Cholesterol levels - Your view?

[5atfink]

My worked provides a free health screening test, so I thought I'd give it a go as was especially interested in my blood pressure & cholesterol levels seeing as I currently don't agree that Sat Fat is bad.

So here are my results;

Blood Pressure: 138/74 - resting rate 60bpm
Cholesterol measurement : 5.35 (normal apparently < 5mmol/L)
LDL aka "bad" cholesterol : 3.22 (normal apparently < 3mmol/L)
HDL aka "good" cholesterol : 1.72 (normal apparently > 1.2 - 1.7mmol/L)
Triglycerides aka "bad" : 0.60 (normal apparently < 1.7)

Currently I'm kind of following the Primal Eating kind of attitude. No starchy carbs, lean & fatty meat & lots of greens & fruit + nuts etc, good oils. Hit around 2700 - 3200 cals a day & is working well for me from a training perspective.

I was advised to cut down my sat fats by the nurse/consultant & do some cardio alongside my strength training. I did mention that I don't agree with the current convention wisdom surrounding sat fats & I think far more health issues come from processed foods. I must say I would like to do some HIIT, but I'm focusing on that 1.5BW squat thanks!

Any thoughts Strong Lifters??

[lovestolift]

Your numbers don't look too bad, but I'm no expert. Do you take fish oils and/or eat fatty fish very often? Toss in some ground flax seeds as well to ensure you get enough fiber and some Omega-3's.

For the record I agree about Sat Fat being a normal part of our diets, and I think a primitive diet is probably the right thing from an evolutionary standpoint. The only problem with following a primitive diet now is that the animals we eat are not eating their natural diets. Free range is too damned expensive, but it would be closer to what our ancestors ate.

As far as cardio, a bit of HIIT (< 20 mins) done on Saturday shouldn't affect your workouts (assuming M/W/F schedule).

[5atfink]

I don't eat as much fatty fish as I should, maybe once a week. I do how have loads of lindseed (flax) seeds in the cupboard. I used grind & throw in my oats every morning. But since I'm off the oats for breakfast these days I'll look to bring back in some how, just incorporate them in some recipes.

I usually train Tues/Thurs/Sat or Sun - Currently working a full time job & trying to setup my own business most week day evenings, so trying to fit in HIIT cardio is tricky, but I'm sure it can be done.

[itsbruce]

Fatty fish are great. Some simple breakfast suggestions:

1. Kippers. Tescos, for example, do a pack with two smoked kipper fillets plus a couple of butter pats. Quick and easy to cook, 500 calories and 38g protein in a typical pack (fewer calories if you remove the butter pats before cooking). Only issue, if you share the kitchen with anybody else, is the smell (me, I love it )
2. Smoked salmon with scrambled eggs. 100g of smoked salmon has between 140 and 200 calories, depending on the variety (the fattier, higher calorie ones are cheaper but have a little less protein). Combines very nicely with scrambled eggs - just chop the salmon into smallish slices and throw into the scrambled eggs when they're nearly done - cook for another minute till the salmon goes pink.
3. Smoked mackerel fillets. Just made to be eaten cold. Goes well on top of a thin slice of stoneground wholemeal bread (especially rye bread), or accompanied by some grilled tomatoes; also something you can combine with scrambled eggs but in that case don't bother cooking them, just break up the fillet with a fork and mix into the cooked eggs.. A typical single fillet has 250 calories, 17g protein

[lovestolift]

I do how have loads of lindseed (flax) seeds in the cupboard. I used grind...

Toss them in the freezer. They stay better longer that way, and you can also pre-grind them. I've been doing the AD, and I haven't found a good way to get the flax seeds other than just eating them ground and washing it down with a glass of water (unpleasant for a minute, but doable). If you find a good low-carb method, let me know.

[5atfink]

If you find a good low-carb method, let me know.

Try mixing the ground flax seeds with minced meat for a recipe like below..
http://www.dedemed.com/index.php/Other-Recipes/Kefta-Kabob-Recipe.html

Nice tip about freezing the seeds, would save me some time I must say.

Fatty fish are great. Some simple breakfast suggestions: ........

Some great ideas there. I remember my dad cooking mackeral in the morning when I was a kid. It used to stink the house out!

[lovestolift]

Try mixing the ground flax seeds with minced meat for a recipe like below..

I've tried mixing with ground beef and I found it repulsive. That's why I'm sticking to choking it down with a glass of water for now.

[itsbruce]

The only thing I've found that I like milled flax seed in is baking - can make some very nice muffins with it as an ingredient, for example - but that's right off my diet at the moment. I think it could go into some salads OK. I really hate what it does to the taste of porridge (not that I eat much of that now).

[thefinalsql]

Let me convert a few of these numbers to mg/dl (I'm on the other side of the pond) ldl/hdl multiply by 39, triglycerides multiply by 89

Blood Pressure: 138/74 - resting rate 60bpm
Cholesterol measurement : 5.35 (normal apparently < 5mmol/L)

125.58 LDL aka "bad" cholesterol : 3.22 (normal apparently < 3mmol/L)
67.08 mg/dl HDL aka "good" cholesterol : 1.72 (normal apparently > 1.2 - 1.7mmol/L)
53.4 mg/dl Triglycerides aka "bad" : 0.60 (normal apparently < 1.7)

BP a little high, as well as LDL, but I would say those are well outweighed by the fact your Triglyceride to HDL ratio is about 0.8. That is phenomenal!!! Do some searching of this ratio on the internet. It is becoming a consensus on the most telling ratio for heart disease. Ratio should be 2 to 1 or better.

You will be hard pressed to find anyone on this forum with better numbers than yours.

[fuscia]

hill sprints are a good alternative to cardio. they also help with building the legs (especially in muscles that don't get hit by co-lateral exercises).

[5atfink]

Well thanks for the feedback guys. This is all new & interesting stuff to me.

Since posting I've got bang on the flax seeds again. Grinding up them up & mixing in my shakes when I can throughout the week.