Do you limit saturated fat? If so, how many grams per day?
I am limiting my sat fat to about 10 grams (max) per day. The thing I am missing the most is cheese. OH! I do miss cheese. I switched to lf cheese, but still need to keep it to about 6 ounces per week in order to stay in line.
The meat I eat is all very lean. (I have been on a ground turkey breast kick lately- 99% lean.) I don't eat many sweets of processed food, so I am ok there. Eggs are limited too. Peanut Butter has about 2 g per tablespoon. As long as I stay away from cheese most days, I seem to do fine. But, did I mention that I do miss my cheese?!
The NMR test this article discusses was one of the first tests I had after my sister died. My numbers were actually worse than the ones cited in the article. The NMR is WAY more telling than a standard lipid panel.
Laura, It sounds like you are on your way to sifting through all of this. I like hearing about how you (and others) are taking steps to become educated about health. These are fun discussions for me to have!
I was thinking about you today and your concerns. One of the things that comes up a lot is weight as a risk factor. You've done an AWESOME job losing weight slowly - plus you are keeping it off. I bet that losing the additional 25 pounds will make a huge, positive impact on your health/risk factors.
1. Cholesterol/lipid tests are cheap and easy to do. Thus they are done all the time. Thus, we/doctors/everybody tend to give the numbers more weight than they may deserve.
2. Half of the people who have a heart attack have "normal" cholesterol numbers. (this is a good article that explains how that can be)
And many, many people with "bad" cholesterol numbers never have heart disease symptoms or heart attacks... or they have them at 97, like my grandmother.
3. There are MANY, MANY other factors besides cholesterol numbers that are a factor... like smoking, family history, etc, etc, etc.
Sometimes I have to take a step back and remember that this is ONE test... and to use the information and try and do the best I can, but it is one test and it is predictive rather than determinative. It predicts who might, statistically, have a heart attack or develop heart disease. It doesn't determine that you will.
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
Thanks, Sandy. I'll probably pick your brain after talking to my RD.
Let me see if I can hit all your questions:
My glucose was 80.
Yes, premenopausal.
I eat 2 homemade cookies per day, limit fats & rarely eat any meat skin/fat. My diet is mostly chicken and really lean beef. Some fish, tons of veg & fruit. Mostly whole grains (mostly brown rice, bulgar, quinoa, and Barilla plus pasta). I never buy any commercial baked goods other than an occasional loaf of bread, and now with my new bread cookbook, that will probably end. I also make my own yogurt, so I get 4 oz. every day (topped with KD's granola because I need some crunch to my "textureless foods"). Breakfast is almost always either Kashi cereal or homemade multigrain pancakes.
I thought I pretty much limited my saturated fat simply by nature of my normal diet. I only use real butter when I make a batch of cookies (which I use a 50/50 split of shortening & butter), and usually end up with a 4-5 small bite cookie when I'm done.
The only consistent sat. fat would be when I make grilled cheese (I'm going through a spurt right now), and that is a 3/4 oz. slice per sandwich. I use smart balance spread most of the time on veg, and anything that I used to put butter on. I eat 2-3 eggs total per week.
Life is like a roller coaster, with lots of ups and downs, but the curves, spirals, loops and corkscrews are what make life interesting.
It's likely that you doc will not red flag you for further testing because your total cholesterol is under 200 and you are (I think) premenopausal. The vast majority of women are protected from heart attack by hormones until menopause.
For me, weight loss did not budge my cholesterol numbers much. For many people weight loss makes a big difference. 25 pounds is significant and could change your numbers.
Regarding the triglycerides---- do you take fish oil? It does work to lower tri's. I can say more if you are interested.
If you do want to pursue more testing and would like to discuss it with me- just let me know. (I've posting most of the testing options I have had here, but if you have specific questions, I am happy to share more.) As I said, though, you are not a red flagger so getting further testing might not be paid for.
Do you limit saturated fat? It's amazing how quickly one can chalk up 10-15 grams per day. Do you avoid all trans fat?
Waist circumference matters- are you below 35 inches. (BTW, you measure your waist at the top of your hip bone.)
Do you know your fasting glucose number? That will effect lipid numbers- especially tri's.
Originally posted by Brie: I think Sandy is really good proof that sometimes no matter what you are doing with lifestyle, genetic predisposition can be much stronger.
Has your profile significantly improved since your last test? If the numbers are getting better, I would think that continuing to lose weight/exercise/eating well will continue to help those numbers. If they're the same, maybe there is a genetic component out of your control.
I certainly wouldn't be panicking about those numbers though ; )
I'm pretty certain they are way down, but I'm going to have to check with my RD. She should have the old ones written down somewhere.
Life is like a roller coaster, with lots of ups and downs, but the curves, spirals, loops and corkscrews are what make life interesting.
I think Sandy is really good proof that sometimes no matter what you are doing with lifestyle, genetic predisposition can be much stronger.
Has your profile significantly improved since your last test? If the numbers are getting better, I would think that continuing to lose weight/exercise/eating well will continue to help those numbers. If they're the same, maybe there is a genetic component out of your control.
I certainly wouldn't be panicking about those numbers though ; )
Out of our beliefs are born deeds; out of our deeds we form habits; out of our habits grows our character; and on our character we build our destiny.
Okay, I'm mostly looking for brain-picking here, at least until I get to my RD next week. I got my cholesterol levels checked. Overall, 199. Good cholesterol, 50. Bad cholesterol, 126. Triglycerides, 117. I'm out of all the "warning, go to your doctor now" categories, even being in the near optimal for the bad cholesterol category.
I already eat most of the stuff they tell you to eat. Can I safely assume I'm fine, that those numbers will self-adjust as I keep working to drop the remaining 25 pounds? I'm mostly posting simply because I started doing some (slightly irrationally panicked how do I get these numbers down more) research and figured out that I'm doing pretty darn well with the diet and exercise recommendations now.
Life is like a roller coaster, with lots of ups and downs, but the curves, spirals, loops and corkscrews are what make life interesting.
Originally posted by GoingSkiing: … but she was almost 98. I should be so lucky.
I should be so lucky too! Amen to 98!
I have grappled a lot with balancing the pleasure and quality of my life vs. being a super freak about the best health possible. I hear what you are saying about quality vs quantity. I am at a point where I weigh a very healthy weight and have been maintaining for some time, I am exercising at least 5-6 days per week at a pretty intense level, I eat well 90% of the time. I COULD cut out all cheese, exercise 7 days per week, morph my diet more and meditate 40 minutes per day, but I am just not willing to go that far- it seems like a good balancing point for me.
Originally posted by Sandy: The more I read, the more I think that "perfect numbers" are super, super low (at least from an American perspective)--- something like 110-120 total cholesterol with ldl around 50-70. That's where they try to keep people with heart disease.
We accept cholesterol much higher.
Yeah... a few Google Searches can make a person's head spin trying to figure out "normal", "average", "healthy", etc, etc, etc.
When I was a vegan, I heard Dr. John McDougall (http://www.drmcdougall.com/free.html) say that virtually nobody with a total cholesterol under 150 has a heart attack. (He thinks that NOBODY should be on statins or meds… and it is ALL diet and lifestyle… of course, his diet is REALLY strict.)
My numbers might be lower if I wasn’t an American… but then my life expectancy might be 47 from some other cause of death. Or numbers might be lower if I was a vegan. However, it is all a big balancing act to figure out “quality” of life, vs. “quantity” of life, and was is “realistic” and what is not “realistic” and especially given that I AM an American in 2009. And then weighing up all of our individual health risks… and cost to benefit ratio on an individual basis and on a national basis.
I don’t know… my grandmother died of a heart attack… and the FIRST warning that she had any heart disease was the heart attack that killed her… but she was almost 98. I should be so lucky.
I suppose, for right now, I’ll “just keep doing what I’ve been doing” until told other wise or if my individual risk changes.
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
Considering most of my friend's my age are seeing their chol/blood numbers get worse and worse... I should be pretty happy with "some" improvement, I suppose!
The more I read, the more I think that "perfect numbers" are super, super low (at least from an American perspective)--- something like 110-120 total cholesterol with ldl around 50-70. That's where they try to keep people with heart disease.
We accept cholesterol much higher.
I agree that improvement is good- you've done a really good job with your weight, food and exercise. BTW, I have also learned that keeping a consistent weight is super important to heart health. Gaining and losing even 10 pounds again and again is very hard on your cardiovascular system. You are generally very stable with weight-
The comment about lipid numbers increasing made me think about a discussion I had with a doc who said that some medical circles think that statins ought to be given out very routinely for people with even even "normal" cholesterol levels of 150-200 because there will still be build up in most people (depending on size and density of particles) --- the statins would slow the build up process and stablilize plaques that have already formed.
I'm not saying I agree or disagree--- just something to think about.
I am REALLY logging of now and will stop the lipid talk.
Denise, I do not think those numbers are bad at all. I know that the 200 total marker is where docs start to worry. You fall below that.
Your triglycerides are GREAT. I know that the web cite you posted says that 150 is the "max normal" for tri, but every doc I have talked to in the past months has told me that it is super important to keep them below 100.
Obviously you don't have a strong family hx for heart disease, but if you are interested to know more, there is a simple blood test that can look at the size and density of the lipids to see more clearly what you risk is.
OK---- I am going to stop typing as I could go on and on about lipid testing and results and what numbers mean and do not mean. Too much can be too much.
Originally posted by Brie: What were you hoping to see different Denise? "Keep doing what you are doing" sounds really good to me ; )
Oh... you know... "better" (aka as "perfect!") total cholesterol. "More" Good/HDL cholesterol. "Less" Lousy/LDL cholesterol.
Considering most of my friend's my age are seeing their chol/blood numbers get worse and worse... I should be pretty happy with "some" improvement, I suppose!
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
I had lipid test on Friday (and just got home from skiing, like 12 mins ago )
I'm sort of bummed by my over-all results. However, I am VERY, VERY pleased by the change in my tryglis.
And I suppose I AM 5-10 years older from past tests... and my numbers are either getting better... or staying about the same, at worst. And at age 41, I was being threatened with chol meds (or a life style change...) and now I'm just being told, "Keep up the good work!".
Age 1999 41 2004 46 2009 51
Weight 1999 probably 150ish on my way up to 160ish BMI 27.4 2004 probably 140ish on my way down BMI 25.6 2009 123.5 and maintaining BMI 22.6
Originally posted by GoingSkiing: I try and limit saturated and trans fats.
Ideally, I like to stay at around 10 g. a day... but sometimes don't and go way over (like eating pizza or a cheese burger or something like that... usually food "out")
I have days when it goes way up too- like when I eat beef or go out for dinner.
I've been looking at my food values (calories, sat fat) in terms of a week's worth. I find that if I can average 10 g per day with sat fat, I am ok.
If I know I am going to eat a burger, I can stay very clean a few days before in order to limit calories and sat fat.
Looking at a week's worth of grams or fat or whatever helps me fit in some splurges while still staying true to me health goals. If I am clean most days, I don't do damage with some splurges.
P.S. I hope the cholesterol results are positive. Since I have gone on meds, my total cholesterol has dropped to 150-160. This is still too high for me and I have upped my meds, but it has been nice to see the levels drop even this far. Plus, the REALLY cool thing is that the size of my LDL particles has increased-- a VERY good thing.
Ideally, I like to stay at around 10 g. a day... but sometimes don't and go way over (like eating pizza or a cheese burger or something like that... usually food "out")
I measure out my half and half. 40 g. half and half has 2 g. of sat fat, and I use 10-20 g. of half and half.
I cut WAY back on cheese after I saw a reg. dietician. I mostly buy low fat. But even low fat has sat fat. Even olive oil has sat fat.
I also try and watch bakery baked goods although, I'm planning on having a donut on Friday... but I think that I eat 2-3 donuts a year now.
But it all kind of adds up... Donuts 2-3 times a year. A meal out once a week. Dessert 2-3 times a week (although I'm good about portion sizes and also planning a dessert that is low in sat fat and/or fruit based.
I'm interested to know how cholesterol test will turn out. Last one I had was 5 years ago and I was 15 lbs heavier and (I think) eating fewer fruits and vegs and beans. Will, have to see.
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
Judy, I tend to be more free with the" better for me" fats like walnuts, EVOO, flax- stuff like that-- It's the saturated fat that really does a number to my cardiovascular system.
I also end up at about 25-30% of my total calories from fat- just trying to keep it to really healthful fat.
research and figured out that I'm doing pretty darn well with the diet and exercise recommendations now.
