more real food from the meat/produce sections and less boxed/canned/bagged crap from the middle of the store.

Take a high-quality fish oil supplement. I like Nordic Naturals brand.

And for me, it took some serious exercise to get my triglycerides to show improvement. But any exercise will help. Just get in the habit of taking a walk every day, if nothing else.

I eat real oatmeal- steel-cut pinhead oats. I haven't had rolled oats or instant since I don't know when.

I guess I'm lucky.
My Doc tells me I'm some kind of freak of Nature. My cholesterol is always in the 70-80 range. I'm 55 yo 6', 195 lbs,
For dinner last night I had 6 eggs, a whole slab of bacon and 4 beef sausages. For Dessert I had a couple of peaches I picked off the tree in the back yard and a pint of cookie dough ice cream.

Been on Lipitor and now Crestor, almost 20 years worth. Let the magic of these medications work and then adjust. I ASSUME you have a six-month follow-up?

As a side, Crestor seems to work on the LDL which is where I have problems. My doctor and I are trying to reduce my intake level and I’m taking the meds four out of seven days (Half-life of Crestor is @ 18 hours).

I liked the option of Metamucil because I could not always get to a bowl of oatmeal or high fiber food through out the day. Also make sure you are increasing your water intake. That is what helps the fiber work and try and get some exercise.

Forgot to add, I ate steel cut oats every day. After two years of trying different stuff meds worked the best but never got me to ideal numbers.

A Red Yeast Rice and fish oil regimen brought my cholesterol levels to normal from a point where my doctor was going to put me on a statin around 15 years ago. No change in diet necessary which is good because I love red meat and eat it often.

Jim

exercise and weight control is an important part of the plan. more vegetables and less high cholesterol type foods. chicken, pork and fish instead of red meat.