Egnue,

Sorry to hear that you're having to worry about this. While I don't have the exact numbers (I'll be sure to ask my husband to get the exact breakdown of numbers next time he sees the doc), my husband had "high cholesterol" (over 350 total, I recall) back when we were first dating. I didn't know much about low-carb back then, but we did a lot of things to try and bring this number down. At the time, he was put on Lipitor too.

Fast forward to the fall of 2005, his cholesterol was down to 209 total, and I recall very clearly the HDL being around 80-something (quite good).

Despite this, my husband's doc wanted him on Vytorin. I guess it's the latest and greatest cholesterol lowering medication (it's got two things in it...the statin and something else, but I can't recall right this minute). The doc was of the whole mindset that it had to be "below 200" - which was pretty new to my husband, because back when he was diagnosed with "high cholesterol", he was told it had to be 240 total or lower.

Funny how things change.

Anyway, he went on the Vytorin, and ultimately had a bad experience.

That's neither here nor there, because I'm sure just a small percentage of people end up with some side effects. At least, that's what I hope!

Anyway...the things we did to help (and there's NO WAY Lipitor reduced his cholesterol that much, it apparently will reduce a person's cholesterol by 20-25% at the most) are the following:

1. olive oil
2. blueberries - every single day!
3. flax seeds - ditto
4. fish oil capsules - ditto
5. niacin - and we had to get the flushing kind, since we got the idea somewhere that the non flushing kind isn't as effective at increasing good cholesterol. This is a pain to take, because the flushing side effect is annoying and uncomfortable. Husband started out with just a hundred milligrams and worked his way up to 1 full gram daily. This was done over weeks, working through the flushing thing bit by bit. By the way, if and when a person does get the flushing (it doesn't happen every single time), it lasts for about 20 minutes.
6. an 81mg "baby" aspirin per day (don't think this actually affects cholesterol, but acts as a mild blood thinner)
7. started eating a lot more fish
8. almonds, walnuts, avocadoes too
9. stopped drinking beer and switched to red wine
10. Eventually went on low carb with me and off the Vytorin. We figured 209 was "good enough".

He doesn't worry about red meat or eggs. What we really, really worry about are things like trans fats and trying to get a decent balance of omega 3 fats vs. omega 6's. It's not that we try to necessarily eliminate sat fats, but that ADDING in lots of the other fats is a good idea (nuts, avocadoes, olive oil, fish etc).

His cholesterol is down to 184 now. That's after going off the Vytorin and going low-carb. This being said...still continuing with niacin, and all the other stuff I mentioned.

The blueberries are a very good deal - low carb and great for cholesterol. Filled with anti-oxidants and since you're at goal weight anyway, you can eat those berries without too much worrying over the tiny amount of carbs in them.

Don't stress - you'll get a handle on this. It's not always about lowering the overal total (though that's a good idea at 300), but rather about increasing HDL and lowering triglycerides.

Hang in there...get some berries, fish, nuts and niacin. Ask the doc about the niacin, whether you need the regular or "non flushing" kind and how much to take etc.

Do you like salmon? I hope so

Talk to you soon, take care.