Cholesterol and Heart Health

[Elvia1023]

Someone asked about improving HDL and cholesterol in general on another forum. After I wrote out a reply I figured it might help someone out on here who has similar questions. All basic stuff but following these guidelines should significantly improve your cholesterol profile in every sense including HDL/LDL ratio and HDL functionality. Many things help indirectly but here is a list:

Sensible AAS usage and little-no orals.
Cardio.
Lot's of water.
Adequate fibre (specifically soluble) intake (black beans, lentils, avocados, sweet potatoes, broccoli, brussel sprouts, apples, raspberries etc).
High fat foods such as avocado (mentioned twice for a reason), walnuts, macadamias, almonds etc.
EVCO, EVOO, macadamia oil, avocado oil etc.
Omega 3 supp's aka Fish Oil, Krill Oil etc.
Citrus Bergamot.
Sytrinol.
Policosanol.
Garlic.
Metformin.
Curcumin.
Ubiquinol.

All in all stick to your cycle (he was blasting on 500mg test and mk-677) and when upping the doses be sensible with what you add in. So be careful with adding in the likes of tren or orals and if you have to do it for short periods, at sensible doses and don't make it a habit. Include cardio if you haven't already. Drink lot's of water and lead a healthy lifestyle. Eat good fats daily and make sure your fibre intake is sufficient. You can't go wrong with a few chicken stir frys each day (made with a little coconut oil) which include foods such as bean sprouts, black beans, peppers, garlic and onions etc. 1/2 avocado twice daily is a great thing to have and a good quality extra virgin olive oil will definitely increase hdl levels. Just make sure you don't heat it and add it to salads or drink it straight. If you don't eat much oily fish add in some fish/krill oils. I would also recommend citrus bergamot, policosanol and metformin. Watch the calories as well so if you have to add in some fats take away some carbs in the process. Obviously no one should add all that as it would be a tonne of fat so just small amounts here and there. A good fish/krill oil supp could be used at 3-6g per day so only 27-54 calories and a table spoon of olive oil twice daily would be an extra 28g fat per day so 252 calories so approx 300 calories extra per day to give an indication.

If anyone has any questions ask away and I will try my best to help you out.

 

[Victory]

Good read. What brands of fish oil do you recommend?

 

[Thermo]

Good read. What brands of fish oil do you recommend?

NOW brand gets alot of my purchases. (Somewhat local -do good company) And when it comes to Omegas, its Omega 3s.

 

[Elvia1023]

Good read. What brands of fish oil do you recommend?

Fish Oil is much like Olive Oil in the sense there are a lot of bad products out there. Sometimes it's impossible to know what is good/bad. Although the likes of Carson's is a good brand. You should be good with all the top brands such as Life Extension and Now Foods.

Going back to my original post I think the combination of olive oil (which is mainly omega 6) along with a good fish/krill oil is a winning combination. EVOO has been shown to improve cholesterol in studies as do krill/fish oil. By using both you have a good ratio of omegas as well. I would recommend 6+ grams of omega 3 per day from the fish/krill oil.

There are some other useful supplements that include a blend of omegas such as Udo's Oil. That could also be combined with more omega 3 or just taken alone. I sometimes use Animal Omega which is a blend (contains various fish oils amongst others) but I am not sure how pure that is but I hope for the best.

 

[odin]

Good read. What brands of fish oil do you recommend?

I like life extension omega 3. They have a plus version out now which is fish and krill oil.

 

[striffe]

I like life extension omega 3. They have a plus version out now which is fish and krill oil.

Great find! I use the standard one but hadn't noticed that version. I will order that next time.

 

[Jim550]

Good post Elvia, I am currently working on getting my HDL levels up and lower my LDL and Triglycerides. Just got my lab work back today my HDL was 34 and LDL was 128 and total was 215. I would like to reiterate what Elvia said about not heating your olive oil, low heat is okay but you do not want to use use when cooking with high heat as it changes it to an unhealthy trans fat. For High heat use coconut oil or grass fed butter. Also if you haven't tried the butter flavored coconut oil do yourself a favor and pick some up its amazing!

 

[AGGRO]

Good advice. I like walnut oil as well but it's the same as olive oil and shouldn't be heated.

 

[Viking]

Good post elvia. I use some of those supps and have seen a difference in my blood work after adding them in. What dose of metformin do people like? I stay at 500mg now as I get gastro sides from 1000mg.

 

[SURGE]

Good post elvia. I use some of those supps and have seen a difference in my blood work after adding them in. What dose of metformin do people like? I stay at 500mg now as I get gastro sides from 1000mg.

I am really bad the first week on metformin but then I am ok. I only dose 500mg now.

 

[ProFIT]

Good list. I like udo's oil for my omegas. I also eat a lot of salmon and sardines.

 

[Viking]

Someone asked about improving HDL and cholesterol in general on another forum. After I wrote out a reply I figured it might help someone out on here who has similar questions. All basic stuff but following these guidelines should significantly improve your cholesterol profile in every sense including HDL/LDL ratio and HDL functionality. Many things help indirectly but here is a list:

Sensible AAS usage and little-no orals.
Cardio.
Lot's of water.
Adequate fibre (specifically soluble) intake (black beans, lentils, avocados, sweet potatoes, broccoli, brussel sprouts, apples, raspberries etc).
High fat foods such as avocado (mentioned twice for a reason), walnuts, macadamias, almonds etc.
EVCO, EVOO, macadamia oil, avocado oil etc.
Omega 3 supp's aka Fish Oil, Krill Oil etc.
Citrus Bergamot.
Sytrinol.
Policosanol.
Garlic.
Metformin.
Curcumin.
Ubiquinol.

All in all stick to your cycle (he was blasting on 500mg test and mk-677) and when upping the doses be sensible with what you add in. So be careful with adding in the likes of tren or orals and if you have to do it for short periods, at sensible doses and don't make it a habit. Include cardio if you haven't already. Drink lot's of water and lead a healthy lifestyle. Eat good fats daily and make sure your fibre intake is sufficient. You can't go wrong with a few chicken stir frys each day (made with a little coconut oil) which include foods such as bean sprouts, black beans, peppers, garlic and onions etc. 1/2 avocado twice daily is a great thing to have and a good quality extra virgin olive oil will definitely increase hdl levels. Just make sure you don't heat it and add it to salads or drink it straight. If you don't eat much oily fish add in some fish/krill oils. I would also recommend citrus bergamot, policosanol and metformin. Watch the calories as well so if you have to add in some fats take away some carbs in the process. Obviously no one should add all that as it would be a tonne of fat so just small amounts here and there. A good fish/krill oil supp could be used at 3-6g per day so only 27-54 calories and a table spoon of olive oil twice daily would be an extra 28g fat per day so 252 calories so approx 300 calories extra per day to give an indication.

If anyone has any questions ask away and I will try my best to help you out.

If all bodybuilders followed these guildlines I bet there would be much fewer health problems and not just cholesterol related.

 

[Viking]

Good post Elvia, I am currently working on getting my HDL levels up and lower my LDL and Triglycerides. Just got my lab work back today my HDL was 34 and LDL was 128 and total was 215. I would like to reiterate what Elvia said about not heating your olive oil, low heat is okay but you do not want to use use when cooking with high heat as it changes it to an unhealthy trans fat. For High heat use coconut oil or grass fed butter. Also if you haven't tried the butter flavored coconut oil do yourself a favor and pick some up its amazing!

I heated olive oil in a pan for years copying all the top chefs on tv and only started using a small amount of saturated fat (usually coconut oil) a few years ago. I have seen people do it with $20 bottles of olive oil which is just a waste.

 

[BrooklynBorn]

I take the Carlson lemon liquid fish oil, which is supposed to be a top brand?

also, is red yeast rice worthless? I remember reading it is, because the active ingredient is removed, but could have sworn it was working, via bloods?

 

[BrooklynBorn]

I take the Carlson lemon liquid fish oil, which is supposed to be a top brand?

also, is red yeast rice worthless? I remember reading it is, because the active ingredient is removed, but could have sworn it was working, via bloods?

 

[franktasey]

I'm surprised that no one mention niacin to boost HDL. I do 1000mg a day.

 

[Elvia1023]

I take the Carlson lemon liquid fish oil, which is supposed to be a top brand?

also, is red yeast rice worthless? I remember reading it is, because the active ingredient is removed, but could have sworn it was working, via bloods?

Yes Carlson is gtg. I have used red yeast with good effect in the past but yes most products these days aren't very good. I personally would only recommend it for short term usage but everyone is different.

I'm surprised that no one mention niacin to boost HDL. I do 1000mg a day.

Niacin was the most common recommendation for cholesterol for many years. It's even prescribed by doctors. However, it's gone out of favour in recent years and there are a few reasons for that. I personally don't think it's that effective. It can increase HDL at high doses but it doesn't really have any longetivity benefits. It can even negatively effect other blood markers. One of them is homocysteine levels (increase levels) and high levels over time can contribute to arterial damage and blood clots. High levels are associated with many potential health problems but the main one being cardiovascular disease. I don't mean to sound over the top as I don't think niacin is unsafe but I certainly wouldn't recommend very high doses of it.