Very high cholesterol

[Tiggie]

As seen on nob of the day thread I've nominated myself for nob of the last few decades as my lifestyle has given me a pretty shit result for cholesterol on my blood test last week.

 

7.1 ( classed as very high) 

 

Still waiting for my followup appointment with GP. For now I'm cutting out crap ( ie the nice foods) and limiting alcohol to maybe 1 or 2 drinks a week. I quit smoking approx 14 years ago so at least I haven't got that to deal with. 

 

Funniest thing is I only went for bloods doing as I had noticed I had lost 3/4 kilo in last 7/8 months without changing or doing anything. Bet doctor was thinking "you need to lose a bit more fatty"    I'm 5'10 and weigh 94kg so while not huge I could probably stand to lose some I suppose.

 

Anyway I was just wondering if anyone on here had gone through similar and had any advice? 

[mealexme]

Have more sex, burn more calories. 

 

I'm roughly the same height and weight, but I've had the opposite in the last few months, my weight just went up out of nowhere. Maybe it was Christmas, or the very convenient pasty shop at work. Or maybe the regular takeaways, who knows. It's a mystery.

 

There will be a million and one tips on the internet, but honestly, I have a lot of friends who have tried to lose weight and the only ones I know that have actually succeeded are the ones that join those weight watcher type of groups, where you go for weekly weigh ins and stick to a certain diet. I believe they give good advice and really help you lose the pounds. It's easier too if you have someone doing it with you, especially if it's someone you share meals with at home or at work. 

The only downside to that, is most people seem to put that weight back on once they leave those groups.

[Stu]

I thought you had put the weight on to protect yourself from all the falls! 

 

I thought cholesterol was more to do with what you eat and not directly related to weight? 

[Tiggie]

Apparently losing 10 pounds can really reduce your levels. I have no idea of the inner workings of it all. What I eat hasn't exactly been good anyway so I guess I better start taking packed lunches to work from now on 

[Stu]

Yeah eating the food you are cooking won't help! 

 

Start leaving the car at home too! 

[Tiggie]

I'd say you sound like the wife but I think she's thinking more about getting a life insurance payout and having no mortgage 

[Stu]

Is she a feeder

 

Or is she going to run you over on the walk to work

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I used to worry about such things but it played merry hell with my blood pressure. 

[Bender]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Is she a feeder

 

Or is she going to run you over on the walk to work

No she's a helper,helperer off the floorerer.

 

@Tiggiein all seriousness as I discovered last year it is possible to make a big dent in cholesterol in a reasonable short period but it takes a fair amount of willpower.

 

I went for something completely unrelated last year and as I had not been to the docs since grace darling was plucking sailors off the foreshore it was ohhh while your here.

 

Next week I got a letter and a lifetime prescription for statins, wtf was my first thought, followed by I would like to speak to the doc, I asked if I could make  changes before I was consigned  to medication for life,  reply came back, your getting old

 

Anywho 3 months later a stone lighter and all came back perfectly normal, docs not spoke to me since, think they on commission.

 

[Tiggie]

@Bender  Thats my hopeful aim. Shed a stone off and see what a new test says. Not wanting to go on statins unless absolutely necessary. Doctor wasn't impressed when she saw last time I'd been in was 2015 and that I'd never had a blood test (or any other kind of test) show up on my history 

 

[Gerontious]

23 minutes ago, Tiggie said:

@Bender  Thats my hopeful aim. Shed a stone off and see what a new test says. Not wanting to go on statins unless absolutely necessary. Doctor wasn't impressed when she saw last time I'd been in was 2015 and that I'd never had a blood test (or any other kind of test) show up on my history 

 

 

oats. lots of oats. which might sound silly, but is the best thing you can do aside from losing weight. ready brek, if you can't abide porridge. basically anything with oats in the ingredients. and oats are in a remarkably large number of foodstuffs. oily fish when/if you can. Olive oil.

really, its all about reducing the amount cholesterols in your blood and having them where they belong - in your brain and nervous system. And it doesn't take a huge change in lifestyle to achieve. its really just little things. with just a smidge of self discipline.

[bonio]

Oats really reduce cholesterol. 

[curlylegend]

5 hours ago, Tiggie said:

As seen on nob of the day thread I've nominated myself for nob of the last few decades as my lifestyle has given me a pretty shit result for cholesterol on my blood test last week.

 

7.1 ( classed as very high) 

 

Still waiting for my followup appointment with GP. For now I'm cutting out crap ( ie the nice foods) and limiting alcohol to maybe 1 or 2 drinks a week. I quit smoking approx 14 years ago so at least I haven't got that to deal with. 

 

Funniest thing is I only went for bloods doing as I had noticed I had lost 3/4 kilo in last 7/8 months without changing or doing anything. Bet doctor was thinking "you need to lose a bit more fatty"    I'm 5'10 and weigh 94kg so while not huge I could probably stand to lose some I suppose.

 

Anyway I was just wondering if anyone on here had gone through similar and had any advice? 

Firstly, I've no medical qualifications whatsoever apart from a First Aid Badge from the Boys Brigade in 1960.  So anything I say will be purely personal. Do remember though that the medical trade move very slowly, it was only a few generations ago that they would still bleed you to relieve a headache. And sadly in the last fifty years Drug companies have had a very powerful influence on general medicine. And they don't always get it right, remember Thalidomide ?  I know, I know, but this isn't a Big Pharma Conspiracy rant. 

So, Cholesterol.  Have a read up about what people say regarding Ancel Keys and it might allay your anxiety about High Cholesterol.

You don't smoke, that's good, you don't appear to drink much, but no alcohol would be better.

When you say you lost 3/4 kilos do you mean 3 to 4 kilos or three quarters of a kilo?  My weight is stable within a 2 kilo band .

What age do you have and how is your blood pressure and average blood glucose level ?  

The big propaganda battle at the moment is between the Seventh Day Adventists pushing Veganism and the American Cattlemens' Association wanting us all to eat hormone enhanced beef. 

Why not eat as our ancestors did ? Australian Aboriginal people didn't know what diabetes, heart disease cancers, and obesity were until they gave up their normal diet and started eating a standard western diet. Artic people like the Inuit lived healthily for many years without ever even seeing a piece of fruit or a vegetable.  Check out Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879 – 1962).

When I was nearly seventy I got a similar result from my doctor and was encouraged to take statins etc for the rest of my life. I'm 175cm. 5'9 , and at the time weighed 110 kilos.  Since my thirties I'd struggled with my weight. Weight Watchers Scarsdale Diet vegetarianism, I was even vegan for a couple of years !  And I was active, I regularly cycled 200km a week and more in the summer.

The only result I really got was the Atkins Diet when I lost quite a lot of weight without feeling hungry but I was pressured into giving it up because of all the scare stories. I now realise they were all nonsense . And later I started to carefully examine what I was actually eating and what effect it was having on me. My research really opened my eyes and the way I eat now caused me to drop from 110 kilos to 85 kilos. My blood glucose is now normal, I was pre-diabetique and my blood pressure is pretty stable at 105/70.

So that's what happened to me, but I'm not you. All I suggest is go and do some serious research into what you're eating and reserve a bit of scepticism for what doctors tell you.

And never, ever believe an advert for HEALTHY food. Remember Edwina Currie ?

Best of luck.

[Bender]

10 hours ago, bonio said:

Oats really reduce cholesterol. 

Oat milk probably made a big difference to me, I always had full fat milk , now have it in coffee and with breakfast have semi skimmed milk in tea.

 

Alcohol does little for your blood except produce cholesterol, between now and next test it's gest you just cut it out completely, even a small amount is simply keeping it topped up, alcohol free stuff is everywhere so can can still join in with a placebo.

[Tiggie]

I've switched to red top for cereal and tea   Thankfully I like green tea so will be drinking more of that as an alternative as well. 

 

Cut right back on coffee too as I only normally drink pour over which has more cafestol than instant and can cause higher levels apparently. Usually have 4 cups a day too    On the bright side now I'm not drinking as much I can justify buying more expensive beans to try! 

 

I'm going to be a right miserable f**ker for a while 

[husoi]

As if you weren't already.... 

[keith1200rs]

When my sister had a heart attack in her early 50s many years ago, I bought a book to help me understand why. She had none of the risk factors. I cannot be certain but I think the book was by Malcom Kendrick (I remember it was by a Scottish GP) so may have been "The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It". I found it interesting but I will probably be shot down for saying so. There are other books along similar lines but that is the only on I've read.

[onesea]

6 hours ago, keith1200rs said:

"The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It".

 

I knew nothing of the book, you speak.  So did some Googling, and am I not saying anything about it, that others have not said.
 It appears the ?truth, well more info will out shortly:
"the most significant piece of defamation litigation that [he has] seen in a very long time",

https://pressgazette.co.uk/media_law/mail-on-sunday-statins-libel-trial-matt-hancock/#
https://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/news/trial-1-split-trial-libel-cases-harcombe-and-kendrick-v-associated-newspapers-and-calman
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2023/10/09/what-is-wrong-with-the-nhs/

Very little actual information, not even a date for trial.

The other factor I would consider, is ultra processed food.  

https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/new-evidence-links-ultra-processed-foods-with-a-range-of-health-risks/
 

There is a book ultra processed people, I keep meaning to read.  I have again googled the author “Chris van Tulleken“ and found no liable cases. However allot of podcasts YouTube and allot what he says makes sense to layman anyway.

 

Enough for me to be trialing bread machine bread for lunch time sandwiches not cheap brown sliced (ultra processed).

 

Thanks @Tiggie you have just given me another reason to avoid the age related check up the surgery have sent 4 letters regarding (my misses found the last one and now she’s on at me).

[Tiggie]

@onesea I have that book ( ultra processed) just haven't read it yet. Guess I've got a good reason to now!

[curlylegend]

1 hour ago, onesea said:

Thanks @Tiggie you have just given me another reason to avoid the age related check up the surgery have sent 4 letters regarding (my misses found the last one and now she’s on at me).

Do as your wife tells you, you know it makes sense.  My wife told me that.  If your test is thorough enough and nothing turns up you'll feel great !  And if something does, is it not better to attend to it and nip it in the bud ?  Just don't forget your common sense .

[onesea]

2 hours ago, Tiggie said:

@onesea I have that book ( ultra processed) just haven't read it yet. Guess I've got a good reason to now!

Let me know how you get on with it please.  
 

1 hour ago, curlylegend said:

Do as your wife tells you, you know it makes sense.  My wife told me that.  If your test is thorough enough and nothing turns up you'll feel great !  And if something does, is it not better to attend to it and nip it in the bud ?  Just don't forget your common sense .

 It’s meant to be a motorbike forum, not the place for for shining beacons of logic and reason.

 

The response should be go buy motorbike your not going to live that long anyway

 

I just calculated the average age of death of my parents and grandparents unless the government change the age of retirement (again).  I should successfully manage 0.333 of a year of retirement

 

cancer, respiratory, stroke, cardiac, neurological one actually buggered up the average by getting more out of his pension than he put in.  By dying in there mid 90’s of old age!  
 

My life style has had little in common with his, more in common with the others.

 

Edited January 22 by onesea

[Bender]

21 hours ago, onesea said:

Let me know how you get on with it please.  
 

 It’s meant to be a motorbike forum, not the place for for shining beacons of logic and reason.

 

The response should be go buy motorbike your not going to live that long anyway

 

I just calculated the average age of death of my parents and grandparents unless the government change the age of retirement (again).  I should successfully manage 0.333 of a year of retirement

 

cancer, respiratory, stroke, cardiac, neurological one actually buggered up the average by getting more out of his pension than he put in.  By dying in there mid 90’s of old age!  
 

My life style has had little in common with his, more in common with the others.

 

Did you buy the new motorbike yet, least if you do the cause of death will be known, death by partner, cause, new motorbike

[S-Westerly]

Having returned the tiny terrorists to their long suffering parents we now have the debris to clear away. This includes all the uneaten cookies and donuts and stuff. That's my sensible eating blown out of the water for the next few days. Bugger.

[bonio]

8 hours ago, onesea said:

I just calculated the average age of death of my parents and grandparents unless the government change the age of retirement (again).  I should successfully manage 0.333 of a year of retirement

Your sums work out a tad better than mine. I get to die more or less the same day I retire. My Dad died at the same age. Just 4 years to go now.

[Fozzie]

If you're cleaning up your diet, I can help here as I tweak macro's all the time based on what particular training goal I have. I was scared into it when I tried to get more into bodybuilding for a while, as my gym took blood every 3 months and it showed a quickly escalating situation with my cholesterol. 

 

The big targets are removing processed foods, added sugars, and limiting things like alcohol consumption. It's surprisingly little known that alcohol can essentially switch off your bodies ability to burn fat for a duration after it is consumed, due to its effect on the liver. Look at good "fakeaway" recipes, I did some of those via slimming world when a previous partner was using it, but I just jacked up the portion size. 

 

You can keep meat in the diet, but scrap beef and lamb for the time being. I eat a lot of pasta dishes with vege based sauces, stir fries with shrimp/prawns (really good with a little bit of sweet chilli), chicken gyros type dishes with and without the pitta/wraps. And where you do eat carbs, switch to wholemeal variants. 

 

I walk somewhere in the region of 30 miles a week, mostly going to the gym. Just put your music in and zone out for 45-60 minutes. If you feel like going further, I highly suggest adjustable dumbbells, a bar bell, an EZ-bar, and resistance bands. You can just about hit every muscle group with those, and sore muscles consume more calories to repair. You'll find what's right for you when it becomes second nature to do it, and you're seeing results, but it can take a while to find the right strategy, so I suggest switching things up every 6 weeks and keeping track of what works.