Anyone know about cholesterol, especially how to lower it?

It looks to me like you've got your diet sorted (presumably you avoid saturated fat in desserts, biscuits, cakes etc?).

Looks like you may need to increase your exercise?

I don't do desserts and we never have biscuits in the house.

I regularly exercise - maybe not as much as I should but it's all I can fit in during the week. 2-3 times a week of swimming or gym work.

The doctor was looking at underactive thyroid as I'm putting on weight yet I'm not sure how much less I can eat. As it is I feel hungry.

Does anyone else in your family have highl evels? My sister and I were both tested following dads heaart attack, and both quite high. Were told it runs in families and likely ours would always be on high side. Sister went super-healthy for about 3 months and lowered hers a little but once she returned to 'normaal' lifestyle is went straight back up.

(sorry for awful typing, trapped under baby!)

My friend had high cholesterol and the doctor recommended a tsp of cider vinegar every day and it seems to have worked for her (just had a baby so hasn't dieted or exercised much - although that's probably vital too).

Do you eat eggs/prawns often? can you increase your soluble fibre intake somehow?

Believe it or not, prawns are *incredibly* high in cholesterol.

It's a strange thing, is cholesterol. As far as I understand it, it's more about how your body functions than what you put into it, although diet does play a part, so some people are pre-disposed towards having higher cholesterol. When I was 27, I had cholesterol of 6.4, despite having a BMI of 20, being a regular runner and eating pretty much a vegan diet. A few months later, it was back to normal, and to this day is unexplained!

Thanks for replies. I'm not aware of anyone in the family having high cholesterol but I'll check.

AB - we have prawns maybe once a week - either a prawn salad or a prawn stir fry. Or incorporated in to a seafood risotto. I eat eggs occasionally - maybe every couple of weeks I'll have scrambled or poached eggs on granary toast for breakfast instead of porridge.

What else would be soluble fibre? We use brown rice & pasta, new potatoes, broccoli, carrots etc on a regular basis.

Thanks all - looks like we're cutting back on prawns then (sob). I'll just up the trout, salmon & mackerel.

Try incorporating more fruit in your diet, and leafy green veg, i've taken to adding baby spinach to most things (well, if it 'goes') as its a good source of fibre and even if you don't really like spinach, it doesn't have such a strong taste as normal spinach, and just 'melts' into things. snack on fruit during the day (one or two bits as also high in sugar), and up your veg intake for a while, see if it makes a difference. ? but as flissy says - some people are just prone to it and it seems you're not at too high a level so its no great cause for concern!

Oats are supposedly good for lowering cholesterol, and eggs have recently been found to be fine, so no need to cut back on those.

It does sound like your diet is good so unlikely to be causing the problem.

Thanks all - I'll guess I'll have to try more leafiness in the salads and more fruit and try and get a bit more exercise in.

Or I could cheat like my brother - he's hugely overweight with a terrible diet and no exercise but drinks those cholesterol reducing drink things every day and has absolutely normal levels of cholesterol.

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:Uek7Sqb5HDQJ:www.nnuh.nhs.uk/viewdoc.asp%3FID%3D162%26t%3DLeaflet+cholesterol+reducing+drinks&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

I don;t think there's anything 'cheating' about using cholesterol reducing products, especially as part of an otherwise healthy diet

L
xx

I have high cholesterol as a result of an inherited condition (familial hyperchlesterolaemia) so take medication daily. I saw a dietician too, and in terms of diet, what the other posters have said is spot on. Try to increase your sources of soluble fibre and eat low GI foods where possible, use fats such as olive oil or rapeseed oil for cooking, and eat plenty of fruit and veg. Oats do help reduce cholesterol so porridge for breakfast would be a good idea if you can manage it. As Lois said, the cholesterol lowering products such as Benecol or the Flora equivalent are not a "cheat"- the plant sterols they contain have been shown to help reduce cholesterol. There are yoghurts and spreads available, but the easiest I found to tolerate is the yoghurt drink. Only one of these is required to give the necessary "dose" per day as opposed to 3 or 4 portions of the other products. If your cholesterol is only mildly high then these could make the difference given your diet is otherwise good.