Cholesterol Questions (No bashing of my weight, diet, etc.)?

Question

So, I am overweight (honestly, I am obese). Last June I had a blood test for my cholesterol levels (before they were very close to borderline). When they came back, it had improved. Also my blood pressure was fine.

However, since I have started college, I am worried that because of my diet, my cholesterol levels may have risen (I feel my body succumbing to the fat...not literally, don't worry). My diet (on a scale of 1-10), deserves no more than a 5. I eat out more than I need to, but I try to counter it with eating salads and healthy cereals etc. Lately I have increased the amount of fiber in my diet.

I also try to help my body out with a lot of walking (I can say with honesty that I achieve about 30-35 minutes of walking a day).. I play a lot of DDR lately to burn more.

So my questions:

1). With further modifications to my diet, can I reduce my cholesterol with excerise?

2). Does half a year of bad eating (not every single day of course) affect you a lot compared to 5-6 years?

Answer 1

You don't say what your cholesterol profile is, other than that it's "high." Depending on your HDL (good) to LDL (bad) ratio, you may actually not have a cholesterol problem. A high total cholesterol number isn't the whole story.

That said, you seem to be most concerned about not undoing the progress you made from last June and continuing to improve your lifestyle, health and diet. This is really commendable. I would say that your activity level sounds pretty good, so let's focus on the diet side for now.

First, I would continue to try to incorporate more foods that have been shown to decrease bad cholesterol.

Research makes a pretty strong case that regular oatmeal consumption should be a centerpiece to your diet. While the exact mechanism isn't entirely understood, researchers suspect that soluable fiber in oatmeal "binds" with the fats/cholesterol in your food during digestion (probably in the lower intestine), prevents it from being absorbed and carries the bad stuff out as body waste.

There is also evidence that diet can be as effective in reducing bad cholesterol as cholesterol-lowering drugs.

In a 2005 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, cholesterol-lowering drugs were tested against cholesterol lowering foods (including oatmeal) with a group of thirty four adults with high blood cholesterol levels. The diet actually reduced the cholesterol equally as well as the drugs.

You can boost the flavor and nutritional profile of oats by adding dried fruit, cinnamon, and healthy nuts like almonds, walnuts or pecans. If you need a little sweetener, add a tablespoon of maple syrup (the real stuff) or some honey.

By adding the nuts, you also boost the cholesterol fighting properties of the oatmeal, since additional research shows that a cholesterol lowering diet that includes 20% of the diet's calories from walnuts, may reduce LDL levels by 12%.

If you don't care for the texture of traditional oatmeal, try some of the other versions, such as Scottish oats (groats) or even the thick rolled oats. The nutritional benefits are the same.

To get the 3 grams recommended to lower cholesterol, you basically need to eat 1.5 cups of cooked oats a day.

Because the soluble fiber appears to be one of the main mechanisms for lower cholesterol, adding additional soluble fiber to your diet in other forms can be beneficial as well. Some other high soluble fiber sources include:

- Kidney Beans
- Pinto Beans
- Brussle Sprouts
- Oranges
- Apples
- Broccoli
- Grapefruit

All of these foods are extremely healthy and nutritious and can literally become the centerpeice of your diet.

There are a couple other foods that you'll want to include in your diet: extra virgin olive oil and fish or flaxseed oil capsules. These foods have been shown to either lower triglycerides and bad cholesterol or raise LDL levels or both.

The nice thing about all of these foods is that in addition to being good for clearing bad cholesterol, thay also have a whole host of other beneficial properties. The complex carbs in oatmeal help regulate blood sugar levels which keeps your energy up and blunts hunger. Low glycemic carbs like oatmeal also discourage the body from storing excess calories away as fat. With all due respect to posters who say grains are bad, oatmeal is one whole grain that is about as close to a super food as you can get. As long as you aren't sugering it up, you can eat about as much as you want (within reason, of course.)

Nuts, of course, have protein and are also among the best sources of anti-oxidants. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that regular nut consumption actually results in lower body fat levels over time.

Best of luck!

.

Answer 2

1. People with high triglycerides often have a high total cholesterol, a high LDL (bad) cholesterol and a low HDL (good) cholesterol level. Fortunately, elevated triglycerides is one of the easiest problems to correct with the appropriate diet. Simple restriction of all sugars and grains.
http://www.healingdaily.com/conditions/triglycerides.htm

2. 6 months of poor diet will have an effect, but certainly not the same as half a decade of poor diet. If you're a college student, I think you're young enough to be able to correct the damage before causing some serious health risks.
Take care of yourself.

Answer 3

You know that, the size of person has nothing to do of having or not having high cholesterol problems. With some it is ,hereditary.
I'm a small person and have a problem. Medication did not lower it for me. I did add , eating, Oatmeal, for breakfast and added the pill, "GARLIQUE", available at Walmart. That and the Oatmeal together, has made a big difference for me. You might consider doing this first before getting a prescription from Dr.
Other then that, it seems you are doing already several good things to help yourself. KEEP IT UP and good Luck!