Have you managed to reduce cholesterol naturally and if so, how

You can cycle into a ketogenic diet a couple of times a year. Being in ketosis cleans up the blood nicely.

My numbers were going up, my doctor wanted to put me on statins. I said let me change my diet first. The doctor was pretty lukewarm about the idea; she just wanted me to start the meds. I drastically reduced saturated fats for 3 months, went back and my numbers were super good. She was astonished and wanted all sorts of details about what I did. Initially I was reducing saturated fat intake to 20 grams a day. Now I average 20-30 per day and the numbers are still good.

High cholesterol runs big in my family. So it's been on my radar that it could catch up with me. So for the past several years, i've put flax meal and chia seeds on cereal and yogurt that i eat almost daily. I eat a ton of trail mix. Ya, it has chocolate in it and is high in calories but nuts are supposed to be good for this. i also cook with a lot of garlic. I still eat butter, red meat, and other saturated fats. i'm more about adding than subtracting.

so far, i still have good numbers

health.harvard.edu

11 Foods that Lower Cholesterol - Harvard Health Publishing - Harvard Health

Certain foods, such as beans, oats and whole grains, fatty fish, and fruits and vegetables that are high in fiber, can lower "bad" LDL cholesterol....

Link:www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/11...

I saw a spike in my 40's very similar to yours. My doctor was primarily concerned with my LDL which consistently rose to around 160. I wanted to avoid taking a statin so I focused on reducing saturated fat as much as possible. It's not always fun, but I look at every food label and when I go to restaurants I focus on the lower saturated fat items (e.g. salmon instead of ribeye). At home I use Benecol instead of butter. I eat lots of almonds.

It worked, I'm 49 and my LDL has been back in the 105 range, which isn't perfect but it's fine when considering other risk factors (e.g. blood pressure).

Be prepared for several replies telling you that high LDL is actually better for you.

Very similar to me. My goal for the first year was 10 grams which is pretty hard but I have backed off to 20 or so, 6 days a week.

If your blood lipids are high despite a BMI of 21, you could have a genetic mutation LDLR or some similar protein. That's not a huge deal, but it may mean that diet alone can't save you from having bad blood lipid numbers because you produce a lot of a the protein that ferries lipids around and/or that those proteins have a higher affinity for lipids than other people's do. The bulk of the lipids in your blood (like 75%) is synthesized in your liver and the remaining 25% come from either direct absorption of short chain fatty acids or cellular uptake of LDL+long chain fatty acid complexes. That means that eating less fat per se probably won't help a ton. If you want to keep your liver from synthesizing cholesterol, really all you can do is eat less. Eating less will mean less raw material (acetyl-coa) is available for the synthetic pathway. Eating less - and specifically eating less sugar - also means that you'll spend less time in a hyperinsulemic state. Hyperinsulemia can start the chain of events that ends with LDL and dead WBCs being deposited in your arteries as plaque.

I cut waaaay down on red meat, cheese, and eggs. I replaced cheese with avocado in some dishes. My bad cholesterol decreased notably, total cholesterol was still somewhat high because of good cholesterol.

Wow…10 grams is crazy. I have a hard time maintaining weight at twenty with my mileage and I eat a lot! I’d shrivel away at 10. Just like you said, look at the labels in everything you eat. That’s what you have to do.

Have your lipoprotein(a) tested. Your levels are 70-90% based on genetics so there isn't much you can do about it. A high lipoprotein(a) number indicates a higher risk of heart disease, etc. , but lowering your total cholesterol by a lot (unfortunately likely via statins) is the current best way to treat it.

mid-40s

running & cycling, body weight exercises too.

no meat. no dairy. no eggs. no wheat. i drink one ounce of water per pound of body weight daily. only alcohol is the occasional glass of wine or a cider. nothing "faux" (such as fake meat like gardein) or prepackaged meals. very little added sugar.

i hope it goes without saying i don't smoke or use tobacco products.

when i was briefly hospitalised last year for pneumothorax i learned i have the levels equivalent to a 20-somthing athlete

make one small change and once that change sticks, make another.

good luck.

Cut booze, high-cholesterol meat, excessive amounts of dairy, and get enough sleep. My cholesterol numbers were off the charts and I got them down to healthy levels without much exercise by changing my diet and lifestyle habits. While it kinda sucks that my body can't handle alcohol anymore, it's for the best.

ketogenic diets have been shown to increase ldl-c which is not what you want for ascvd risk. generally the best diet advice is to cut down on saturated fats, as other have already described. i imagine a keto diet could be low in saturated fats but thats probably not the norm given people’s propensity to eat fatty meats on that diet.

88 total. Doc is concerned about 41 HDL-too low. I eat salmon 3-4 times a week, avocado toast 2-3x a week for lunch, and oatmeal to try raise my HDL. Aerobic exercise can help.

Lol that diet is a crock of crap.

How so?

It's perfectly natural and the human body is designed to run that way.

i already mentioned the increase in ldl in my comment above. im not sure the above posters reasons for calling that diet crap, but in general keto diets arent sustainable and otherwise provide no health benefit compared to a calorically equal diet with carbs. the human body is also not “designed” and i’d say physiologically that doesnt make sense - given the human bodies ability to store glycogen for energy id say its clear any “design” involves carbs as a great fuel, especially for runners.

What's wrong with statins?

While they are beneficial for many, I think some of us would prefer to avoid them if possible, because of potential side effects.

Google the portfolio diet. I dropped mine over 100 points in about a month by following this basic outline and keeping saturated fat between 5-10% of total calories. Good luck!