Cholesterol

[cjsmith]

I need to find out how to lower my good cholesterol.

(My overall number is way high, and my ratio is off the scale on the "good" end.)

Comments

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

Is that combination actually bad?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Not very. Unless I want health care.

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

I'm confused. Why would you want to lower your HDL level? Or was that just a facetious way to crow about being in good health?

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm? (a little confused)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

No, it's not facetious, although I can see why it might have come across that way. My overall cholesterol level is 253, which is unacceptable to many health insurance screeners. (It used to be 270, and I thought I had it under control as it gradually dropped to 230 -- but now it's back up.) I don't think I'm at great risk for heart disease despite that number, because the ratio is so good, but I'd still like the overall results to be in an acceptable range.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Despite a good ratio, lots of people apparently do not want to see an overall cholesterol number above 200. I'm well above 200. I'd like to get that down. But lowering my "bad cholesterol" won't do the trick. With my diet and exercise my LDL should be okay, and it is. I just have unusual amounts of HDL, it seems.

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

I think I hear you. With respect to your "how do I do it" question,
this article, (http://www.drmirkin.com/archive/7004.html) if I read it correctly (and I had to read it like five times to make sense of it, which isn't a good sign) seems to suggest that lowering the amount of fat in your diet would both work at lowering HDL cholestorol and still be a positive move
healthwise.

You might also try drinking more red wine. :)

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

which is unacceptable to many health insurance screeners.

Ahhhh, that's the final thing I hadn't figured out. Gotcha. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the pointer!

I wish that article broke fat intake down a bit more -- saturated fats, unsaturated fats both poly and mono, trans fatty acids, etc etc. One small way to muck about with my fat intake is to change what I use as butter. Normal butter is full of "bad fat", but most margarines are full of the (supposedly worse) trans fats, not listed on any nutrition information chart. I'm currently using "Smart Balance": "no trans fatty acids," it says, "patented blend to help improve cholesterol ratio". But I have no idea whether this is helping or hindering in my case. Is it improving the ratio by helping drop LDL or by raising HDL? Labeling that's useful for most people doesn't help me. Few people want to go the direction I'm trying to go.

Perhaps I should drink a lot of wine. Most dietary changes aren't nearly so fun. (As I'm sure you know! Speaking of that, are you still on your No Fun Diet?)

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

I'm still on my no fun diet, I'm afraid. But yeah, I have some vague memory of red wine being good, and I think that the small increase (maybe 15 points) I saw in my last cholesterol reading may have
been due to the No Fun Diet. (Probably age, too.)

How do you feel about garlic? One study I just found saw a mean
5.8% reduction in total cholestorol from ingestion of 600-900 mg per day of garlic. (http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/alternat/garlcholupdt.html) That'd be like 10-15 points, if I
remember your numbers correctly. (Apologies to Rob in advance. ;) )

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm already on garlic (dietary supplements). That, exercise, and less cheese were my main points of attack.

We have to get you some more Fun in your life, if not in your diet. Thinking of turning forty any time soon? ;-)

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

We have to get you some more Fun in your life, if not in your diet. Thinking of turning forty any time soon? ;-)

Not sure I'm up for a ... birthday party quite yet, but I am getting healthier very slowly, perhaps
a smaller group...