hi Lisa,

HDL over 40 is still good .. it's just that over 50 is better

Nat is right, exercise will raise the HDL, in particular aerobic type. Also, moderate intake of red wine has been shown to be beneficial. Monounsaturated fats, such as olives, raw nuts, olive oil and cold-press nut oils are also helpful. Note : peanuts are not nuts, they're legumes. So peanuts and peanut oil aren't helpful for raising HDL.

Check out this article on Raising your HDL from about.com .. (just ignore the stuff about avoiding saturated fat. In fact, eating meats and natural unprocessed saturated fat will help with bringing up HDL because they suppress insulin).

Congrats on the great results

Doreen