Alright guys....

I went to my pcp for a physical and he did some bloodwork. It came in today and my total cholesterol and LDL were up! My three month bloodwork was total cholesterol 153--- yesterday it was 186! My LDL (bad cholesterol) three months ago was 78 and now its a whopping 121! That registered as high on my report. What gives? Why is it going up after going down so far! Dammit. I was hoping to get it really low and keep it there.. I just wonder what I am doing wrong. I know my overall number is good but it was a lot better 3 months ago. My ratio is still really good too so my pcp is not worried but I am! I dont want to continue this upward trend. I get my 6 month bloodwork drawn the end of this month and go for my checkup on Feb 10. I hope I can get it down by then but thats only about 3 weeks. HELP!

Were you fasting for a full 12 hours? And no alcohol for 36hrs? You can sometimes have a falsely elevated reading if you were not fasting. Sometimes it's just heredity and not your diet. Don't get too worried! (I work in family practice as a nurse)

I was fasting and no alcohol. I dont know why its back up some.

There are two types of LDL: Big fluffy particles, and particles small and hard like BBs. If your HDL (good) cholesterol is high, your LDL is fluffy. Those are benign, and do no harm. If your HDL is low, then the LDL particles are BBs, which cause vascular inflammation, arterial plaques, etc. If your ratio is good, your doctor isn't worried, because your HDL is high enough to indicate that your LDL is the fluffy kind. Sometimes it's good to be fluffy.

There are two types of LDL: Big fluffy particles, and particles small and hard like BBs. If your HDL (good) cholesterol is high, your LDL is fluffy. Those are benign, and do no harm. If your HDL is low, then the LDL particles are BBs, which cause vascular inflammation, arterial plaques, etc. If your ratio is good, your doctor isn't worried, because your HDL is high enough to indicate that your LDL is the fluffy kind. Sometimes it's good to be fluffy.

My hdl was 51 and my ratio was 2.? % which was good. I guess I am fluffy. I was just wondering what could make the total jump up over 30 points in 2 months? Should I try to eat some oatmeal and that special orange juice with the plant stenols in it?

I am also experiencing elevated cholesterol levels (total cholesterol 239 - 9 month labs). I am exercising more (to increase the good cholesterol) and doing the following things to lower the bad cholesterol:

- eating oatmeal most mornings

- adding ground flax seeds to the oatmeal

- talking fish oil capsules daily

- taking cinnamon capsules daily

- taking red rice yeast capsules daily

My cholesterol readings are up due to my heredity - nothing I am eating. I am trying this to see if I can get it down by my 12 month readings.

How much cheese are you eating? Do you have a diet that is higher in fat than you realize?

Puja,

Saturated fat (cheese) causes HDL to go up. HDL keeps the arteries clear of plaques. Plaques start with vascular inflammation from a high-carb diet, and the body trying to repair the arteries by using plaques as a bandage. Our bodies make cholesterol, because it's the building blocks of hormones, cell walls, and the brain itself. Unless you have a familial problem where your body over-generates cholesterol, cholesterol does NOT cause heart attacks.

I just posted about this recently. My cholesterol pre-surgery was 156, and three months post-op was 199.

Puja,

Saturated fat (cheese) causes HDL to go up. HDL keeps the arteries clear of plaques. Plaques start with vascular inflammation from a high-carb diet, and the body trying to repair the arteries by using plaques as a bandage. Our bodies make cholesterol, because it's the building blocks of hormones, cell walls, and the brain itself. Unless you have a familial problem where your body over-generates cholesterol, cholesterol does NOT cause heart attacks.

TheBionicBroad, you bring up some interesting points, and it's clear that you know your stuff! From what I've read and been taught, however, saturated fat increases both LDL and HDL, and is linked to dyslipidemia ad coronary artery disease.

Here are a few articles that give some good information:

http://cholesterol.emedtv.com/cholesterol/high-cholesterol-foods.html

http://health.usnews.com/health-conditions/heart-health/lowering-ldl-cholesterol