I confess that I have not paid much attention to what will help lower cholesterol because I have not had mine tested for several years. I just got my results and they are not good.

Total Cholesterol: 241
LDL: 178
HDL: 43
Triglycerides: 99 (good)
Ratio Tot/HDL: 5.6

It is my understanding that the ratio puts me at high risk. The LDL is too high and HDL too low. Only the triglyercides are good.

I have been low carbing for 13 months and exercising nearly every day. I take 1 tsp. flax oil each day, and usually have at least one salad per day with olive oil and vinegar dressing.

Supplements include: Multi vitamin w/B complex; chromium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, CLA, green tea extract, C, and E.

What am I doing wrong? What should I add or not eat? Does anyone have any suggestions? I have my meals posted in a Journal and Exercise in a Gym Log if anyone would like to look at it and make suggestions.

Thanks for your help!

Hi Peg,

There is a possibility that you are sensitive to arachidonic acid.
The Drs Eades discuss it in Protein Power.

I pretty much follow the advice they give here in the answer to (on of the FAQs on their website) Can I really eat all the red meat and egg yolks I want?
I have also followed their advice (from the book) by adding fish oil capsules. I take 2 caps 3 times daily.

Rosebud

Personally I do eat a lot of fat, but I also try and balance it out with fish and chicken. Eating high fat is great for losing fat, per Atkins, but you also have to be sensible and give your body time to processes and catch up with all of the red meat that you eat. I also take the skin off of chicken.

My ketones seem to be real high too. I stay in moderate to high at all times. I guess it's working for me.

High cholesterol really scares me since my father and grandfather had heart disease and bypass surgery. Luckily I'm only 32 and neither one of them had problems until almost 50. So if I get the weight off now then balance out with healthy eating and exercise, and God willing an advance in technology, I should be able to avoid that nasty old rib spreader.

-Rick

Pegm
before you start to freak out about your cholesterol levels you should read this web site and then buy his book. My readings include information that high cholesterol levels in women have never yet been shown to be harmful.

http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...&threadid=40633

please read the link ... Doreen wrote me some terrific info in it !
at my check, chol too high but triglicerides were perfect.....
and btw, congrats on your recent Lb losses

Pegm

Sorry your cholesterol was high.

Since you haven't had your levels tested in years how do you know it wasn't higher then that before you started LC?

You might try adding more monohydrated fats into your diet.
That will help increase HDL and lower LDL.

I don't eat a lot of saturated fat in my diet, (not much red meat, sausage or pork) but do consume a lot of chicken, fish and a lot of monohydrated fats. (walnuts, avocados, unsalted pnuts, etc.).
I don't follow the LC diets to the letter but have cut out significantly the carbs. I also take supplements such as Beta Sitosterol, Guggulipid, Extra-Strength Fish Oil, Green Tea Extract and Wild Yam 3 times a day and have been for years.

My choleserol levels went down significantly. I monitor them very closely yearly due to heart disease in my family.

Don't get discouraged.

Thanks to everyone for your support.

Rosebud -- I seldom eat eggs, and usually only eat red meat once a week. We have a lot of chicken, turkey, pork loin, fish, etc. I did try the fish oil capsules, but they disagreed with me -- I got heartburn and a strong after-taste for hours. Maybe I could try a different brand.

Rohllmer, congrats on your committment to better health!

Old Salty, I did check out the site. Most research is not done on women, so we really don't know what we need to worry about. I can't help but worry about my cholesterol, though, until someone does a study that proves that I should not worry about it.

Plum, my triglycerides were also good, but I really don't like my ratio or the low good cholesterol and high bad cholesterol readings.

HerbNurse, It is posible that my cholesterol was high before I began low carb. I guess that I don't really know how long it should take to straighten out. I also eat a lot of chicken, fish, etc. and little bacon or sausage.

I have been doing low carb and lots of exercise for 13 months.
I don't know if my cholesterol will straighten out a year from now if I just continue what I've been doing, or if I need to change something. I guess I was just wondering how long I should wait to see if it improves before trying something else. And if I try to change something, what should it be? One thing I plan to do is when I enter my diet into Fitday, watch the breakout of what types of fat I'm consuming and try to aim for a higher level of monosaturates and a low level of saturated fats. Does that sound reasonable?

Here is a quote from an article by Sally Faldon and Mary G Enig Phd.
Men who have cholesterol levels over 350 mg/dl are at slightly greater risk for heart disease. For women, there is no greater risk for heart disease, even at levels as high as 1000 mg/dl. In fact, mortality is higher for women with low cholesterol than for women with high cholesterol .
The full article is here.
http://www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/hd.html