And was actually surprised. 9 months ago I had a cholesterol test done. And again a couple of weeks ago.

My test 9 mos ago:
TC=204
HDL=44
LDL=138
Trigs=111
Ratio was 4.5 I think or something like that.

Test now:
TC=172
HDL=44
LDL=117
Trigs=56
Ratio=3.9

Okay my new numbers are pretty good and I'm not at all dissatisfied although I would like to bring my HDL up to over 50 at least. They said my HDL needed to be over 60 and LDL under 100. I don't know how anyone would get those numbers without statins.

The funny thing I didn't really make any changes. Not to speak of. As far my diet goes the only thing I really did was cut out peanut butter for the most part, popcorn and the occasional eating of candy. And have actually been eating more meat than the last time out. Before the 204 test I was eating a vegetarian diet and have been pretty much for the past couple of years and my cholesterol has been steadily going up.
My dr had put me on a strict no meat, dairy, oils, butter/margarine, fish, low saturated fat, no cholesterol with meatless alternatives diet. Aside from being a pretty tough diet to stick to because I love junk food my candy, cookie, sweets cravings had gotten so out of hand by my last TC test that I could have inhaled the candy and cookies.

I walk 4 to 8 miles a day(except sometimes in the winter I get lax due to the cold and I get alot of infections, most days it's 4 to 5) and have for the past 7 yrs or so and when I walk alot I start noticing that I'm just dragging, don't feel too good and I don't know if it's because I'm not getting enough protein. I've tried eating the meatless stuff and I like it but don't like it well enough to eat it 3 or 4 times a week. And I just couldn't seem to eat enough beans, nuts, etc. to make me feel better. I don't like eating peanut butter every day either.

Anyway, before the 204 test I hadn't been exercising that much because of the cold. I wonder if it could have made that much of a difference in my cholesterol levels. Always get it checked in the winter.

The past nine months I decided I needed to find a balance for me that worked because no meat as much as I liked it wasn't. I was craving too many sweets. NOw that I eat some meat the sweets cravings are completely gone.

I started eating alot more fish although overall I don't eat alot of it, do eat some tuna. I don't eat chicken at all although do occasionally eat fast food burgers. My weakness has become subway. I eat a fair amount of their turkey, ham and tuna subs. Eat their veggie ones too though. I didn't cut potato chips out, those bakery cookies I like so well(eat them 2 or 3 times a month, maybe).
Don't eat beef except very occasionally, no chicken, peanut butter only once in a while now and no other sweets besides the cookies.
Also eat more beans. Nutritional yeast every day but no other supplements. Eat out no more than once a week. Was eating out more than that before the 204 test. Drink fewer blended iced coffees(they have 6 saturated fat grams, not the worst but not the best either)
Have actually starting eating eggs although not all the time. LOve egg salad.

I walk almost every day weather permitting in the winter. Every day in the summer. I have tachycardia and I didn't think my heart rate was getting up enough when I walked so I have added a little running into my routine on some days.

I really don't think I've improved my diet that much although was walking alot before the 172 test. There is still room for quite a bit of improvement really. I just can't figure out how to get enough protein without eating any meat and don't want meatless alternatives 3 or 4 times a week. I've found that if I don't consume a good bit of protein I don't feel very well especially when I'm walking this much and running.

I definitely still want to bring that HDL up. And if my LDL comes down even more in the process I won't be dissapointed.

My cholesterol is actually better now than it's ever been although that 204 was the highest it's ever been. I was very worried before my 172 test because my Mom died of heart disease and Dad just had a heart attack a few weeks ago. THe only thing I do differently from them is I don't eat hamburgers(very often), sausage, hot dogs, shortening, I don't even eat oils and I've tried to cut out hydrogenated oils(fats) as much as possible. I walk every day alot.
It's funny but about 5 yrs ago I was tested(I think it was 176 then) and I was eating hamburgers every day and subway and potato chips but did walk 5 miles a day. I didn't understand it then and I still don't. Although I can lose weight eating bad food(as I like to call it) but gain eating good food. Don't understand that either.

Now I guess my question is trying to understand it. I haven't really improved my diet that much although my numbers sure did.
One last thing: I keep my total fat intake below 30 to 35 grams of fat most days(that's with subway) and on no subway days I can keep it below 10 to 15 grams a day. My dr said to keep it below 30 grams a day but 25 grams a day would be better. And zero cholesterol. Or no more than what's in skim milk.

Overall I'm pretty satisfied.

Question: Anyone else improved their numbers on exercise alone? Oh yeah what is the best way to bring up good cholesterol without completely cutting out meat? My DR said soy was good.

I've read that niacin will really elevate the HDL, and I hope that's right because I'm taking 1500mg. daily of flush-free niacin. I've a drs. appt. coming up next week so we'll see.

... what is the best way to bring up good cholesterol without completely cutting out meat? .....
Cutting out meat won't increase HDL (good cholesterol). It is likely to have the opposite effect. :rolleyes:

Mark

Mark1e,

Can you explain that statement? How can cutting out meat have the opposite effect of lowering HDL? Is that what you meant? HOw can it have an adverse effect?

I don't know if there is a scientific explanation for it. But most people who eat low-carb, which involves eating more meat, find that there HDL goes up. Ironically, the best way to increase your good cholesterol is to eat more saturated fat.

I eat 3 eggs with lots of cheese and salami for breakfast every day. There is a lot of saturated fat and cholesterol in that. YMMV, but my HDL was 82 the last time it was tested. Triglycerides were 106 and LDL had increased to 128, but I think that was mainly due to stress.

IMHO, people overestimate the extent to which food affects their cholesterol. Ultimately, your liver produces as much as it is told to. Unless, of coues if you takr statin. Saturated fat and foods containing cholesterol have been unfairly demonised. ;)

Mark

May be? But I'm not about to start eating that diet.

Question? How much exercise do you do though? I think it does make a difference on how much exercise one is doing in relation to fat eating.

I was on a pretty much vegetarian diet(one that dr insisted on mainly because he's vegetarian) and my cholesterol continued to rise and I couldn't believe eating better meant higher cholesterol although prior to the 204 test I had not been exercising much because of the cold. After this last test I've been exercising more(as much as is possible in the cold). The only walking I like is the outdoor kind. Also started doing a little running to try and get heart rate up since tachycardia medicine tends to keep it down.

When my crp went down he said I could have fish and I started eating more of that but noticed with all the walking I was doing I was dragging a bit maybe not getting enough protein and I've pretty much cut out peanut butter because of the hydrogenated fat so I was getting very little protein(got a little from beans but probably not enough and don't want them every night anyway). I was determined to stick to the no chicken, beef or pork except occasionally, diet.
But I still needed more protein. So I settled on subway's turkey, ham and occasionally tuna, subs. And occasionally a hamburger and egg salad. And kept potato chips.
I was a little surprised really but am just glad that my cholesterol came down.
I do walk alot so I guess I'm burning up alot of fat and calories. Actually it's hard to walk that much and not eat a little more fat. At least it is for me.

My opinion: But I think it's also how much of the fatty food you're able to burn off. Don't know if you require a higher fat intake with a demanding exercise schedule but I seemed to definitely require more protein.

Dr. Clay Semenkovich at Washington University Hospital in St. Louis, has found that you must have new fat to burn old fat. He also found that low metabolism can and does cause heart disease.

..... Question? How much exercise do you do though? I think it does make a difference on how much exercise one is doing in relation to fat eating.....
I go to the gym for 50 minutes 4 times a week. For the rest of the time, I am pretty inactive. Clearly, the more active you are, the more quickly you burn off fat. But, IMHO, the level of activity is not the critical factor. It is the limiting of carbohydrate that actully puts you into fat burning mode. I am not trying to lose weight, as I don't have much fat. I like to be in fat burning mode because I am a Type 1 diabetic. The high HDL is just a bonus. :)

Mark

A couple of years ago I was having trouble losing weight. Never had this problem before. But started taking meds for tachycardia and read later that it can cause weight gain. Don't know if that did it or not but started gaining, couldn't lose it and was eating pretty much nothing but salads and cereal, a very low fat diet. Anyway, I got so frustrated I went to the store and while there I got myself some cookies and donuts. I liked them so much I went back the next day and the day after that and was eating donuts almost every day. People think this is insane but I started losing the weight. It just flew off after that. Every time I'd go to the dr I'd be at least a couple of pounds lighter. That junk food worked so well that I was eating hamburgers, milk shakes, pretty much anything that was bad. Finally hit a plateau where I wasn't gaining any weight no matter how much bad food I ate. Eventually I had to reign that bad food eating in. But as soon as I started eating real healthy again I'd gain so I'd eat a little something that wasn't good for me and I'll lose the weight. I'm lucky I guess I've always had good metabolism. I've never had a weight problem and even then I was only about 15 pounds over the desired limit but to me it was like 100. Not only did I lose the 15 I lost 10 more on top of that.
Maybe my body finally adjusted to the heart meds, I don't know.

As far as I can tell my diet is not anywhere close to being low carb.

That exercise regime you're on is pretty good. 4 times a week is enough to keep your cholesterol at a pretty good level. I haven't been able to walk every day because of the cold but it was enough to bring my cholesterol down. Since I always get tested in the winter when I don't do much exercising I wonder if my cholesterol may be better in the summer when I walk 5 miles every day. Sometimes more.

Today was a nice day and I ended up walking 7 miles. 5's good but sometimes I like to do more. I sleep really good too after doing that much exercise.

BUt that's my thing, if I want a hamburger I'll walk for it. If I've been eating a fair amount of bad food I'll try to walk more.
The bonus of eating bad food for me is that I can walk farther and have more energy.

Question: Has your cholesterol always been pretty good? Has it ever been high?

I hate to add to this crazy talk about good food causing a weight gain, but the same thing happened to me! In September my cholesterol numbers were TC 271, LDL 177, HDL 72, and trig 108. So I started on a plan of diet and exercise to get these numbers down. During the period from Sept. to Jan., I managed to gain 7 lbs., however my cholesterol went down! New numbers are TC 245, LDL 167, HDL 62, trig. 68. My theory on this is my old lose weight quick was to go on an Atkins diet. I'm scared to do this, so my carbohydrate intake is much higher. I'm still working on finding a balance.

I've read that niacin will really elevate the HDL, and I hope that's right because I'm taking 1500mg. daily of flush-free niacin. I've a drs. appt. coming up next week so we'll see.

My understanding is that the flush Niacin is what is needed. That is what I was told by a nurse practitioner and what I have been using for the past many years. My HDL is 95.

Inacarr, you may find out that after awhile, possibly after your body adjusts, that you will lose this weight because I agree atkins is probably not a good solution.
Of course after awhile I had to adopt a healthier meal plan. Now I'm on a pretty good plan, except for the fact I like potato chips and soda(which I've decided to cut because sugar is a little higher than needed, not yet prediabetic but in gray area).
I didn't need much bad food to get weight loss only a little maybe once or twice a week. But also had to balance all this with lots of walking(do about 5 miles a day especially in the summer) and then walk a little more if I eat something really bad like a hamburger.
MOst importantly it took a long time for me to adjust after gettign on heart meds and it took awhile to lose the weight then even longer to get my cholesterol back down to a normal level. NOw I just need to maintain the better cholesterol and still want to improve it even more.

people here forget that the human body manufactures its own cholesterol,
different from the cholesterol consumed like from eggs, etc.
The body may react to lower levels of fat by producing more of its own cholesterol.....

I believe it is the ratio that is more important than the absolute counts.

Remember that the digested cholesterol from eggs, etc that show up in your
blood stream may be totally unrelated to the cholesterol that is used by
your body (produced in your liver) in nervous tissue or cellular organells.

Dr. Clay Semenkovich at Washington University Hospital in St. Louis, has found that you must have new fat to burn old fat. He also found that low metabolism can and does cause heart disease.
can you quote the article somewhere ?

http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/5258.html

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health