Cholesterol 6.2 help.

Grahamb23

I got my results back from the blood tests I got done last week and it showed my cholesterol was 6.2. Im 33 years old and obviously this is far to high. Im 6'2" and weigh 16stone . I would be fairly fit but could do with loosing a few lbs. Can anyone recommend any diet plan to loose weight and lower my cholesterol?

--Kaiser--

Total cholesterol level is not particularly relevant. What are your HDL and LDL (etc) levels?

re.mark.able

if you want something general I'd say go dairy free and make the meat you eat leaner - fish, turkey, chicken and make sure you're cutting the fat off when you eat red meats.
It you post up your current diet, you will get more specific advice from people

IRLConor

Grahamb23 wrote: »

I got my results back from the blood tests I got done last week and it showed my cholesterol was 6.2. Im 33 years old and obviously this is far to high. Im 6'2" and weigh 16stone . I would be fairly fit but could do with loosing a few lbs. Can anyone recommend any diet plan to loose weight and lower my cholesterol?

A year ago, mine was 6.0 at age 30. A week ago I got retested and it was 4.7. I was lucky in that I had plenty of room to improve diet-wise though, I don't know how well you eat.

I stopped eatingbuying pizza and I pretty much cut down on dairy (which I should really do anyway since I'm mildly lactose intolerant), and generally cut out sweets, crisps, desserts and the like. For the first month or two I was very serious about reading all the food labels and not eating anything with significant levels of fat in it. After that I eased back and just generally avoided junk food. Over the year I went from roughly 88kg to just over 80kg now (roughly 13 stone 12lb to 12 stone 8 lb) even though the goal wasn't really weight loss.

How much room for improvement is there in your diet? If you eat healthily already then it might be tricky. If you're like me, then there should be some easy wins. If in doubt, if it's fried, contains butter/cheese or is sold right beside the cash register look for another option if you can.

Grahamb23

IRLConor wrote: »

A year ago, mine was 6.0 at age 30. A week ago I got retested and it was 4.7. I was lucky in that I had plenty of room to improve diet-wise though, I don't know how well you eat.

I stopped eatingbuying pizza and I pretty much cut down on dairy (which I should really do anyway since I'm mildly lactose intolerant), and generally cut out sweets, crisps, desserts and the like. For the first month or two I was very serious about reading all the food labels and not eating anything with significant levels of fat in it. After that I eased back and just generally avoided junk food. Over the year I went from roughly 88kg to just over 80kg now (roughly 13 stone 12lb to 12 stone 8 lb) even though the goal wasn't really weight loss.

How much room for improvement is there in your diet? If you eat healthily already then it might be tricky. If you're like me, then there should be some easy wins. If in doubt, if it's fried, contains butter/cheese or is sold right beside the cash register look for another option if you can.

Thanks IRLConor, great advise. nice to hear it from someone that was in the same spot as me. I have loads to improve in my diet but from what your showing me its makes it sound a bit more possible. Thanks again

IRLConor

Grahamb23 wrote: »

Thanks IRLConor, great advise. nice to hear it from someone that was in the same spot as me. I have loads to improve in my diet but from what your showing me its makes it sound a bit more possible. Thanks again

If you have loads of room to improve in your diet then it shouldn't actually be too hard. If you're like me, you've known all along the foods you shouldn't be eating so much of!

To give you an example, in my previous job I'd often drop into the nearest newsagent and buy the following as a "snack" on my way home: Yorkie Raisin & Biscuit, McCoy's Steak Crisps, Bottle of Dr Pepper. That's 788 kcal and 31.6g of fat. I wasn't even hungry, I just like the taste!

If you can find the obvious things that you know are wrong, then fix them first. Don't try and solve it all at once. If you jump straight from where you are now to a diet of nothing but chicken and steamed veg you'll fall off the wagon pretty quickly. Better diet is about changing your habits and habits change slowly.

Calf Cam

i too have high cholesterol and already have a pretty healthy diet and am grain and egg intolerant so not much I can do about using butter with potatoes as its all I have to look forward to but I take lecithin capsules and Benecol drinking yoghurts and it brings my cholesterol levels down a bit - excercise helps too if you can do some regular walking or running

NIMAN

I'm in early 40s and a few years back had level around 5.5.

I started to cut out the junk. Maybe down to one takeaway per month, no fizzy drinks, no crisps, less biscuits. Did not really change my meat or dairy intake.

Also started to use Flora Proactive every day instead of ordinary Flora, and took porridge every morning.

After about a year it was under the 5, and now about 18 months later it is 3.5 at the latest check.

My GP said they would rather that I change my lifestyle and reduce it myself than just be given a tablet to do it.

Also try to get more exercise if you can.

Also bear in mind that some people have a naturally higher level than others, and it may take medication to reduce it, as changing your lifestyle alone may not work for some. Check with your GP.