Anyone here battled Cholesterol successfully without medication?

Just put mountains of flora pro-active on everything.

Reduced mine from 6.2 to 5.2 in a year by eating less dairy.

I have.

I hadn't taken my risparidone, so no medication.

I got rid of 15 stones of ugly fat by throwing him under a bus.

Cheers EGG, keep em coming lads. Less Lurpak for me I can see

Those plant sterols are a con. They may be as harmful as cholesterol!

Exercise

dietry changes will not affect the level too much unless you have a VERY unhealthy diet.

regular exercise has brought mine down a lot - GP is saying I should get on the statins but its still coming down.

will make a decision once it levels off.

buy some decent running shoes and get out there.

Cheers ZBH. I'm a regular cycling/walking/golf person, but yes I suspect running will belatedly have to be on the agenda.

Am I the only who doesn't have need to ever go to a doctors. change your butchers ffs.

Don't worry about it (unless it is over 7.5).

Speedy, Cholesterol is a silent killer as it builds up over many years. I'm slightly higher than the upper limit and overdue another test. 

Boozing is my vice as I eat pretty healthily and exercise moderately.

Less animal fat, walk more.  GL

I used to cycle 20 miles a day to work so was surprised when my cholesterol reading was 6.9

Doctor gave me a sheet which covered food to avoid, food to eat etc

I cut out all the rubbish, crisps, cheese, biscuits, rich sauces, cream etcand got it down to 4.4 in 12 months

Felt a lot better overall for cutting out the rubbish - had a lot more energy

Its a myth cholesterol is a dietary enemy

To pick a number — 5 (mmol/l) — and to say everyone should have
cholesterol levels no higher than this is like declaring the average height should be 5ft 4in and not 5ft 9in and medicating everyone who doesn’t reach this meaningless number to reduce their height. It really is that horrific.

‘Ancel Keys, who studied cholesterol extensively in the Fifties, said
categorically that cholesterol in food does not have any impact on
cholesterol in the blood.

What is abnormal is the amount of ­carbohydrate we eat, especially
refined carbohydrate, and this has been shown to determine
triglyceride levels — the part of the cholesterol reading your GP may
be most concerned about.

Great stuff lads. Much appreciated.

The fightback starts with a training run tomorrow, just as soon as I've had a pot of Yorkshire Tea and a big plate of hot crumpets smothered in Lurpak for breakfast.

reduce stress, at least 8 hours sleep, very low sugar/starch intake, avoid oxidized/hydrogenated oils eg anything fried, but do eat healthy oils like unheated olive oil etc, moderate exercise
aim for a good hdl/ldl ratio, remember low hdl levels are bad so maintain good nutrition

This is meant to be vaguely helpful.  I am/was a sort of organic chemist.  Ethanol is an excellent organic solvent.  I've never had high cholesterol though I've often had high blood-ethanol levels.  It does make sense, sort-of.



Government Warning: you may be exchanging one problem for another.

alun i was diagnosed with diabetes this year and i have had to undergo numerous life changes including excercising and eating correctly.I have lost 3 stone this year and lowered my cholestrol levels to a perfect acceptable level.I suggest you follow a diabetic dietit is the one of the best known to mankind.You can reseach this on the diabetes website.The most senior dietician and head of the diabetes councilling in this county told us that by using Benecol spread and drinking one of their yogourts on a daily basis will reduce your cholestrol and it is scientifically proven.Good luck

Alun,unless your v over weight and very unfit excerise will barely touch your cholesterol,though it wont do it or your general health any harm naturally.

Ease on your dairy and animal fats,take an uber safe and healthy supplement(v cheap to) like leicithin daily.It's not hard to reduce say a 7 reading to a 5.6 after a few months on the above "regime" and if your anyhting like a 5.5 anyway dont even bother.....6/7 years ago this WAS the govt approved "safety level" till they reaslised its the only thing they can do cheaply!

You gotta remember though the whole cholestrol thing is a hugely overblown minor contributory health issue only sexed up by govts due to very very cheap drugs and ease of managability.Seems every yr gp's get a further reduced cholesterol "target".If your fat/high blood pressure/hereditary heart trouble/unfit/poor diet etc THEN it becomes a standard worthwhile but minor issue thats well worth reducing in the genreal scale of health benefits.

Alun,unless your v over weight and very unfit excerise will barely touch your cholesterol,

With great respect BV that is utter balls. From personal experience i dropped my cholesterol by 2 by exercising. I was not overweight to begin with and did moderate exercise. I am now an adonis. But mine is a familial affliction so I have to keep at it.

Zola

It gets reduced by exercise (as such) mainly due to the weigth loss and general healthier lifestyle/improved diet etc people adopt while exercising.If you'd been v unfit well increasing cirulation could also help,though exercise actuallty increases your good cholesterol(hdl) and reduces your bad (ldl) though the overall reading "total figure" ie 5.2 etc wouldnt be much different at all.

If you've reduced cholesterol by 2 points by excercise alone with no diet or lifetsyle changes and werernt woufully unfit in the 1st place you've done extremely well.Age is also a factor,if your 30 rather than 50 a huge factor.Though your Adonis like stature proves you MUST be doing something right.

I wish i had time to discuss atherogenic burdens etc, and LDL particle size reduction but i dont and it's all a load of contradictory horsesh1t whichever way you look at it.

Simply put no 2 men on earth will metabolize/digest lipids the same.

I believe there's even a school of thought that believes m@sturbation reduces total serum cholesterol!

Thanks very much indeed to one and all for your advice and information. Really appreciated all the constructive helpful feedback.

For years I've exercised regularly and generally eaten sensibly, but for reasons I won't wobble on about here, 2010 has been difficult, stressful and many of my good intentions have gone west. Clearly they've had a knock-on effect on my general well-being. A common sense fightback is called for, and will happen.

Genuine good luck. 

Check the death-ages (non-accidental) of your last 2 generations.  Add 5-10 years for better nutrition/health-care - and relax.  Or not.

Bonvivvy

So wacking off is good for you?

Yeeehhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa motherfruckkkkeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Simply put no 2 men on earth will metabolize/digest lipids the same.

true and not true, there's no great variations at a fundamental level, but environmentals will cause wide variations in reactions.
Various types of stress versus stress reduction (eg exercise, sleep etc) is one part of the equation. Nutritious food and antioxidants versus toxic is another, there are many factors and it's mostly common sense.
A combination of all these factors will dictate an individuals state or reaction.
As far as exercise goes 30 minutes walking a day and some strength training is good, over exercising at some point becomes counter productive.

I successfully battled cholesterol without medication, but got knocked out in the next round by hardened arteries (who I still suspect of being on EPO).

Nice one Dessie.

What is your cholestorel level now?

High cholesterol is correlated with heart disease. Note, correlation is not the same as causation. Please think about that.

Cholesterol comes in two parts, HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol)

The bad cholesterol also comes in two parts one good LDL, and one bad VLDL.

It is the ratio between good cholesterol HDL, and bad cholesterol LDL which doctors are interested in when they prescribe statins. 
Yet they don't test whether your LDL is the good LDL or the bad VLDL.
They simply assume it's all LDL is bad cholesterol.

It is the production of VLDL which is the major concern, that and triglycerides.

You should seek to reduce these by cutting back sharply on fructose and alcohol to start with.

The sugar we get from fruit is fructose. Added sugar in food products is usually fructose.