High Cholesterol Scare

[Beltane]

So my husband had routine bloodwork done and he came home yesterday in tears because his cholesterol is through the roof. He is 26 and in great shape! He's very active as well so it was a shock. I feel like it's my fault because I constantly feed him his favorite greasy food- I love to spoil him! Would love to hear from others that are required to lower their cholesterol. What natural ways have you changed your eating?

 

[Chris77]

Hi hun, I'm sorry you and DH are so worried right now. My father has always had high cholesterol What he did/does differently is that he doesn't eat any fried foods, doesn't cook anything in any kind of oil, he loves peanuts and he stopped eating those, eats only egg whites, watches his fat, replaces part of the saturated fat in his diet with unsaturated fat. Also Cheerios is really supposed to help reduce cholesterol. He still allows himself to splurge every now and then though. He also exercises 5x a week. He's now on Lipitor as he's been dealing with this for many years without medication and it just got to be too much on his body.

Eating more fruit and vegetables (especially raw veggies) is also a great way to reduce cholesterol and the fiber in fruit acts like a sponge and soaks up the cholesterol and gets it out of the body.

Avocado also reduces cholesterol by 8%.

Please don't blame yourself hun. It isn't your fault!! Much of it is hereditary. Take my brother for example, he's 34 years old, is a powerlifter so he's in excellent shape and his diet is immaculate, yet he has high cholesterol.

 

[eclipse]

Some people are just prone to high cholesterol, no matter what they do. My mom is one of them-- had good cholesterol all her life but went in for a checkup recently and it was 360 I think. Our family is bad about records from her parents back...so it was quite a shock. The next day she had a mini-TIA so this is serious business. Usually diet and exercise will knock it down significantly if he is the type to respond to that...it is always worth a shot, but they will probably want to recheck him in 6 months. Exercise, particularly sustained cardio and weights, can do wonders for cholesterol, but not everyone responds to this and may have to use medication for a time. Frosted mini wheats aren't too bad to have to eat and the fiber in them does so much good, worth a shot. Any kind of vegetable and raw fruit. No skin on chicken, trimmed meat, limit red meat and use choice cuts. Lots of water. That's all I have for right now. Good luck to him!