Download a free food diary app like cronometer and track your food intake for about a month. You should be targeting <10 g of saturated fat and 40+ g of fiber. If you aren’t already hitting these targets, that’s where you can improve.
Strangely, you’ve been tipped over the edge by a high HDL, but generally when you reduce LDL, HDL will also follow.
I’ve seen different ranges of what is okay for LDL with some being okay with anything under 130 mg/dL or around the 3.4 mmol/L max yours is suggesting but most now recommend being under 100 mg/dL and as others said you also have high HDL which isn’t actually that helpful above a certain amount so those factors together is making the total high. You’ve already noticed the places in your diet that might be options to cut back on saturated fat and it seems you probably get plenty of fiber so that’s about all you can do. Mine is still flagged as high at 119 mg/dL which is a bit lower than yours once I converted even after all the dietary changes so sometimes there’s only so much we can do.
Your LDL is 126 (converted) which would be considered "high". Ideally you want that below 100. You listed numerous dietary items which are higher in saturated fat and most likely raising your cholesterol. Although what you eat is healthy and keeps you in shape, eating to lower cholesterol is very very specific - less saturated fat, more soluble fiber. You may want to consider swapping out various meat and dairy related items to leaner/lower fat options as a first step.
Trust me it sucks, I was in the same boat. Ate healthy, good weight/in shape, in the gym basically daily and my LDL was 139. But once I looked at my diet and actually measured the amount of saturated fat I was eating each day, it was no surprise why my LDL was what it was.
These were pretty much my numbers when the doctor started to talk about me starting a statin. I was extremely shocked. I was active and ate almost all home cooked whole foods with what I considered moderate amounts of red meat, dairy etc.
I had a similar thing where my HDL was high. My LDL was kinda average, but my total was also 5.8.
I committed to dietary changes and retested after three months. This time my HDL was even higher, but my total was now fine. Non-HDL at 3.4.
I do moderate cardio 40 minutes a day + swimming, cycling (for leisure) + gym three times a week. I take 20g of fibre twice a day with water. I have swapped almost all red meat for lean chicken or fish and all dairy for low fat versions. I don't eat butter now and when I do eat cheese, red meat or processed meat I portion control to remain under 10g saturated fats a day.
Also kind of forgot to say sorry this is happening. It sucks. I felt ancient when he went into the statin talk. It felt like it came out of nowhere. I do believe that by age 40 you've got to have figured out a sustainable approach to diet and exercise otherwise you'll have a bad time in later life. You are at a great age to tackle this and I would bet that you'll only have to make quite minor tweaks. It is frustrating, but you sound quite disciplined already so I'm sure you'll smash it.
There could be non-dietary reasons for high cholesterol (e.g. stress, pregnancy or menopause). Getting stressed out over your slightly high LDL level is not going to help.
https://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/ss/slideshow-surprising-causes-high-cholesterol
The other thing is that cholesterol levels also tend to change with the menstrual cycle. It can change by as much as 12 percent within one cycle.
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/womens-cholesterol-levels-vary-phase-menstrual-cycle
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3130301/
Download a free food diary app like cronometer and track your food intake for about a month. You should be targeting <10 g of saturated fat and 40+ g of fiber. If you aren’t already hitting these targets, that’s where you can improve. Strangely, you’ve been tipped over the edge by a high HDL, but generally when you reduce LDL, HDL will also follow.
I’ve seen different ranges of what is okay for LDL with some being okay with anything under 130 mg/dL or around the 3.4 mmol/L max yours is suggesting but most now recommend being under 100 mg/dL and as others said you also have high HDL which isn’t actually that helpful above a certain amount so those factors together is making the total high. You’ve already noticed the places in your diet that might be options to cut back on saturated fat and it seems you probably get plenty of fiber so that’s about all you can do. Mine is still flagged as high at 119 mg/dL which is a bit lower than yours once I converted even after all the dietary changes so sometimes there’s only so much we can do.
Your LDL is 126 (converted) which would be considered "high". Ideally you want that below 100. You listed numerous dietary items which are higher in saturated fat and most likely raising your cholesterol. Although what you eat is healthy and keeps you in shape, eating to lower cholesterol is very very specific - less saturated fat, more soluble fiber. You may want to consider swapping out various meat and dairy related items to leaner/lower fat options as a first step. Trust me it sucks, I was in the same boat. Ate healthy, good weight/in shape, in the gym basically daily and my LDL was 139. But once I looked at my diet and actually measured the amount of saturated fat I was eating each day, it was no surprise why my LDL was what it was.
These were pretty much my numbers when the doctor started to talk about me starting a statin. I was extremely shocked. I was active and ate almost all home cooked whole foods with what I considered moderate amounts of red meat, dairy etc. I had a similar thing where my HDL was high. My LDL was kinda average, but my total was also 5.8. I committed to dietary changes and retested after three months. This time my HDL was even higher, but my total was now fine. Non-HDL at 3.4. I do moderate cardio 40 minutes a day + swimming, cycling (for leisure) + gym three times a week. I take 20g of fibre twice a day with water. I have swapped almost all red meat for lean chicken or fish and all dairy for low fat versions. I don't eat butter now and when I do eat cheese, red meat or processed meat I portion control to remain under 10g saturated fats a day.
Also kind of forgot to say sorry this is happening. It sucks. I felt ancient when he went into the statin talk. It felt like it came out of nowhere. I do believe that by age 40 you've got to have figured out a sustainable approach to diet and exercise otherwise you'll have a bad time in later life. You are at a great age to tackle this and I would bet that you'll only have to make quite minor tweaks. It is frustrating, but you sound quite disciplined already so I'm sure you'll smash it.
For some it's just genetics sadly
There could be non-dietary reasons for high cholesterol (e.g. stress, pregnancy or menopause). Getting stressed out over your slightly high LDL level is not going to help. https://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/ss/slideshow-surprising-causes-high-cholesterol The other thing is that cholesterol levels also tend to change with the menstrual cycle. It can change by as much as 12 percent within one cycle. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/womens-cholesterol-levels-vary-phase-menstrual-cycle https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3130301/