Dr said my LDL is kind of high
 

And said to watch out for high cholesterol foods. Thing is, we all know there is much discussion about many foods that some think are bad, and some think are good, for example coconut oil. Just like how everyone used to think margarine was better for you than butter, then it turns out all that trans fat is no good. I think the jury is still out as far as the long term effects of CO. Sucks that I also have a large jar of homemade pork tallow (lard) that took me forever to save up enough fat to render it down! I used that or CO for cooking.

Still split decision on egg yolks, shrimp and pork too. I can give up some beef here and there, but I love my com thit nuong (Viet grilled pork). I think it's healthy, grilled, fat cut off, eaten with carrot and cabbage pickles and rice. I just read online to give up beef, shellfish and pork (and they called pork red meat, it's not).

I'm thinking I'm going to eat the same and exercise more LOL. I have an appt with the Dr on Mon to talk about my seasonal allergies (SOOOO bad this year!) and let's see what he says. LDL is 128. Everything else came back normal on my bloodwork.

Do they mean pork as in sausage, bacon, etc? That stuff is fatty I know but what about the leaner cuts without the fat ground/mixed in?

I think normal is below 100 right? A diet change is good. They usually say the same things....chicken and turkey lol. I am not a diet expert but I think grilled, no fat should be ok???? Let us know what you find out about that. Glad to hear your other results were good!!

Some say the standard for LDL is 70-130 so you are on the high side. Exercise will absolutely help. My LDL is at 45 but I take a pill so that is cheating. I have a family history of heart problems and had a triple bypass in 2008 (47 years old at the time) so I need to keep an eye on it.

Wow triple bypass at 47? That's scary. I'm glad you have recovered from that.

As for chicken and turkey.... I hate them both. LOL I can only eat chicken if it's dark meat with skin. I never eat white meat, I think it's disgusting and dry. :(

LDL being high only is a problem if you have small ldl particles. If possible ask for a particle size test. I've had it done to shut my doctor up about my high saturated fat diet.

Seven weeks ago my sister had a total cholesterol reading of 308, and her doctor wanted to start her on drugs immediately. She asked him if she could try and lower it herself naturally, and he gave her six weeks. She asked for advise on fb and got lots of suggestions and settled on 4 supplements. After watching what she ate and taking the supplements, she got her cholesterol checked about a week ago. Her LDL went from 198 to 136, and triglycerides went from 192 to 80. Total cholesterol went from 308 to 210.

The OTC items that she took:

1. Cholestoff. Take amount suggested on bottle. It contains natural statins from plant sources. Just like the synthetic prescription statins, it will deplete your body's natural Co-Q10, so supplement #2 is:
2. Co-Q10, 300 mg
3. Tumeric, which is just a spice used in some ethnic cooking. Be sure to use a brand that has olive and black pepper, as that will aid in proper absorption. 450 mg / tablet, take 3 per day
4. High potency Fish Oil This was my suggestion, since my dh's cardiologist put him on Lovaza for high cholesterol. Lovaza requires a prescription and I have no idea why since it's only high potency fish oil. Each capsule of Lovaza contains 900 mg of omega-3's. He was prescribed 4 per day, at a total cost of $240/month. I found Nature's Bounty maximum strength fish oil -- 1400 mg, and 980 mg of that is omega-3's, so higher in omega-3 than Lovaza. Cost for a months supply, taking 4 per day: <$20 per month! Read the label carefully and be sure to get the type that has 980 mg of omega-3. There are other types that also have 980 mg of omega fatty acids, and when you read the fine print, omega-3 is only 330 mg out of the 980, so you would have to take 12 per day to get the same amount of omega-3.

All the above are available at good prices at Costco.

Pork loin is just as lean as chicken breast! I would avoid bacon and sausage, but I wouldn't hesitate to eat pork loin! When it comes to beef, the loin cuts (sirloin, New York strip, terderloin) are the leanest. Just trim any visible fat.

Several years ago, my blood work showed that I was a little on the anemic side. My dr asked if I ate red meat, which I did but not very often. He ordered me to eat a steak once a week, and said that if I was worried about calories / fat to just have one of the loin cuts.

Shrimp causes a temporary increase in serum cholesterol, because the shrimp itself contains cholesterol. IMO the real problem is the cholesterol that is produced by the body, and that is influenced diet-wise by eating saturated fats. Avoiding those is more important than avoiding shrimp. Shrimp, Cholesterol, and Heart Health

ldl
 

I understand as I have the same problem. Good advice given in above posts.
I agree about the particle size, and luckily I have the right ones. I also have higher hdl and the ratio is ok. What is your hdl? So I am resisting statins, hoping I make it. LOL!

I will ask the Dr about particle size and HDL I forgot what it was. I have a little list going of what I am going to ask.

Ldl
 

Good for you. Most docs I found do not take the HDL/LDL ratio into account, nor do they do the extra LDL particle size test. May be different now though. My docs have been after me for years for my LDL #s but I do not want to take statins. So any excuse is good enough for me, but if they are right I guess I will pay the consequences!
Good Luck!

Happy to hear all of your other results were good. Eat oatmeal daily, if it works with your overall diet. It helped my dad.

I'll have to try oatmeal again. As a kid, sometimes I liked it, sometimes I didn't. I think it was too familiar with rice porridge/congee that we got fed when we were sick, that gross bland stuff, but now as an adult, I like it when I can put in the toppings that I like.

I forgot to ask my Dr about the HDL. Actually, bc I only saw a NP to get a quicker appt time I didn't ask a few things. I mainly went in to talk about my allergies, hair loss from being sick and dry/dandruff scalp. I think the scalp problems are from being sick, but the NP thinks otherwise. I have lost about 50% of my hair since the pancreatic episode. A week or so ago I went to put my hair in a ponytail since it was getting warm out (and I'd been wearing a beanie all throughout the winter with my hair down) and was shocked to find my always thin wimpy ponytail was 50% even MORE wimpy. :( I have a referral to a dermatologist now too that I have to call tomorrow. Hopefully I can get something to get my hair growing back. Lots fall out daily and doesn't seem like many are coming back in.

Another scary thing is I am still losing weight and am back to hospital weight. At last check I thought I had gained 4 lbs but now I lost them again. Now that I am supposed to eat low fat/cholesterol stuff, I feel like I'm going to lose even more. I don't have a good appetite like I did before, and without eating high calorie/fat stuff how am I supposed to keep the weight on? This is a problem that I never had before. When I was younger, it was very easy for me to lose weight on a low carb diet, but also easy for me to put weight on. I usually don't really feel like eating, but once I get food in my mouth I realize I'm hungry. It sucks bc everyone knows how food makes me happy and I enjoy it. Now I don't really feel like eating. I'll cook a meal and after don't feel like eating. I end up eating a small portion. I no longer wake up hungry and ready for breakfast. Breakfast used to be my favorite meal of the day. Sometimes I don't eat until 3pm now.

I have worried about you being a foodie and having to deal with pancreatitis concerns. Sorry to hear your appetite is not what it once was. Give yourself time. You are still recuperating from a major illness. Same with your hair. You have been severely nutrition deprived. The hair loss is likely a reaction.

Oatmeal: I don't even want to tell you what dad puts on his. He eats the brown sugar version and adds butter. :rolleyes: Even with his excessive butter consumption, his cholesterol improved tremendously. Need to get him to exercise more though.

Wow really? LOL. I bought a package of butter a few months ago when it went on sale. I barely opened it yesterday and had a sliver on some bread. I love butter but just don't use it much. I don't bake, and when I need oil, I use Pam spray for eggs, or my lard for high heat cooking. I actually felt guilty eating the butter last night. I swear it was less than 1/4" thick and not even a whole pat.

I still haven't gone to the market that sells stuff in bulk yet. I'll get my oatmeal there later. I'll have to look up some savory oatmeal recipes on Pinterest. Funny that The Chew was talking about oatmeal today, savory vs sweet.

The brown sugar oatmeal is not bad

I just bought some rolled oats. I cooked one cup with one cup water and one cup 2% milk and a dash of salt. It's actually not bad and cooks up pretty quickly. By the time the milk boiled over and got all over the cooktop, it was practically done! I guess I'm having that for dinner. I'll add an egg on top.

Finally found a few recipes for savoy oatmeal on Pinterest. All of them seemed to be all bacon and cheese, which seems kind of counterintuitive if you ask me. But found some interesting ones; wakame and soy sauce, curry spices, onions and chickpeas, and one called Sichuan oatmeal, made with peanut butter, Taiwanese cabbage, chicken stock, sesame paste chili oil and scallions. That one is very interesting to me bc that seems to be like dan dan noodles that my brother loves. I don't care for peanuts, but I'm coming around, so maybe I'll use cashews instead.

You should have no butter or lard (so bad!!!) while
Your numbers are high.... Maybe a little bit of butter here or there if you are really disciplined and using only 1 tbsp! But seriously measure and see how much you really use on a piece of toast even! 1 tbsp measure accurately and spread on toast is nothing!! Doesn't even cover all the way.. Make sure tou aren't telling yourself you are only using a tbsp and in reality it's double (which isn't hard!). Cut all the fat out and get your numbers down in the safe zone. Hope you don't take offense... Just my opinion. As a concerned fellow yorkie talker!

I don't really use a lot of butter. I bought a pound of butter months ago and barely opened it the other day. If I put butter on my toast, (and that's IF bc I usually just tear off a bite size piece of bread and eat it), it's not even a 1/4" thick and not cut all the way down. One tbsp of butter is a LOT of butter. That is a whole package of those gold bars you get at restaurants. It's a lot. That's how much I'd use on three pieces of bread.

The rendered pork fat (lard) I use for cooking on certain dishes only bc of the very high smoke point. I use a tbsp of that, and it cooks four servings. If I am using a saute pan for veggies I use avocado oil or olive oil. For eggs I use Pam.

I am worrying if I do follow the doctor's orders to a "T" I will lose more weight. I ended up losing the 4 lbs I gained back since leaving the hospital. (Total weight lost since my pancreatic episode is about 20+ lbs now.) My last weigh in on Mon at the Dr I was 106. If I keep losing, all the clothes that I haven't been able to fit into years ago that now fit will be too big.

On a happier note, we walked the dogs at the park today. One of the playgrounds has a pretty big jungle gym. Before I got sick I tried to do the monkey bars and couldn't get across three of them. I tried again today and got across all of them! Yay me! :) Hurt my hands like hell though.

Happy to hear you are regaining your strength, and that you found some savory recipes for oatmeal since you are not a sugar fiend like me! :D Maple and brown sugar is the oatmeal we eat. Not even the healthier rolled oats that you used.

I'm not a butter either, although I've started using a little this past year on sweet potatoes. When I lived alone, I never bought butter.

Well I do have a sweet tooth now! After I got back home all I wanted to do was eat cookies. I have to cut back bc the commercially baked cookies have trans fats and hydrogenated oils, the bad ones. Plus I don't bake so I can't make "good" ones. I always second guess the recipes, and since baking is more like science than regular cooking, they never come out right.

I measured out one cup (precooked) oats yesterday and couldn't finish them so I reheated them this morning. They are def better fresh. Last night they were fluffy and had individual grains. This morning they were a gummy mess.

Commercial cookies are terrible. I used to be a good baker, but I've lost my patience for it. Takes too much effort. :D I recently made chocolate chip cookies from the pre-made dough. Ewww. They ruined that stuff too after the salmonella scare.

I've had the real oatmeal a few times and I agree, it is much better fresh.

Esp now since Crisco changed it's formula, a lot of baked goods don't come out the same. They took out the trans fat and now things bake up different.