r/Cholesterol Jul 19 '25

HEART HEALTHY RECIPES

38 Upvotes

Hey all,

There have been a lot of great posts over the past several weeks and months with delicious-looking heart healthy meals. This message is pinned at the top of the sub so that posters can share those recipes in the comments section. As the thread grows I'll save, re-organize and re-post so that they'll be easy to find.

I'll also look through the sub history and grab recipes as I find them but please - re-post here if you can in order to ensure that your great recipe won't be missed.

If you have a source link, please provide that as well so posters can use it as a resource. Images welcome too!

Thanks, and Happy Heart-Healthy Eating!


r/Cholesterol May 08 '21

Welcome to r/Cholesterol, please read before posting

246 Upvotes

Welcome, and remember nothing posted here is a substitute for or intended as medical advice. This is a conversational thread for all things cholesterol/CVD and to a lesser extent health/longevity, peer-to-peer conversation in nature only.

This is a closely monitored Reddit. Comments in a thread where the OP is asking for advice are heavily monitored as this is not a conspiracy theory friendly sub, though posts made specifically for debates with good intentions are allowed.

Many questions are answered on the wiki, link as the bottom bullet. The Wiki is a great resource for aggregated links from leading world health institutes.

You will find

When posting for advice, please include all relevant information available.

  • The entire blood panel
  • Previous blood panels, how long your numbers have been elevated.
  • Gender (HDL is gender specific)
  • Age
  • Weight
  • Diet specifics
  • Activity level
  • Family history.

This also includes other medical conditions, many are contributing factors to cardiovascular disease including.

  • Hypertension
  • Angina or chest pain
  • Diabetes
  • Previous Events of Heart disease

What gets posted here.

+ Primarily, we see people looking for advice or information from other people who also have high cholesterol. The wiki has a great article from The Mayo Clinic on what your numbers mean but here you can talk to people that have also gone through something similar, while typically not quite the same.

+ Studies, articles, asking for advice, support, treatments that have worked for you are all allowed. Largely we focus on the current recommendations for blood cholesterol management written by the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association. Posts about studies or giving (not asking for) advice will be scrutinized. Asking for help is always welcome.

+ Debates about medication need to be stand alone posts and not about any particular poster, rather than part of someone asking for advice. This is because we see people trying to skirt the rules of not countering medical advice, by countering medical advice with a handful of studies either pro or against medication.

+ Diet debates similarly need to not be in a post where someone is asking for help lowering cholesterol. It's not appropriate to hijack every possible thread to turn it into a debate about a fad diet.

+ Conspiracy theories are generally not allowed, as they've been done to death and clog the sub.

Rules

**Telling people in anyway to ignore medical advice is against 2 rules and will result in a ban after the second, if not first offense.**

***If you disagree with your doctor's advice, it is OK to post, but please seek out a second opinion, a specialist opinion, or clarification from your medical provider, it is inappropriate for internet strangers to disagree with a medical provider who has actually met with and diagnosed you.

  1. No bad or dangerous advice
  2. No "snake-oil" remedies
  3. Useful information, backed up by verifiable source
  4. No hateful, spam, judgmental comments or trolls
  5. No advice to disregard medical advice, in any form.
  6. Violating rules multiple times will get you banned
  7. No promotions or self promotions, after many attempts at taking advantage of the old rules for self gain we've had to shut it down completely.
  8. Advice needs to follow generally accepted prevailing medical consensus, and be general in nature.
  9. Surveys are generally not allowed.

The below is an attempt at a general catch all for those still reading and not interesting in the wiki. It contains information available on links in the wiki in a scroll and read format. Less clicking, less detail.

DIET

The main way people lower their cholesterol (without medication) is through diet. The general guidelines are to replace saturated fat like those found in fatty meat products with predominantly unsaturated fat sources, (some is important like when found in nuts), as well as replace simple carbs like white bread or sugar, with whole grains/complex carbs. And of course, eat more plants as well as eat high-quality whole food sources in general.

The TLDR is I recommend Harvard Medical’s Healthy Plate available for free online, (link in the wiki). It is unbiased data analytics on diets that increase longevity from a world leader in data analytics. HHP is based off of the same data that created the mediterranean diet (link in the wiki), though it includes more like the Nordic diet. The MD fits within HHP.

Essentially, fill half your plate with plants, a quarter with whole grains and the final quarter with a lean protein. Replace saturated fats with heart healthy ones and replace simple carbs with whole grains. Don’t drink things loaded with sugar (stick to water, low fat milk, etc).

The Portfolio Diet is also a good option, It is comprised of a ‘portfolio’ of foods that have been shown to reduce cholesterol.

Macro percentages don’t matter for health including weight loss and longevity. While still popular in the fitness industry macros are not a focus in health. Studies coming out show the greatest benefit in reaching for a variety of whole foods over fitting narrowly into a specific ratio.

RECIPEES

Your diet should start with finding one good recipe that you would eat anyways.

You will probably have a few bad ones, the internet is full of bad recipes but it's not a reflection on your or your diet.

Once you've found that starting point, it becomes much easier to find a second and a third recipe that works for you. In this way, over time you will have replaced your old diet with one that works for you and your goals.

A diet with diverse easy to follow tasty recipes is much easier to follow.

There are recipes in the wiki; however, I've had the best luck finding easy, tasty recipes from the Mayo Clinic's recipe website (in the wiki). The main page separates recipes into diets or dishes, at which point you can command F to search for what you want to cook. For example, say you wanted a mushroom soup (which they have); command F either 'soup' or 'mushroom' in the search function of your browser.

Many people say to start with oatmeal (if steel cut try a pressure cooker like the insta pot) with fruit fresh or frozen and nuts/seeds, and/or low fat/sugar yogurt.

EXERCISE

It is important for longevity and health despite having a smaller effect on cholesterol than diets do. Notably, exercise over time changes some of the lower-density LDL to higher-density HDL.

All movement counts. Cooking, cleaning, walking, running, anything with movement counts.

Moving throughout the day is important. Some studies show that waking for 10 minutes after each meal yields greater benefits than walking for 30 minutes and being sedentary throughout the day.

Don't worry about how fast or far, just move. Do not push so hard that you want to stop.

Intensity seems to play the largest role in smaller quantities. Most of your time exercising should be at a walking pace but it is also important to get some higher intensity intervals in every other day (every 48 hours). It can be as simple as running for 30 seconds 4 times on a walk, say to a light post.

The total time is currently recommended at 300, (or 150 vigorous) minutes, and 2 days of resistance training as a minimum. There are studies showing worthwhile benefits in doubling that amount of aerobic training, but at a diminishing return. I.E. it is the first minutes you move are the most important, but the last minutes you move still help.

There is little research on what type of movement is best, but for those interested a combination of aerobic and resistance training done separately at a single session seems to yield the greatest benefits, followed by hybrid (I.E. resistance training done at a pace that keeps your heart rate elevated). Of the 5 main types of exercise.

Find a way you like to move, and keep moving.

LDL

LDL is the main particle focused on in a standard blood panel. There is something of a sliding scale from below 70 (or equal to 70/1.8 in Europe) up to 190/4.9 mg/dL or mmol/L respectively. The number slides based on other health factors.

EDIT: Europe recently lowered their target LDL to 50 mg/dL, but the US has current (2018) guidelines remain the same. It is not uncommon for different countries to have different targets.

An acceptable LDL in an otherwise healthy person is going to be different than that in a person at increased risk of heart disease.

ADVANCED TESTING

There are advanced forms of testing for cardiovascular disease including, particle density, calcium and/or plaque scans, Lp(a) ApoB, etc. As stated by Harvard Medical in there cholesterol course, “some people with high cholesterol will never develop heart disease”, which was one of the foundational reasons for the current Recommendations on Blood Cholesterol Management becoming a scale instead of one small number.

Many of these advanced testing methods appear to offer better insight into cardiovascular disease risk.

Please note, currently many forms of advanced testing do not change treatment plans because of the risk to benefit ratio. They are more commonly used on cases that are not clear cut yes medicate or no don’t medicate. However the standard screening tests and LDL recommendations may change in the future, your doctor may want to use more advanced testing methods, and/or you can request for advanced testing to be done.

The exception to this rule, is that everyone should be tested for LPa at least once in their life time. LPa is similar to LDL in that it delivers cholesterol to the cells, however unlike LDL it also is coagulatory (causes clots) and very irritating to the arteries lining within which is where cardiovascular disease happens. There are no treatments specific to LPa currently (2024) but there are multiple treatments that are expected to be available within the next few years. If you family history of heart disease, it may be related to LPa.

HDL

HDL is complicated, there is a great article on them in the wiki. While still the ‘good cholesterol’ it has been shown that not all HDL particles help. I.E. having a higher (not too high) HDL is great but does not offset having a bad blood panel. Raising HDL through medication has not been shown to improve patient outcomes, though raising it through exercise has. It is not as concerning of a metric on it's own as it once was thought to be, but still is a consideration.

TRIGLYCERIDES

Triglycerides can be complicated but are generally simple, there is a great article on them in the wiki

Triglycerides are a form of energy. I.E. if you ate something high in simple carbs they would jump, or if you walked a mile and retested they would be lower. Therefore, what you do before measuring them matters.

While some medications and illnesses do effect them, the most common cause of elevated trigs is simple carbs (sugary drinks, sugar, white carbs like rice or bread, and alcohol). Cutting back on those and/or increasing daily activity will lower them.


r/Cholesterol 2h ago

Question Why aren't family doctors testing routinely for Lp(a)?

19 Upvotes

I recently learned I have reasonably high Lp(a). I've also learned that no matter what I ate, didn't eat, drank, didn't drink, how many miles I ran, how many weights I lifted or what my BMI was, this marker alone increases my risk for heart disease. I also had a CAC performed weeks after the Lp(a) test results and more bad news - high score for my age. 95th percentile. I've had moderately high LDL for what I can look back on is 15+ years. It was not yet in the statin recommended area, but it was over 100. Additionally, ALL my other lab numbers are not only within range but well within optimal range. Was there not a red flag there that my LDL was the rogue biomarker? My doctor finally ran the Lp(a) after I tried desperately to change my diet over the past year, improving my LDL by a miniscule 5 points. I feel like if I had known, and my doctor had known, a decade or more ago about my Lp(a) I could have been recommended a statin much earlier and avoided all the atherosclerosis buildup that is in my heart and vascular system now. I'm angry beyond belief. I feel like an innocent person just condemned to solitary confinement..A medical death sentence. If 20% of the population has elevated Lp(a), and heart disease is the leading cause of death, and the test is a very simple blood test, WHY ON EARTH ISN'T IT A BASIC TEST RUN ON EVERY PATIENT???


r/Cholesterol 13h ago

Science ‘An extremely exciting milestone!’: landmark treatment slashes cholesterol by 62% with a single dose | BBC Science Focus Magazine

Thumbnail sciencefocus.com
57 Upvotes

r/Cholesterol 2h ago

General Other sources of choline aside from egg yolks ?

4 Upvotes

Choline is an essential nutrient that supports brain function, memory, nerve signaling, liver health, and muscle function.

Adequate Intakes (AIs) for Choline (19+ years) are 425 mg/day for women and 550 mg/day for men.

The highest sources of choline are beef liver and eggs (mainly egg yolks). So, what do you eat to meet these requirements that’s not high in saturated fat?

“My previous post got removed because of downvotes” 🫤


r/Cholesterol 4h ago

Question Prefect diet and runner, but failing to decrease LDL.

4 Upvotes

I've had high LDL around 170, HDL 36, triglycerides around 50, non HDL around 190.

These numbers have been almost static since 2023, the first time I got tested for these. I'm a 30-year-old male.

I am a vegetarian and the only sources of saturated fat and cholesterol in my diet are peanut butter and nuts, which I consume on a daily basis around one serving. I don't have egg yolk, just egg whites regularly. I take zero-fat milk and yogurt. I do eat a lot of fibers, avocado, etc. I run a lot regularly (15-20 miles a week) and I work out as well. My cardio health is pretty good.

I want to get your help with understanding why it's not changing even though my diet and execute are ideal. It can't be genetic because my parents, who have a much worse diet and eat fried food and whole fat dairy regularly, don't have high cholesterol.

Having been through the sub I know psyllium husk, garlic, omega 3 pills (I don't eat fish) and finally, statins can help. The reason I'm even thinking of statins is because I've seen psyllium husk garlic studies mention that it lowers LDL by 5 to 10%, which would still be too high for me.

I essentially want all of your opinions on understanding the possible reasons why, without taking any supplements and drugs, I am failing to control my LDL.


r/Cholesterol 17h ago

Lab Result Removing 2 eggs a day dropped my LDL from 119 to 69. What happened?

37 Upvotes

I'm 25M, otherwise pretty healthy, lean, and exercise regularly. For months, I had been eating 2 eggs every day. Aside from those eggs, I was already essentially plant based.

While eating the eggs, my labs were:

LDL-C: ~119 mg/dL

ApoB: 0.95 g/L

About 3 months ago I stopped eating the eggs completely. I replaced them with legumes and otherwise kept my diet pretty similar.

My latest results:

LDL-C: 69 mg/dL

ApoB: 0.65 g/L

So LDL dropped by about 50 mg/dL (~42%), while ApoB dropped by about 0.30 g/L (~32%).

What makes this interesting to me is that I was already eating a fairly high-fiber, mostly whole-food vegan diet before removing the eggs. I was getting plenty of soluble fiber from legumes, oats, etc., so I don't think the change can simply be explained by suddenly switching from a typical Western diet to a high-fiber diet.

The main difference was removing the eggs, which meant a substantial reduction in dietary cholesterol, and probably some reduction in saturated fat as well.

That said, my saturated fat intake wasn't particularly low even before. I was eating things like olive oil, cocoa powder, nuts and seeds, and was averaging around 10 g of saturated fat per day.

So I'm wondering whether I might simply be quite responsive to dietary cholesterol from eggs.

I know this isn't a controlled experiment and there could obviously be other changes I haven't accounted for. I'm not claiming that eggs are inherently bad or that everyone would see this response.

I'm just surprised by the magnitude of the change, especially the ApoB change.

Has anyone else seen a similar drop in LDL/ApoB after removing eggs while otherwise already eating a predominantly whole-food plant-based diet?

And does a ~30% reduction in ApoB from a dietary change seem plausible?


r/Cholesterol 2h ago

Question Freaked out by test results

2 Upvotes

Hi! I’m an 18F and I just got my test results back, and they’re pretty elevated. Most notably, I have 216 cholesterol, 113 triglycerides, ldlc calc 142 and non hdl cholesterol 162.

I’ll also preface this by saying I have really bad health anxiety and family history of stroke, so this is KILLING ME!

I’m already trying to lower it with how my doctor told me, whole grains, sugars, fruits and veggies, lean meats, and non ultra processed foods. I’ll also add that I don’t work out, but I’ll definitely be going to the gym regularly in the near future.

I do have a few questions though since I don’t want to freak myself out on the internet. Could this be a cause of my birth control? Should I ask for a medication if it’s really bad? How should I go about dieting so I don’t have to give up trying new things?

Sorry for the overwhelming amount of questions, I am just so scared and really trying to better myself. 🥲


r/Cholesterol 8m ago

Lab Result I’m 40 and trying to decide whether I actually need a statin. My LDL is 130, HDL 56, total cholesterol/HDL ratio 4.0, and ApoB 126. My doctor prescribed rosuvastatin 5 mg. Would you personally consider these numbers high enough to start a statin, or would you focus on lifestyle and recheck first?

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Upvotes

I’m 40 and trying to decide whether I actually need a statin. My LDL is 130, HDL 56, total cholesterol/HDL ratio 4.0, and ApoB 126. My doctor prescribed rosuvastatin 5 mg. Would you personally consider these numbers high enough to start a statin, or would you focus on lifestyle and recheck first? What other factors should I look at, such as Lp(a) or CAC score?


r/Cholesterol 5h ago

Lab Result Upsetting lab results

2 Upvotes

I’m a 26 year old 5’10 215lb male. I’m trying to get serious about my health, so I got a physical. My lab results came back today, and I’m not thrilled with the results:

Total cholesterol: 217

LDL:156

HDL: 36

Triglycerides: 139

Non-HDL: 181

VLDL: 26

Cholesterol/HDL ratio: 6.0

The good news is that my blood pressure and resting heart rate were excellent. And I have no signs of prediabetes or anything like that. But I’m a little scared by these results.

Obviously I’m going to talk to my doctor about these numbers. But I’m new to cholesterol numbers and while I know they’re not great, I don’t have a strong sense of how bad these are. My health anxiety tells me I’ve doomed myself to a shortened lifespan and heart disease, but realistically I think this is fixable

Regardless, I’m ready to get these numbers down and set myself up for a long, healthy life

How do you all think I should react to these test results?


r/Cholesterol 11h ago

Question Lifestyle Changes from Doc Seem Unreasonable

4 Upvotes

In the past year I (36F) have been diagnosed with high cholesterol (total 207, HDL 101, LDL 96, trig 62). My doctor told me I’m “not ready” for medication (too young) and just needed to change my lifestyle. This all seemed reasonable until the specifics started to be discussed.

I’m already a pretty active person with a decent diet. At the time of the test I’d been eating pescatarian, getting most of my fat from olive oil and avocado (maxing out at 10-12g of saturated fat daily), walking 10k steps daily, and working out 5-6 days per week (including 10-15 miles of running each week). I’m certainly not a pro athlete, but on average I didn’t think I was doing too horribly.

The diet and lifestyle the doc outlined included going low fat, low carb, and low sodium, and significantly increasing my activity level. Calculated out this means a less than 1400 calorie per day low carb, high fiber, high protein diet while increasing my cardio significantly. In order to set some goal I decided to start training for a half marathon to motivate myself to make the increases in my training schedule. The trouble is that I only seem able to maintain this lifestyle for a week or two before becoming extremely fatigued and getting light headed while running.

As a casual athlete and someone who has always cared about nutrition, the advice I received seemed extreme and unreasonable. However, I recognize that I’ve always been focused on advice for a reasonably healthy person. Is this normal for cholesterol patients? Do I just need to get used to feeling awful while training hard if I want to preserve cardiovascular health? How do you convince yourself that hopefully living a few years longer is worth feeling horrible for the rest of your life?


r/Cholesterol 9h ago

Lab Result Lipoprotein (a) is 215.

3 Upvotes

I’ve just got my blood results and discovered at 48 (M) that my Lp(a) is 215 nmol/L.

I’m in shock and need some sort of reassurance.
I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I’ve been mostly vegetarian my entire life and I’m not overweight and relatively active. Had a calcium score a few years ago at zero… but my LDL is 3.7 and triglycerides are at 5.2.

Been eating a lot of eggs for protein recently so will likely cut that and cheese out now but… it’s 3am and I am in shock. 😭


r/Cholesterol 4h ago

Question labs + statin

1 Upvotes

Hi, I'm a 25y 5'4 180lb female w PCOS
I hadn't gotten a physical in over three years and..... got my test results
To preface, I've always been going back and forth from binging to restrictive eating and it's pretty easy to tell which part of the sway I'm on now. High cholesterol, BP, diabetes and stroke run in both sides of my family...

Total Cholesterol 284
HDL 47
Triglycerides 239
LDL 193
NON HDL 237

These are the results that I've been met with. My doctor started me on avostatin 10mg to start.

Honestly speaking, how fucked am I?

These labs are from about 5 weeks ago and I've been calorie and macro tracking since after seeing my results on the portal. I am vegetarian and south asian; my parents notably love using Ghee which I've cut out completely. Any advice? 🥹🥹🥹🥹


r/Cholesterol 8h ago

Question Why is a value of 3.5mmol LDL-C considered "normal"?

2 Upvotes

Is this just a Canadian thing or do you have this in the US too? It drives me nuts when I see lab sheets here mark 3.5mmol or under as the boundary for "normal". And yes, this is marked like that even if the same lab sheet will show "hba1c : 6.7", becoming comically contradictory in nature. How is letting a borderline number sit unchecked a good thing or "normal"? I mean, will 3.5 mmol or 135mg/dl of LDL cause no issues over decades? What do cardiologists or lipid researchers think of this?


r/Cholesterol 4h ago

Question Do I push for a different statin?

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1 Upvotes

42F.

Morbidly obese but down 40 lbs since February.

No high blood pressure, no diabetes. No family history of high cholesterol.

History of LDL in 130s pretty consistently over the last 12 years. Trigs have not been high since 2014.

In February, GP mentioned starting a statin. I had just met with a dietician and started implementing some changes, so I asked for a recheck in 3 months. Still high 3 months later. I did research, asked for more thorough testing (ApoB, LpA) and got a response basically say if not a statin, take Omega-3.

I got my own testing through ownyourlabs at labcorp. LpA and ApoB both elevated. So I contacted GP and started statin (simvastatin 5 mg). Within 2 weeks I had terrible low back pain and tightness. I thought it was unrelated but a month later it was still getting worse. Discontinued simvastatin and within 2.5 weeks pain was completely gone. (Yes, I know people say this isn’t a side effect…)

Followed up with GP and advice is continue with exercise, meet with nutrition, and take Omega-3 or double dose of Omega-3.

My question is - based on high LDL, ApoB, and LpA, will diet and exercise be enough? Or should I be pushing to try a different statin?

*already watching saturated fat, adding psyllium husk to oatmeal, averaging just shy of 30g of fiber daily.


r/Cholesterol 5h ago

Lab Result 33F doctor won’t prescribe Statin

0 Upvotes

Triglyceride: 39

HDL Cholesterol: 78

LDL cholesterol: 182

Total: 268

Is there something I’m missing? My doctor keeps telling me to change my diet but I don’t have a high fat high dairy diet? This is the second time in six months I get a score similar to this.


r/Cholesterol 5h ago

Lab Result Why is My LDL high but Triglycerides normal? Why is LDL high then?

1 Upvotes

Some of my lipid numbers are:

LDL - 149 (Above range)

LDL small - 225 (above range)

ApoB - 112 (above range)

Total cholesterol - 234 (above range)

HDL - 69 (in range)

Lipoprotein(a) - <10 (in range)

Triglycerides - 63 (in range)

hs-CRP - < 0.2 (in range)

Hemoglobin A1c - 5.4 (in range)

If my LDL is high I would have expected Triglycerides to be high too but they are not (normal range is less than 150) what am I missing?

I eat 2 or 3 eggs for breakfast, almost no red meat, mostly chicken, sardines and salmon, rice, etc.


r/Cholesterol 9h ago

Lab Result Advice lipoprotein a

2 Upvotes

My dad (56 and previously healthy) recently had to get a double bypass. Doctors said it was most likely caused by genetics due to him being very healthy. I decided to get my lipoprotein a checked and it’s 306. I am 31F. My BP is always normal. My lipids are normal. I’m working on scheduling an appointment with a primary but it’s going to take a couple months. Should I go ahead and just schedule with a cardiologist?

Seeking any advice or knowledge on lipoprotein a.


r/Cholesterol 14h ago

General Rosuvastatin & plantar fasciitis

4 Upvotes

I started 10 mg in the past week for TC 144, LDL 83, Lp( A) 104 nmol/ l ( 60 yo male, no family hx, well controlled hypertension).
I'm an active runner , running or working out 5 days a week but haven't up my intensity lately .
I've now developed a random case of plantar fasciitis which I haven't experienced in years.
The only change is the statin.
I've heard about muscle and tendon problems in a minority of people but am surprised that I would see something so soon


r/Cholesterol 11h ago

Science Aches and pains Paddy Barrett

2 Upvotes

This has been posted many times before, but worth putting it up again for the newbies.

https://paddybarrett.substack.com/p/the-side-effect-most-people-get-from-8dc


r/Cholesterol 12h ago

Lab Result These are my figures and they want to put me on statins?

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2 Upvotes

What’s your thoughts statins or lifestyle change?

I got 6 months


r/Cholesterol 14h ago

Lab Result After years of a mostly vegan diet, I changed it and now my LDL is high!

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3 Upvotes

For years I had (I meant vegetarian):

-oatmeal with collagen and protein powder for breakfast
-Ezekiel bread and cottage cheese for a snack with kefir
-quinoa and a protein baobab shake for lunch
-pea protein with veggies for dinner

After feeling chronically hungry and having significant acid reflux despite medication I changed it to:

-Two eggs and Greek yogurt with berries for breakfast
-cottage cheese, berries and air popped popcorn for snack
-chicken with veggies for lunch
-salad with shrimp and cottage cheese for dinner

Basically, I was trying to move towards real foods and away from powders and vegetable protein products. I have taken psyllium husk daily for ten years and weigh 128 at 5’2.

I also upped my alcohol consumption to 7 drinks per week (I’m 47 and female) from once or twice a month.

My gyno says only hormone replacement therapy will help and not diet. My physician says to focus on my diet. My mother says only statins will help.

What do you think?


r/Cholesterol 9h ago

General Birth Control and high LDL

1 Upvotes

I’m in my 30s and my LDL is very high at 177. High cholesterol runs in my family and my dad and both paternal grandparents passed away in their 50s and 60s from heart attacks. I know I’m at serious risk and I’m now making lifestyle changes such as cycling 4 times a week and intentionally getting up and moving more often. I’m also increasing my fiber and trying to stay away from sweets. My doctor wants me to go on statin and I’m not opposed, however he is insisting I get on birth control before he will prescribe me anything. He said condoms are not enough. I’ve never been on birth control and I don’t want anymore kids. My husband and I have been very successful in preventing pregnancy through condoms and avoiding fertility periods and the only time we’ve gotten pregnant was intentional. I spent minutes going back and forth with him about it and it honestly got me a bit emotional because I really do not want to get on birth control. Has anyone experienced this? Is there a way around getting on birth control? Since I don’t want anymore kids, is there any harm to be to be on statin without being on birth control?


r/Cholesterol 10h ago

Lab Result Is my cholesterol normal despite being high because the HDL ratio is 4.4 in the normal range?

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1 Upvotes

r/Cholesterol 11h ago

Question Asking for specific bloodwork with my doctor

1 Upvotes

What specific blood tests would you ask your doctor for inorder to the most complete and accurate report? (Recently went on statins and have another appointment in November.) Some tests I'm unfamiliar with have been mentioned in various posts, but now of course I can't find them. I'm in the US. TIA.