High cholesterol?

Well, I'm feeling my age today. I learned today that my cholesterol levels are high. They said that it's 261 and that my LDL levels are 163. I don't know much about it, as I was always very active and ate very well - I was a health food freak until 3 1/2 years ago...... when Jeremy and I got together.

High cholesterol runs in my family and so does heart disease. My mother had her first heart attack at 39.

I don't like what I've read about Lipitor and drugs like that. I really don't feel comfortable taking drugs that have those types of side effects. My mom's endocrinologist took her off Lipitor, saying that it could be what was causing a lot of her severe muscle pains. I'd prefer to do it naturally. Any tips or advice? I know that I have to go back to my former way of eating (poor Jeremy, lol; he hates healthy food), but I'm wondering if any of you know of any supplements that help besides garlic. Any advice would be appreciated.

There are certain foods that help to raise the HDL levels. Olive oil, omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish or taken as a supplement), avacado, beer. My ex husband had high levels 264. He didn't want to take meds for it. So I changed his diet. I didn't use any oil to cook with except Olive oil. I added avacado (once or twice a week to his sandwiches instead of mayo. Cut back the eggs, cut back the red meat. Added more fish (he didn't like fishy fish, but he liked sardines), cut out the whole milk and weaned him down to skim. After about 6 months his levels went down considerably.

Looks like you will have to go back to your healthy diet. And beer (for some unknown reason) helps to raise HDL's. But studies show 2 glasses of beer a day help keep heart disease away. But of course olive oil, and omega-3 helps raise those levels too.

I've also heard that eating almonds each day will help reduce your levels, too, Whisper.

Thanks Whiterose and Guinevere. I take fish oil capsures every day, along with vitamin E. I also use flax oil on salads, etc. I use olive oil when cooking. I drink wine. I didn't know that about beer. I thought that beer was bad for cholesterol levels and that wine helped raise the good cholesterol. Do you know if beer and wine both do the same thing?

Well .. My husband has high cholesterol... but he does take lipator... he used to be in the 300's hes now down to the very low 200's.... but you also need to eat well to.... but He's had no side effects... he can't take certain other kinds of Meds because it could affect his liver ...but you have to be careful is all....

but eating a low cholesterol diet will probably work...Talk to your doctor they will give you the advice you need.. they did for my mom and she is below 200 now ......but then again she also takes lipator..

Originally posted by whisper
Thanks Whiterose and Guinevere. I take fish oil capsures every day, along with vitamin E. I also use flax oil on salads, etc. I use olive oil when cooking. I drink wine. I didn't know that about beer. I thought that beer was bad for cholesterol levels and that wine helped raise the good cholesterol. Do you know if beer and wine both do the same thing?

Worry Whisper. I really don't know if wine and beer both have the same effect.

Originally posted by whisper
Thanks Whiterose and Guinevere. I take fish oil capsures every day, along with vitamin E. I also use flax oil on salads, etc. I use olive oil when cooking. I drink wine. I didn't know that about beer. I thought that beer was bad for cholesterol levels and that wine helped raise the good cholesterol. Do you know if beer and wine both do the same thing?


I read the article about beer and heart disease in a men's health magazine. There has been a lot of research done pertaining to alcohol and the effects it has on the heart. The research showed that 2 glasses of beer a day helped raise good levels of cholesterol. They don't know how it works, just that it does. It could be a combination of the grains and yeast used to make beer. And it didn't matter if it was light beer or dark beer.

Oh...and it is red wine, more than white wine that gives the better benefits to the heart. And only half a glass a day does the trick.

Thanks, Gwin. I really didn't know that about beer. I like dark beer and Alt beer (that's my favorite). I also love red wine - especially Cotes du Rhone lately.

I was at the grocery store today with my mother. For the first time in my life, I was reading the cholesteral content in all the foods. Wow! I was shocked by some of it. No wonder my cholesterol is high!. My mom was getting really nervous; she's afraid I'm going to take all the fun out of life now, lol.

One of the best dietary ways to control cholesterol etc. is the Atkins controlled carb approach. I live on it all the time (with occasional cheats for special days) and it is by far the least restrictive and most pleasant "diet" I have ever followed. Also keeps my weight under control, which my exercise program alone had stopped doing a couple of years ago. Might want to look in to it. Check out the website...www.atkinscenter.com.:)

Thanks, Inahnia. I'll check out that link. I used to pretty much eat that way, anyway, because I was never really much into carbohydrates. I have changed my way of eating, though, since I've been together with Jeremy. If I eat the way I always did, he doesn't want to touch the food, lol. I'm going to the doctor today, so I think that Jeremy will agree to change some of his eating habits along with me (so I don't have to cook more than one meal at a time). He needs to alter his eating habits, anyway, or he'll probably end up in trouble in the future.

Raven, I used to take a little ACV everyday - that was years ago. Oma (the German grandmother in law) used to drink quite a little bit of it every day. The doctor finally made her stop. I can't remember why....seems like it thinned her blood a little too much or something like that. Is it really good for cholesterol levels?

I'm going on the internet to search around and read all I can about taking care of this problem. I bought some sustained-release niacin today. It's supposed to help. Oh....I have so many natural healing books and medicinal herb books. I'm going to start reading them again. I just can't believe that I did this to myself in the past 3 1/2 years.

I sat at the dinner table tonight with my 13-year-old son, Jordan. He was laughing at me because I was sitting there eating solid white tuna on 9-grain bread with fresh spinich. I was singing, "The party's over." He was laughing so hard.

Raven! What will I do now that I can't have my nightly extra, extra, extra sharp cheese for a snack:(

Melodee, most cardiologists will give you three months to see if it goes down naturally, and then put you on Lipitor. Probably no longer than that with an LDL level of over 140.
Atkins does work for some people, my cholesterol went from 180 to 160 on Atkins.
Most of it is genetic y'know. Most cardiologists that I've talked to say you can diet and exercise all you want, and if you're genetically going to have high cholesterol, you still won't be in the normal range.
So stop kicking yourself.
My mom weighed nearly 300 pounds, and ate cheeze whiz by the jar, and still had a cholesterol level of under 200.
Sometimes life just isn't fair.

The research I have heard is that red wine helps with the cholesterol build up and actually drinking grape juice aids in keeping your arteries more pliable.

Bella and Mer, the doctor won't put me on statins until I'm past the age where I could even possibly get pregnant because of the high chance of birth defects, lawsuits, etc. I'd prefer to do it with diet changes and supplements. I don't know if that will be enough to lower it much, although some of you have given me hope! We have a family history of high cholesterol. My mother had her first heart attack when she was 39 years old.

Jeremy is being really supportive! He's helping me stick to eating the foods that I need to eat. I'm trying to remember the kinds of things that I used to make to eat before I met Jeremy 4 years ago (I think the arteries to my brain must already be clogged - my memory is the pits;) ). I've been eating a lot of green leafy salads with salmon, rice vinegar, olive oil, and herbs and drinking lowfat soymilk, skim milk, red wine, etc. I bought some flaxseed oil today and some plant sterol capsules. Yesterday I bought Niacin, which is also supposed to lower cholesterol. I've always loved fish, and now I have a good excuse to eat it often....not everyone in my family likes it, but I'll make it for myself, anyway.

I'm really happy, in a way, because I have missed eating the way that I used to eat. Everyone was complaining when I made my tofu, fresh vegetable, fresh herb sauces over whole wheat or buckwheat pasta and stuff like that. Now.....I have a good excuse to do it, lol;)

My Mom was told 2 months ago that her cholesterol was putting her into the high risk group for heart attack.

They told her that she should eat no pork at all. Eat Cheerios for breakfast. Eat no eggs or cook with the egg white only. She can have beef broiled or baked. No deserts except Angel Food cake. She can eat all the vegetables she wants as long as they are boiled or broiled.

She has lost 17 pounds with very little change in exercise. She looks and feels really great.... and NO medication.

Thanks, Yellowrose. I have really changed my way of eating this week. I'm doing the things that you mother has been doing. I've lost 3 1/2 lbs., and I'm not really even trying to lose weight - just trying to lower the cholesterol. I'll be glad to fit into some of my old clothes, though;)