Reducing cholesterol - success

[milkisforbabies]

So 6 weeks ago I got some shitty cholesterol results and absolutely freaked out. I read everything I could about what causes cholesterol to be raised and prayed like all hell that I didn't have genetically high cholesterol that couldn't be fixed without going on statin drugs.

I'm putting this post up because I found SFA out there on people successfully reducing cholesterol with diet and in this type of timeframe.

My old bloods were:

Total: 5.8

Triglycerides: 3.1

HDL: 0.87

LDL: 3.5 (possibly inaccurate due to such high trigs)

My new bloods are:

Total: 2.9

Triglycerides: 0.5

HDL 1.03

LDL: 1.6

So what did I change???

Declaring war on triglycerides

I cut all high glycemic carbs and ate no sugar or processed carbs for 6 weeks. I also reduced total carbs to under 45% of total calories. My aim here was to reduce my triglycerides which are the easiest to reduce and can increase the total cholesterol and bring down HDL. I also increased cardio by doing 30 minutes 6 days a week on top of my 4 days a week weight training.

Nutrition and weight loss

I've also lost 10kg, I did this by cutting total calories to under 2000 a day. My daily feed was:

Meal 1

Half cup (raw) oatmeal

Half diced apple

Tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup oat bran

Meal 2

1 large can of tuna or salmon or 200grm chicken

Half cup (raw) brown rice

Meal 3

Lite yoghurt

Walnuts or Almonds

Meal 4

250grm chicken or 200grm salmon (fresh)

2 cups frozen mixed veges

25 grm Pro active margarine (has cholesterol block sterols in it)

Snack foods

Vegetables....lots of vegetables.

I also took 4x 1000mg fish oil tablets a day

1x sterol supplement (1000mg)

Cut all caffeine (plunger coffee rises cholesterol and I was drinking 5+ a day)

Drank at least 5x cups of green tea a day

Took 3 table spoons of Metamucil a day

Had zero cheat meals

I realise this diet is pretty limited and unsustainable, but I will run bloods again once I've increased my calories to fit my BMR again and see how they fare. For me it was all about the carbs...too much late night binging on crackers, cheese and biscuits.

[Phedder]

Wow! Kudos bro, those are almost unreal results :clap: Just took a lot of dedication aye. Also, in for pics of 10kg weight loss

How'd you notice performance in the gym responded?

[milkisforbabies]

Was 113kg and am 6'3 so I guess I hid it well. Am now 103 still around 20% bf (used callipers last weekend). Goal is about 96kg and I promise I will put pictures up. I saw a vein in my bicep the other day (high point). Strength has suffered - but endurance is phenomenol (for me anyways). Amazing how a health scare can motivate the shit out of you eh. Everything I've read would indicate sugar and carbs were the problem, I just let shit get out of hand over summer....

[Pseudonym]

Nice one! Thanks for posting. :nod:

[Cameron_R]

Wow, great result.

What is the cinnamon for?

[milkisforbabies]

Cinnamon has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity or help insulin remove glucose out of the body faster - basically I figured that might have been a problem for me becuase of the high triglycerides. My tests were done after a 12 hour fast, but the night before the first test I had about a half roast chicken, potatoes a beer and two pieces of cheese cake - I never eat like that so may have spiked them a bit...

My fasting glucose six weeks ago was 5.3 which is in the normal range. In my last test it was 4.4, I'm not sure if that means it's better or not but considering I don't really eat any carbs in the evenings anymore I expected it to drop a bit.

I read on some forum there was some research study where they found type 2 diabetics glucose levels were dropping faster after eating apple pie as opposed to other sugary foods - they figured out it was the cinnamon in the pie that was doing it.

[Clickz]

Good work.

Also interesting about the cinnamon.