Cholesterol guidelines (pinks?)
Posted by LucidAnne on May 17, 2008 · Member since Jun 2006 · 1564 posts
How can you increase your good (HDL) cholesterol? Omegas help with this, no?
What is the range for HDL levels?esp for someone who is in a "very high risk" group (diabetes).
My total chol and LDL were both really great,but i dont know about my HDL, tho i know last year it was low...and is only a tiny bit higher now.
Your ratios of cholesterol are affected by nuances in your metabolism (a very broad term). I shifted my HDL/LDL ratio up through exercising a few years ago when I started running. ...and I know not everyone is made for or can run, but good aerobic exercise several times a week does make a difference.
High fiber diets help reduce LDL levels also by removing precursors to cholesterol from your system. The way this works is somewhat complex but can be simple to understand:
cholesterol is hard for your body to create, but it does make it anyway. In the synthetic pathway, cholesterol (as well as some hormones) is made from molecules in the bile your gallbladder produces. Bile is usually absorbed in a complex with fats from the food you eat - when bile and fats are absorbed together, the bile is available to be turned into cholesterol.
The magic part is that bile also complexes with fiber that cant be digested nor absorbed. So basically, when you eat a lot of fiber, the bile sticks to it and gets pooped out. This reduces the amount of bile that can be turned into cholesterol in your body.
End of story: eat lots of green leafy stuff and beans plus spend an hour at the gym a week and your heart may get an extra 10 years
awesome, thanks VF!!
do you know what the level of HDL should be?
me likes my fiber, but its hard w/ my complications to get any aerobic activity now, but im working on it! course, that just means that *any* activity could be aerobic to me! haha.
For women, a level above 50 mg/dL is good, and the higher the better. For men it's 40 or above is good. Of course high LDL offsets the benefit of HDL unfortunately.
I'm glad you are taking this seriously, since heart disease is very bad among women - it seems you all carry the weight of the world for us boys. ...Blood pressure is another major factor in heart disease that must be kept in check...
Atherosclerosis is a major complication of cholesterol and blood pressure problems. LDL can start building up inside of your veins and arteries but only gets started in areas that are damaged. The damage is usually a result of the stress that high BP has on the veins... Once a small tear or scuff mark occurs, it can start accumulating cholesterol and can keep going if the HDL isn't high enough. It is LDL that accumulates and can create clots, but HDL prevents the accumulation and works to dissolve it, which is precisely why they say HDL should be high and LDL should be low
Yeah, i have *really* low bp, so im not concerned w/ that.
but ive had diabetes since 10yrs old, so regardless, i *technically* have heart disease. My vascular system is, by default, a mess.lol.
I also know that the guidelines for those w/ diabetes are much more strict than the average person...i always hear info on decreasing your LDL with medication, but i dont have a prob w/ this. I want to increase the HDL!
I have just read about another chol test that they recommend as being more accurate in determining risk... the apoB. its not a standard test, yet, but hopefully in the future.
thanks again!
I'm not in the danger group for diabetes, thank goodness, but I do have low thyroid because of Hashimoto's disease. This causes my body to be off the chart cholesterol-wise. That was what triggered my Dr's attention to the thyroid issue. Fortunately after 6 mos thyroid supplements my "bad" cholesterol is down and the "good" is up. I dunnno all about how it works but I do feel better!
Me, too, yb. The official reason I gave out for going vegan was to get my cholesterol down. Then the doctor upped my thyroid replacement and it would have come down, anyway. I'm not telling people that part. Being vegan in my family without a "good" reason would be like being openly gay in the 1950s. It could be done, but at great personal cost.
moderate alcohol intake (like 1-2 drinks/day)
exercise, but i know that's not really much of an option. supposed to be at least 45 min+ at least 4x/week.
lots of fiber.
monounsaturated/polyunsaturated fats (there isn't conclusive evidence that they raise HDL, but they are the best)
End of story: eat lots of green leafy stuff and beans plus spend an hour at the gym a week and your heart may get an extra 10 years
Now there's some sound advice. Even I could follow that.
I like that advice hespy...thanks to you, i am truely going to dedicate my days to getting healthier by drinking. :D Thats my most realistic option right now. haha.