I am 50 years of age, my total cholestrole is 261 mg/dl, and my LDL is 179.?

I sit a lot at work but do some jogging everyday for about 35 minuites. I wanto to reduce my cholestrolebuntil 200 mg/dl and 150 LDL at the highest. What is the risk of having these levels? What should I do and eat to reduce them? How long will it take? Thank you.

Your cholesterol can and should be managed through diet/ and physical activity as a first choice. If those do not work, statin drugs can help you achieve what you want. Statin drugs interrupt the making of cholesterol in your liver. (Did you fast for your test, by the way?)

First- eating fiber will bind cholesterol in the intestine, bringing it out. High fiber diets really have something good about them!
Whole grain breads (which, if you've weighed in your hand) are heavier and more dense than white bread loaves- because they leave the fiber in them.

Secondly- you need to discuss jogging with your doctor. You didn't really elude to your height/weight ratio, health history, etc. You may need more activity.

Taking a 3 to 5 day diet history of everything that goes into your mouth will help tremendously with figuring out why it's high. Every sip of water, coffee, etc. Many folks don't realize how much fat/calories/sodium/sugar they consume. Your doctor would hug you for it (well... he would think it anyway).

Upping Omega fatty acids (flax seed oil is great) may also assist your effort.

I hope this helps.

The total is high, and the LDL is also high, these could put you at risk for a heart attack or stroke so it will be important to get them within range.
your LDL is your lousy cholesterol, more likely to leave plaques on your vessels. It is high because of the saturated fat you are eating, as well as the trans fat. Try to cut back on sat fat to 12-15 gm per day and avoid trans fat or partially hydrogenated fat. Your LDL should be less than 130, ideally less than 100.
Your HDL is the healthy cholesterol. That will increase with exercise, you want that above 45. The other thing that contribues to cholesterol is the triglycerides, which can come from eating too much sugar and starchy foods.
basically your cholesterol is your HDL plus your LDL plus your VLDL (which is your triglycerides divided by 5)
So, your cholesterol is really a summary of the other components and just eating foods that are low in cholesterol isnt the total answer.

http://choosediet.blogspot.com/