My Doctor wanted me to go on statins due to my cholesterol being high.  I told her to give me some time to try to bring it down. This was my journey to Balance my Cholesterol:  

 

Taking 1 tsp liquid fish oil brought my Triglycerides down more than the pill form. From 111 to 101. It brought my “good cholesterol” HDL from 50 to 62 but didn’t change my LDL (bad cholesterol) by much.

 

Red Yeast Rice was recommended by my primary care Doc. I like this brand because you only have to take 1 pill a day.  This had little effect on the Triglycerides or the HDL BUT dropped my LDL from 181 to 126!

GLA is a an Omega 6 where as Fish oil is an omega 3.  So it works kinda’ like fish oil. This has a bit of a bad taste so I take 1/2 tsp with a spoonful of yogurt in the morning.  This didn’t have much affect on my Triglycerides or LDL BUT brought my HDL up to 72!

 

 

and lastly…. but most importantly….

Adding 1 hour of exercise to my plan had the largest effect on my numbers overall.  I have NEVER had an overall score below 200 (which is recommended) but just broke that by 198!  It brought my triglycerides down to 78!! My lowest score EVER and brought my LDL down to 123. I haven’t seen that for 15 years.

Overall, don’t pay attention too much to the total score, which they recommend to be below 200 because it really depends on the ratio of good to bad cholesterol.  So, if you have a high LDL (which is supposed to be low) BUT you have a high HDL (which is suppose to be high) it will offset each other. Triglycerides are important to watch as a total number.  So even though my total number is usually above the recommended 200 I am always below the average risk ratio because of my good cholesterol offsetting the bad.

 

For more articles on health and wellness, visit our FiT-Bits Blog daily.