The FastDay Forum

Got my cholesterol results from docs today and have a level of 6.2. Have only been 5:2 ing for a few weeks so that level may be an improvement. Doc has advised low fat diet, lose weight and retest in 6 months.

I know that with a BMI of 30 I need to lose weight but my family have a history of high levels so hoping its not hereditory but just due to my weight.

Apologies for waffling, but anyone else with high cholesterol?

Hi jazzybear,

High cholesterol runs in my family - I was diagnosed at only 19 years old when I ate an okay (not fantastic, not horrendous) diet. I was in upper part of the healthy weight range at the time, and I'm estimating that my BMI would have been around 24. I was put on medication right away and ate really healthily for a couple of months. I found that not only did my cholesterol go down but without really trying I managed to lose quite a few kilos.
And then Christmas hit.

That was all a couple of years ago now. I don't take the medication anymore (mostly out of forgetfulness) but am finally getting back into a relatively healthy eating regime. I'm in my first week of 5:2 so I'm curious to see what my levels are like after trying it for a while.

Keep us up-to-date with your progress. I'd love to know how 5:2 affects cholesterol levels!

Hi Fredi

Thanks for your reply and welcome to 5:2.

Will def post again when I get retested. Probably panicking a bit !!

Hi jazzybear, like Fredi I've had high cholesterol for a long long time. I was 17, weighed a whole 115 pounds, and my cholesterol was already borderline high. Unfortunately I'm in America and we measure our levels differently than you in UK so I have no idea how it compares. For us, under 200 is ideal, 200-240 is borderline, and over 240 is high. My level last checked was 280. I'm curious what it will be after being on this WOE for months (I probably won't check it again until autumn.) Part of me worries, another part says the medical community has blown it out of proportion. I think Dr. Mercola is fairly well known, and his article on cholesterol is what made me think is it such a big deal? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercol ... 76817.html It is a big deal to the pharmaceutical companies, they make billions and billions off those drugs that seem to do more harm than help sometimes.

[carorees]

Total cholesterol is a fairly meaningless measure. There have been several studies demonstrating that the important measurement is the proportion of cholesterol that is the HDL form. The ratio of total to HDL cholesterol is the best measure of your risk of having a cardiovascular event (i.e., heart attack etc) over the next 10 years. If your ratio is under 3.5-4, your are at very low risk. So it is most important to get the HDL value from the doc.

My total cholesterol is high but so is my HDL with a ratio of 3.4. my doc is happy that I don't need statins.

There are already some threads about this on the forum that are worth reading if you need to know more.

Hi Jazzybear73,

Stop panicking, my level is a magnificent 7 and I don't care because I feel that this is meaningless. I probably have a naturally high level but as a woman over 50 it presents no problem. My husband has been, literally, almost crippled by taking statins and he will never take them again, he is still suffering serious side effects almost a year on from ceasing them.

A great book to read is "The Great Cholesterol Con" by Dr Malcolm McKendrick, and is available on Kindle if you have one.

Caroline is quite correct about the ratio so perhaps ask your GP for the breakdown and read the nerdy section on here.

Good luck with all this and keep us posted,

Ballerina x

My first week on 5:2, after 2 fast days, I had my annual physical.
My total cholesterol was 237, triglycerides 88, HDL cholesterol 64--ratio3.7.
I'm getting another draw through my insurance on Tuesday next week. When I get my numbers, I'll post them. I've been on 5:2 for one month. It should be interesting.

I forgot to say that I fasted yesterday and will fast again tomorrow. I won't fast again before the blood draw so hopefully that will not skew things at all.

Hi jazzybear. I posted my results on the nerdy section last week, if you do search it may be of interst to you. My husband was made ill on statins too, mentally and physically, he's back to normal now he has stopped them, but it was all for nothing another doctor said he shouldn't have been prescribed them. I also had an interesting discussion with my mum's GP as to wny she was given statins on her repeat prescription, because she was border line diabetic they give statins out. She already had severe memory loss and was complaining of leg pain, which is another side effect, anyway I won the 'discussion' no more statins for mum either, the leg pains went away and the Alzehimers stablised again.

Hi Chris057,

Statins are the work of the devil, in my opinion. The big Pharma make billions from them and the goverment seems determined to get us all on them. NEVER take them unless you have had a previous coronary incident or some other medical problem which MAY benefit from them, my husband has a degenerative kidney disease but the statins almost killed him last year and he is still not back to normal, probably never will be now. My husband also had his mother taken off statins and she has never looked back.

Your mum and your husband are two of the lucky one's who have managed to recover from the side effects of statins, lucky them,

Ballerina x

Hi Ballerina. My best wishes for your husband's recovery. I know you should have a certain amount of trust in your GP, but it pays to question them. I also ignored their advice about fo..owing a low fat diet, and I am doing well on full natural fat low sugar woe.
On my phone, excuse mistakes, work keeps interupting, how dare they, this is more important.
Chris x

Hi Chriso57,

High fat is the way to go, in my opinion. When I first had my reading of 7 my GP advised a low fat regime. I followed this horrid way of life diligently for 3 months and yes, my cholesterol dropped from a magnificent 7 to a mind boggling 6.9, even my doctor had the good grace to laugh as she gave me the results.

I never, and I do mean NEVER choose a low fat version of anything I eat, nature didn't design us to live that way and I find it has no impact on either my general health or my weight. So, cream, butter full fat milk etc, yum yum. Sugar? that is the one I am trying hard to reduce drastically in my diet and I feel so much better for doing without sweet things except for the very odd occasion.

The Victorians were quite right when they said that you are what you eat (they did say that, didn't they?) and moderation in all things.

Keep up the good work everyone, I love this site,

Ballerina x

Thanks everyone, perhaps I can ask someone to work out my ratio???

My LDL is 4.7 and my HDL is 1.3

thanks

[carorees]

Just divide your total cholesterol (6.2 I think you said) by HDL cholesterol which gives a ratio of 4.8. Opinions differ as to whether the best ratio is and it depends a bit on your blood pressure and age. The NHS are saying the ratio should be under 4.5 so you are nearly there.

See here for charts you can use to work out whether your results are within the low risk group (depends on age, blood pressure, gender and smoking history): http://heartuk.org.uk/health-profession ... isk-charts

Hi Jazzybear.

I began the 5:2 diet two weeks ago both to shed some weight and to hopefully lower my cholesterol which was 7.2 at the last test.
As I am not hugely overweight and as both my parents had high cholesterol it appears to be genetic but saying that, I would like it lower and have great hopes with this diet.
I look forward to comparing results.
Good luck!