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Cholesterol

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by Dom, Sep 1, 2005.

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  1. Eric5273

    Eric5273 Formula 3

    Dec 6, 2004
    1,632
    New York
    Full Name:
    Eric
    As far as cholestoral goes, they keep changing the "facts" every few years. They tell you one thing, and then several years later they say they were wrong and to do something else.

    High cholestoral runs in my family as well. Nobody gets cancer here, they all end up dying from heart attacks. So I've done quite a bit of reading about it.

    I tend to subscribe to the newer school of thought that there is a reason that your body produces cholestoral. When the PH of your blood is very acidic, it eats away at the walls of your arteries. Your body produces cholestoral to repair the artery walls. In many people, the body overcompensates and the extra cholestoral ends up clogging your arteries. But the root of the problem is not the cholestoral, but the PH.

    Try to cut out very acidic things from your diet. I know you're probably thinking no more oranges, but actually that is not so bad. Soft drinks are what is really bad for you. I would start by never drinking anything that has the ingredients "high fructose corn syrup". Try drinking more water. Also, try cutting down on your heavy carbs such as Pasta and Potatoes -- your body quickly turns these items into sugar as soon as they are digested, and they also in turn lead to higher cholestoral.

    Try taking the "Omega 3" suplements, and also incorporating some non-fried seafood into your diet. If you like Sushi, that is perfect.

    If you are going to eat fast food, stay away from french fries -- these are perhaps one of the most unhealthy foods you can possibly eat. Instead get a side salad. You can actually get a somewhat decent meal at a McDonalds if you are careful what you order.

    And there are some fast food places that actually have decent food, such as Boston Market and Subway.
     
  2. Steve R

    Steve R F1 Rookie
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    Sep 15, 2004
    3,018
    MeSoNeedy, CA
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    TorQ Master
    Excellent call on the PH-issue, most things are very acidic...it's tough to find alkaline foods. I know you guys think I'm about to crack a battery joke, but really...worth the research!!!

    To quote from a book I have:

    Our bodies function in a very narrow range of acid/alkaline balance (pH). Our blood in particular is very sensitive to these changes. Ideally, blood pH should be slightly alkaline at about 7.45. If it varies by even as little as a few tenths of a point, severe illness and death may result. Unfortunately, most of the food we eat is highly acidic (meat, dairy, sodas, alcohol, cooked grains). In the end, it becomes too much for our bodies to handle. If we don't correct the problem by "alkalinizing" the body, disease, sickness and death are the inevitable result. -end quote

    Alkaline-forming foods: only fresh fruits and vegetables are alkaline-forming and help your body maintain a proper PH. Note: even though citrus fruits are highly acidic, your body treats them as alkaline so that they are highly effective alkaliners.

    If anybody is so inclined, an amazing booklet I found from one of my customers (he's the author)...is "Lessons from the Miracle doctors, by Jon Barron". It's a bit hardcore, but OH MY GOD is it illuminating!!!!!!!!!!!!

    The one thing I'm certain of is that a person can't eat junk food, drink too much, be overweight all their life and then wait for disease, cancer or a heart attack to hit.....and only then begin to get serious: by the time the symptoms are that horrific, you can only improve things a bit and do damage-control until it happens again. Losing weight, eating right and reducing your cholesterol AFTER the heart attack is only going to help so-so much: time to get serious is now....fix the roof BEFORE it leaks!!!!
     
  3. scott61

    scott61 F1 Rookie

    Feb 11, 2004
    2,606
    North of Boston
    One word, Metamucil. About 8 years ago I was told my cholesterol was to high and back then there was not all those lowering drugs around which I really would not want to go on anyway. Then my wife who is an RN was working with a top cardiologist and he told her to have me start using Metamuci. so I started drinking everyday and 6 month later my cholesterol dropped to an acceptable level without any other real change in my diet. Also get the bonus of being very regular
     
  4. Attitude928

    Attitude928 Formula Junior

    Nov 1, 2003
    945
    NYC
    Good luck with all these diets. They all ultimately fail (after about a year) in most patients. The statins have dramatically lowered cardiac mortality. Just take a high enough dose of the pills, hope that you tolerate them (you probably will), get your LDL <100 and go out and have a hot dog.
     
  5. el Carnicero

    el Carnicero Formula Junior

    Mar 28, 2005
    435
    West of Laramie
    Based on my clinical experience with a few thousand obese and hyperlipidemic patients over 35 years - ditto what Attitude said. Diet and exercise can't hurt but most of the time results are disappointing (euphemism of the day - pi$$ing in the wind would be more like it). One exception is triglycerides; low carb diets will drop the bottom out of elevated triglycerides.

    Statins all the way. I Rx Lipitor first, 20-40 mg, monitor liver function and ask the folks to let me know if they develop muscle aches so we can go to plan B (probably Vytorin) if necessary. Excellent results.

    Studies done with high dose Lipitor - 80 mg - at Cleveland clinic, IIRC, demonstrated not only lowering of lipid levels but actual reversal of atherosclerotic plaque formation. Think Roto-Rooter.

    Better living through chemistry. :)
     
  6. Dom

    Dom F1 Veteran
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Nov 5, 2002
    8,475
    Good news!! I went back to the Dr. Yesterday for my 3 month update. Results are as follows:

    ...............................12/5/05...........8/30/05
    Chol:.........................212.................264
    Trigyl:.......................105.................155
    HDL:..........................47..................44
    LDL:..........................144.................189
    CHOL/HDL Risk Ratio:....4.5..................6.0
    LDL/HDL Risk Ratio:.......3.1.................4.3
    Weight.......................160.................185

    That's a 48 count drop in my cholesterol levels. My weight dropped 25 pounds!

    The Dr. felt that with this improvement (assuming I keep it up), there would be no need for cholestorol lowering drugs. I see him again in 6 months.

    I have been really good about the eating less and excercising routine.

    I now run regularly, 20 min/day, 4 days a week, and 40 min 1 day a week.
    The eating less part has been very difficult, but going well. I've tried to cut back on fast food, and when i do go out, I usually try to eat only 1/2 of my meal (or try to order something light, if available). I am trying to eat healthier in general. Coca cola is something I am also drinking a lot less of, and I try not to snack too much.

    I am really psyched about these results, and want to continue some more. At the start of this, I was a 36 waist, now 34's are very loose on me. Hoping to get down to a 32 waist. Definately would like to drop some more weight, as well as the cholesterol numbers.

    Thanks for all of the support.

    Dom
     
  7. bottomline

    bottomline Formula 3

    Mar 10, 2004
    1,149
    Denver, CO
    Full Name:
    Bijan
    Awesome!

    Congrats on your success.
     
  8. lukek

    lukek Formula 3
    Rossa Subscribed

    May 2, 2003
    2,070
    San Francisco
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    LK
    but if a person CAN reduce their levels without drugs, why not try?Particulatrly if you get exercise, better balanced diet, and more energy as a result. I am not a doctor, but taking drugs in order to not have to exercise and to be able to eat hot dogs seems like a lazy way out designed to put dollars in pharma's pockets. And who knows about long term effects of statins? There will be another study in 5 years that will say something different...
    I have read so many studies about diet and exercise only being able to reduce your chol levels by about 5 percent (most of them were on the pfizer web site). But my results were similar, if not more drastic than dom's. It is not stastically significant, I know//////
    I have been able to make my new routine stick. I might end up on statins once I get older, but i am comfortable with the new reduced numbers and the risk of not being under a 100. I also feel better with a new diet and exercise. Speaking of which....time for my weights, swimming and rowing routine at the corporate gym....
    :)

     
  9. Dom

    Dom F1 Veteran
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Nov 5, 2002
    8,475
    No update on the cholesterol levels, but I did have an update on the waist level, which made me extremely happy.

    Yesterday, I finally went shopping for new pants, since my old ones were pretty loose. Well, my new pants waist size is 32". My old size at the beginning of this thread was a 36" waist.

    I knew they were loose, but didn't expect that I would have shrunk that much.

    It is a great feeling.

    Dom
     
  10. Dom

    Dom F1 Veteran
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Nov 5, 2002
    8,475
    OK, first the bad:

    Cholesterol is up, unfortunately.
    ...............................7/5/06..............12/5/05...........8/30/05
    Chol:.........................253..................212................. 264
    Trigyl:.......................121..................105................. 155
    HDL:..........................58...................47.................. 44
    LDL:..........................171..................144................. 189
    CHOL/HDL Risk Ratio:....4.4...................4.5..................6.0
    LDL/HDL Risk Ratio:......2.9....................3.1.................4.3
    Weight.......................145..................160.................185

    HDL is up though. Weight is still good. I've been consistently between 143-145 lbs since March. My waist size is now 30 (from 36!). In fact, I had to increase my food intake in order to stop loosing weight (and running a little less- only 3-4x/week now).

    But, I've been eating more junk food (ice cream, fast food burgers), which probably explains the cholesterol.

    I think I need to go back towards healthier food, just eat a little more of it so that I maintain weight, instead of loosing it. I will try to eat less meat, more veggies. I really would like to stay off of the cholesterol drugs if I can. Test again in about 3 months.

    Dom
     
  11. BMW.SauberF1Team

    BMW.SauberF1Team F1 World Champ

    Dec 4, 2004
    14,244
    ^Good to see the HDL is up. I had to start eating more and doing less cardio when I was dropping more weight than I wanted. I got down to about 145 (5'10"), but liked 160 more. I think I'm 155 right now.
     
  12. mark328

    mark328 Guest

    Jul 30, 2005
    664
    Mi
    Full Name:
    Mark
    Those results are all over the place....When I went for my first test all my readings were very high and that was because I ate before the test....on my re-test I did not eat and only drank water the day before and my results were way down and normal.
     
  13. 134282

    134282 Four Time F1 World Champ
    BANNED

    Aug 3, 2002
    40,647
    California
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    Carbon McCoy
    Dom...

    First, congratulations on the slimmer waist and the good health changes...!

    I recently changed my eating habits and have lost a few pounds... The first few pounds came off effortlessly because I completely cut out soda and junk food (ie, McDonald's, chocolate, etc. - you know, all the GOOD stuff!) cold turkey...

    I even quit smoking for a few days to try to adjust to exercise (walking, five miles daily) but ended up quitting the walking and going back to the cigarettes (hey, cigarettes don't have calories!)...

    I have no idea what my daily calorie intake used to be. One day I wanted to start adding up calories from a "lots of good food" day and I stopped after things started to go over 5,000... A lot of that was from fast and junk food... A Twinkie is okay; a box of Twinkies is not...

    Today I've had 270 calories and can't foresee more than a hundred more before I go to bed... I eat a real meal three or four times a week - and by real, I'm not talking about McDonald's... I had a nice, enjoyable, Italian dinner on Friday night... I had a small (but good!) 4th of July lunch yesterday... In between, I just drink water and have the occasional granola bar...

    Eating less will not lower your cholesterol - eating less crap will. I have no idea what my numbers are - nor do I care - but I know my body is happy with the changes I've made.

    If it's energy you need, try some carbs - a granola bar perhaps or a banana... If you need a quick fix, have a handful of peanuts and wait 10-20 minutes; the craving will subside... For those times you want fast food, do what you mentioned and go to Subway... Even with the bread, a Subway sandwich will certainly be easier on your insides than nearly anything you can get from McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, etcetera...

    Keep us posted and watch that cholesterol; the last thing we want to see is you going in for a full mechanical restoration... :)
     
  14. bonedoc

    bonedoc Karting

    Jul 31, 2004
    212
    You do have a good point here. In my opinion, cholesterol has almost nothing to do with heart disease. 60% of people that have heart attacks have no risk factors for them. I know people that have such high cholesterol it is insane...and so does their entire family. Not one problem. I know this may piss some people off, but everyone has to make their own opinion on the topic. Inflamation of the arteries causes heart disease. If you want to really judge your cardiac risk factor, go get your C-Reactive Protien measured. It is an indicator of inflamation. To me, saying that heart attacks is from cholesterol is like saying eating fatty foods will make you fat. Does anyone every say "I can't eat that steak because I dont want to get muscular"? No. In fact, I think it is more costly on your body to eat low fat foods/diet foods. Fats make your cell walls and conduct your nerves. Ever wonder if low fat foods could contribute to MS or any other demyelenating diseases? I would think about it. I can't stand when I am at a resturant and someone just has to put Splenda in their tea because they are heavy. As if 3 packs of sugar made them heavy.....It is how much you eat, not what. Who cares about a pack of sugar? Exercise, don't feed your face as much....ok, that is my rant.
     
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  15. 19633500GT

    19633500GT F1 World Champ
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    Nov 9, 2010
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    Muffin-Tops
    Thread revival :)

    If any Dr's are on here and can chime in, for a lower LDL, do I just need more exercise/less red meats etc? What's the 2019 consensus?
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  16. TexasF355F1

    TexasF355F1 Six Time F1 World Champ
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    Feb 2, 2004
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    You know you'll get more feedback in Silver.;)
     
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  17. azzurribaggio

    azzurribaggio Formula Junior

    Seriously, start walking at least 30m /day reduce your carb and sugar intake a bit...stick with water and after a month you'll see a trend where you'll lose some weight which will translate to better cholesterol numbers.
    I speak from experience, since May I dropped 50+ lbs just by doing this in the beginning...I have since increased to walking daily per day with an occasional run but eating healthy and portion control is what really all it took. Call it a Ferrari lifestyle change , as we look to lose weight in our cars we should do the same ;)

    Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
     
  18. Scotty

    Scotty F1 Veteran
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    Oct 31, 2003
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    It is a little challenging to respond, as most lipid test are reported in more detail. For TriG, nothing hammers them down faster than a super low carb diet. Exercise is good at increasing HDL. LDL is more complicated, and there are no simple solutions at this point and time.
     
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  19. Wade

    Wade Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Mar 31, 2006
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    East Central, FL
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    Wade O.
    As we age, keeping the LDL below 100, naturally, is pretty unsustainable (e.g. exercise nearly every day, low carb/glycemic, extra fiber, etc. worked for me).

    Since I'm genetically a T2D the docs want me below 70. I've tried all statins and had serious side effects with each of them (pissing "tea" for starters). Now the insurance has finally approved Rapatha, which I'm not looking forward to at all.
     
  20. miketuason

    miketuason F1 World Champ
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    Feb 24, 2006
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    Mike
    Right now I’m taking 80mg of Astrovastatin, generic for Lipitor.
     
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  21. Frank_C

    Frank_C F1 Rookie
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    May 29, 2004
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    Whistling through the wheat field in Texas
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    Frank Cavallo
    I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes on 3/4/19 and in 3/8/19 was in the hospital fighting for my life in full blown diabetic ketoacidosis. I’ve lost 73# since then, sugars are well maintained, cholesterol and triglycerides have never been better and my blood pressure is in the 100s/60s. All from managing carbs. Prior to that I had the syndrome X labs with borderline elevated cholesterol and slightly high triglycerides.

    I don’t go full blown Adkins but I start out my meals with protein and then have to remind myself to add an appropriate amount of carbs to balance. But no starches- no rice, pasta or bread with meals. And nothing that looks like it was made from ingredients in 55 gallon drums.

    Cutting down (and out of bad) carbs has really changed everything for me. And the lack of refined carbs has reduced the ****ty feeling one gets form food induced inflammation.

    Good luck!


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  22. BMW.SauberF1Team

    BMW.SauberF1Team F1 World Champ

    Dec 4, 2004
    14,244
    ^^DKA?! That's really scary man. Glad you survived that.

    Any reason why you don't go for brown rice and whole grain bread? I avoid white rice and white breads that are too refined. 40% of my calories come from carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat. I already have a hard time getting 40% of calories from protein and think going to a higher percent is way too hard to achieve.
     
  23. Frank_C

    Frank_C F1 Rookie
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    May 29, 2004
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    Whistling through the wheat field in Texas
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    Frank Cavallo
    I also forgot I am on the treadmill every day it is physically possible and if I am able to alter my schedule. No weekends or days off.

    It is a learning process. Portion size and balance. Right now I’m in poison mode and I’ve gone from I live to eat to I eat to live. There is enough I can eat to balance it out for my daily meals, which are 3 squares and a snack (nuts) after I exercise, instead of monster portion lunch and dinners and bagged snacks. I’ll have a bite or two of rice when we go out for sushi, etc but I won’t eat a plate of pasta....I’ll have one slice of pizza or a hamburger and nothing else, etc etc etc

    It’s all about balance and discipline.

    My wife says I am too extreme, but as Michelle Pfeiffer once said Nothing exceeds like excess.”

    The key to it all is robbing Peter to pay Paul and moderation.

    I could say it sucks but I don’t...being alive is kinda cool!


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  24. MrHeels

    MrHeels Rookie

    Feb 13, 2020
    9
    I also have high cholesterol. Especially after fast food. If I eat healthy food and drink smoothies, it goes down.
     
  25. scott61

    scott61 F1 Rookie

    Feb 11, 2004
    2,606
    North of Boston
    #50 scott61, Feb 14, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2020
    Wow talk about an old post, almost 15 years ago and I still take metamucil every day. Recently I started exercising and eating better and at 58 my numbers are far better than any time in my life

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