What can I do to up dh's good cholesterol and lower triglycerides?

[Jenn in Mo]

And what the heck is a triglyceride anyway?

 

His are apparently twice what they are supposed to be. We eat mostly whole grain and NO trans fat and no HFCS. I thought that would be enough. The man is only 33 years old!

 

Any tips for fixing this?

 

Oh, and he is apparently anemic. Another oddity since I thought it was rare for men and he never donates blood and we cook with cast iron.

 

Thanks!

[Zelda]

Almonds? Salmon?

[Ellie]

Atkins. My total cholesterol was over 300, and I brought it down 100 points in two months by doing Atkins. My "good" cholesterol was several times higher than normal, too, after that two months.

[Danestress]

If you look under my posts, you will find one I posted today about health and marriage (I can't remember the exact name). It wasn't so much about how to do it, but how to get DH to go along with it.

 

My DH is older than yours, but his weight is good and he works out regularly, so I am also surprised. He has high blood pressure (controlled with medication) and is going to have to start statin drugs for the cholesterol. This is for a man who has worked out almost every day of his adult life and eats a reasonably good diet by American standards.

 

Anyway, some people posted links in that thread that were useful to me. I've been reading up all day. Andrew Weil's site was also helpful to me.

 

Dana

[Carol in Cal.]

For upping the good cholesterol, exercise is the very best thing. Keeping saturated fats lowish is supposed to be helpful as well.

 

For triglycerides, exercise is also big, as is avoiding all alcohol and refined carbs. I think that veggies are great for this, except not winter squash type ones, as is lean meat. Fruit not so much, and white carbs never.

[Melissa in Australia]

add bran to the diet.

I have also heard that having 1/2 glass of wine a day can help.

[sunshine]

And what the heck is a triglyceride anyway?

 

His are apparently twice what they are supposed to be. We eat mostly whole grain and NO trans fat and no HFCS. I thought that would be enough. The man is only 33 years old!

 

Any tips for fixing this?

 

Oh, and he is apparently anemic. Another oddity since I thought it was rare for men and he never donates blood and we cook with cast iron.

 

Thanks!

 

My husbands triglycerides were 578 and within 6wks they went to 109.

Here is what he did:

 

He took OPC-3 2 capfuls every day

quit drinking ice tea

drank water with lemon (cleans blood)

quit eating fried food (almost) but not regularly

 

the OPC-3 is the key, you can get it through a Market America salesperson

My friend is Yvette Guagh, she sells it. PM and I will give you her number or email.

[FlockOfSillies]

He has a hard time exercising, because he has a funky form of scoliosis. He has to be very careful about how he moves. So most of the changes he's made are in his diet.

 

Here's a quick list:

-- Sugar-free drinks. Dh likes Splenda. He's been using it for quite some time now, and he's not a soda drinker. Diet ice tea, usually. He'd already been doing this before his blood work showed high triglycerides. He did have to drop his "Slim Fast for breakfast" habit, though.

 

-- Low-carb foods. We've been trying recipes from George Stella's cookbooks. He's a chef on TV Food Network who lost hundreds of pounds by doing a modified Atkins plan. It's nice to have recipes from a chef, instead of a doctor, LOL. He has a lot of good tips about "Living Low Carb" and his story is quite inspiring.

 

-- Whole grain breads. I've been buying whole grain dinner loaves from La Brea Bakery at Costco, slicing them into dh-dinner-size chunks, wrapping them in foil, and freezing them. For dinner I pop them into the oven, and dh eats them with Smart Balance. It's not ultra low carb, but he is getting fiber and more complex carbs. If we went too austere with his diet, it wouldn't become a lifestyle, kwim?

 

-- Increasing omega-3 fatty acids. I used to make him these yummy cold cut sandwiches with Kaiser rolls, and pack them in his lunch with chips and stuff. We had to ditch that right away. Dh has taken to eating fish almost every day for lunch. It's gotten quite expensive, though, for him to eat out. I'm not sure how to cut the cost there.

 

-- Lower carb snacks. He only has chips once a week (Sunday lunch after church). I keep mixed nuts on hand for him to munch on while I'm getting dinner on the table. For dessert, he'll have sugar-free ice cream (they contain Splenda).

 

He was supposed to go in for follow-up blood work after two months, but with summer vacations and whatnot, he hasn't gone in yet. It's probably time for me to nudge him back to the doctor to see what kind of progress he's made.

 

HTH a bit.

[Lucy in Australia]

Avocado and extra-virgin olive oil. We eat these regularly in our family. When I turned 40 :glare: I decided it was time to have a general check-up which included a blood test. Everything was good, but my doc was surprised at how high my good cholesterol was. He asked what I ate, and I described my diet. He put it down to the avocado and olive oil and said to keep doing it, and make sure I feed my family the same way.

 

I also have red wine several times a week, but I don't know how much that contributed. We also very rarely eat deep fried foods.

 

Here's a link about the avocado:

 

http://www.all-about-lowering-cholesterol.com/avocado-cholesterol-and-avocado-fat.html

[G5052]

I went on the Sugar Busters diet about five years ago, and it stabilized both my blood sugar and improved my cholesterol/triglycerides. I do have to take cholesterol medication, but far less than they thought originially.

 

Just google it -- it's pretty simple and lets you eat "normal" food. I do eat whole wheat bread/rolls that I bake from fresh-ground flour, but in limited amounts. Mostly it's vegetables, fruits, low-fat meats/cheese, and some eggs.

[Jennifer in NH]

Atkins. My total cholesterol was over 300, and I brought it down 100 points in two months by doing Atkins. My "good" cholesterol was several times higher than normal, too, after that two months.

:iagree: Any restricted carbs and adequate protein diet should do the trick. It worked for me, my LDL (bad cholesterol) went from 296 to 120 in about 8 months...my HDL (Good stuff), now sits around 82 and that is a great number. My triglycerides are always now about 33-38. I'm not sure what they were before.

If atkins doesn't suit you, try "Protein Power". I've done both, but restricting carbs to under 30 or 40 grams a day should really help. The trigycerides should go down right away, the bad cholesterol might go up slightly before it goes down... Good Luck!

[Quiver0f10]

I eat a low fat, high fiber plant based diet and my last cholesterol check came in at 108. I excersize daily, take fish oil and eat some good fats daily. My meals are based around a starch such as potatoes or rice and then I add veggies, beans and fruits.

[Scuff]

 

This Book. (II goes more in depth about cholesterol, this one is an overview) Very informative and very balanced approach.

[Jenn in Mo]

Thank you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm compiling a shopping list and menu right now. This really helps.

 

South Beach and Fish Oil are two things he has always sworn off before, but he says he's very willing to tackle them now, fish burps and all. I'm relieved it won't be a fight.