Cholesterol and blood pressure

[Sun_Worshiper]

I went to the doctor last week and was disturbed to learn that my blood pressure and cholesterol have gone through the roof ("through the roof" is an overstatement, but they are both on the high side). I exercise, have a mostly good diet, and am young(ish), so I was quite surprised. My doctor says it is not anything too worrisome, for now, and she doesn't want to prescribe medicine, but I'd still like to get those numbers down a bit.

Any tips for a healthy person to bring down bad cholesterol and/or bring up good?

[Parasaurolophus]

How's your salt intake? Meat? Cheese? Coffee? And what did you eat in the 48 hours or so before being tested? All that can have an impact on your results. So can weight, insofar as higher weight = higher BP (this is sometimes expressed in terms of BMI, but BMI is a garbage statistic; what matters for BP is weight, not your weight-height ratio compared to the average from forever ago).

But you might also just have a genetic predisposition to hugging the margins.

[aside]

Medical folks always complimented me on my blood pressure until it began to creep up in recent years.  For me, the culprit was salt.

[mamselle]

Because of experiences with my dad's health, I stopped adding salt to anything years ago. I also use lo-salt/lo-sodium potato chips, and consume a modicum of foods with pastry flour, etc. (not implicated in BP per se, but not helpful to the digestion).

Instead of salt, I find hand-rubbed pepper, fragrant leaf spices like basil, cilantro, and those in herbes de provence supply all the 'taste' I want in foods.

I make a lot of things myself to avoid all the extra salt and sugar added to them in prepared mixes, etc. (cornbread, for example) and use honey instead of sugar, which seems to make a difference, as well.

The sugar side of things helps cut down on weight gain (along with exercise, of course), and that's also implicated secondarily.

Just if positive options are useful.

M.

[Sun_Worshiper]

How's your salt intake? Meat? Cheese? Coffee? And what did you eat in the 48 hours or so before being tested? All that can have an impact on your results. So can weight, insofar as higher weight = higher BP (this is sometimes expressed in terms of BMI, but BMI is a garbage statistic; what matters for BP is weight, not your weight-height ratio compared to the average from forever ago).

But you might also just have a genetic predisposition to hugging the margins.

Salt could be a culprit and/or genetics. The other things you mention shouldn't be a problem for me, except possibly food from prior couple of days - I can't quite remember what I ate, but it included Thanksgiving leftovers.

I was thinking of trying whey protein shakes. I used to take them in my early/mid-20s after working out, but somewhere along the line I started to question how healthy they really were. But I read they can maybe help with Cholesterol.

[Ruralguy]

Honestly, over time, I had to slowly adopt, and increase dosages of, medications for both of these. Considering my parents, I probably have genetic predisposition since I do exercise (and they only began to relatively recently).

But generally speaking, approaching this with diet and exercise adjustment first is probably preferable.

[Parasaurolophus]

I was thinking of trying whey protein shakes. I used to take them in my early/mid-20s after working out, but somewhere along the line I started to question how healthy they really were. But I read they can maybe help with Cholesterol.

Maybe, I'm not sure. IMO there's not much point to them for working out unless you want to bulk up.

What definitely does help is a high-fibre diet (which is why oatmeal and oat bran are often touted as cholesterol fighters). And switching from saturated (solid at room temperature) to unsaturated (liquid at room temperature) fats helps, too (some, like extra virgin olive oil, should help with triglyceride levels, too, although I think you have to have it unheated for that benefit--not that you should heat EV olive oil in the first place!).

But the Thanksgiving bits may well be the culprit. I was similarly caught out recently, and it was the pizza splurge the day before (and something else. I don't recall what, but maybe it was chips; something else I basically never eat) that were responsible, in the end.

[clean]

My health issue for cholesterol require to cut out processed sugar/wheat.  Essentially, if it is white, it is on the limit list.

Bread, rice, mashed potatoes (or potatoes in general), and anything that would have processed sugar. 
Reduce those and that should be better.

My family has a trait that the total cholesterol is never high, but the parts are out of whack.  The good is always low , and the bad is always high. In PhD school they monitored me for a few years before sending me to a specialist.  When I went on an Atkins type diet (low carbohydrate) and ate all of the things that were supposed to be BAD for cholesterol (pork chops, dark meat chicken... high fat cuts) my numbers actually improved because I had reduced carbohydrates!   

[Ruralguy]

Diet probably won't totally control every number, but it will help, especially in keeping triglycerides down, as these are just a measure of conversion of sugars that haven't been burned into fats. My doc was very honest and just said : Eat less. No matter what you eat, eat less (though, yes, carb heavy foods would be the things to limit first if that's an issue).

As far as BP salt and caffeine are big culprits. Also, if you take other medications, check to see whether they can affect BP.

Exercise helps all of this but isn't always going to be a silver bullet, especially if you let yourself eat crud because you think you'll burn it off (that trick doesn't really work after you hit 30 ro so). 

[Sun_Worshiper]

Diet probably won't totally control every number, but it will help, especially in keeping triglycerides down, as these are just a measure of conversion of sugars that haven't been burned into fats. My doc was very honest and just said : Eat less. No matter what you eat, eat less (though, yes, carb heavy foods would be the things to limit first if that's an issue).

As far as BP salt and caffeine are big culprits. Also, if you take other medications, check to see whether they can affect BP.

Exercise helps all of this but isn't always going to be a silver bullet, especially if you let yourself eat crud because you think you'll burn it off (that trick doesn't really work after you hit 30 ro so).

The bolded was my approach through my 20s (not necessarily eating crud, but eating everything and anything), but you are right it doesn't work so well these days. Fortunately my wife makes us eat well, so my diet is good for the most part. That said, I think I can make some minor improvements to cut down on salt and sugar, while increasing foods that encourage good cholesterol.

[Vkw10]

Legumes can be helpful with cholesterol. Most are high fiber. My HDL cholesterol levels went from woeful to wonderful after I started eating 3-4 servings of legumes daily. Lentils, chickpeas, navy beans, etc, are cheap, too.

[apl68]

Diet probably won't totally control every number, but it will help, especially in keeping triglycerides down, as these are just a measure of conversion of sugars that haven't been burned into fats. My doc was very honest and just said : Eat less. No matter what you eat, eat less (though, yes, carb heavy foods would be the things to limit first if that's an issue).

As far as BP salt and caffeine are big culprits. Also, if you take other medications, check to see whether they can affect BP.

Exercise helps all of this but isn't always going to be a silver bullet, especially if you let yourself eat crud because you think you'll burn it off (that trick doesn't really work after you hit 30 ro so).

The bolded was my approach through my 20s (not necessarily eating crud, but eating everything and anything), but you are right it doesn't work so well these days. Fortunately my wife makes us eat well, so my diet is good for the most part. That said, I think I can make some minor improvements to cut down on salt and sugar, while increasing foods that encourage good cholesterol.

I got away without having to worry too much about my diet (though I did make a point of eating fundamentally healthy) until my early 40s.  My vital signs are still good, but I now have to be on my guard against putting on excess weight.  I've found that having several days a week of very lean eating allows me to eat more satisfying meals the rest of the week. 

[AJ_Katz]

A plant-based diet has worked well for me.  Was in the danger zone for BP and then went plant based and am below the target zone.  I didn't work out and lost 45 lbs. 

One thing on the nutrition journey that really surprised me was when I started calculating the % of calories per serving that come from fat for items that I eat.  I was shocked to learn that something like 93% lean ground beef actually has about 40% of the calories from fat.  Nowadays, I try to avoid eating anything that has more than 20% of calories from fat. 

The easiest way to do that is to review the food label and calculate for every gram of fat, it is 9 calories, which is divided by the total calories per serving.  Thus, something like 93% lean ground beef that has 8g of fat has 72 calories of the 170 calories per serving or 42.4% calories from fat.  Do the same kind of math with 1% fat milk that has 2.5 g fat in a 100 calorie serving actually has 22.5% of calories from fat.  Very sad that our food marketing is allowed to provide such misleading information on products.

[mamselle]

I just keep a few 'safe snacks' around for munching when I get mouth-hungry...(i.e., I want to chew on something, don't really have to eat....)

Spinach or corn for veggies, both cooked and then left open in a dish in the fridge for noshing on...just a spoonful or a pinch will do.

A strawberries-and-berries mixture with a tiny bit of honey or maple syrup and water to keep them fresh...same portions. Maybe with a few broken cashews for texture.

Pineapple chunks, likewise, with a bit of honey or orange marmalade and water to thin out the too-sweet juice they're in.

I allow myself a very light snack in between meals: AM is either one string cheese packet, or a small Babybel; afternoon is one Ghirardeli's 72% dark chocolate square or one Lindt dark chocolate truffle, just as a pick-me-up. (oooohhh, it's almost 3 PM...!)

I've trimmed out all but a couple wheat crackers or a couple lo-salt Pringles from my other intake, and use sous-vide sandwiches rather than two slices of bread--which lets you taste all the flavors better, as well.

So far, even with less exercise, I seem to be losing weight and feeling fit.

When your body tells you to trim back, listen to it.

M.