YOU'RE KIDDING MEEEEE
ARRRRGHHHHHHH
I just spent 6 weeks backpacking this summer and thought for sure I would come home healthier than a clam. (Is a clam healthy?) So since my husband and I are getting ready to have kids, :D , I went to my midwife to have my pre-conception blood work done. She and I laughed about checking my cholesterol "just to see how low it is", considering it's always been really low and, again, I just spent 6 weeks out on the trail!
So instead, she calls me back saying that my cholesterol has JUMPED up...some serious points. We're both shocked. I'm flipping shocked. She was thinking that all the pasta and rice made my triglycerides skyrocket, but now as I think about it, we ate a TON of cheese...almost with every meal. So I'm sure that had a lot to do with this, too.
ARGH I'm so bummed. And I know I shouldn't be- I know that I'll get it back down, but STILL. I try to be so healthy and I have done so well to combat my family history- but now I feel like I have to try even harder and that sucks because I'm such a foodie. Now I'm looking at EVERYTHING I eat and wondering if any of its okay.
Sorry to vent...I'm just really frustrated about this and wondering what I'm supposed to do next. It's hard to plan a menu when I feel like everything is bad for me......
(p.s. and I know it's not all bad, and I know there are great options out there for me...I think I'm clearly just needing a pity party right now!!!) HA!
Thanks for listening!
Great motivation for making the vegan transition! Right?! Read the China Study for some great info, and look around here for some great recipes. You'll feel great, and I bet your cholesterol will quickly level itself out! (scientific advice, huh?) :)
I agree with reading The China Study, probably the best book ever written about nutrition, health
I agree. Dropping animal foods (and hydrogenated oils) will do the trick in no time! Also, eating lots of healthy high-fiber foods will assist your body as well. If you just do that, you will have nothing to worry about... Good luck!
Ditto! I fealt a ton better once I ditched dairy. It's been a month and I don't even LIKE cheese anymore. Really. I tried some the other day, it was nasty.
As far as vegan foods though, limit things with high saturated fat. As someone already said, hydrogenated oils, but also things that contain coconut or palm oil. A little is fine, but if you're looking to lose some cholesterol points.
Just out of curiosity, what was the number? I don't know if by jumped up you mean that it's now in the bad region, or if it just got higher but is still good. I.e., when I was in college (eating hydrogenated college foods) my cholesterol was 145-147, but at home it's been 140. Neither number is bad, though.
When I went vegan my cholesterol dropped by a hundred. Just saying.
I realize I'm going to sound like a broken record here but going vegan is probably the best thing you can do. About a year and a half ago when I was still ovo-lacto-veg. my cholesterol shot up to 238. I was a cheese-aholic and ate a hard boiled egg almost everyday for breaky. I dropped the eggs and cut the cheese in half and was down to 201 in two months. Several months later I went vegan (Nov. 2008) and last check was 187.
Another thing, how are your thyroid/TSH levels? It was when my cholesterol skyrocketed for no apparent reason that they ran more tests and discovered I have thyroid disease.
When do they plan to recheck your cholesterol? Try being devotedly vegan, avoid hydrogenated oils and such until then and relax, knowing you are doing everything right. I'll bet anything you will be "rewarded" with your cholesterol back down where it belongs then. Is your midwife advising postponing pregnancy until the numbers improve or is that not a concern?
Nice...thanks! I was vegan for a while a few years ago and loved it. Most recently I've been back on the vegetarian end of the spectrum- but I'm not going to lie, as soon as I got the numbers I immediately thought of going right back to vegan. And thanks for all the other advice- my TSH was fine and my numbers were borderline high...Partly because my HDL's shot up quite a bit from all the hiking, but my LDL's and triglycerides shot up much more because of all of the pasta, rice and cheese that we ate on the trail all summer. I know it will come back down, it's just quite the shock! I eat such a healthy diet and after all that backpacking...crazy!!! It's all good, though- you're all right...vegan is definitely the way to go. Thanks for your advice and for confirming what I've been thinking. Appreciate it!!!
if u went vegan (ur profile doesn't specify if u r or aren't) i believe ur cholesterol would easily decline since vegans don't consume anything with cholesterol in it... anything without a liver doesn't contain cholesterol... veggies=no liver= no cholesterol :)
Shea,
I'm an oatmeal junkie! That and cream of wheat...love it! And I mix in lots of goodies...prunes, sliced almonds, flaxseed, wheat germ...sooooooooo good. Those two breakfasts make my morning so happy! Thanks for the advice!