All animal products have cholesterol. All plants have no cholesterol. Read between the lines. I am afraid to say I am a vegetarian because everyone thinks we are nut cases. :~)

Aloha,

Larry

Genetics and age play a huge role here. More importantly (unless I didn't see it) is the ratio of the LDL/HDL. Also, I don't think you were fasting long enough for the test as well so a repeat is in order.

Maybe change your breakfast from butter/toast/cereal to some oatmeal (large study to show that it may reduce total cholesterol) and take some Niacin. Also, add some soy to the diet instead of the eggs.

I was a vegetarian for a little over a year once as well and I agree, most are nuts.

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

Fault your parents. You are doing all the right things but some people just have this tendancy. Increase olive oil, fish oils, nuts, soy, and fiber. Cut red meat and add some red wine. Some have good luck with niacin, but get the slow acting kind. I can't handle the stuff myself. If that doesn't drop it, you may eventually need the help of some meds.

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

I agree with all of the above, but wonder if some fine tuning of the diet is in order. You may want to use skim milk, and when you eat an egg eat only the white or get egg beaters. Watch the red meat (only 2-3 times a week.), eat more fish and chicken, stay away from shellfish, and never eat the skin/fat.

A re-test maybe in order, but that high of a number gives me some concern. I have a cardiologist/friend that told me that diet and exercise generally only interprets into a 10% decrease. That being said, Like most of us that look at this page we already eat pretty well and exercise more than most people. So, how much more can you change your lifestyle?

As a critical care nurse I see people daily that had a heart attack, and one of the common associated risk factors tends to be an elevated cholesterol. High cholesterol does really increase your risk for coronary artery disease. The medication to treat elevated cholesterol is a lot safer than it once was, so dont wait to long before getting help.

Marko16,

You need to talk to your physician about having a fasting lipid profile. This will give you a much more accurate triglyceride reading. The total cholesterol count may not change that much but triglycerides are an improtant predictor of possible future cholesterol problems. Family history, age, ethnicity, and diet play a big role in cholesterol also. Do a search on the internet for the National Cholesterol Education Foundation and read their recommendations. These are the established guidelines that are recommended for everyone. I can say that no matter what, a 247 total cholesterol count is too high.

There are two theroies on cholesterol and the literature flips back and forth between particle size and particle number but 247 is considered high by today's recommendations.

gurucron'alu

trying to train but life is getting in the way

I eat mostly chicken, if I use oil it's olive, and red meats only once a week. If you had a pizza, egg, high cholesterol weekend, would that cause a period of being high, or do these numbers come up if you've had a history of eating bad. I ate more eggs last week as they were going out of date, which also shows I don't eat many. Thanks for the tips so far.

"The medication to treat elevated cholesterol is a lot safer than it once was, so dont wait to long before getting help."

"Safer" is a relative term. Given the choice of a heart attack and taking Lipitor, I would choose the heart attack.

If your doctor recommends cholesterol reducing medication, research the medication extensively. Know all the potential side effects and monitor yourself closely even if you don’t see any problems at first. When the medication commercials say their drug is “not for everyone”, they are not kidding and they mean that taking the drug could be worse than what you are trying to fix.

You didn't say how these numbers compared to previous results, if any. A few years ago, a fasting lipid test returned a significant spike in my tot cholesterol. On the morning of the mid-day blood draw, I went for a run and somehow strained my calf muscle. Nothing serious, but it was sore for a week afterwards. On top of that, it was an unseasonably hot spring day and I decided to walk the 3 miles to the doc's to try to work out my calf soreness (I thought it was a cramp). The point of telling all of this is that I showed up for the test dehydrated and with some minor muscle damage and got a cholesterol result that was 40% higher than usual. I re-tested a couple weeks later and the result was back to normal -- no workout before the blood draw this time.

Just anecdotal, but I've always wondered if a workout and/or injury just prior to the blood draw can affect cholesterol measurements. Any scientific correlation?

Marko, I think you should fast for 24hrs before blood work, so you might want to try it again. I would also ask your Doc. to use the Lipo-profile I think is what it is called, blood is sent somewhere in the research triangle in north carolina. They break it down in HDL, LDL particle size, percentage of each size, etc... this will help you know how serious it is. Your Trigl. seem high as well, that is sometimes excess Carbs that are not burned off, it is mostly lowered with some diet modifications ( ie: less food). Mine used to be high as well but when I started endurance stuff with a healthy diet it fell real low. Don't get bummed about the high numbers yet, they really don't tell you much. After I got my Lipo-Profile back and it told me that the majority of mine were LDL and tiny (the worst combination you can have) I ask my doc, "what do we do now?" He soberly replied, "We worry". That afternoon I started running, may, 12, 2002. You can most likely improve your numbers with some modifications, I got my tryglycerides from 222 down to 72 now and they have been in the low 60's . My mission in life is to lower my cholesterol which will lower the LDL presence I have gotten it from 170's down to 117 and my ratio from 5.7 down to 3.0 .You can get things moving in the right directon with some dietary discipline and you might have had a spike because of the short fasting period, I wouldn't stress over it yet :)

I agree with most of what has been said. I was tested about 18 months ago and had pretty high cholesterol and LDL levels. My triglycerides were high as well. I had been eating relatively well, although there was definite room for improvement. My doc asked me to really watch what I ate for 6 weeks, and then we retested. During those 6 weeks, I met with a nutritionist who recommended much of what has been said, but also suggested taking flax seed oil supplements, as well as garlic pills. Flax seed oil has omega-3 in it, which supposedly boosts HDLs, which in turn fight off LDLs. Garlic is "nature's remedy" against high cholesterol. I was skeptical (I always am of homeopathic stuff), but sure enough, when I was retested I was below normal for all the bad stuff and have stayed there since.

First off, a 12 hour fast is required, so who knows? I was in line to get my blood drawn a couple months ago and all these old people came in driniking coffee, which will skew results.

As far as I can tell, exercise has a minimal effect on cholesterol, esp. bad cholesterol, but it should raise good cholesterol some ... Correct me if I am wrong people.

As per advice from my nutritionist/dietician, I am consuming a lot of soy, more veggies (duh!), NOT heating oil (olive and canola only) or heating it much less for cooking and consuming more nonfat milk (but very little cheese and ice cream, etc.) ... Moderating my meat and poultry intake, too (as in 2-3x a week and not daily) and trying to incorporate fish 2-3X a week (he little $1.50 4oz. frozen salmon from China works). Daily goal: 10 g sat. fat and and 50g total fat per day, but try to keep protein up near 100g a day, which is no easy task ... I have also tried to cut trans fat to zero to a few grams a week, though I ate half a donut today. Read that trans fat is worse than sat. fat ... We'll see what happens. Let me know where I am going wrong, anyone?

I have known about my high cholesterol since my mid 20s and I am only now working on lowering it in my mid 30s. I'm always at 240-280 with an LdL of 180, but HdL near 60 ... I have borderline high PB too (usually 140/85, higher when stressed, lower when chilled out) which probably means I have been developing heart disease since I was a kid and my arteries are on their way to stiff ... Only way to know if cholersterol is really affecting me is to get opened up, which I don't want to do ... Though recommended, I am staying away from statins for now, as they are strong stuff. Now I am just using garlic (really just a blood thinner like aspirin, according to my dietician, so it minimally affects cholestrol and PB); fish oil and a bit more magnesium. I think fish oil and garlic don't help much, but I guess its good for you. good luck! -TB