Tips to reduce chloresterol (LDL) level

[simon43]

I've just had a complete health check-up. Age 54 years.

Whilst almost everything in my body is akin to an adonis, I have a total chloresterol level of 241, which breaks down as:

HDL = 60

LDL = 146

Triglyceride = 109

'cut out coconuts' said the doctor.

'I wasn't aware that I'm eating them' I replied....

So.... I need to get this LDL level down before a re-check of levels in 3 months time.

I'm sure that my current diet of Thai food (so lots of fried rice etc), as well as full-dat milk and dairy products, has contributed to this high level.

I checked up on typical 'good' foods and got results such as almonds, apples, fish (salmon), low fat milk, soy milk, green tea.

What other foods would be beneficial, being that most of my diet is Thai food?

I hear that prawns are not good, but what about other seafood, such as squid?

Are probiotic/natural yoghurts OK?

And of course I need to get off my backside and do some exercise.....

Advice heartiily welcome

Simon

How about brown bread?

[dantilley]

Good topic, I'm in a similar position

Bad:

Eggs, the yolks especially. This is probably the #1 contributor to high LDL levels, so no more phad Thai, no more fried eggs on pad krapow, etc.

Seafood (except fish), the worst offender being squid, but mussels, oysters and other shellfish also best avoided.

Red meat, especially processed and fatty meat such as burgers. A lean, good quality steak wouldn't be too bad but a McDonald's burger would be terrible

Anything deep fried

Anything fried in palm oil

Fatty dairy foods: Cheese, full fat milk, butter, mayonnaise, etc.

Offal (liver, kidneys, etc.) and this therefore also falls under burgers, sausages and the like.

Processed meat such as salami, streaky bacon, cold cuts.

Any other fatty meat so avoid chicken skin, fatty pork, etc.

Good:

Fish of any kind (but not deep fried, but even that would be better than deep fried other meats)

Ginger

Garlic

Green tea

Dark chocolate (apparently, but this seems to be a bit disputed)

All fruit and veg in general (as long as not fried in palm oil or whatever)

Grains and fibre

Nuts

Pulses

Also do 150 minutes aerobic exercise per week. I've now started doing 30 minutes every day mid-week. Cod Liver Oil tablets also help apparently.

I think some good Thai dishes would be:

- Isaan salads such as somtam

- Kai pad khing (chicken fried in ginger)

- Pad pak ruam

- Nam prik

- Kua kring and other non-seafood, non-deep fried southern Thai food

I must admit that a lot of the LDL increasing ingredients do crop up an awful not in Thai food, and a lot of street food uses palm oil apparently.

You don't need to live like a complete health freak though. Beer, for example, doesn't contribute to LDL levels (but affects triglyceride I think).

[EvilDrSomkid]

I had the same. High LDL. It was 183. Now 137. Total was 243.

It has gone down a lot lately because of diet change ( a little), but mainly hitting the gym.

Try to go 4 to 5 times a week.

[CP3]

In asia, rice is the main cholesterol and fast foods. At your age of 54, better cut down rice intake. When I do diet, i normally eat lunch and pineapple/green apple/whole wheat break with water at night.

[Griffo63]

The best thing to reduce it is a daily bowl of porridge for breakfast. It soaks up all the bad cholesterol

[lopburi3]

As said eat green salads rather than rice. No-fat milk in cereal tastes the same to me.

[dantilley]

There's no LDL cholesterol in steamed rice. Rice is in fact a good food to eat, as long as it's not fried and/or mixed with eggs.

[Patanawet]

Oh dear Adonis, you're going to get a lot of advice on this.

So far all good.

Well, except for the bread if your blood glucose is high --- did they check that for you?

Thai jasmine rice is off the scale of glycemic index --- and bread, potatoes, cornflakes and so much more turn instantly to sugar in your body.

But I digress --- back to cholesterol--- if you must use oil for dressings or fast frying etc, use Canola or Rape Seed oil. It has all the goodness of olive oil at half the price and no overpowerring flavour with a much higher smoking point than Olive oil.

Remember that all oils turn to transfats as soon as they are at smoking temperature.

Use cholesterol free spreads such as Flora.

As said above, porridge is good for both low cholesterol and Diabetes 2. I make mine with 0% milk and half a pot of 0% youghurt stirred in. Make sure you get the wholegrain rolled oats (McGarrett brand) and not instant or quick cook. Very cheap -- even in Villa!

Good luck.

[Patanawet]

There's no LDL cholesterol in steamed rice. Rice is in fact a good food to eat, as long as it's not fried and/or mixed with eggs.

Yes, I think you're right about there being no cholesterol in rice but beware, for Diabetes 2 (I know that is going off the OP's query) it is a NO NO (as my comment above).

[Zappo]

LCHF, works for me. Will give you better levels and also reduce your weight. lower blood sugar and change your metabolism to the better.

LCHF stand for Low Carbohydrate High Fat. Yes, you can eat fat, eq good tasting food. The idea that fatty food is dangerous is simply not true.

Tried it myself for 5 years and it works.

Here is how it works:

We eat a lot more carbohydrate than the body needs today. If we stop eat carbohydrates the body can produce it by it self. Carbohydrate forms in to sugar, that is not good for you, and the excess ends up on your belly as fat.

Your body needs fat to function, but eat only fat from animals, butter, whip cream, milk etc. The best cooking oil is Canola.

Low fat products are all manipulated and actually bad for your body. They take out the fat together with the taste and put in sugar to make it taste again. But sugar transform in to fat again so you paid a lot of money for absolutely nothing. Buy the fatty products.

Do NOT eat following: bread, especially not white, pasta, potato, rice or any other product containing more than 5% carbohydrate (Sugar is a carbohydrate so 10% sugar and 5% carbohydrate together is far too much). Avoid everything with sugar.

You CAN eat, meat, even fat meat, butter, over ground vegetable, salad and everything else without carbohydrates.

Avoid eating fruit. Fruit has always been overclaimed as being the best nutrition you can get. Fruit contains sucros, the same as sugar. In order for your body to extract the vitamins and minerals from fruit you must eat something fat at the same time. Better to eat vegetables together with a click butter, that will give you about the same vitamins, more minerals and no sugar.

With LCHF food you can continue eat big portions, your weight will still go down, and you can eat fat that makes the food taste good.

You will notice a weight decrease within a week. It will take your body up to three months to adapt to your new healthy metabolism, during that time you might feel some nausea.

Welcome to a healthier life and still eat the best of foods.

[craigt3365]

Good topic, I'm in a similar position

Bad:

Eggs, the yolks especially. This is probably the #1 contributor to high LDL levels, so no more phad Thai, no more fried eggs on pad krapow, etc.

Seafood (except fish), the worst offender being squid, but mussels, oysters and other shellfish also best avoided.

Red meat, especially processed and fatty meat such as burgers. A lean, good quality steak wouldn't be too bad but a McDonald's burger would be terrible

Anything deep fried

Anything fried in palm oil

Fatty dairy foods: Cheese, full fat milk, butter, mayonnaise, etc.

Offal (liver, kidneys, etc.) and this therefore also falls under burgers, sausages and the like.

Processed meat such as salami, streaky bacon, cold cuts.

Any other fatty meat so avoid chicken skin, fatty pork, etc.

Good:

Fish of any kind (but not deep fried, but even that would be better than deep fried other meats)

Ginger

Garlic

Green tea

Dark chocolate (apparently, but this seems to be a bit disputed)

All fruit and veg in general (as long as not fried in palm oil or whatever)

Grains and fibre

Nuts

Pulses

Also do 150 minutes aerobic exercise per week. I've now started doing 30 minutes every day mid-week. Cod Liver Oil tablets also help apparently.

I think some good Thai dishes would be:

- Isaan salads such as somtam

- Kai pad khing (chicken fried in ginger)

- Pad pak ruam

- Nam prik

- Kua kring and other non-seafood, non-deep fried southern Thai food

I must admit that a lot of the LDL increasing ingredients do crop up an awful not in Thai food, and a lot of street food uses palm oil apparently.

You don't need to live like a complete health freak though. Beer, for example, doesn't contribute to LDL levels (but affects triglyceride I think).

But most of your stuff listed in the "Bad" category are things I LOVE!! 5555

[uptheos]

I have been having three heaped teaspoons of cocoa, with skimmed milk and sugar daily, for 6 weeks now.

Last Tuesday my HDL had risen from 44 to 58 not massive, but in the right direction.

Of course there are other factors like extra exercise, but I like the cocoa, so I put it down to that

[uptheos]

There's no LDL cholesterol in steamed rice. Rice is in fact a good food to eat, as long as it's not fried and/or mixed with eggs.

Yes, I think you're right about there being no cholesterol in rice but beware, for Diabetes 2 (I know that is going off the OP's query) it is a NO NO (as my comment above).

White Long grain Rice cooked, 100g serving.

Calories 205

Total fat 0.44 G

Carbs 44,51 G

Protein 4.2 G

Sodium 2mg

Cholesterol 0

[dantilley]

LCHF, works for me. Will give you better levels and also reduce your weight. lower blood sugar and change your metabolism to the better.

LCHF stand for Low Carbohydrate High Fat. Yes, you can eat fat, eq good tasting food. The idea that fatty food is dangerous is simply not true.

Tried it myself for 5 years and it works.

Here is how it works:

We eat a lot more carbohydrate than the body needs today. If we stop eat carbohydrates the body can produce it by it self. Carbohydrate forms in to sugar, that is not good for you, and the excess ends up on your belly as fat.

Your body needs fat to function, but eat only fat from animals, butter, whip cream, milk etc. The best cooking oil is Canola.

Low fat products are all manipulated and actually bad for your body. They take out the fat together with the taste and put in sugar to make it taste again. But sugar transform in to fat again so you paid a lot of money for absolutely nothing. Buy the fatty products.

Do NOT eat following: bread, especially not white, pasta, potato, rice or any other product containing more than 5% carbohydrate (Sugar is a carbohydrate so 10% sugar and 5% carbohydrate together is far too much). Avoid everything with sugar.

You CAN eat, meat, even fat meat, butter, over ground vegetable, salad and everything else without carbohydrates.

Avoid eating fruit. Fruit has always been overclaimed as being the best nutrition you can get. Fruit contains sucros, the same as sugar. In order for your body to extract the vitamins and minerals from fruit you must eat something fat at the same time. Better to eat vegetables together with a click butter, that will give you about the same vitamins, more minerals and no sugar.

With LCHF food you can continue eat big portions, your weight will still go down, and you can eat fat that makes the food taste good.

You will notice a weight decrease within a week. It will take your body up to three months to adapt to your new healthy metabolism, during that time you might feel some nausea.

Welcome to a healthier life and still eat the best of foods.

This thread is about reducing LDL cholesterol, not about weight loss or healthy eating in general. Your diet above would be terrible advice for someone purely aiming to reduce cholesterol.

[Card]

Firstly, there is zero cholesterol in coconuts. Cholesterol is almost 100% from animal products. However, there is a lot of saturated fat in coconuts, which don't help.

Secondly, only about (up to) 1/3 of your blood cholesterol is accounted for by diet. The rest is produced in your liver, so anything that affects your liver (most things I guess) will affect your bllod cholesterol. The main culprit in heavy drinkers is alcohol - contains no cholesterol but stimulates the liver to produce it.

So focus on reducing alcohol intake.

The other thing mentioned here is exercise - do more of that - jogging is best - you need to get your heart rate up.

Finally, have a balanced diet - much more important than reduced calories or reduced fat/cholesterol. A balanced diet means your body does not crave more and more food to try to get the small deficiencies that an unbalanced diet produces even when eaten in large quantities. Plenty of fresh veg is the key as well as nuts and whole grains/pulses. Fibre (soluble or insoluble) is a very important way to keep your gut from absorbing cholesterol.

[dantilley]

But most of your stuff listed in the "Bad" category are things I LOVE!! 5555

Yes that's the problem...! But a lot of the things you miss less than you expect if you start to cut them out. I don't get any kind of craving for burgers or eggs now, for example. Seafood, for me, is the toughest one to give up I think.

[dantilley]

Firstly, there is zero cholesterol in coconuts. Cholesterol is almost 100% from animal products. However, there is a lot of saturated fat in coconuts, which don't help.

Secondly, only about (up to) 1/3 of your blood cholesterol is accounted for by diet. The rest is produced in your liver, so anything that affects your liver (most things I guess) will affect your bllod cholesterol. The main culprit in heavy drinkers is alcohol - contains no cholesterol but stimulates the liver to produce it.

So focus on reducing alcohol intake.

The other thing mentioned here is exercise - do more of that - jogging is best - you need to get your heart rate up.

Finally, have a balanced diet - much more important than reduced calories or reduced fat/cholesterol. A balanced diet means your body does not crave more and more food to try to get the small deficiencies that an unbalanced diet produces even when eaten in large quantities. Plenty of fresh veg is the key as well as nuts and whole grains/pulses. Fibre (soluble or insoluble) is a very important way to keep your gut from absorbing cholesterol.

Good post. It should also be noted that a certain contribution towards cholesterol levels is hereditary. So some people will have a somewhat high LDL level no matter what they do.

[h90]

Good topic, I'm in a similar position

Bad:

Eggs, the yolks especially. This is probably the #1 contributor to high LDL levels, so no more phad Thai, no more fried eggs on pad krapow, etc.

Seafood (except fish), the worst offender being squid, but mussels, oysters and other shellfish also best avoided.

Red meat, especially processed and fatty meat such as burgers. A lean, good quality steak wouldn't be too bad but a McDonald's burger would be terrible

Anything deep fried

Anything fried in palm oil

Fatty dairy foods: Cheese, full fat milk, butter, mayonnaise, etc.

Offal (liver, kidneys, etc.) and this therefore also falls under burgers, sausages and the like.

Processed meat such as salami, streaky bacon, cold cuts.

Any other fatty meat so avoid chicken skin, fatty pork, etc.

Good:

Fish of any kind (but not deep fried, but even that would be better than deep fried other meats)

Ginger

Garlic

Green tea

Dark chocolate (apparently, but this seems to be a bit disputed)

All fruit and veg in general (as long as not fried in palm oil or whatever)

Grains and fibre

Nuts

Pulses

Also do 150 minutes aerobic exercise per week. I've now started doing 30 minutes every day mid-week. Cod Liver Oil tablets also help apparently.

I think some good Thai dishes would be:

- Isaan salads such as somtam

- Kai pad khing (chicken fried in ginger)

- Pad pak ruam

- Nam prik

- Kua kring and other non-seafood, non-deep fried southern Thai food

I must admit that a lot of the LDL increasing ingredients do crop up an awful not in Thai food, and a lot of street food uses palm oil apparently.

You don't need to live like a complete health freak though. Beer, for example, doesn't contribute to LDL levels (but affects triglyceride I think).

But most of your stuff listed in the "Bad" category are things I LOVE!! 5555

yes that makes most diets so simple.....Just cut everything that tastes good :-))

[Zappo]

LCHF, works for me. Will give you better levels and also reduce your weight. lower blood sugar and change your metabolism to the better.

LCHF stand for Low Carbohydrate High Fat. Yes, you can eat fat, eq good tasting food. The idea that fatty food is dangerous is simply not true.

Tried it myself for 5 years and it works.

Here is how it works:

We eat a lot more carbohydrate than the body needs today. If we stop eat carbohydrates the body can produce it by it self. Carbohydrate forms in to sugar, that is not good for you, and the excess ends up on your belly as fat.

Your body needs fat to function, but eat only fat from animals, butter, whip cream, milk etc. The best cooking oil is Canola.

Low fat products are all manipulated and actually bad for your body. They take out the fat together with the taste and put in sugar to make it taste again. But sugar transform in to fat again so you paid a lot of money for absolutely nothing. Buy the fatty products.

Do NOT eat following: bread, especially not white, pasta, potato, rice or any other product containing more than 5% carbohydrate (Sugar is a carbohydrate so 10% sugar and 5% carbohydrate together is far too much). Avoid everything with sugar.

You CAN eat, meat, even fat meat, butter, over ground vegetable, salad and everything else without carbohydrates.

Avoid eating fruit. Fruit has always been overclaimed as being the best nutrition you can get. Fruit contains sucros, the same as sugar. In order for your body to extract the vitamins and minerals from fruit you must eat something fat at the same time. Better to eat vegetables together with a click butter, that will give you about the same vitamins, more minerals and no sugar.

With LCHF food you can continue eat big portions, your weight will still go down, and you can eat fat that makes the food taste good.

You will notice a weight decrease within a week. It will take your body up to three months to adapt to your new healthy metabolism, during that time you might feel some nausea.

Welcome to a healthier life and still eat the best of foods.

This thread is about reducing LDL cholesterol, not about weight loss or healthy eating in general. Your diet above would be terrible advice for someone purely aiming to reduce cholesterol.

You are terribly wrong about that. This diet also changes your cholesterol. Note that it is the harmony between bad and good cholesterol that is important, do not stare your eyes blind on reducing the bad one only.

Here is the formula: Divide the total Cholesterol with HDL. Result under 5 is OK

[SICHONSTEVE]

Good topic, I'm in a similar position

Bad:

Eggs, the yolks especially. This is probably the #1 contributor to high LDL levels, so no more phad Thai, no more fried eggs on pad krapow, etc.

Seafood (except fish), the worst offender being squid, but mussels, oysters and other shellfish also best avoided.

Red meat, especially processed and fatty meat such as burgers. A lean, good quality steak wouldn't be too bad but a McDonald's burger would be terrible

Anything deep fried

Anything fried in palm oil

Fatty dairy foods: Cheese, full fat milk, butter, mayonnaise, etc.

Offal (liver, kidneys, etc.) and this therefore also falls under burgers, sausages and the like.

Processed meat such as salami, streaky bacon, cold cuts.

Any other fatty meat so avoid chicken skin, fatty pork, etc.

Good:

Fish of any kind (but not deep fried, but even that would be better than deep fried other meats)

Ginger

Garlic

Green tea

Dark chocolate (apparently, but this seems to be a bit disputed)

All fruit and veg in general (as long as not fried in palm oil or whatever)

Grains and fibre

Nuts

Pulses

Also do 150 minutes aerobic exercise per week. I've now started doing 30 minutes every day mid-week. Cod Liver Oil tablets also help apparently.

I think some good Thai dishes would be:

- Isaan salads such as somtam

- Kai pad khing (chicken fried in ginger)

- Pad pak ruam

- Nam prik

- Kua kring and other non-seafood, non-deep fried southern Thai food

I must admit that a lot of the LDL increasing ingredients do crop up an awful not in Thai food, and a lot of street food uses palm oil apparently.

You don't need to live like a complete health freak though. Beer, for example, doesn't contribute to LDL levels (but affects triglyceride I think).

I am afraid that there is a lot of bad advice here!!

The absolute worst advice is Canola oil - this is absolutely disastrous for the body, almost certainly the worst oil out there.

The two oils to consume are virgin olive oil for marinades and light cooking and organic cold pressed virgin coconut oil for cooking.

What is the doctor thinking about when he said stop eating coconuts?

What people should realise is that cholesterol isn't bad for you - in fact the body needs it. Dietary cholesterol plays an insignificant part in your cholesterol level anyway. What you need to guard against is inflammation as that is the REAL kille and results from ingesting too much omega 6's from cooking oils such as canola oil and other refined vegetable oils!!

If your diet has too much cholesterol in it your body (which makes up to 80% of the cholesterol) compensates by producing less.

For your health, reduce your simple carbohydrate intake, do not eat refined (factory produced foods) - anything out of a packet, carton, box and avoid anything that is low sugar, low fat, or has diet or healthy somewhere on the label.

Eat oats (not the instant kind though), avocado's, vegetables, fruit (slightly less so), nuts, seeds, eggs (especially the yolk), and avoid sugars and cereals (especially wheat and corn based ones).

Kefir and other fermented foods are good for you (apple cider vinegar with the mother) and consider taking milk thistle (I take ultrathistle).

I reduced my cholesterol (before I realised that it wasn't really necessary to do so) from 270 to 150 (too low) in 1 month simply through diet and some exercise. I halved my triglycerides at the same time - this is more dangerous than your LDL levels BTW.

If I was to proffer up one bit of advice it would be: NEVER TAKE STATINS as they are unnecessary and are killers into the bargain as they deplete life giving COQ10 and cause heart problems and strokes as well as a host of side effects.

Check Dr Mercola's website for health advice as he is a guru on this kind of thing and will put you in the picture as to what you should be doing. I followed his advice and cured a catalogue of things wrong with my body and blood profile. I was on the verge of being pre-diabetic and now my blood sugar levels are normal. Same with my liver function markers, my inflammation has gone, my blood pressure was 155/90 now it is 115/70 (pulse of 55), as mentioned my cholesterol was 270 - it went down to 150 and I let it rise to 204 (200 is considered normal).

What's more my energy levels and feeling of well being has been transformed and I feel 30 years younger. Dr Mercola is the answer!!!!

[misterphil]

I was diagnosed with high cholesterol HDL and low cholesterol LDL about 4 years ago. I looked on the internet to find out how to lower it and come up with that if you use olive oil in your cooking, it scrapes the cholesterol of the linings of your arteries. So after 6 months of using only olive oil for cooking and also taking olive oil capsules I had no bad cholesterol. I also stopped eating out for a while as I didn't know what they were cooking with, probably cheap ass vegetable oil. Omega 3 is a good supplement for high cholesterol. Oatmeal too, quaker oats and the like.

You can also use Lipitor to bring your cholesterol levels correct, but you must change your diet and lifestyle as this is just a temporary fix.

[laislica]

There's no LDL cholesterol in steamed rice. Rice is in fact a good food to eat, as long as it's not fried and/or mixed with eggs.

Correct but the problem is that your body turns the carbs in to LDL

[laislica]

Oh dear Adonis, you're going to get a lot of advice on this.

So far all good.

Well, except for the bread if your blood glucose is high --- did they check that for you?

Thai jasmine rice is off the scale of glycemic index --- and bread, potatoes, cornflakes and so much more turn instantly to sugar in your body.

But I digress --- back to cholesterol--- if you must use oil for dressings or fast frying etc, use Canola or Rape Seed oil. It has all the goodness of olive oil at half the price and no overpowerring flavour with a much higher smoking point than Olive oil.

Remember that all oils turn to transfats as soon as they are at smoking temperature.

Use cholesterol free spreads such as Flora.

As said above, porridge is good for both low cholesterol and Diabetes 2. I make mine with 0% milk and half a pot of 0% youghurt stirred in. Make sure you get the wholegrain rolled oats (McGarrett brand) and not instant or quick cook. Very cheap -- even in Villa!

Good luck.

Caoly? You are joking, it's an industrial product not fir for human consumption, have a Google

[alant]

Good topic, I'm in a similar position

Bad:

Eggs, the yolks especially. This is probably the #1 contributor to high LDL levels, so no more phad Thai, no more fried eggs on pad krapow, etc.

Seafood (except fish), the worst offender being squid, but mussels, oysters and other shellfish also best avoided.

Red meat, especially processed and fatty meat such as burgers. A lean, good quality steak wouldn't be too bad but a McDonald's burger would be terrible

Anything deep fried

Anything fried in palm oil

Fatty dairy foods: Cheese, full fat milk, butter, mayonnaise, etc.

Offal (liver, kidneys, etc.) and this therefore also falls under burgers, sausages and the like.

Processed meat such as salami, streaky bacon, cold cuts.

Any other fatty meat so avoid chicken skin, fatty pork, etc.

Good:

Fish of any kind (but not deep fried, but even that would be better than deep fried other meats)

Ginger

Garlic

Green tea

Dark chocolate (apparently, but this seems to be a bit disputed)

All fruit and veg in general (as long as not fried in palm oil or whatever)

Grains and fibre

Nuts

Pulses

Also do 150 minutes aerobic exercise per week. I've now started doing 30 minutes every day mid-week. Cod Liver Oil tablets also help apparently.

I think some good Thai dishes would be:

- Isaan salads such as somtam

- Kai pad khing (chicken fried in ginger)

- Pad pak ruam

- Nam prik

- Kua kring and other non-seafood, non-deep fried southern Thai food

I must admit that a lot of the LDL increasing ingredients do crop up an awful not in Thai food, and a lot of street food uses palm oil apparently.

You don't need to live like a complete health freak though. Beer, for example, doesn't contribute to LDL levels (but affects triglyceride I think).

I am afraid that there is a lot of bad advice here!!

The absolute worst advice is Canola oil - this is absolutely disastrous for the body, almost certainly the worst oil out there.

The two oils to consume are virgin olive oil for marinades and light cooking and organic cold pressed virgin coconut oil for cooking.

What is the doctor thinking about when he said stop eating coconuts?

What people should realise is that cholesterol isn't bad for you - in fact the body needs it. Dietary cholesterol plays an insignificant part in your cholesterol level anyway. What you need to guard against is inflammation as that is the REAL kille and results from ingesting too much omega 6's from cooking oils such as canola oil and other refined vegetable oils!!

If your diet has too much cholesterol in it your body (which makes up to 80% of the cholesterol) compensates by producing less.

For your health, reduce your simple carbohydrate intake, do not eat refined (factory produced foods) - anything out of a packet, carton, box and avoid anything that is low sugar, low fat, or has diet or healthy somewhere on the label.

Eat oats (not the instant kind though), avocado's, vegetables, fruit (slightly less so), nuts, seeds, eggs (especially the yolk), and avoid sugars and cereals (especially wheat and corn based ones).

Kefir and other fermented foods are good for you (apple cider vinegar with the mother) and consider taking milk thistle (I take ultrathistle).

I reduced my cholesterol (before I realised that it wasn't really necessary to do so) from 270 to 150 (too low) in 1 month simply through diet and some exercise. I halved my triglycerides at the same time - this is more dangerous than your LDL levels BTW.

If I was to proffer up one bit of advice it would be: NEVER TAKE STATINS as they are unnecessary and are killers into the bargain as they deplete life giving COQ10 and cause heart problems and strokes as well as a host of side effects.

Check Dr Mercola's website for health advice as he is a guru on this kind of thing and will put you in the picture as to what you should be doing. I followed his advice and cured a catalogue of things wrong with my body and blood profile. I was on the verge of being pre-diabetic and now my blood sugar levels are normal. Same with my liver function markers, my inflammation has gone, my blood pressure was 155/90 now it is 115/70 (pulse of 55), as mentioned my cholesterol was 270 - it went down to 150 and I let it rise to 204 (200 is considered normal).

What's more my energy levels and feeling of well being has been transformed and I feel 30 years younger. Dr Mercola is the answer!!!!

"NEVER TAKE STATINS", dont agree. Would you include all related products?

[SICHONSTEVE]

Good topic, I'm in a similar position

Bad:

Eggs, the yolks especially. This is probably the #1 contributor to high LDL levels, so no more phad Thai, no more fried eggs on pad krapow, etc.

Seafood (except fish), the worst offender being squid, but mussels, oysters and other shellfish also best avoided.

Red meat, especially processed and fatty meat such as burgers. A lean, good quality steak wouldn't be too bad but a McDonald's burger would be terrible

Anything deep fried

Anything fried in palm oil

Fatty dairy foods: Cheese, full fat milk, butter, mayonnaise, etc.

Offal (liver, kidneys, etc.) and this therefore also falls under burgers, sausages and the like.

Processed meat such as salami, streaky bacon, cold cuts.

Any other fatty meat so avoid chicken skin, fatty pork, etc.

Good:

Fish of any kind (but not deep fried, but even that would be better than deep fried other meats)

Ginger

Garlic

Green tea

Dark chocolate (apparently, but this seems to be a bit disputed)

All fruit and veg in general (as long as not fried in palm oil or whatever)

Grains and fibre

Nuts

Pulses

Also do 150 minutes aerobic exercise per week. I've now started doing 30 minutes every day mid-week. Cod Liver Oil tablets also help apparently.

I think some good Thai dishes would be:

- Isaan salads such as somtam

- Kai pad khing (chicken fried in ginger)

- Pad pak ruam

- Nam prik

- Kua kring and other non-seafood, non-deep fried southern Thai food

I must admit that a lot of the LDL increasing ingredients do crop up an awful not in Thai food, and a lot of street food uses palm oil apparently.

You don't need to live like a complete health freak though. Beer, for example, doesn't contribute to LDL levels (but affects triglyceride I think).

I am afraid that there is a lot of bad advice here!!

The absolute worst advice is Canola oil - this is absolutely disastrous for the body, almost certainly the worst oil out there.

The two oils to consume are virgin olive oil for marinades and light cooking and organic cold pressed virgin coconut oil for cooking.

What is the doctor thinking about when he said stop eating coconuts?

What people should realise is that cholesterol isn't bad for you - in fact the body needs it. Dietary cholesterol plays an insignificant part in your cholesterol level anyway. What you need to guard against is inflammation as that is the REAL kille and results from ingesting too much omega 6's from cooking oils such as canola oil and other refined vegetable oils!!

If your diet has too much cholesterol in it your body (which makes up to 80% of the cholesterol) compensates by producing less.

For your health, reduce your simple carbohydrate intake, do not eat refined (factory produced foods) - anything out of a packet, carton, box and avoid anything that is low sugar, low fat, or has diet or healthy somewhere on the label.

Eat oats (not the instant kind though), avocado's, vegetables, fruit (slightly less so), nuts, seeds, eggs (especially the yolk), and avoid sugars and cereals (especially wheat and corn based ones).

Kefir and other fermented foods are good for you (apple cider vinegar with the mother) and consider taking milk thistle (I take ultrathistle).

I reduced my cholesterol (before I realised that it wasn't really necessary to do so) from 270 to 150 (too low) in 1 month simply through diet and some exercise. I halved my triglycerides at the same time - this is more dangerous than your LDL levels BTW.

If I was to proffer up one bit of advice it would be: NEVER TAKE STATINS as they are unnecessary and are killers into the bargain as they deplete life giving COQ10 and cause heart problems and strokes as well as a host of side effects.

Check Dr Mercola's website for health advice as he is a guru on this kind of thing and will put you in the picture as to what you should be doing. I followed his advice and cured a catalogue of things wrong with my body and blood profile. I was on the verge of being pre-diabetic and now my blood sugar levels are normal. Same with my liver function markers, my inflammation has gone, my blood pressure was 155/90 now it is 115/70 (pulse of 55), as mentioned my cholesterol was 270 - it went down to 150 and I let it rise to 204 (200 is considered normal).

What's more my energy levels and feeling of well being has been transformed and I feel 30 years younger. Dr Mercola is the answer!!!!

"NEVER TAKE STATINS", dont agree. Would you include all related products?

Up to you but I know what I am talking about!!!

[lopburi3]

There's no LDL cholesterol in steamed rice. Rice is in fact a good food to eat, as long as it's not fried and/or mixed with eggs.

so lots of fried rice etc

OP seems to like the fried rice. As for white steamed rice I would not recommend much for anyone. It is actually your body that will likely be the source of most LDL and feeding it a better diet may well be rather important in the long run (not only limiting intake).

[PEP]

Well Ladies and Gentlemen it seems that my diet (?) food intake contains most of what some of you Hypocrondrics call "Ingredients to Control your Chlosterol". Some have gone off the rails and have included blood sugar, heart rate and bless me weight loss in your "advice". I have NO problems with high level of HDL and enjoy an acceplable level of LDL. (The bad One) Perhaps somewhere along the line Hiredity plays a part?

Good luck with your concerns but I advuise that you please be carefull crossing the road. Danger1 Danger!

[SICHONSTEVE]

I was diagnosed with high cholesterol HDL and low cholesterol LDL about 4 years ago. I looked on the internet to find out how to lower it and come up with that if you use olive oil in your cooking, it scrapes the cholesterol of the linings of your arteries. So after 6 months of using only olive oil for cooking and also taking olive oil capsules I had no bad cholesterol. I also stopped eating out for a while as I didn't know what they were cooking with, probably cheap ass vegetable oil. Omega 3 is a good supplement for high cholesterol. Oatmeal too, quaker oats and the like.

You can also use Lipitor to bring your cholesterol levels correct, but you must change your diet and lifestyle as this is just a temporary fix.

Your first sentence makes no sense at all.

You have three types of cholesterol and triglycerides.

HDL is high density lipoproteins - this is your good cholesterol and the higher this is the better.

LDL is low density lipoproteins - this is reputedly your bad cholesterol but this is under debate (once oxidised by free radicals it probably is bad however).

vLDL- very low density lipoproteins - the one to avoid.

Triglycerides - fat carried in the blood by the vLDL which accumulates as visceral fat which surrounds your vital organs and lies in your abdominal region (gut)

[misterphil]

I was diagnosed with high cholesterol HDL and low cholesterol LDL about 4 years ago. I looked on the internet to find out how to lower it and come up with that if you use olive oil in your cooking, it scrapes the cholesterol of the linings of your arteries. So after 6 months of using only olive oil for cooking and also taking olive oil capsules I had no bad cholesterol. I also stopped eating out for a while as I didn't know what they were cooking with, probably cheap ass vegetable oil. Omega 3 is a good supplement for high cholesterol. Oatmeal too, quaker oats and the like.

You can also use Lipitor to bring your cholesterol levels correct, but you must change your diet and lifestyle as this is just a temporary fix.

Your first sentence makes no sense at all.

You have three types of cholesterol and triglycerides.

HDL is high density lipoproteins - this is your good cholesterol and the higher this is the better.

LDL is low density lipoproteins - this is reputedly your bad cholesterol but this is under debate (once oxidised by free radicals it probably is bad however).

vLDL- very low density lipoproteins - the one to avoid.

Triglycerides - fat carried in the blood by the vLDL which accumulates as visceral fat which surrounds your vital organs and lies in your abdominal region (gut)

It was 4 years ago, so cant remember exactly, but it was all messed up and I got it sorted out.

[SICHONSTEVE]

I was diagnosed with high cholesterol HDL and low cholesterol LDL about 4 years ago. I looked on the internet to find out how to lower it and come up with that if you use olive oil in your cooking, it scrapes the cholesterol of the linings of your arteries. So after 6 months of using only olive oil for cooking and also taking olive oil capsules I had no bad cholesterol. I also stopped eating out for a while as I didn't know what they were cooking with, probably cheap ass vegetable oil. Omega 3 is a good supplement for high cholesterol. Oatmeal too, quaker oats and the like.

You can also use Lipitor to bring your cholesterol levels correct, but you must change your diet and lifestyle as this is just a temporary fix.

Your first sentence makes no sense at all.

You have three types of cholesterol and triglycerides.

HDL is high density lipoproteins - this is your good cholesterol and the higher this is the better.

LDL is low density lipoproteins - this is reputedly your bad cholesterol but this is under debate (once oxidised by free radicals it probably is bad however).

vLDL- very low density lipoproteins - the one to avoid.

Triglycerides - fat carried in the blood by the vLDL which accumulates as visceral fat which surrounds your vital organs and lies in your abdominal region (gut)

It was 4 years ago, so cant remember exactly, but it was all messed up and I got it sorted out.

Well done - good for you!!