Lowering Cholesterol

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Jordan,
My blood work just came back and showed the following for cholesterol:
Total: 213 (Normal range <200)
HDL: 48 (Normal range >40)
LDL: 139 (Normal range <130)
Triglyceride: 136 (Normal range <150)

The recommendation from my doctor was “Cholesterol was slightly elevated, you need to follow a low fat/low cholesterol diet”, accompanied by an info packet containing such pearls of wisdom as “instead of eating French fries, try a baked potato”. While good advice, this is not terribly useful for me as I have been following the recommendations from To Be A Beast, and fat is ~22% of my total calories with saturated fat coming almost entirely from my meat-based protein sources (predominantly chicken breast). I already get plenty of fiber (>50g/day, which is perhaps too high) and eat 6 servings of fruits and veggies plus 1.5 servings of almonds per day. Weekends and holidays are less strict, but not egregiously so; it’s not like I binge on bacon fried in coconut oil.

Based off your previous forum recommendations and what I can find on PubMed, it looks like my courses of action (COA) are as follows:

COA1a - Replace the roasted chickpeas I currently eat with roasted edamame (potential 3-4% HDL reduction from soy protein)
COA1b - Replace the whey protein in my morning smoothie with soy protein (same as COA1a)
COA2 - Reduce waist circumference from 37" to 35"
COA3 - Add plant sterols (2g/day total) in supplement form (potential 5% HDL reduction)

Are any or all of these advisable in your opinion? Do you have any other suggestions for lowering cholesterol?

Thanks,
Rob

P.S. Age 37, height 5’9", weight 207 lbs.with no family history of hypercholesterolemia

1 Like
2

Hey Rob,

Thanks for this and I hope you’re doing well.

To answer your questions:

1a, 1b and 3 ) I don’t think soy protein or supplementing plant sterols are likely going to make a difference
2) Yes

I think your saturated fat intake is a bit high, as I’d like to see it about 7-10% of total daily calories.

Adding conditioning may help independent of weight loss.

1 Like
3

Currently I do one 30 minute session per week of moderate intensity cardio (empty prowler push at a brisk walk). Am I better served by more of the same, HIIT, or does it not matter?

4

Yea, I would be working towards 150-300 min/wk of moderate intensity conditioning. If you do HIIT, that number falls to 75-150 min/wk. Not all of that is formal exercise, but many folks aren’t active outside of formal exercise either.

1 Like