Despite a complete lack of effort on my part*, I continue to be too healthy for a 60-yr-old fat man. However, I just got some of the results from my recent blood work**, and while everything else was normal, there was something out of whack. To quote, “Your total cholesterol is normal, but your good cholesterol is low.” To wit, it’s 44. While I will be discussing this with my doc in a couple weeks, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to kill me anytime soon, what can I do now to bring it up, short of loading up on fries cooked in olive oil?*** Not that I care, but I’m curious.
I am not suicidal. I’m just indifferent.
** - I just wanted refills on my head meds, which can kill your liver, I guess.
*** - Not nearly as good as you might think. Kinda oily and limp.
IMHO it’s mostly genetic factors to blame for cholesterol, then diet and exercise. My good cholesterol is always quite high, and few people consume more bacon than I do. My bad cholesterol was a little high and I stopped using bacon grease like butter. It’s better now.
Not much probably. There is a new class of drugs coming out soon that increases HDL, but I don’t know if that translates into reduced risk of death or disability.
All the usual suspects: lose weight, get more active, quit smoking, choose healthier fats (olive oil doesn’t make good fries because the smoke point is too low, but olive oil is delicious on toasted bread with a clove of garlic rubbed on it). The most controversial recommendation is to drink alcohol moderately - some studies show that moderate drinkers have higher HDL cholesterol than teetotalers or heavy drinkers. But if you’re on meds that may make your liver unhappy, that’s definitely something to discuss with your doctor first.
A couple weeks ago we were near a place I used to work. I noted a restaurant that fried its fries in olive oil "that was still in business. Wife, a sometime food chemist, said words that echo through this thread: “They wouldn’t be good. The smoke point is too low.”
In order to conclude this partial hijack (stern look), McDonald’s fries were much better when they were fried in tallow.
Okay, we’ve covered french fries and healthy living aimed at lowering my normal, undeservedly-good bad cholesterol, but the question, “How do I raise my GOOD cholesterol?” remains unanswered. The counts, measured in hard mg/dl of blood, seem unrelated, so that reducing one will not raise the other.
I answered that, with a link, in post 5. You raise your good cholesterol with exactly the same interventions that lower total cholesterol (and therefore “bad” cholesterol.)
Yeah, I read that, but why? How are the two related? What is the mechanism where lowering one raises the other, seemingly unrelated, substance? I’m looking for more beyond the “just because” I usually get from medical people.
and keep your head meds tuned.
