Dh has high cholesterol
 

He is only 40. :sigh They put him on cholesterol meds this week. I really want to try a complete diet overhaul before going the med route but dh seems to think he needs the meds. He says, "You cook healthy. I think it's how my body breaks it down. I think it's heriditary." He has a point because both of his parents have trouble with cholesterol but he eats lunch at chinese rest. and I could cook a bit healthier. I tend to like to add cheese to stuff :blush plus if I looked I am sure there are other ways I could cut out choleteral.

Oh, well, I can't make him not take the meds and maybe he does need them but I would have liked to have a few months to try a diet change before him going on the med. It's his body and he is way more trusting of doctors and modern medicine than I. :shifty There is really not much I can do to make him change his mind. :sigh

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

:hugheart mine does too. I have some info somewhere if you want it..I will have go find it..LOL

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

I would definitely avoid statins if at all possible. There is no study that shows they reduce MORTALITY even if they reduce cholesterol-- telling the liver to suppress its cholesterol output (by permanently damaging the liver)-- is simply not the solution to the underlying problem causing the increased inflammation (cholesterol) in the first place. That's if the cholesterol is truly a problem. It's not the total cholesterol that matters, it's the ratio. Statin producers have effectively convinced doctors that we all have high cholsterol. I believe the cut-off for high cholesterol has decreased from 300 to 240 in the past 10 years or so-- and we still have no better mortality, just more people experiencing prolems on statins. Anyway, here is a post I wrote a year or so ago on cholesterol:

***
http://www.gentlechristianmothers.co...?topic=99949.0

Here's what I've learned so far. I am still learning and open to any and all corrections!

Cholesterol is good for you. I already believed this since I am a WAPFer, per cobluegirl's links. Cholesterol is vital for children and pregnant women and is also important as an adult for the regulation of hormones in both men and women. Normal cholesterol is approximately 275-300. Note that the upper limit of "normal" has recently changed to 220-250 because pharmaceutical companies want doctors to prescribe more statin medicines. Their position is that at least 20% of the US population has "high" cholesterol, based on their definition, and that they need to be on statin medicines to reduce cholesterol. Cholesterol will clog arteries, but only in the cardiac muscles, not throughout your body. This is why people don't have clogged arteries in their arms or legs-- it's specific to the cardiac region.

As you age (especially around 55-60), it is normal for cholesterol levels to increase, as your body produces more cholesterol to heal arteries throughout your body in response to increased inflammation from aging. Inflammation is the main cause of high cholesterol. Inflammation can be from high blood sugar, smoking or other toxic chemicals, a bacteria or virus causing an infection, an allergic reaction to some food or environmental cause, or depleted nutrients.

When one has "high" cholesterol, it is important to do two things:

1) Determine why the cholesterol is high.

2) Assess your heart disease risk. Cholesterol levels are actually a bad indicator of cardiac disease. Half of all people who have heart attacks actually have low cholesterol. There are several blood tests that more accurately assess your risk of heart disease than cholesterol levels. One is a test for the C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (here are some links re the test
http://www.healthy-heart-guide.com/crp-blood-test.html
http://www.clevelandclinic.org/heart...btests/crp.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/hear...6/METHOD=print) There are two other important tests, but I can't remember their names right now-- I will find out and edit this!

Blood sugar and diabetes are a huge risk factor for heart disease. A recent article in the Well-Being Journal (The Biggest Culprit in the Heart Disease Pandemic By Shane Ellison, M.Sc.) discussed the role of inflammation (primarily caused by high blood sugar) in heart disease and did a great job of explaining the issues and offered some natural solutions. Here's the website for the journal-- http://www.wellbeingjournal.com/current.htm -- though the article is not available on-line. I got my issue at Whole Foods.

The article's primary suggestions for treating high cholesterol due to high blood sugar are:

* a low-carb, low-sugar diet and regular exercise (low-fat diets are not recommended). regular exercise dramatically improves blood sugar, which in tun reduces inflammation and cholesterol production
* supplements of natural anti-inflammatories, including cinnamon supplements (2-6 grams/day), 1 tbs. apple cider vinegar in water before meals, green tea, magnesium aspartate (400 mg/day), and tannic acid
* L-arginine and grape seed etract have also helped many patients naturally cure heart disease

There is also another protocol for treating inflammation of the arteries and corresponding high cholesterol by treating the liver. I will find out more about this and get back to you! However, it sounds like in your dh's case, controlling his blood sugar is key to managing his heart disease risk.

Bottom line: high cholesterol is something to take seriously because its cause needs to be found and evaluated. But statin drugs are not the answer, IMNSHO! Lowering cholesterol artificially does not reduce the risk of heart disease because these drugs are not addressing the underlying causes of high cholesterol and statins also cause a lot of harm by inhibiting the liver's natural processes.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

Yes, I'd love any info that you have!

ETA: Well, I copied some of the above info in an email to dh. I have been wanting to put our family on the mediteranian diet anyway but have been waiting for a book to arrive from the library.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

I am going to sticky this thread. Cholesterol comes up frequently. Valentine posted excellent information. I will try and post more later.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

Omegas will help with high cholesterol, but I know of a number of people (including my mom) who didn't get a lot of results off of omegas until they added extra fiber to their diet....then everything changed rather quickly.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

ooh I forgot to post more... glad this popped up again.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

I agree-omega 3's

My cholesterol was "high" for a little while....1st Dr tried to out me on meds ..... I was 25 :jawdrop

Anyway, I found another Dr and he told me to get plenty of Omega-3s and using whole ground flax-seed has been helpful...that was just one of the things he suggested, exercise and other stuff too... my cholesterol is fine now

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

Valentine, excellent post!

I am also of the opinion that dietary cholesterol and saturated fat are not the issue when blood levels are high. My first step in correcting high cholesterol would be to cut out all trans fat that may be in the diet along with lowering the amount of grain and sugar in the diet.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

http://www.mercola.com/2005/may/28/c...erol_heart.htm

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

SuperFoodsRx is a fantastic little book - and a quick read too - and is a great reference for foods that help lower cholesterol.

I have heard from many people that they've had great success in lowering their cholesterol (and getting off cholesterol meds) by eating more old fashioned oatmeal, omega-3s, and exercising 2-3 times a week.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

I am so frustrated.... Dh was tested in march..His levels are what they consider dangerously high (he is only 30) Heart problems also run in his family...dad had them, grandpa, great gpa, maternal gma and his mom has high cholesterol as well.. so you get the picture...

I do not know how to convince him not to take the statins....

He was tested again in early Aug and actually the good cholesterol had gone up a little and the bad had dropped a little..something we are doing much be working somewhat... but still...he thinks that if he doesn't take it he will be dead by 40. He is a really high strung person..which adds into that.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

I am a really high strung person too, and I think that contributes to my blood pressure being a little high sometimes (cholesterol too maybe)?

Hope you can convince him :hugheart

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

:hugheart

My brother was told he has slightly high cholesterol, and so he was making an effort to lower it... but didn't know what to do, really. I knew if I gave him a book (Superfoods Rx), he wouldn't read it. But I knew how the book could help him (b/c it helped my friend's DH lower his from dangerously high, to now being a great #). So, I bought the book (for like $8 at Rite Aid), and looked up "cholesterol" in the glossary at the back, and then I turned to every single page that had "cholesterol" mentioned, and I underlined the pertinent parts in red and dog-eared the pages.

When I handed him the book he said that was really smart, b/c he wouldn't have read it otherwise (MEN!). That was a few months ago, and since then he's mentioned it to me a few times (so I can tell he actually read it and took some of it to heart).

Would something like that work for your DH? Mine doesn't read anything, but if I highlight a small part and stand in front of him while he reads it, or lay in bed next to him while he reads it, then that seems to work.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

I dunno....

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

This is confusing me. Too....much.....information....at ...once. :blush

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

Interesting! I think I eat omega fats and I definitely eat high fiber (just had a green smoothie). Someone remind me which omega fats to eat and where they come from? I ran 32 miles last week (over 5 hours of running in the freezing cold!), so I have that part covered :) My recent cholesterol was 245.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

I am in this same spot with DBF. He is not convinced that anything natural works, and keeps citing some study that statins have been used for years with no ill effects. :banghead


I made him eat fish with sauteed in CO and veggies for dinner on saturday. He can eat whatever during the week but at my house he is eating by my rules :snooty :shifty

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

Shaklee sells a Cholesterol supplement that has good reviews. Righteousmama sells it.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

DH was just told that his cholesterol was on the high end of normal (223) when he was tested at bootcamp over a year ago. (And they just now said anything to him about it...that's Navy Medical for you. :hunh) Granted, his diet before enlisting was not so great (a lot more carbs and sugar) and he was hardly exercising at all. He's in better shape now although his weight has crept back up since he's been in class all the time and not exercising as much. I'm curious to see what it would be now. 2 of his 3 biologically related brothers and his father have all been diagnosed with high cholesterol, and his oldest brother was processed out of the Navy for it since he couldn't control it (but he doesn't know anything beyond conventional "wisdom" about treating it). Thankfully since DH is still in the "normal" range if on the higher end of it, they are only going to monitor his levels every year and not requiring action yet. But I want to be proactive esp. since it could impact not just his health (important in itself) but his job, too.

Soooo...subbing for ideas to keep him healthy. I've already been working to reduce grains and sugar in our diet overall. I try to keep the amount of processed food in our diet as low as possible. We eat grass-fed butter and drink raw, grass-fed milk. We could probably stand to up the amount of fiber in all our diets, but we do eat a fair amount of fresh fruits. I struggle to know how to really get lots of veggies in. :doh A really good green smoothie recipe would be good. :yes I have the Superfoods Rx book on order from Amazon and I'll get him on Omega-3's. He's going to ask if he can join his shipmate's workout group to have some accountability now. Keep the suggestions and/or new info coming if anyone has any!

Oh yeah, and DH is only 30 as well! :doh

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

I recommend reading Eat to Live and/or Eat for Health if you are looking for a diet overhaul that will work.

Eat to Live is not low fat. It replaces (most) animal fats with fats from seeds, nuts, and avocado. Not oils (Mediterranean diet is healthier than SAD but the oils are still not a great idea in any significant amounts, especially if you have cholesterol issues). It is also no sugar, no processed food, and even whole grains are limited for someone that needs to lose weight. It doesn't have to be completely vegan, though it could be.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

Green Smoothie 101 :)

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

My dad (who is naturally thin) has hereditary high cholesterol and unfortunately, he does not tolerate any of the lipid lowering drugs. He tried a vegan diet (it actually called for fish and fish oil, but he has anaphylaxis to seafood) and he lowered his cholesterol by almost 100 points. He did also lose close to ten pounds.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

I am so frustrated with the so-called medical wisdom that cholesterol is supposed to be below 200. It's not. That number was arrived at by the drug companies. It is normal for a healthy human being to have cholesterol between 200-300. Our bodies need cholesterol to create hormones.
Dr. Mercola has a lot of good information on his website. It's a place to learn more about what cholesterol is really supposed to be.

My cholesterol, last it was checked, was around 245 or so. My doctor was so happy. I eat right, exercised regularly at that time, and other blood profiles pointed to great health. My husband's cholesterol is regularly 145. My doctor is worried about him; that's too low. He eats garbage, usually once or twice per day at most, just started running, but refuses to change his diet.
While drug companies quote statistics, like 50% of people who have heart attacks had high cholesterol, keep in mind that means 50% didn't. There was another factor, but since statin drugs put lots of money in their coffers, they continue the untruth at the risk of damaging more people with statins.

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

Do you have any sources for this info? It's super compelling, if it can be backed up. Isn't Mercola seen by a lot of people as a bit quack-ish? :shifty

Re: Dh has high cholesterol
 

I got the information, and saw the flow chart, with my doctor, then saw some back up with Mercola. I don't know if he's seen as a quack by some people, but what I see of his work, it's sound scientifically and medically. An added bonus is he includes links to studies so the reader can determine the findings on their own.

But, I can share some links I have saved in my favorites about cholesterol which might have more information on this.
http://preventdisease.com/news/12/03...-Disease.shtml
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla...art-75668.aspx
http://butterbeliever.com/why-i-am-n...checked-again/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-s...#axzz24x4pcPAv