My doctor told me he wants me to become a vegetarian for 2-3 months because of my results. Last week he said not to eat red meat anymore and now it's all meat. I asked him about niacin and he said not to take it. He put me on Lovastain and a blood pressure medication last week. My blood pressure came down from last week. It's now down to normal level. Any suggestions on how to bring my triglycerides down and my hdl up? Thaks
TC- 173
HDL- 34
Triglycerides- 571

To get your tryglicerides down, cut out all refined carbohydrates and sugars. Animal fat is not as bad for you as we all have been made to believe and it actually increases your HDL.

My doctor told me he wants me to become a vegetarian for 2-3 months because of my results. Last week he said not to eat red meat anymore and now it's all meat. I asked him about niacin and he said not to take it. He put me on Lovastain and a blood pressure medication last week. My blood pressure came down from last week. It's now down to normal level. Any suggestions on how to bring my triglycerides down and my hdl up? Thaks
TC- 173
HDL- 34
Triglycerides- 571

My HDL was 39 and my TRI's were 174 back in November. I've been advised on this board to eat avacodo's and use olive oil (extra virgin), and more exercise to raise my HDL, My Tri's are high I believe, because I was on a low fat diet, and ate more pasta. I don't do any baked goods at all. So watch your carbohydrates, that should help. A glass of red wine will also help your HDL. I get re-tested in March so I will see then if what I'm doing now did help.

Why did your doctor recommend a statin over niacin, if I might ask? With a low HDL and high triglycerides, it appears as if niacin would help you.

Besides doing what the others suggest here, your doctor probably should have recommended fish oil too. It can possibly lower triglycerides by 30-50%.

To get your tryglicerides down, cut out all refined carbohydrates and sugars. Animal fat is not as bad for you as we all have been made to believe and it actually increases your HDL.

And unfortunately, increases LDL.

I've been taking Omega 3 for the past 3 months. Should I stop? I also don't know why he doesn't want me take niacin. I asked him and he said not to take it. So now I'll be on the following drugs for my back, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure-Norco, Ibuprofin, Flexeril, Skelaxin, Lunesta, Nifedical, Lorvastatin. I also have a sleep study next month for which I know I have sleep apnea. Life goes on, as Tony Soprano says "Wada ya gona do":)

I've been taking Omega 3 for the past 3 months. Should I stop? I also don't know why he doesn't want me take niacin. I asked him and he said not to take it. So now I'll be on the following drugs for my back, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure-Norco, Ibuprofin, Flexeril, Skelaxin, Lunesta, Nifedical, Lorvastatin. I also have a sleep study next month for which I know I have sleep apnea. Life goes on, as Tony Soprano says "Wada ya gona do":)

How much fish oil are you using? I wouldn't stop but you may need to take more. With the high TGs I would shoot for about 6 grams per day. 2 gm in morning 2 in afternoon and 2 more in the evening.

Ask your Dr. why he's opposed to using the Niacin. Maybe he has a good reason. Possibly an interaction with some of your other meds? Or possibly he's brainwashed into believing that it's a supplement and not helpfull. I would press him on this just to see where he's comming from. But then again I might just be an arse.

Get that sleep problem taken care of. They're finding out all kinds of nasty things can be related to sleep apnea.

Good luck and Happy New Year.

Cutting out dietary cholesterol helps very few people... I wouldn't bother.

By making dietary changes, I was able to bring my cholesterol from 272 to 215, so I think it iw worth the effort.

Thanks for the support from you all, I was only taking 3,000 mg of the Omega 3 fish oil a day. As for the sleep study, I'm having it done in 3 weeks. I'm 99.9% sure I have it. I actually think that's what killed my father 25 years ago. I cut red meat out of my diet 2 weeks ago and starting tomorrow I'm cutting all meat for 3 months. If that doesn't help me on my next test I'm going back to mushroom and onions on my steak! oh yeah and pizza! Happy New Years to you all

Michael, good for you. You have a plan and
hopefully will see good results.
Have you thought of increasing your daily
exercise? Walking more?


Inacarr, I would be interested to hear what
dietary changes you implemented. I am
hoping to lower my cholesterol through diet
and exercise.

Thanks!
Good luck and Happy New Year!

Michael, good for you. You have a plan and
hopefully will see good results.
Have you thought of increasing your daily
exercise? Walking more?


Inacarr, I would be interested to hear what
dietary changes you implemented. I am
hoping to lower my cholesterol through diet
and exercise.

Thanks!
Good luck and Happy New Year!

Thanks Sasham, I'm trying to exercise more but it's kinda hard for me. I have 3 herniated discs and nerve damage in my legs. I have a stationary bike I'm trying to get back on. I take 3 walks a day which helps.

I stopped eating fried foods and red meat. I started eating oatmeal and cheerios. I started reading food labels to help decide if I wanted that food. I took fish oil and plant sterol supplements. I went from virtually no exercise to regular exercise (walking). I increased fiber intake (psyllium, Metamucil). Unfortunately, I couldn't get any lower, so I now take Lipitor. I've lost 25 lbs so maybe I can get off after losing all the weight that I need to. But I think it's important to do as much by diet as possible to keep medicine dose low.

... I cut red meat out of my diet 2 weeks ago and starting tomorrow I'm cutting all meat for 3 months. If that doesn't help me on my next test I'm going back to mushroom and onions on my steak! ...
IMHO, cutting out meat is completely the wrong thing for you to be doing. Testing the effects of doing this would be good. But you need to be clear on what you are testing. And you will only get meaningful results if you change only one thing at a time. If, at the same time as you cut out red meat, you also start taking Lovastatin and getting more exercise, how will you know what is causing the effect? After doing all these things, I am sure your LDL and triglycerides will come down. But you won't know if not eating meat has had anything to do with this.

The only way to test these things is to take a base-line measurement (a full lipid profile), change one variable (stop eating meat or start taking a statin or get more exercise) and test again after three months. My experience has been that increasing meat consumption produced very good results. HDL went up, triglycerides came down, and LDL stayed much the same. Meat is nutrient rich, and you really short-change yourself by cutting it out of your diet

Mark

IMHO, cutting out meat is completely the wrong thing for you to be doing. Testing the effects of doing this would be good. But you need to be clear on what you are testing. And you will only get meaningful results if you change only one thing at a time. If, at the same time as you cut out red meat, you also start taking Lovastatin and getting more exercise, how will you know what is causing the effect? After doing all these things, I am sure your LDL and triglycerides will come down. But you won't know if not eating meat has had anything to do with this.

The only way to test these things is to take a base-line measurement (a full lipid profile), change one variable (stop eating meat or start taking a statin or get more exercise) and test again after three months. My experience has been that increasing meat consumption produced very good results. HDL went up, triglycerides came down, and LDL stayed much the same. Meat is nutrient rich, and you really short-change yourself by cutting it out of your diet

Mark

Hi Mark,

You bring up a very good point. For over six months I basically ate like a vegetarian and when I got my test results despite doing cardio 30mins five days a week my HDL went down from 59 to 42. There was absolutely no change in my LDL and TRIG. I am back eating more meat again but avoid red meat at all costs. I eat fish twice a week and lean poultry. I am now taking 2,000mg of Niacin for my lipid management now and it will be very interesting to see my results when I get tested in five weeks. I will share my results with everyone as I have never tried Niacin before and have been on 2,000mg immediate release for six months now.