Thank you Kitsune, Makam Bom is the Thai name for the Indian Gooseberry and nearly all Thais can point you to the next tree... poor rural children like them because plain water starts to taste sweet after chewing them.

Thank you Kitsune, Makam Bom is the Thai name for the Indian Gooseberry and nearly all Thais can point you to the next tree... poor rural children like them because plain water starts to taste sweet after chewing them.

Yes thank you Chonburiram, I wish I had them fresh like you here in Bangkok. We find the fruits dried but with sugar, so I got the powder .

You are right ; Its called Makam Pom in Thai and Amla in Hindi, Amlaki in Sanskrit, and Emblica Officinalis Gaertn in Latin, its has some very interesting properties, Indian have been using them for centuries as an ayurvedic herb. It is considered as the best among rejuvenative herbs."

Sir: IMO:

If your other signs are okay (blood sugar and pressure) maybe best not worry too much about HDL levels.

Nearly half of all first heart attacks happen to people with 'normal' cholesterol levels.

If you reduce your BMI to 19, your HDL will be low.

Exercise will bring it down for sure, but understand that is a challenge for you.

RAW veganism will bring it down but most mindsets would deem that approach drastic.

Maybe try it for a month, and you will likely see profound health improvements...I did.

The Amla stuff sounds pretty great..never heard of it before.

I might buy a jar.

Good luck, thanks for starting the thread.

^ Yes vegan or any such diet would be an issue for me also, but might give it a go for a week...a week might be bearable, but I'll do it after the next blood tests to see how the current diet is going.

Exercise for exercise sake is a challenge...although I have a small routine that I like now, but still actually doing it is the challenge.

Thanks for the info.

Gooseberry was the old name for Kiwi fruit, so thought I was in like flynn there for a minute as I eat one with breakfast most mornings.

However, it seems it is something else, shall try to find it, no doubt it is about the local markets here somewhere....when is its season ?

^ Fresh Indian Gooseberry will be available in Oct - Nov.

Found dried Nakom Pom today....have not tried it yet, shall shortly....no fresh yet as mentioned above and could not find the dried one....anyone know which shops specifically ??...in Bangkok would be best i guess.

As a continuation of another thread...this particular problem has risen for whatever reason and a low HDL is present.

What particular problem are you faced with? Has your HDL level decreased sharply? Has your cholesterol ratio dropped dramatically?

Statins are over-prescribed. Mayo clinic has reduced threshold ahead of other formal ranges established to sell more Statins.

Extensive quotes from a quack website have been removed from the above post. Please note Health Forum rules:

"2. Quackery and Misinformation: Posters should pay particular attention to forum rule # 1) "You will not use thaivisa.com to post any material which is knowingly or can be reasonably construed as false"....

This will be strictly applied with respect to presentation as fact any statements which are clearly contrary to medical science. A distinction is made in this regard between statements of opinion/reports of personal experience and statements of fact.

Posters should be aware that factual misstatements abound on the internet and, to a lesser extent, in printed media. In particular, broad claims to the effect that "X number of (doctors/scientists)" agree to something or that something has been "proven in X number of studies" without specific citations are often fictitious. If a poster chooses to repeat such information as fact, the burden of ensuring these citations are reliable rest with the poster, who should take the time to verify this."

The fact that statements appear on www.mercola.com does not qualify as verification. That is first of all a commercial website designed to sell products, and secondly one run by a multimillionaire who has made a fortune out of promoting misinformation and paranoia on health matters, and has been legally enjoined on multiple occasions for making false claims about the products he sells. The website frequently distorts facts and lists citations that do not say what is attributed to them.

It is certainly true that statins when they first came out were way over-hyped and have been aggressively marketed in a way that has led to their overuse, a fact that mainstream medicine well acknowledges. And like pretty much all pharmaceuticals, once in widespread use more side effects became evident than were initially identified.

However. there are people who need and benefit from the drugs, as well as people who need them but are not on them.

Scare-mongering and exaggeration on this subject is not warranted or constructive.

The benefits and risks of stains compares well to that of any other class of drug, assuming of course that they are used correctly and not indiscriminately. The benefits and risks are not, however, what the initial hype suggested and it was this original over-promotion that has led to something of a backlash within the scientific community.

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As a continuation of another thread...this particular problem has risen for whatever reason and a low HDL is present.

What particular problem are you faced with? Has your HDL level decreased sharply? Has your cholesterol ratio dropped dramatically?

Dont know what the ratio is...but the hdl level fell to 40...which is apparently too low.

Further to Sheryl's comment above .

This should be pre required reading before anyone enters Mercola's web of dubious claims

http://www.quackwatch.com/11Ind/mercola.html

I remember reading some years ago that different bodies (persons) have different "normal" cholesterol levels and it is more important to look out for changes over time.

The cholesterol ratio is the result of the value for total cholesterol divided by the value for HDL.

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/cholesterol

I remember reading some years ago that different bodies (persons) have different "normal" cholesterol levels and it is more important to look out for changes over time.

The cholesterol ratio is the result of the value for total cholesterol divided by the value for HDL.

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/cholesterol

^Good! Total chol needs to be attenuated with LDL for sure.

Things I used to raise my HDL;

Cook with coconut oil, it doesn't degrade as badly when heated as extra virgin olive oil.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1st cold pressing. I use it on anything I can.

I also dump flax powder and flax oil on anything I can.

Cod liver oil- same.

Fish oil caps that have mercury removed.

Lots of water.

I may be a bit whacky but it keeps me from fretting about my own whackiness!

ymmv

Good luck to you OP!

^ thats a lot of oil....

coconut oil costs too much to cook with, we use olive for cooking...no deep frying anymore....only grilled stuff and baked etc.....I have coconut oil but I use it in foods, like muesli, avocado mash etc.

Also eat a lot of flax seeds in muesli..