Charlotte_15's Journal, 10 May 2018

First of all, high BP, type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol CAN all carry a family pre disposition. HOWEVER, take a critical look at your family members who have these types of issues. Are they overweight. Do they follow a well balanced diet or are they fast food eaters and high fat, high salt eating people. Those factors play an equally important role in developing the afflictions that are concerning you. Your choice is determine what direction you would like to point your life and your health in regardless of what others around you are doing. It’s hard and it can be done. You and I have communicated before a couple of times. I have helped many people achieve lifestyle changes and most of them were obese, diabetic (type 2] and were on statins. They were all very fortunate to be able to reverse those processes before they became permanent. These people all did WOE that pretty much followed the ADA and American Heart recommendations. I know, I know there are people here that have had no success doing that. If your family has high cholesterol issues in the absence of poor diets, lack of exercise, etc, there could be a stronger genetic component and diet alone may never be able to correct rising cholesterol levels. this scenario would most likely be from a northern European or Scandinavian ancestry. That would be a case for you to have your cholesterol levels monitored regularly.  

Kenna, it's interesting to see that through diet people were able to stop taking statins. From your comment I would have to assume that for my family it is a predisposition. I have looked at the American Heart recommendations just now and I would say it is what I follow. I have spent the last few months monitoring my micro nutrients on another site and I am satisfied that I don't have to anymore. Thanks Kenna, at least I will know that I tried if it does happen to me. 

I admire you for taking a proactive approach to staying as healthy and medication free as is feasible. Goodnight. 

yes. and people quickly. you can choose either low fat raw vegan or ketosis AIP diets. both work extremely well.  

My parents were able to do this by becoming vegetarians. They still eat fish and eggs (not very often) and no dairy. I'm hoping that I can prevent ever having to start taking medication by eating vegetarian as well. I have to say it hasn't been easy making the change but it helps that I can't have dairy any way.  

I was able to by eating lots of garlic or taking garlic pills.  

Thank you Kasiexo, Simma and Cottage Bound! I know I sound obsessive but everyone close to me takes medication and they take anti-depressants as well. Kenna for this reason I really admire the people on this site who are here to eat healthier. I feel that it is almost inevitable that I will be told by a doctor that my time has come to take medication for cholesterol. It looks like different diets could help unless I am predisposed.  

I read a lot of research, and cholesterol is now considered completely irrelevant. Read about a very active 82 year old doctor that have had diabetes type 1 since 12 year old, and all he have done is to keep carbs to a minimum to manage it. A lot of people with type 2 heal themself by keeping carbs to a minimum. Fat is used to replace the energy lost by going low on carbs.  

I have detailed cholesterol panels performed twice a year. I meet with and review the panel results with an RN as part of a cardiac clinic. This is the proactive part of heart disease. Foods to reduce LDL for example; flax seed, plant stanols, Benecol spread, walnuts(in moderation), and working toward 25 grams of fiber. So these things work well to reduce the overall number of LDL. Moving toward a more plant based diet also improves your cholesterol numbers. 3 years of visits, no meds, with a family history(non-modifiable risk factor) with modifiable risk factors I control through diet and exercise. Modifiable risk factors controlled through diet and exercise for me: No HBP, no smoking, good to excellent HDL numbers, excellent tri- glyceride numbers, and reduce stress. The only number slowly coming down is the small particle LDL number. So a genetic predisposition may ultimately lead to a statin. You can always request an advanced lipid profile and hopefully you find a RN(ideally someone working through the NLA--National Lipid Association) to assist in understanding the numbers and your risk factors. Best of luck and continued health.  

I’m sure it depends on the severity of such. But majority of people’s cholesterol levels normalize & drop after they lose weight, since after significant body fat loss happens, majority of other problems slow down or stop completely as well, such as diabetes etc. so I’m sure that cholesterol related levels would also do the same thing after weight is lost 👍🏻 

Thank you Diddlee, Terrapin12 and Deadpool12345. Diddlee I have also read as much as I could on the subject of cholesterol. I have seen the video "The cholesterol question" where one person's condition worsened when he did not take the medication. If ever I do get type 2 diabetes I will certainly change my diet if I have to. Going low carb would be very difficult for me and one reason is that I hardly eat any meat. I looked into the keto diet since everyone seems to feel great on it and it was so tempting but I hate eggs, butter and milk products although I am trying to have them sometimes. Terrapin, thank you for the information. The foods that you listed are food that I eat except for the Benecol. ( I had to look it up) I can certainly improve my way of life! I thought oats were good to lower cholesterol but perhaps I was wrong. Deadpool, the people in my family who take medication for cholesterol and high blood pressure do not have a weight problem and one person is extremely active. I'm not too worried about BP since mine is closer to the "Low". The fact is that it can happen to anyone. There are side effects to medication and I would really like to avoid them. Thank you everyone!! 

Glad to read that you are seeking a non medical solution. 

Try high carb whole food plant based diet. 60% raw. More leafy greens