Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Gynaikeíos]

I love Simon Evans voice! He sounds like a very  clever happy horse 😍

[Hurdity]

Hi Lynda

I've bumped an old thread on this ( which I haven't read through before doing so) but it should give you a picture of some of the issues.

Basically it is not cholesterol level per se which is important but the ratio of total to HDL, as well as LDL that is important/ Some people naturally have a higher level. Mine is often at that.

As probably mentioned in the other thread the doc should take a number of factors as well as the CH and plug them into the Qrisk analysis to come up with a theoretical stroke risk - so in your case the high BP is more of a worry I would say, if it is consistently high.

I would focus on your whole lifestyle (apologies if you are already doing everything you can) - so your body weight. So for women who are very overweight,   very important to reduce this so a healthy range. Exercise - very important to incrrease this if necessary. And of course diet - not necessarily reducing fats altogether, as others have said, nor even having a vegetarian diet, but reducing refined carbs (not all carbs) and eliminating processed sugars as far as possible. Should be fine to eat coconut, olive oil, avocado etc - natural fats but if you eat a lot of fried or processed foods and fatty red meat then yes reduce these - as well as alcohol and salt in your diet.

There are lots of natural ways to reduce BP but you may well not reduce your Ch - thoiugh if your BP reduces then this should reduce your Qrisk score. Also depends on your age too!

No need to completely stop your treats!  A little alcohol eg at weekend, small squares of dark chocolate or really good quality expensive chocs so you don't feel tempted to eat them all at once!

Hope this helps

Hurdity x

[Lynda07]

Sheila99 thanks for the dark chocolate tip, I do have some and find I can't/don't want to eat as much as milk chocolate.

Thanks so much for bumping the other thread Hurdity. I've read through it and will be checking out all of the links in it as well.

I wasn't told my ratio, I should have asked for that, in the past (admittedly many years ago) my GP said my good cholesterol was "fantastic" - however, my GP last year said the bad cholesterol was catching it up.

Last week the GP said my Q risk was 9, to be honest, that isn't really high enough to make me want to take statins (well, I don't want them full stop really). I'm hoping that by giving up alcohol and reducing sugar and "bad" carbs this figure will reduce as I expect it to have an effect on my blood pressure too.

I'm 57 and  9 stone 4 and 5'4 so not overweight but any fat is belly fat which isn't healthy I know. Exercise is something I am still struggling with - I manage to get my 10,000 steps in most days by walking my dogs but do need to do some cardio and I've a cross trainer sitting here waiting to be used as well!

I'm going to give this my best shot - keep your fingers crossed for me in three month time when my cholesterol is retested.

Thanks again everyone who has replied. It's all a big deal to me as I have awful health anxiety but even worse, a phobia of medication so your replies have been really helpful and supportive.

Lynda x

[flutterby]

Hi Lynda
Personally I’m not keen on the idea of taking statins either. My friends who take them have had varying side effects however the overriding factor is that their good cholesterol is considerably reduced as well - I don’t want this.
I started to take plant sterols, exercise more. Due to lack of check ups due to Covid I’ve not had a cholesterol check recently so I don’t know whether it has continued to reduce.
Flutterby x

[dahliagirl]

I read that oats, pulses (soya) and nuts (almonds) were good for reducing cholesterol so I have given it a go.

I use oats, and wholemeal grains such as rye as well as wheat and try and eat 2 or 3 meals with pulses in a week (but not necessarily soya as too much of this is not so good for kidney stones ).  I have allergy problems with hazelnuts and almonds so I skip those.

High fibre is supposed to help, so plenty vegetables and fruit alongside the pulses and wholegrains.

Oily fish is supposed to help too with Omega 3 fats, so make sure you get your sardines/mackerel in.  Not too much Omega 6 as this changes the Omega 6/3 balance so do not overdo the chicken and avoid sunflower oil (olive or decent rapeseed is ok).

At one point, I was making cakes using egg, minimal sugar and ground almonds and lemon, which were very nice, but then I found that it was setting allergies off.

It is a long while since I was tested, but my HDL/LDL proportions were good and the overall number reduced to just under the required level.

[Lynda07]

Flutterby, I'd not even thought of good cholesterol being reduced as well, I don't want that either. I've brought Benecol, also got some plant sterol tablets.

Thank you Dahliagirl - I love almonds and am eating a handful daily and have now got myself an nice overnight oat recipe to try as well. I think my problem is we (at home) are in a rut meal wise and I need to get out of that. I'm pleased your numbers are good, that's great to hear.

[sheila99]

You need a 3 legged dog   . Mine can't go at walking speed so I end up jogging (it's also the reason I avoid walks where she has to go on a lead, I hate running).