Good Cholesterol

[Matheous]

What should my level be- I am male and 61 yrs? I am currently 11st 8lbs..... What would be the best way to reduce the level?

[oldwoman]

What is your cholesterol reading.

[Neutron]

Hi Matheous,
I'm told that keeping under 5 is a reasonable cholesterol level. If over 5, then give up the beer, cakes, biccies, and chocolate etc.
You know it makes sense!
Best wishes,

[sunflower71]

Look at a low GI diet

recently researched it for friend.

[Matheous]

Thanx 4 the response! It is currently 5.8! and I almost never drink beer or lager -in fact I rarely drink at all as I have to drive to work and it takes 24hrs to clear from the system? Anyway I only enjoy an occasional glass of Rose'
I do like chocolate and certain biscuits but I don't consider that done to excess (not even eg. half a pkt per day)
Until recently I did eat maybe for thick slices of brown bread with butter & honey per day.

[Matheous]

Sorry -correction to that being FOUR slices per day!

[Matheous]

I just read an ad for 'Wu-Long' Tea which is supposed to lose belly-fat at atremendous rate....!

Anyone tried this?

[oldwoman]

My neighbour is 64 and her doctor said 6 is alright for her as she isn`t overweight and doesn`t smoke. Mine was 13.5 due to heredity factors and I am on a high tablet. If you want to bring it down try small changes like flora pro active, semi skimmed milk and looking to other fat.

[Matheous]

Oldwoman -thanks for the info -I have recently decided to cut down on dairy products and I'm not sure about the pro-biotic things I did have every morning, almost. You know- the Danone stuff etc.

I've even stopped semi-sk.milk in tea!

[oldwoman]

Matheous my advice is to live your life and not be a martyr. I have dieted all my life, my philosophy now... If I`m here tomorrow thats a bonus If not I did as I wanted. Best of luck to you,but enjoy living.

[Matheous]

Thanks for the advice oldwoman....I'll take that on-board to a degree......I want to be reasonably fit for retirement!

[Neutron]

Matheous, a bit of exercise also helps, so go for a walk when you can at weekends. Some push-ups before breakfast would be good.
I also use all the cholesterol-reducing spreads and cheese, and Tesco are now selling loaves of bread that are supposed to reduce chol.
Good luck, and may the force be with you!

[Neutron]

Re; the Wu-Long tea you mentioned, it sounds like a scam - so many of these products with extravagant promises do turn out to be scams.

[BigMac]

Eat porridge - oats are particularly good at lowering cholesterol levels.

[aurelia]

My reading was 4.2 and the next time was 4.0 but this last time was 5.5. I can't really explain why it's changed as I eat healthier mostly now. There are good fats and bad fats - so cooking with healthy oils is better like olive oil, rapeseed oil and eating 2 or 3 portions of oily fish like mackerel, herring, salmon are recommended. My doctor told me that it can fluctuate a bit and I shouldn't worry about the change.

British Heart foundation do a book - free called something like Living with cholesterol - it was given to me by my doctor - but they have a website and you can get them to send you a free copy. They have a table in it that tells about the different oils and what spreads not to buy - there are margarines's which lower both good and bad cholesterol - LDL and HDL - can't remember which is which.

My friend lives off fish and his is 3.5.

Your reading was not high so I would not buy anything like Flora Pro active as my dad's heart consultant was unimpressed with it and told him it was a waste of money - it is over �3 for a tiny tub. My dad had to have a repair to a heart valve 3 years ago

[aurelia]

Just noticed you mentioned dairy - I have been dairy free for the last 3 months as I have been told I was lactose intolerant and alergic to aspartame - sweetner. I am goint to return to doctor to check my cholesterol now as my blood pressure is now normal and was high before and there are many alternatives - dairy free margarine in Morrisions and large supermarkets and ice cream too

[Matheous]

Thank you all very much! You have been most helpful.
I'm afraid I don't have time for push-ups before leaving for work. My wife does usually buy vegetable or sunflower oil and on the odd occasion that I do a 'fry-up' I much prefer to use olive oil- especially for the taste. I like tuna and do like porage and oatmeal bread when I can find it (which is extremely difficult)
Also love wheat scones -again when you can get them- sometimes I wish they would 'ban' the bleaching of flour so we could all enjoy healthier everything that contains flour!

Thanks again all!

[informashun]

matheous,
to say how high is my cholesterol is most misleading as blood fats are in two kinds of lipids.
at this point i will tell you what to do.
see your gp and have a blood test.if its high you will be put on statins which will control your fat levels and also has very beneficial side effects.
dont waste your money on benecol etc but do try a swim at weekends.
finally only cook with rapeseed oil.

[Matheous]

informashun -Thank you for the input....I will take on board what you say. My reading was 5.8 and was told I will have another check-up in Jan.2007, with no mention of medication.