Submitted by Dr T on January 26, 2011 – 4:06pm
in
Question:
I’m 28, I don’t take medications, I weight 146 lbs, my blood pressure is 110/70, and my height is 5’10.
Before my diet, my LDL was 185mg/dl, my HDL was 55, my VLDL was 20, and my total cholesterol was 259. Since my father developed heart disease at age 60 I went on a low fat vegan diet. After five weeks my LDL decreased to 116, my HDL decreased to 43, and my total cholesterol was 172. 9 weeks later I took a cholesterol test and I recently got the results. My LDL is 114, HDL is 43, VLDL is 21, and total cholesterol is 178.
I’m disappointed with these results. I want my LDL to go under 80. If I continue to stay on this diet will my LDL further decrease or is this as low as it will go?
Before my diet, my LDL was 185mg/dl, my HDL was 55, my VLDL was 20, and my total cholesterol was 259. Since my father developed heart disease at age 60 I went on a low fat vegan diet. After five weeks my LDL decreased to 116, my HDL decreased to 43, and my total cholesterol was 172. 9 weeks later I took a cholesterol test and I recently got the results. My LDL is 114, HDL is 43, VLDL is 21, and total cholesterol is 178.
I’m disappointed with these results. I want my LDL to go under 80. If I continue to stay on this diet will my LDL further decrease or is this as low as it will go?
It sounds like you are making good progress in a short period of time. And this w/o the use of Statins! What about smoking? It shows how much can be achieved with diet alone. That said, I suspect you may need statins and/or niacin to go much further. What you also need to understand is that it is not just about lowering your LDL, but probably even more importantly, also about increasing your HDL.
You might also want to look into the specifics of your diet and add exercise to your regiment.
Take a look here:
https://www.cardiachealth.org/patients/diet/heart-healthy-food
These recipe blogs:
https://www.cardiachealth.org/ca-blog/category/recipes/
Hope this helps,
Dr T
https://www.cardiachealth.org/