Confusion about Cholestrol control

[perry500]

Hi,
I am 37 years old and my BMI is 22.9 (weight = 60 kg, height = 162 cm). I am a teetotaller and no smoker.

1 years ago I got my cholestrol checked and found that it was high, about 300. Well, I was never over-weight. On contrary I was "under-weight" particularly during my childhood. So I was always taking fatty diet. I was always sure that I would never have high cholestrol but I got the surprise.

I reduced fat in my diet and then it came down to 250. Then I thought I can reduce it (further) whenever I want. So I stopped bothering myself. But I was still taking less fat than when cholestrol was 300 but more than when it was 250. Now it is 300 again. So I am avoiding fat again.

Doctor suggested a medicine (for a month or so) but I did not buy it. Don't remember the name of the medicine at this moment. I still think I can reduce it by following a strictly low fat diet.
Well, I do not exercise except that I walk, or sometimes run a bit, to work. Walking time is 15-30 min per day mostly.

My confusion:-
* Is it better to take medicine and eat the food that you like (may be fat, cheese, meat etc.) or follow low fat diet to avoid taking medicine?
* How bad is high cholestrol? I read that (high) cholestrol is good for brain and cholestrol reducing medicines have some side-effect on brain.
* Will I have to continue the medicine for life once I start taking it?

My mother has high cholestrol too which was detected about 5-7 years ago when she was like 50 years old. She probably has blockage somewhere (no testing has been done yet) because she sometimes has chest pain. She also has high blood pressure, Migrane, Cervical.

* Is my high cholestrol due to my mother?

Story is worse now. My son who is only 7 and half years old. He is also "under-weight" like I was. I always tried to give him fatty diet so that he could gain weight till 1 year ago when high cholestrol were also detected in his blood. He had 275 which are reduced to 250 now.
He also does not exercise except normal activities in the school plus walking to school. But he does swimming two times half an hour every week mostly.

* Why such a lean child has cholestrol? Because of cholestrol we are probably not giving him good diet because we try to avoid fat, meat etc. He takes calcium + vitamin milk + fish + egg white (noo yolk) etc.
* With this diet how can I make him healthier and taller?

Please help me clear my doubts.

[perry500]

Hi,
Thanks for the comments.

I am not sure if I have cholestrol because of heredity. How can I be sure?

I never had any sympotoms related to high cholestrol since childhood till 1-2 years ago, although my son already has high cholestrol at the age of 7 and 1/2 years. In fact high cholestrol was first detected in his blood and only after that I thought of geting my and my wife's blood tested. She also has high cholestrol although she has the least among three of us. This situation doesn't point to heredity?

How bad is high cholestrol? I read that (high) cholestrol is good for brain and cholestrol reducing medicines have some side-effect on brain.

The so called healthy food is not very tasty and eating it is very boring :-(


PS: I don't want to go back to stone age. So such ideas are useless.

[ed34]

Firstly, cholesterol is not just from what you eat. The Liver can make cholesterol from other substances. Around 25-30% of cholesterol in your blood is from what you eat, the rest is made up by the liver. Defects in the Liver can be hereditory, including making too much cholesterol. IF you cannot reduce your cholesterol by diet alone, and not many can, then you will not require medication. If you are lucky to reduce your cholesterol enough by diet alone, you will be much healthier all round because of eating healthier foods. This will have a beneficial effect on all parts of the body.

It isn't necessarily WHAT we eat, it's more to do with HOW MUCH we eat. If you go back to the days when man used to hunt once a day for food, and have just one good meal a day, then artery disease was probably non existant. Now out hunting is done for us and we are told to have three meals a day. Most people munch on snacks between those three meals. Most people dont just drink water anymore, they have drinks with lots of bad addatives in them.
So, if you want to be healthy, grab a spear, hunt a mammoth every day and then have just one meal each day, eating some berries in between. Drink only water and do lots of running to catch the mammoth.

[perry500]

I re-introduce my confusions again. Background info is in the first post above.

* Should I take medicine and eat the food that I like to eat (may be fat, cheese, meat etc.) or follow low fat diet (even if I find it not tasty) and avoid taking medicine?
* How bad is high cholestrol? I read that (high) cholestrol is good for brain and cholestrol reducing medicines have some side-effect on brain.
* Will I have to continue the medicine for life once I start taking it?

* Is my high cholestrol due to my mother?  Do we have a family problem?

* Why a lean child has cholestrol? Because of cholestrol we are probably not giving him good diet because we try to avoid fat, meat etc. He takes calcium plus vitamin milk (halk crream milk) )+ fish + egg white (noo yolk) etc. and mostly he does n't eat fatty foods like cheese, red meat etc.
* With this diet how can I make him healthier and taller?

[ed34]

If you have familial hypercholesterolemia, then it is very unlikely you will be able to lower your cholesterol by diet. I was diagnosed with this problem and basically the liver is hyper active at producing cholesterol lipids. The liver has the ability to manufacture lipids whether you eat fats or not. If this wasn't the case, there would be many dead herbivores.

If you have high cholesterol it doesn't follow that you will be overweight. I have always been the perfect weight for my height. One benefit I used to have and have lost since lowering my cholesterol is my ability to heal very quickly. It used to amaze people how quickly a cut would heal for example. I know cholesterol is used to make new cells and repair damaged ones, so maybe the abundance gave me a big advantage in that area. Now if I cut myself, I still see evidence several days later.

[erijon]

It sounds like you have a family history of high cholesterol. Rarely, high cholesterol can be caused by a condition which may run in your family - this is called 'familial hypercholesterolaemia'. About one in 500 people have this condition. Healthy eating can reduce cholesterol. Your diet should be low in saturated fats in particular, and low in fat overall. Biscuits, cakes, pastries, red meat, hard cheese and butter all tend to be high in saturated fats, so cut down on these foods.

Some foods contain cholesterol. These foods include eggs, prawns and offal such as liver and kidneys. This type of cholesterol is known as dietary cholesterol and it has a much lower effect on blood cholesterol than saturated fat in your diet. You don't need to cut down on these foods unless your doctor has advised you to.

It's also important to eat plenty of fiber, especially soluble fiber, which is thought to lower cholesterol. Soluble fiber is found in fruits and vegetables, beans and oats. Aim to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day. Foods containing substances called plant sterols or stanols may help to lower cholesterol.

You may be able to prevent the development of high cholesterol by maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet, stopping smoking, not drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and taking regular exercise. However, if your family has a history of high cholesterol, it may be difficult to prevent yourself from having it too.

Sometimes, the proper diet and exercise is not enough to get your cholesterol under control due to your family history. In this setting it is perfectly normal to be prescribed meds to work along with your lifestyle changes, this may be the only way to get your numbers down.

Hope this helps,

Jon