I had a physical on Jan 30 and my doctor mailed me a letter reporting my cholesterol. Two years ago it was 220, now it is 247. He believes this will go down with continued weight loss and to keep on keeping on with what I'm doing. Thanks, Doc! I like your attitude.

He also reported that my good cholesterol (HDL) was 79 and the bad cholesterol (LDL) was 154. No comment was made on whether these were high or low.

I know we shoot for our cholesterol to be under 200 but what are the ranges for HDL and LDL? What is the relationship between cholesterol and good and bad cholesterol?

Thanks in advance.

Carol, your numbers are fabulous! HDL 79 .. Wooo Hooooo!!!

HDL over 40 is desirable .. over 60 is protective even in the presence of elevated LDL.

re - LDL ... they're slowly moving away from the idea that LDL is totally bad, especially for women. They now know that there are different forms of LDL particles -- some are small and dense, which are "bad", others are large and fluffy and believed to be beneficial. So LDL isn't really an indicator of heart disease risk on its own.

Triglycerides are more indicative of heart risk, if over 200 and other risk factors are present.

Another consideration is the LDL:HDL ratio ... less than 2.3 is considered low risk. Your's is 1.95

Keep up the good work


Doreen

Thanks, Doreen! No wonder he wants me to keep doing what I'm doing. I'll google around a bit and read up on cholesterol; it's clear I've got a bit to learn.

Cheers!

I often will eat an avocado a day. Do you think that has anything to do with the good HDL number?

TIA

Check out this thread, which is stickied at the top of our Cholesterol forum .. Cholesterol and understanding its numbers There's some good info in it.


Doreen

Yes! Increasing monounsaturate fat and fiber will help to boost HDL. Natural saturated fat such as egg yolks and butter will also improve HDL. Sat. may raise the LDL slightly, but recent research shows that butter in particular raises specifically the large "fluffy" beneficial LDL .. (study report: Dietary Trans Fatty Acids vs. Butter

hth,


Doreen

Thanks for the link and all the good info.

My LDL should be very fluffy! DH and I go through about half a pound of butter a week.

I just love this WOL -- we get to eat the good stuff, don't we?

Thanks again!

Yep, good stuff. I had a chicken leg ( fatty dark meat ) with the skin and zuchini in butter. What a wonderful meal it was! I purchased the whole roasted chicken from the grocery store deli. I got fresh zuchini from the produce department. I have not had canned veggies since I began eating the lc woe. I also had a piece of homemade lc cheesecake for dessert. I may have gone overboard in good food tonight.