JohnZerne's Logboek, 02 mei 22

Sounds like you have a good plan. My LDL was just barely in healthy range 6 months ago, and I didn't like the way it was headed, so I cut down my saturated fat. I'm not sure how much of it was dietary change and how much was weight loss, but it dropped on my last test. The Nutrition Made Simple channel on YouTube has some good videos on reducing cholesterol through diet 

Would you consider adding pea or whey protein? Both help bind cholesterol, and it would help you get more protein. You could get a sugar-free vanilla or chocolate to add to a plant-based milk, I even add Hershey's sugar-free chocolate syrup, It's really quite good. Again, sending you good mojo, let us know how things turn out. 

You can do it. Make sure to test again soon and keep adjusting 

If you're making shakes, banana and avocado are the bomb, and you'll need no sweetener. 😋 Plus lots of fiber in that avocado. I'm going to speak heresy for this site, but I think the whole protein thing is overblown. If it works for you, go for it, but I consider fiber to be the more critical nutrient  

@Writingwyo for some people, yes, fiber definitely is the more beneficial nutrient. It definitely varies from person to person. However, whey and pea protein isolate are excellent cholesterol binders! It's just another tool in the tool box. Also, John, I seem to recall a post where you mentioned underlying inflammation (?). High phytosome curcumins could help miitigate that inflammation, in turn helping to lower cholesterol. Just food for thought - totally up to you whether to include them or not. We are rooting for you! 

Another tool indeed, allegra, and I certainly don't want to discourage anyone it works for! My apologies if I came across that way. I more wanted to throw it out there that there are some different strategies 

I am taking a product recommended by my doctor called Nutrim which has been proven to help lower cholesterol . It contains beta glucan which is basically oat bran. The cereal would not help much though but Bob's Red Mill does make plain oat bran hot cereal. Nothing else in it. I'm a retired R.N. and food wise this is the best you can use to help. I get in between 30-40gms of fiber a day. I don't do keto but a slice of Lewis keto bread has no carbs and 8gms of fiber.  

I should have said that over the counter cold cereal with additives and sugar would not help but the Bob's Red Mill does.  

Sorry to hear about that LDL uptick. I'm currently working on mine (130), and I've lowered my saturated fat intake to an average of 4 grams/day. It usually comes from olive or canola oil. Really big is the exercise. Keep going with it. I'm with Writingwyo on avoiding processed powder solutions if at all possible (and definitely drugs like statins). As far as food goes, 1 cup of cooked lentils or beans has 15 grams (half of your daily needs). Dried apricots, prunes, and dates have 9 grams in 1 cup and are excellent snacks. Dried figs have 15 grams in 1 cup. 

John, I should also add that if your doctor worries that you're about to have a stroke or heart attack unless you take statins, then do as the doc says. They're just used to patients not changing or overhauling their lives, and are pretty quick to write the 'scrip. But know that the industry wants to keep you on those forever, and warn that even if you naturally reduce your levels while on them, they do not want to take you off them, as your levels will go up again quickly. So they're a lifelong drug (with lots of side effects). 

I never had chol problems even when I weighed double. And I used to eat enormous quantities of red meat. For the last ten years I have changed my diet to sky high carbs and fiber, all raw and from natural sources, fruit, legumes and vegetables and all my indexes became more than excellent. But the last two years I have high cholesterol and ldl although trigl are extremely low and hdl is high. I am giving it a last try to control it through reducing whatever animal fat is left in my diet, eggs, full fat yogurt, even the once a month red meat consumption. I know that something is not working right in my body because I never had any chol problem whatever I ate. Aging I guess. I hope it works that way although I do not like it at all, because I am like my father, both of us statin intolerant, me even worse than him, my body reacts badly even for the lightest statins in the market. 

In Feb 18 my total cholesterol was 260 and LDL was 161. I was a 58 year old 191 lb woman and ate terribly with lots of fast food. It took 2 years to lose 45 lbs and complete overhaul of diet to get to Total of 190 and LDL of 118. Then I had a coronary calcium scan which takes an image of your heart/valves and vessels. If you haven't had one of those ask your doctor for one. It shows all the calcium buildup in your arteries and puts you in a risk factor for people of the same age group. Even though my levels were "normal" it was that scan that made me decide to go on statins. In March of this year my Total is now 147 and LDL is 72. I also dropped another 7 lbs. Since I already had some calcium buildup the goal was to reduce/eliminate any further buildup. Heart attack/heart disease is the number one cause of death. Recovering from a stroke is no cake walk. I believe the highest risk factor of statins is that it can increase your risk of type 2 diabetes. BUT my A1C in 2018 was 5.3 and now it is 5.0. Statins can also cause liver problems but because when you are on statins you have regular blood work they check your liver function and enzymes. My levels are stable and have not changed at all. I am 62 and believe it is riskier not to go on statins if your doctor recommends . My suggestion would be to clean up your diet as well as you can, get the calcium coronary scan, and discuss with your doctor about the risk factors of statins given your individual health. All the best to you ! 

PS for reference my weight was always in the normal range until I turned 50. My food choices up until I turned 50 are like they are today. The cholesterol sky rocketed when I got fat and ate unhealthy. What I was left with when I turned that around was the calcium build up in my heart arteries. So that is why I suggest you get that checked because you can lower your levels but the damage may have already been done. It's the plaque that can kill you not the cholesterol in the blood they draw when they do lab work ! 

Correction... not calcium buildup... plaque buildup.  

Glad to hear your test had good results! 

Mortal— he just said his results did not come back very good. 

Piggybacking on CrazyCC's comment on plaque, I found an article that does a pretty good job in explaining things in layman's terms: https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/can-we-reduce-vascular-plaque-buildup 

JB - in conversations with my Dr. he indicated the only way to "remove" the existing plaque I had was to get the LDL below 70. Considering it took me two years to get in the normal range it was difficult to see me dropping it that low without statins. On my next annual I am going to have a follow up scan and see if there has been change in the results. At that time we are going to discuss how well I am sticking to my eating plan and exercise and if going off statins. Getting it under control is really a combination of the foods we eat, weight loss and exercise.  

If you have issues with the statin op, I have had really good luck with Fenofibrate. I have fibromyalgia, the statins caused sever muscle cramps and falls. No problem with the Fenofibrate. Sometimes your body just produces too much cholesterol due to hereditary history. Drugs are the only answer, along with the obvious diet and exercise modification.