Blood results back, worried about cholesterol.

[Ova]

Hi all! I just got my bloods back from last week, really happy with my HbA1c 5.8. Cholesterol I'm a little concerned about as there is family history of high cholesterol and blood pressure. My results were:

LDL should be below 2, mine is 3.26 up from 2.6 in January.
HDL should be above 1, mine is 2.02 up from 1.53 in January.
Total should be below 4, mine is 5.6 up from 4.6 in January.

I remember being told that having poor control can affect cholesterol but I've had my HbA1c below 6 for over 6 months (previously around 12 but dafne and a pump quickly helped that) now so would have thought my levels would be dropping not getting higher. Is there anything I should be doing to try and get these down or are these levels not too much to worry about?

P.s I'm 22 diagnosed type 1 February 2010.

 

[noblehead]

Congratulations on the A1c result Ova :clap:

Take a read of the following from the British Heart Foundation regarding cholesterol:

http://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/cond ... terol.aspx

 

[Juliette40]

Hi Ova

I have a similar problem. I'm type 2 though but have lost a shed load of weight and brought my HbA1c down to 5.5 from 15% a year ago. Now my cholesterol has been steadily increasing from 4.6 to 6.3. I'm now size 8 to 10 from 24.

In an attempt to avoid being put on statins, I have adopted a cholesterol busting diet in addition to my usual low carb/low fat diet. I will be tested again after 3 months.

The diet includes eating more oily fish, nuts, pumpkin seeds, linseeds, soya products, avocados, garlic and oats. In addition to this, I take supplements of garlic, omega-3 and artichoke. You can also buy plant stenols from your health food store. These are the active ingredients in Benecol products. I prefer to drink the dairy free Benecol as this also contains soya which lowers cholesterol.

Good luck
Juliette x :wave:

 

[Juliette40]

I have adopted a cholesterol busting diet in addition to my usual low carb/low fat diet. I will be tested again after 3 months.

Hey there!

Keep me posted. Being in the same boat, I'm keen to know if we can combat this through diet alone.

Anyone else tried and been successful?

Good luck
Juliette x :thumbup:

 

[dowuchyalike]

Hi Ova

Before you start panicking about your cholesterol levels, I really recommend you read 'The Great Cholesterol Con' by Malcolm Kendrick. Also well worth reading is 'Good Calories, Bad Calories' by Gary Taubes.

Both of these books cover in detail the serious lack of evidence proving the link between elevated cholesterol and heart disease.

Having considered both sides of the medical story, I am quite sure where I stand on the issue; however, I will refrain from giving my opinions on the subject and allow you to make your own mind up.

Cheers

 

[pavmas]

type1 since 2008, im a vegetarian and a smoker and dont drink. last year I got a call from diabetic nurse asking what medication i was on as cholesterol was the lowest that they have seen my kidney readings were better than non diabetics and blood pressure bang on.

I told her I only take insulin, she thought i was kidding her on, so we went through my diet and the only thing that I did different was this.
I took lantus everynight at 8pm but I only took rapid insulin once a day, I only have one meal a day at 5pm all the other time I have a banana when I wake up and then at 12pm a digestive at 2pm dinner at 5 pm and banana at 8 pm.
The background insulin does the banana and digestive and novo rapid does the meal.
anytime of the day I can tell what my reading will be and a check proves accurate.

And what she said was its the olives I eat, I have olives with everymeal and I mean every meal, I will stick them on pizzas salad, stew, anything, and I always have home cooking that includes the pizza with a wholemeal base. so try olives to lower your cholesterol and that incudes olive spread. so this works for me so might work for you.