Cholesterol too high

[CT Mommy]

Hi All-

I have not been to a "regular" doctor in over  7 years when my first child was born.  I have always just sought the attention of our midwife or my chiro if I didn't feel when. Since I was pregnant most of those 7 years, I figured my midwife was on top of things.

I am 41 now and I thought it might be a good idea to have an annual physical, pap, the works.  I found a doctor who was a hb mamma with 4 kids and definitely on the organic, trad foods side of things.  She ordered "blood work" for me and my cholesterol reading was 246 (it is supposed to be under 200).

She said that I needed to lose 5-10 pounds (I gained 55 w/my last child and am still losing the weight) and exercise regularly (this is true).  She also said to cut down the FAT in my diet.

Now, I eat BUTTER, coconut oil, and olive oil.  Meat.  RED meat.  Nuts and nut butters.  EGGS.  etc.  Cut out FAT?  

Yes, I do need to continue to lose the weight and yes I need to exercise more regularly, but cut the FAT?  Why is my cholesterol so high eating this way and what should I do?

Please let me know.  I cannot give up on my fats!!

Thanks!

[Arduinna]

Was it a fasting blood draw? If not, I wouldn't even consider those results accurate. Also, what are your HDLs, LDLs and triglycerides? It's not all about total cholesterol. Don't feel you need to post the actual numbers here, but I'd consider the broader picture.

[witchygrrl]

My total cholesterol was too high last time too. I have ignored it because my HDL was 50 and my trigs were 77. My LDL was not preferable, but my doc said that my ratios were very good. I would get the breakdown before freaking out.

[newcastlemama]

My total cholesterol was 249 (I was 29) but I had good ratios and my Tris were about 60. I think that is fine. Even mainstream drs are looking more to tris and less to the total cholesterol numbers now. Tris are very important because they are correlated with blood sugar and that seems to be the real issue with heart disease ect. 

[janinemh]

Love this blog post by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride on why not to test cholesterol levels-- http://www.doctor-natasha.com/what-should-my-blood-cholesterol-be.php.

She is the author of Gut and Psychology Syndrome and Put Your Heart in  Your Mouth

[CT Mommy]

Thanks for the replies.  Doc said my other stats were fine:  Triglycerides at 114, HDL at 62 and LDLs at 162 (which I guess is the "problem").  It was not a fasting test--I had eaten eggs for breakfast along with my cod liver oil for the day earlier in the morning.  It sounds like I shouldn't get too upset at this point.  She didn't recommend any meds just to get rid of some excess pounds and exercise, so I guess she isn't that worried at this point either.

If you have any other ideas let me know!  Thanks for talking me down from the bridge!

[Cupressa]

Originally Posted by CT Mommy 

It was not a fasting test--I had eaten eggs for breakfast along with my cod liver oil for the day earlier in the morning.  It sounds like I shouldn't get too upset at this point.

Definitely not! Out of the three best sources of cholesterol you ate two before the test--I would say you are just fine!

[Toolip]

I'm pretty sure WAPF has a good article about this and basically says that the cholesterol recommendation is way off the mark and not an indicator of heart disease. It is something I worry about though. We are so inundated with information about how bad high cholesterol is. It's hard to let go of that idea. I fear having my blood work done!

[Annie Mac]

It's also really common to have a cholesterol panel like yours while you're nursing. I'm nursing too. My LDL is just within normal, HDL is awesomely high & total cholesterol is a smidge high. My doctor didn't seem even slightly concerned, given the nursing and high HDL. She said that overall I'm doing way better than most people! She did say couldn't hurt to cut down on sat fats and eggs, which I haven't really done. I'm just going to get it redone next year & see how I am then.

[johanna84]

From what I remember off the top of my head from a talk on cholesterol a doc gave at my local WAP chapter meeting, higher cholesterol levels are associated with a longer life span.  Also, I remember vaguely something being said about how the base numbers for determining healthy ranges of cholesterol were basically just arbitrarily chosen, because they learned a new cool trick called manipulating cholesterol levels with statin drugs.  There was an awesome article in the Feb issue of Reader's Digest featuring Gary Taubes talking about how eating fat doesn't make you fat, so yeah...I say, eat up!