High Cholesterol

[psyc&soul]

:help:

I have been vegetarian for 4 years and went for a routine health check. I was informed that I have high cholesterol and low iron. EEk!

I've been instructed to go an see a dietitician, but in the meantime is there anything I should start doing now?

I am thin, I exercise three times a week and I dont smoke. so I have no idea! I also have no idea on how to raise my iron levels without iron tablets.

Any help or insights would be greatly appreciated.

Liz

[cstadt]

Keep the trans fats down. Eating trans fats contributes to the cholesterol problem more than eating cholesterol!

As for iron, there are lots of places to get it from...
dark green vegetables, soy products and legumes, whole grains, dried fruits, nuts and seeds.

edit: if anything in the ingredient list says "hydrogenated" then there are atleast some trans fats in the product,k even if the nutrition facts say 0

[Jennifer89]

Hi,
Do you eat a lot of coconuty type of things? Coconut milk, oil, water, flakes etc. Coconut doesn't contain cholesterol, but it raises the level of cholesterol that you naturaly have in you.

For iron, try some spinich. I believe that soy milk and the such also have iron in them. Also note that tea (especialy black), coffee, and a few other things lower your iron level, so you may want to figure out what those things are and try to avoid them. Your iron level will probaly go up slowly, so don't expect to be better next week!

[Kierr]

Anything with saturated or trans fat will raise your cholesterol. Cheese, Milk, cream, ice cream and eggs are all high in saturated fat. All oils and butter/margarine will also raise it. Often nuts can raise it. Some people (like me) will have high cholesterol no matter what, due to genetics, and will have to take a medication to lower it, though I think we make up like only 5% of the population (lucky me, hehe). I eat vegan with no oil or nuts and I still have to take medicine to lower my cholesterol further. It happens, look at the diet first and chances are you can make cuts to lower it. :)