I just wanted to post this because I have been very worried about my health in general, especially my cholesterol levels. I became nervous/anxious that after all the hard work I've put in, that it would be the same or worse. I finally got some good news!

Since July 2004, I have started an exercise program and started eating better for my body -- especially switching from processed grains to whole/natural grains, and then limiting that.

Here are both sets of numbers...

July 2004:
TC: 228
LDL: 138
HDL: 23
Trig: 333

January 2005:
TC: 221
LDL: 149
HDL: 34
Trig: 192

More importantly, here are the ratio differences:

LDL/HDL ratio - went from 6.0 down to 4.4.
TC/HDL ratio - went from 9.9 down to 6.5.

HDL/TC % - went from 10% to 15%.
Trig/HDL % - went from 15% to 6%.

So, while I'm not out of the woods, I'm certainly on the right path. They want to check it again in 3 months. When the doctor's assistant called, I asked if we could do a more complete panel next time to check Lp(a), Homocysteine, etc., and she said she would let the doctor know!

I just wanted to share this with everyone to give some hope to those without.

Good Health Everyone!

Congratulations on the improvements, tattooyu! Keep up that exercise and the dietary improvements! Maybe you can post what additional changes you have made to your diet, so others can add additional suggestions they may have.

Congratulations on the improvements, tattooyu! Keep up that exercise and the dietary improvements! Maybe you can post what additional changes you have made to your diet, so others can add additional suggestions they may have.

Thank you!

My wife and I eat fresh/steamed/sauteed vegetables
Moderate fruit
Lean meats (no skin); I still eat some red meat, but I don't digest it well
Good fats (mostly olive oil with some other exotics like macadamia nut/avocado oil)
Some saturated fat (the body does need it), but very limited.
Drink LOTS of water over the course of the day (I drink about 4 pints--(8) 8 oz. glasses--on average daily)

The main thing: no refined sugars/carbs (except when we have our weekly treat on Fridays). We eat limited amoutns of whole/natural/unprocessed carbs.

Oh yeah, PORTIONS! Eat slow and stop eating when you are full. Don't eat when you're not hungry

It's really just calories in (good food/good portions) -> calories out (exercise).

I think it is great that your doctor is working with you on lifestyle changes first. So many just reach for the prescription pad.

It looks like you really have a good diet there. The only thing I can see (and maybe you just didn't mention it) was to eat plenty of fatty fish. Or take fish oil supplements. Even my doctor recommended the fish oil supplements, or flaxseed if I couldn't handle the fish burps.

Well, maybe one other thing. If you aren't getting a lot of soluble fiber, you might increase that. You know - legumes, oatmeal, oat bran, prunes, and the like. It can tie up some of the dietary cholesterol so it isn't absorbed and lower blood cholesterol that way.

OOPS! My bad...

I had been taking fish oil, but it upset my stomach, so mostly I was eating oatmeal most days of the week.

However, and this is a big however...

I use only Steel Cut oats. The regular Quaker-type oatmeal is all refined. You don't have to eat groats (totally unprocessed), but steel cut is a good middle ground and I really like the taste (now :) ).

It's so easy to make:

Add 1 cup oats to 4 cups briskly boiling water (I use spring water).
Boil until it starts to thicken (about 5-10 minutes).

Then, you can do one of two things:

1) Simmer for about 30-40 until it is smooth (stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn), or
2) [My favorite] Turn off the heat, put on the cover and let soak overnight or for a few hours.

Yesterday I boiled them for about 10 minutes, turned off the fire, covered it, went to my chiropractor. When I came back, it only took about 10 minutes to finish!

One cup uncooked oats lasts me almost an entire week. I only eat about 1/2-2/3 cup at a meal.

:wave:

If you can't handle the fish oil caps, you might try the flax oil caps. My doctor said it wasn't quite as good, but is a close second. That's what I've been doing, since I disliked the fish burps. I take them with meals.

Looks like you've found a good solution for you on the oats, too. I don't like oatmeal particularly, so what I've done instead is substitute oat bran for half or more of the flour in a drop biscuit recipe, use whole wheat for the rest, use canola oil for the "shortening," and make a double or triple batch for the freezer at regular intervals. I take only enough out of the freezer for a day or two at a time, as with the canola oil, they don't keep all that well. I eat those instead of toast for breakfast and instead of crackers with soup for lunch. And if I don't use them that way, I might have a few as a mid-afternoon or bedtime snack. It is easy to eat half a dozen a day that way, and one can get a lot of oat bran in the diet without too much trouble.

Uff-da!,

I would try not to eat Canola oil...supposedly it's very toxic, but I don't know.

I use only Steel Cut oats. The regular Quaker-type oatmeal is all refined.

No, that is not true.
Actually, it is the Quaker instant oatmeal that is refined. Not the regular, which is steel cut. They do have the steel cut variety. Infact, my cholesterol went down due to eating Quaker oatmeal.
The instant brand is the one to stay away from.

Hi Folks,
What is the Fish Oil ( I hope capsules) you Use?
I remember one 7-seas Cot lever oil, I don't know whether it is good or not any more?

Uff-da!,

I would try not to eat Canola oil...supposedly it's very toxic, but I don't know.Okay, I can't tell you how to find the hundreds of websites that say so, but there are several hoaxes which have spread in the past five years on websites and in emails saying that canola oil is toxic. This is a hoax or urban legend.

Hi Folks,
What is the Fish Oil ( I hope capsules) you Use?
I remember one 7-seas Cot lever oil, I don't know whether it is good or not any more?Be aware that cod liver oil contains large amounts of vitamins A and D. Those are fat soluble vitamins, which are retained in the tissues. Excess amounts of these vitamins in the body can be toxic. I've read some statements (on websites that sell the cod liver oil) that the particular forms of the vitamins and proportions of A to D in cod liver oil isn't a problem, but I haven't seen anything from an unbiased source to that effect. I'd be leary or would want to do more research before proceeding if I were considering it.

Edit: I might add, though, that I haven't done a whole lot of searching on it, as I've been taking flaxoil caps instead and haven't had a personal interest in researching the cod liver oil issue in any depth.

I checked my cod-liver oil (Twin Lab) and it says it contains in a 1 tsp. daily dose (5 ml.) 4,615 mg. Vitamin A and 462 IU of Vitamin D. I judge both to be perfectly safe. Especially in the Winter that dose of Vitamin D is very welcome; there aren;t too many other decent sources.

BTW,
I agree very heartily that Canola is the single best choice for heart healthy cooking. It has the perfect balance of nutrition, taste, and price to suit me to a tee, nonsensical Intenet claptrap notwithstanding.

In some cases fish oil and flaxseed oil can seem the healthiest choice, but then can you imagine COOKING with either of them? Bleccch!
Olive is the closest contender but is much more expensive, imparts the wrong taste to certain foods and isn't very rich in the good polyunsaturates like the Omega 3's. Canola tastes MUCH better than soy oil and doesn't seem to polymerize as readily (notice how readily that weird shellacky stuff forms on a soy oil bottle after awhile.)