Did you lower your cholesterol without meds?

[Anonymous]

If so, please share your story and numbers. This was not a case of being overweight or a really unhealthy lifestyle, but changes will definitely be made in terms of avoiding saturated fats more, increasing exercise and eating more cholesterol lowering foods.

[Anonymous]

Oatmeal for breakfast everyday. Red yeast rice supplements.

[Anonymous]

My total is 170, but my bad cholesterol was too high. I'd gotten very sedentary. I added exercise and that dropped the bad cholesterol number. Sorry I can't remember those exact numbers, but it got it back in the healthy zone.

[Anonymous]

My dh did. He was overweight and ate tons of red meat. He did not want to go on statins so started working out one to two hours a day, cut out fast food and red meat except for a few times a year, and started eating oatmeal every morning. It is now considered normal to moderate. Low enuf he doesn't need to go on meds

[Anonymous]

Exercise--lots of it, vegetarian (strict) diet. Worked like a Cham.

[Anonymous]

I cut out all the fried food except for once a month (fries with a hamburger during my period).

[Anonymous]

You have to give us more information, for example if you have diabetes or any form of heart disease or predisposition to heart disease you will need cholesterol medications. Diet is an effective way to lower your bad cholesterol or LDL but it only lowers it by about 20% or so. It is not only the number of LDL particles that causes heart attacks and strokes it is also the size of the individual particle that matters. The smaller the particle the more likely it is to clump into a clot. Medications such as statins change the size of the ldl particle making it less likely to clump into a clot. In addition to lowering cholesterol, the statins have a protective role on the blood vessels and prevent clot formation. i would avoid red yeast because it has unknown quantities of lovastatin a cholesterol medication.

[Anonymous]

Any low fat diet will lower your cholesterol.

[Anonymous]

Eliminated wheat.

[Anonymous]

No wheat, added fish oil pills, drank more wine.

[Anonymous]

Cut your meat, dairy, and egg consumption, except for some seafood (FYI shrimps have a lot of cholesterol)

[Anonymous]

How does eliminating wheat help with cholesterol?

[Anonymous]

High fiber, high vegetable diet, minimal meat/dairy/eggs

[Anonymous]

You have to give us more information, for example if you have diabetes or any form of heart disease or predisposition to heart disease you will need cholesterol medications. Diet is an effective way to lower your bad cholesterol or LDL but it only lowers it by about 20% or so. It is not only the number of LDL particles that causes heart attacks and strokes it is also the size of the individual particle that matters. The smaller the particle the more likely it is to clump into a clot. Medications such as statins change the size of the ldl particle making it less likely to clump into a clot. In addition to lowering cholesterol, the statins have a protective role on the blood vessels and prevent clot formation. i would avoid red yeast because it has unknown quantities of lovastatin a cholesterol medication.

There is zero evidence that statins have any protective effect for those who have never had a heart attack, but can be beneficial to those who have had one. Moreover, statins have an abundance of side effects including muscle weakness--hello, what is the heart? The statin industry has one the public war.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if this is relevant, but I had high cholesterol as a child - I was fed happy meals 2-3 a week and meals at home consisted of kraft mac n cheese, cheese burgers, hamburger helper, and occasionally spaghetti. I did exercise though 3-5 times a week + regular biking.

As an adult, I began to eat veggies, lean meats, complex carbs. I ate oatmeal with blueberries as my breakfast every day for two years. I exercise less now as an adult, but still at least once a weak plus 10k steps of walking everyday. I have normal cholesterol now.