my friend has high blood levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL. she wants to know how this happened and how to lower these levels to normal limits? what can i do to lower these things in my body? what are the right activities and foods? low fats? or low carbs? or low calories? which of these? High cholesterol is technically not an ailment but a condition or rather an indicator that your body has too much fat in the blood. Definitely can be lowered with a healthy diet focusing on low fat, low cholesterol food (no red meat), high fiber and regular exercise. Before your doctor put you on any anti-cholesterol medication, try to cleanse your body with natural remedy like almond, oatmeal in which the soluble fiber does a great job to remove the cholesterol to your stool and out of your body. For a list of top natural remedy for high cholesterol, check out http://www.cureshare.com/view_condition.... blood clots,heart failure risks.............ultimately ........death
how did it happen- poor diet, or hereditary
to reduce- increase exercise, eat a low cholesterol diet, eat oatmeal and bran products
sometimes the person needs MD prescribed meds if diet and exercise alone doesnt lower it Coronary artery disease, blood clots, heart attacks, strokes. you name it. Hi, Bitchy,
Well, you don't say how old your friend is, but let's assume that she's young, about 20 or 25, OK? These levels tend to go up as we age, you see.
If she's young, she's not taking care of herself. Though you don't give her height and weight it would appear that in her diet she's doing everything wrong. While you don't give her insulin level, if it is high, too, she is then overweight, eats too much fat and sugar, and doesn't exercise. She's probably doing that, anyway.
There is a simple way to get all these readings to normal levels, and the same method will get her levels into the safe range (they are not the same). If she's deliberate with this, it will also help her lose weight. Ask me about it. I wasn't overweight but lost 20 pounds anyway and I now weigh what I did when I was 17 and playing football in school. All my cholesterol numbers are very good, and I've been this way for years, now. You can, too.
While a ready-made plan can be found in the link at the end of this post, here are some general guidelines to start with:
1. Cut out sugar. How is her soda intake? What candy does she eat? Donuts? Cut this stuff out and her triglycerides will fall.
2. Cut out fat. Saturated fat, especially. Drastically lower her intake of red meat to no more than one card-deck-sized portion a day, at most two of those. No more MacDonald's, no more Whoppers, no more french fries, no more donuts (the trouble with donuts is that they are fat sponges loaded with sugar. Strike two in one). Cut out cheese. Milk products can all be had in no-fat versions, no fat cotttage cheese, milk, cheese, and yogurt. Eat these and no other kind.
3. Eat more--a lot more--vegetables. These are not bland or boring at all, though you will hear that old scare story from people who've never tried it. There are many very good recipes for vegetable dishes all over the Internet.
4. Exercise. Cardio/aerobic exercise. Get out and jog, one mile the first three weeks, a mile and a quarter the next two, a mile and a half the next, a mile and three-quarters the next, and so one until she gets up to 3 1/2 or 4 miles a day.
5. Take a good multivitamin and supplement that with 35-50 mg of Nicotinic Acid a day. It'll feel just a little funny for a few minutes about five minutes after she takes it, but that's ok, it does that. Taht's just a very mild case of the well-known "niacin flush" that really only becomes noticeable when more is taken. 35-50 mg isn't much, and the prickly, "flush" feeling will go away pretty quickly. That will raise her HDL levels
6. Take 2 grams of fish oil per day, too. That will help lower her LDL levels.
Do this, and her blood work will change completely.
She needs to lose weight--eat ten times in calories the weight in pounds that she wants to weigh--in oder to get her blood levels under control. She's headed for the "metabolic syndrome" which will be very hard on her heart much sooner than she would like.
Now, while I said that the way to health for her is simple, I didn't say that it is easy. It isn't. What is easy is what she's been doing, but you can see where that has gotten her. She has to change her lifestyle, especially her diet and exercise.
Though it is simple to say, "Eat less and move more," it is not easy to change our lifestyle to do that, not in an urbanized environment where feasting is an everyday way of life. We humans need to either cut down on what we eat, or go through a period of famine every so often.
"Intermittent Fasting," or eating every other day, is a simple way of doing this that has been shown to have excellent health effects. You can look it up on the Web and see for yourself. It lowers all biomarkers for health except Insulin-like Growth Factor 1, and with the others under control, that one probably isn't much of a concern.
And tell her not to trust "normal limits." Most of them are still too high, which is why last year some researchers advocated lowering them and increasing the amount of time we spend exercising. Get those numbers as low as she can in order to be healthy.
Another excellent way to begin that is to follow the Portfolio Diet from the Univ. of Toronto, Canada:
http://www.portfolioeatingplan.com/
This has in it just about anything and everything you'd need. Start here and adjust as you need to.
Good luck and good health.
P.S.: OK, While you didn't say how much she weighs--if she looks a bit heavy is as precise as we'd need to be--with the other symptoms you've described, she could get adult-onset diabetes, sometimes known as Type II. This is part of the Metabolic Syndrome in which too much weight leads to high blood sugar and high insulin levels simultaneously. This is also called "insulin resistance." It's very hard on the veins and arteries, so cardiovascular damage could result. She could also develop high blood pressure. High cholesterol and triglyceride levels are not good. They tend to shorten life. Even if she doesn't weigh too much, high cholesterol can cause a heart attack. She probably wouldn't want that.
Now, how to lower her cholesterol? Look at the link for the Portfolio Diet, but most especially check out
http://www.webmd.com/content/pages/9/306...
For more information on his program.
This lifestyle can lower cholesterol as much as taking a first-generation statin drug (like lovastatin) can.
Ask me about it. I went on it years ago because my doc said that, though my cholesterol wasn't high by our commonly-held standards, he wanted me to try to lower it. I used Ornish's plan, and my cholesterol went down so far he was quite surprised and asked what I had done. When I added running and just a little (35-50 mg ) of Nicotinic Acid (a form of Niacin, vitamin B3) to it, my HDLs went up quite high, to over 60 (over 40 is where they want that reading).
So, how to make her levels healthy? Eat an Ornish Diet, take Nicotinic Acid (not much of it, and be aware of the "Niacin Flush"), and jog every day.
Get Ornish's book, "Everyday Cooking With Dr. Dean Ornish," too. Eat anything high in fiber, like beans or lentils...
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname...
I have made them part of my regular diet after finding out how bad my cholesterol was, and just look how my cholesterol changed over 1 year....
PREVIOUS LEVELS:
------------------------
247 - Total Cholesterol
81 - Triglyceride
73 - HDL (Good Cholesterol)
157 - LDL (Bad Cholesterol)
CURRENT LEVELS:
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235 - Total Cholesterol
54 - Triglyceride
105 - HDL (Good Cholesterol)
120 - LDL (Bad Cholesterol)
My total cholesterol is high because my HDL is so high, which is good! HDL (good cholesterol) transports LDL (bad cholesterol) out of the system! As long as all of your numbers are in normal range, don't worry if your "total" cholesterol is a little high. Here are typical "normal" ranges...
Total cholesterol at or below 200 mg/dL
Triglycerides at or below 150 mg/dL
HDL cholesterol at or above 60 mg/dL
LDL cholesterol at or near an optimal level of 100 to 129 mg/dL those fats can deposit in her veins which can impede blood circulation. blood carries oxygen. when the heart doesn't get enough supply of blood because of the altered blood circulation caused by the blockage of fats, it'll eventually become ischemic and won't be able to function well. the heart will also at the same time work even more to pump blood needed by the body leading to an enlarged heart. all of these can lead to heart failure and eventually, death.
does your friend eat a lot of fatty foods and drink a lot of alcohol? if so, maybe you could advise her to prevent or at least limit those.. your friend could also try doing exercises regulary. a short walk in the morning will do. change in lifestyle would really be a big help in lowering those cholesterol levels. =) I can only assume her doctor did some tests and she has the results. Her primary physician should have informed her how she can reduce those numbers to acceptable levels. It can be done with medications, diet, exercise. Heredity, improper diet, lack of exerecise, smoking and excessive amount of alcohol all contribute to high LIPID numbers and can cause heart diseases, attacks or strokes.
She should contact her primary physician and ask for some help NOW. Simple answer is a pain full death, use garlic, Cinnamon and lemons to break down the cholesterol. If a person eats frozen foods, read the caloric contents, fats per serving and amount of preservatives involved in producing the product. The body will heal itself, since each person's chemistry is different, numbers or levels for HDL and LDL have to be done carefully. When you feel healthy and have good bowel movements, think about what you have eaten and work on eating healthy fresh foods and not fast foods. |
