Overall Health & Nutrition questions

[farfalla2011]

I had my annual dr. appointment last week and had some tests run. It came back with elevated cholesterol and low Vitamin D. It's not crazy out of whack, but I'm already reasonably active and have significantly cleaned up my diet over the past 4 months or so, with the occasional bad food because, come on, you have to have it sometimes!

Anyway, it has really gotten to me and I'm sort of at a loss especially with my diet on what to do to improve these numbers. I've recently removed almost all gluten foods due to recent stomach issues, plus lower carbs overall since I would like to reduce body fat and I was eating way too many on a regular basis. Unless I'm totally missing something, I feel like it's not that bad?

Below is a typical day of food for me.

Breakfast: Either Cereal (Cheerios) with almond milk, occasionally yogurt, or eggs with sausage possibly on a corn tortilla or with potatoes; sometimes I'll pick up a breakfast taco with black beans, avocado, 1 strip bacon and a little cheese on corn

Lunch: Usually a lean meat (chicken/pork) plus a veggie and maybe a small amount of rice or potatoes/sweet potatoes -

Dinner: meat/veggies/starch (lunch is usually leftover from dinner)

Snacks: I'll eat a handful of cashews, maybe dark chocolate

Only about once a week do I eat beef because I just don't love it and neither does DH.

I know the food isn't super detailed, but our meals are fairly boring.

A splurge meal would be a good burger usually after a big bike ride which doesn't happen all that often or pizza. We've also cut way back on eating out, so there's not a lot going on there other than coffee purchases

Do you have any suggestions on what changes I could make?

[thom]

I feel like a lot of the more recent scientific research keeps showing cholesterol is more genetic than anything. Diet has some effect, but cholesterol numbers just aren't easily changed for some people. (And maybe isn't as concerning as we used to think; especially for people who are getting exercise.)

Obviously being active and eating reasonably is important for feeling good and your overall health, but it may still not change your numbers. I think you are doing the right things and I'd ask your doctor what they think.

Dairy products may help with the vitamin D, or maybe you need to supplement?

[emilyj]

Eh. The only things I would say is to maybe switch out lean meat for fish a couple times a week for the omega-3's, do oatmeal over Cheerios a couple times a week, and add in a fish oil supplement.

[farfalla2011]

thom, good point on the supplements! I forgot to add that I did order vitamins again and will be starting to take those starting tonight (forgot this morning...oops).

For an additional question. For a doctor what type should I see? This was only a small amount of lab work requested by my obgyn, so not exactly the right specialty. Just a GP or should I go more with a nutritionist or something like that?

[Wines Not Whines]

I would go to a GP/internist. Everyone in my family has high cholesterol, so I think I'm going to be susceptible to it, too. Exercise has helped lower my numbers.

[sweetiesparkles]

Does hyperlipidemia run in your family?

I was low on D too and got an Rx. It was 50,000 (no joke) units a day for a few days.

[luckystar2]

How high is your cholesterol? Were the other #s ok? What did your dr say? My work does screening every year and for the last 5 years or so my cholesterol is elevated but nobody is ever concerned. It's not that high and my good cholesterol is good and my triglycerides are low so they say it's ok. But through the program you can meet with somebody to get advice on nutrition, etc. I've done it a couple times and it's made no difference for me. I have family history so I'm sure it's genetic. But this is what they told me: FIBER!!! Seriously that's the biggest thing they say will help. Also omega 3s. So lots of fish which I hate. But I take a supplement. I don't eat red meat at all so I'm not sure what they would recommend with that. Other things were to up my water intake and add in eating nuts. But again,..it's made no difference for me. But everyone seems ok with my #s.
Also I exercise most days so we didn't focus on that since I seem to be doing fine with that and my good cholesterol is good.

I also have low vit d and take a daily supplement per my dr.

[Deleted]

Also curious what your ratio was. There is good and bad cholesterol. LDL you want low, HDL is actually ok. Total cholesterol may be high (like me) but your ratio may actually be fine. I was just a few points high overall, but my ratio was actually optimal. Your diet sounds healthier than mine. Not sure if this article would help:

www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/making-sense-of-cholesterol-tests

I take a Vit D supplement due to being a little low. I'm in Northeast, there's never any sun. ;-)

[farfalla2011]

Sorry I posted and ran yesterday. I only got the results through an online portal, so I haven't had any conversations with my dr. My LDL is the only one that is too high, but only by 10 for the range the results had listed. I think it had an upper limit of 100 and it was 110. The overall average was in the normal range and same for Triglycerides.

As for family history, my grandfather died of congestive heart failure complicated by cancer, but none of the rest of my family ever goes to the dr, so I have no idea for the rest which is frustrating. I had it all checked about 6 years ago and everything was good, but 10 years ago it was all crazy, LDL high, HDL too low, Tris high. So at least I'm doing better than that now!


Thank you all for sharing your own experiences and that it really is probably not a big deal as long as I keep active and eating well. DH of course thinks, these are probably improved numbers from where they were because I like eating terrible food and I haven't been eating better all that long. It's just a little discouraging because I've made a ton of improvements this year, so I expected it all to be perfect.

[luckystar2]

May 6, 2016 9:18:47 GMT -5 farfalla2011 said:

Sorry I posted and ran yesterday. I only got the results through an online portal, so I haven't had any conversations with my dr. My LDL is the only one that is too high, but only by 10 for the range the results had listed. I think it had an upper limit of 100 and it was 110. The overall average was in the normal range and same for Triglycerides.

As for family history, my grandfather died of congestive heart failure complicated by cancer, but none of the rest of my family ever goes to the dr, so I have no idea for the rest which is frustrating. I had it all checked about 6 years ago and everything was good, but 10 years ago it was all crazy, LDL high, HDL too low, Tris high. So at least I'm doing better than that now!


Thank you all for sharing your own experiences and that it really is probably not a big deal as long as I keep active and eating well. DH of course thinks, these are probably improved numbers from where they were because I like eating terrible food and I haven't been eating better all that long. It's just a little discouraging because I've made a ton of improvements this year, so I expected it all to be perfect.

That doesn't sound bad at all. In comparison my total cholesterol is usually about 5-15 points high. I just looked at my recent #s and my good cholesterol is way better than it needs to be. My triglycerides are way under the limit. But my LDL and non-HDL #s are about 20 points over the limit. And I was still told these #s aren't concerning.

[elynne2012]

I also have elevated cholesterol. I am not obese and exercise and eat fairly well (not perfectly). It's gone down and slightly back up. My doctor isn't concerned because my ratios are still good and I'm young (37) so my doctor isn't worried. She just wants to keep an eye on it. It's hereditary as my mom also has it.

I also have low vitamin D. I started an OTC supplement a few months ago. It's helped feeling less tired.