Hi! I have a high cholesterol and I'm not fat. I'm small. I did put on some weight though cause of it. Now, I'm happy about my body, feeling good about myself and whatnot. What better right? Anyway I was born premature. I only weighed 2 pounds and 5 ounces and so I was tiny. Thats why it's important for me to keep my weight up. I'm 5 feet 1 weigh in the low hundreds. I'm trying to keep within 110. I had a weight problem when I was younger. I'm only 22. It's sad cuase I have to cut down on the foods that would make me gain weight. Ice cream, burgers, hot dogs, cake, chips, chocolate. Those stuff. I eat subway. Thats my favourite but now, my doctor's telling me put the right stuff on it. I can't have mcdonalds, not that I'd want to anyways since I hate it. But ya. Burger King and stuff. I know this sounds weird, you guys are probably thinking why would I want to gain weight instead of loose? Well cause of how I was born. I also hate to hear people tell me I'm tiny. Sick of harassment. Now, I'm looking great, feeling great, but have a high cholesterol. And lowering that would mean loosing weight wouldn't it? I'm wondering if anyone on here has this problem. How can I keep my weight reasonable and not harm my body? What foods to eat? I don't want to hurt myself but I also don't want to be under weight

There are lots of different opinions on this. For what it is worth, mine is that the only fat you need to avoid is trans fats. Most processed foods contain trans fats, which are bad for you. But fat in whole food like eggs, meat and fish is good for you. I have had difficulty holding onto weight, and as a type 1diabetic I have to limit carbohydrate. I have dealt with this by eating lots of eggs, cheese, nuts, fish and meat.

Mark

But my doctor said cut down on eggs, red meat, and cheese. I'm not much for fish, though I don't hate it. On the back of a bag of chips, it says 0 cholesterol. My nutritionist said chips is the worse thing to eat cause there fried. My doctor said they use good oils to make chips, but the oils produce cholesterol in your body. I don't understand that but ya.....I'm skinny already. I'm just frustrated that I have this problem at a young age......I asked her what would happen if I was to get pregnant, since I have to stop eating everything. She's like oh nothing cause I should be eating fish, grain stuff, chicken thats grilled and baked potatoes. So I don't know.

But my doctor said cut down on eggs, red meat, and cheese. ....

The idea that eating food that contains cholesterol increases levels of it in the blood stream is a myth that has become entrenched in conventional medical and dietary wisdom. A study done early in the last century showed that if you feed rabbits on high cholesterol food, their blood cholesterol goes up. Which is not surprising as rabbits are herbivores, and being fed such unnatural food must have been very stressful for them. Anyway, the finding was never replicated on other animals, let alone humans. Even Ancel Keys, who pioneered the cholesterol-heart hypothesis, acknowledged that unless if you are a rabbit, dietary cholesterol won't increase serum cholesterol.

For what it is worth, I tested this out on myself by switching from cereal to 3 eggs for breakfast every day. This increased my dietary intake of cholesterol by 630 mg a day and my cholesterol levels remained much the same. Triglycerides actually declined while HDL (the good cholesterol) went up slightly. Saturated fat doesn't increase my LDL cholesterol either. Stress is the big problem. And avoid eating too much carbohydrate - it increases your triglycerides. ;)

Mark

Size and weight have no direct baring on level of cholesterol. I lost 30 lbs and was in great shape, I was still in the high cholesterol range. I have a female friend that is a skinny size 2... kind of like Nancy Reagan... and has been battling cholesterol for a decades.

Your liver makes nearly all, if nor 100$% all, of the cholesterol in your system.

I found cutting down on carbs helps me...

Niacin is a good alternative, if you can tollerate it. I take the extended release form, Niaspan.