Ok, the cholesteral test said "213", and the doctor said "should be 150". 
Anybody out there successfully lowered their cholesterol?  Most  of the things
I've been reading seem to see 10% as a big reduction.  I'm looking at 30%!

17 responses total.

BTW, the other relevant numbers were HDL(good) 60, LDL(bad) 147 {should be
around 95}, tot/hdl cholesterol 3.6, which is actually extremely *low*. 

More exercise and more fiber, less red meat lowered mine 35 points over six
months.

What kind of exercise?  I'm trying to get by without a gym membership, but
in A2 in the winter that may not work.  
Did you just cut down on the red meat?  My doctor suggested fairly quick
retreat to vegetarianism.  (But I used to be a fairly non-meat eater in the
past, so this isn't as drastic for me as it sounds).  I'm trying to feed a
husband and two athletic teenagers, and what they want is what I've been
eating.  Clearly I can't keep doing that.  
But I'd like to compromise, not cook two different dinners (We all eat
together every night, and I'm pretty commited to that).

Check out the Rec&Ed classes, like aerobics.  They are pretty cheap, the
longest commitment is 3 months, and the instructors are good.  The next
calendar comes with the Monday A2 News, sometime in early January.

I walked everyday and got up to about three and a  half miles. I cut way back
on red meat, increase the fiber... Fiber pulls the mucus out of the intestines
which causes the gall bladder to produce more. The gall bladder uses fat to
do this. Given enough time, the body will even clean out the arteries to
produce the mucus needed in the intestines. Increased my water intake, too.
It helps take the fat out of the diet. Buffalo is a great substitute for beef.
It tastes just as good and has a much lower fat content. If more of us eat
buffalo, then there will be more buffalo! If you can cut out the red meat all
together, go for it. That's the best.

Hokshila gave very good advice.  Fiber includes beans, whole grains, and
vegetables. Popcorn is a good fiber snack.  Not many Americans drink enough
water, either.  And I've lost severalpounds as well as dropping my cholesterol
count by walking every day.  

The other binifits from the above changes include shifting the body from a
low energy metabolism to a high energy metabolism.

also, check the washtenaw county rec building....it's $3 for a day pass, or
$125 a year....all in all, not a bad price.  :)  and it's a pretty nice
place...anne and i were there the other day and they have a pretty good weight
room, plus a swim pool, track, classes, and a bunch of other stuff...it's a
pretty nice place!  :)

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Well, the weather got me.  I have started using the County Rec Building and
their wonderful, non-icy, treadmills.   Thanks, whoever suggested that.  

well, i've lost three lbs....and the size 14's i got today for x-mas, while
not big enough to go down to a 12, were a little baggy....so there is hope
yet!!!!  :)

Hurrah for eeyore!!

Considerable reduction in cholesterol level is achieved by switching over
to salads and liquids . AN HOUR OF YOGA AFTER A BRISK MORNING WALK HELPS A
LOT ___

Jim has been complaining recently of stress and anxiety and depression, as
well as nosebleeds.  I suggested nutritional deficiency so he agreed to take
multivitamins.  Then I read the protein deficiency can cause these and other
problems so I am supposed to cook more beans.  Today I searched on low
cholesterol and found two interesting studies.  One claims that women are more
likely to suffer from depression and anxiety if their cholesterol count
(total) is 156 or under.  The other states that men are more prone to
hemorrhagic strokes with cholesterol counts under 180, and that about 200 is
ideal.  Over 230 makes you prone to clotting strokes.  Lowering cholesterol
in stroke-prone men did not reduce mortality because it led to increased
depression and suicide.  Cholesterol is used by the body to make various
hormones as well as membranes (nerve sheathes).  It is usually ingested in
sufficient quantities in the typical American diet but can also be made by
the liver from smaller molecules (which might require an intake of saturated
fats, which are also in short supply in our 'healthy' vegan diet).
        Jim measured his cholesterol with a little kit that they gave him when
he donated blood about 5 years ago, back before he was a vegan, and it went
off the bottom of the scale. He tried again in a heated room and it hit 125
(he banged it against the table, misinterpreting the instructions, which made
it go up a bit to reach that number).  Supposedly 125 is normal for Chinese
people.  He will try vitamins and beans for a month and if that does not help,
consider eating cheese or eggs (or maybe even butter or sour cream?).
        Scott, why did your doctor tell you to eat meat? (as opposed to cheese)

Eating meat was my own decision, not something my doctor told me.  But it was
based on tendonitis in a couple of different areas, and going back to meat
did coincide with improvements in the tendon problems.

I did some more research in the nutrition book and it turns out meat is a
fairly good source of zinc, which is needed for all sorts of things.  Zinc
is also present in nuts and beans, but the fiber in them interferes with its
absorption from the intestine.  Americans on a typical diet get 40% of the
US RDA (which is about double the Canadian RDA) despite eating lots of meat.
Two groups at risk for zinc deficiency (which interferse with growth) are
those eating a lot of unleavened whole-grain bread, and those eating
high-fiber vegetarian diets.  There is 15 mg zinc in our multivitamins.  
The next-door neighbor, a pediatrician, says they give infants 25 mg zinc
along with vitamin C for failure to thrive.  High-fiber diets also interfere
with the body's recapturing the cholesterol that it has manufactured and used
in bile salts (needed to digest fats) because the fiber binds the cholesterol.
Jim is cutting back on olive oil.  We have both had tendon problems, too.
Iron and zinc compete with each other for absorption because they bind to the
same molecule.  Our vitamins have no iron.  (Our cooking pans have plenty).

Best sources of zinc:  oysters (about 75 mg/serving), other dead animals,
miso (3 mg/3 tbps - maybe due to the method of manufacture?)
garlic (1 mg/4 cloves), brewer's yeat (.63 mg/1 tbsp) - but you are unlikely
to eat enough of these to do much good.

Beans have about 2-3 mg/cup (black-eyed peas 3.22, great northern 1.72)
Whole wheat flour or bulgur about 3 mg/cup, buckwheat 2.65, millet .84.
Brown rice only 1.05, cornmeal 2.15.  Of course this varies depending on soil.

Nuts:  Sunflower seeds 7.2 (Jim eats these in his oatmeal), pecans 5.91,
cashews 7.6, almost 3.94, peanuts 4.78.

We will try to make more leavened bread with sunflower seeds in it, and add
peanuts to the stir fries. Jim also agreed to eat an occasional pancake with
eggs in it.  (Eggs are a good source of cholesterol).

Jim has stopped bothering with the above and takes vitamin pills.
Low cholesterol people are supposedly more aggressive and more prone to
suicide.  Cholesterol is used to manufacture other things such as hormones,
including (I think) serotonin, which affects the mood, which is made into
melatonin, which is needed to fall asleep.

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