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the most evidence-based dietary things to decrease consumption of are sugar-added products and red meat products. the evidence for interventions involving directly altering fat consumption are not as strong as the former, and not as strong as it seems public perception has it.
IMO, the evidence for foods to INCREASE the consumption of are less strong, but generally people in the west with high cholesterol would probably benefit from eating more nuts and replacing some red meat with chicken. in some states ive lived, peanut butter at the grocery store that is just pure blended peanuts + salt with no added sugar or oil have become pretty affordable and is honestly delicious.
as another poster mentioned correctly, total cholesterol is HDL + LDL + VLDL
VLDL is estimated as triglycerides/5.
So Cholesterol_Total = HDL + LDL + TG/5
LDL = 171
if youre over 40, its very unlikely that lifestyle changes alone will alter your numbers enough that a physician wouldnt recommend statins.
if youre under 40 you might be able to avoid a statin recommendation until you reach 40 through lifestyle changes, though its probably a good idea to have a physician calculate your 10 year risk of cardiovascular disease/assess your risk factors. your numbers are in a range where that estimate may push that recommendation even before 40 even if you see a reasonable decrease in values with lifestyle changes.
IMO, the evidence for foods to INCREASE the consumption of are less strong, but generally people in the west with high cholesterol would probably benefit from eating more nuts and replacing some red meat with chicken. in some states ive lived, peanut butter at the grocery store that is just pure blended peanuts + salt with no added sugar or oil have become pretty affordable and is honestly delicious.
as another poster mentioned correctly, total cholesterol is HDL + LDL + VLDL
VLDL is estimated as triglycerides/5.
So Cholesterol_Total = HDL + LDL + TG/5
LDL = 171
if youre over 40, its very unlikely that lifestyle changes alone will alter your numbers enough that a physician wouldnt recommend statins.
if youre under 40 you might be able to avoid a statin recommendation until you reach 40 through lifestyle changes, though its probably a good idea to have a physician calculate your 10 year risk of cardiovascular disease/assess your risk factors. your numbers are in a range where that estimate may push that recommendation even before 40 even if you see a reasonable decrease in values with lifestyle changes.
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