Cholesterol Talk

[Max Spider X]

Can't believe I am asking this on a videogame deal site, but here goes.

My last year's numbers were:

NON HDL Chol: 201

HDL Chol: 50

Total: 251

Trigly: 155

LDL Chol: 170

Chol/HDL Ratio: 5.0

And this year's numbers that I just got back:

NON HDL Chol: 170

HDL Chol: 38

Total: 208

Trigly: 139

LDL Chol: 142

Chol/HDL Ratio: 5.5

At first glance it might seem that my cholesterol has dropped by a lot, however my "good" cholesterol (recommended minimum: 40) has dropped more than my "bad" one, which contributed to the higher ratio of 5.5 from last year's 5.0.

So I am asking the health-savvy members here, is this picture looking better or worse than last year? Has the overall decrease more than offset by the increase in bad-to-good ratio?

 

[thrifty1]

Quick google search result from mayo clinic says 3.5 is optimal and you want to stay under 5.

I freaking hate needles but i actually had my blood tested free at work sometime last year. 

My ratio is 3.1  

Total chol: 162

HDL: 52

Trigly: 56

Eat more cheerios! And stay off the fast food. I had anatomy professors saying you shouldn't eat that stuff more than once a year. lol. If I do then I usually go for chicken nuggets or chicken sandwhiches. I drink a lot of cranberry juice variants which is supposedly good for HDL numbers to avoid high fructose corn syrup since it interferes with something in your liver. More stuff on HDL in this link.

http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/cholesterol/a/raiseHDL.htm

Dunno if your previous year is better or worse. You went from having "high" LDLs to "borderline high" so you still have room for improvement in both. Looks like your triglycerides went down below 150 which is "desirable" so at least that is an improvement. But i have no clue since im not a doctor.

 

[Duo_Maxwell]

I don't know that I'd call it an offset or worse than the previous reults even though the HDL is way low, the fact that you triglycerides & LDL dropped a decent amount works in your favor. And there are certain ways to try to bring just your HDL up.

To know where to start though you have to look at what changes (if any) you did to drop your cholesterol over the past year or so?

 

[Max Spider X]

Thanks for the comments.

I haven't really changed much in my diet during the last year, the only real change I would say is I started packing lunch to work instead of eating out everyday. A typical meal consists of white rice with a veggie and meat sides cooked with canola oil.

I have also been doing 2-mile jogs one or twice a week this year, down from 2-3 times per week from the previous year. 

 

[tylerh1701]

You're numbers look a lot better to me.  You're total dropped 40 points and your LDL dropped 28, and your HDL is only 2 points away from being in the "average" level.  Yours are similar to mine, you're not at "ideal" but I can't imagine any doctor would say you're "at risk" with those numbers unless you're older, diabetic, smoke, or have some other fairly serious ailment.

 

[Duo_Maxwell]

Thanks for the comments.

I haven't really changed much in my diet during the last year, the only real change I would say is I started packing lunch to work instead of eating out everyday. A typical meal consists of white rice with a veggie and meat sides cooked with canola oil.

I have also been doing 2-mile jogs one or twice a week this year, down from 2-3 times per week from the previous year.

Stop including white rice in your typical meal would be a good start. White rice is not bad for you, but including something that is 80+% carbs and is devoid of mostly every other kind of nutrient in a typical meal or a daily basis is not a good idea. A high intake of white rice is bad has been linked to more than one problem over the past few yers (the largest being an increased diabetes risk, especially if you're overweight). It can in fact effect your HDL level too, see the info on the linked study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21813808

Not to mention that white rice is so dense in carbs and a high carb diet increases LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. I'm not saying don't ever eat white rice or pasta, etc again. Just don't make it an essential staple in your diet. Moderation is key to all foods.

Also one of the best ways to raise HDL and lower LDL is aerobic exercise. The jogging is a good way to go for sure, but another couple days a week you may look into some other kind of exercise to get the old ticker really pumping. Cycling is good one that is low impact, if you have access to a gym the stationary bike or rowing machine, etc. are all good options. Swimming as well if you access to a pool. Bottomline, 20-30 minutes of decent aerobics 4-5 times per week can have a fairly significant effect on your cholestrol levels.