# Gaining girlfriend concerned about cholesterol



## mikefa55 (Feb 22, 2009)

Posted this in the weight gain forum, hope to get some more feedback here.

My girlfriend has been putting on weight for the last couple of months... probably gained about 10 pounds... just got blood work and is concerned about her high cholesterol.

She is open to continuing to gain, but obviously her health is our top priority.

Any advice on how to balance lowering her cholesterol with gaining weight is greatly appreciated.


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## MissToodles (Feb 22, 2009)

weight gain, especially in the abdomen is linked to higher cholesterol levels. How old is she anyway? If she's young, she can lower it through exercise & improved diet. You want to prevent going on medication as much as possible, because statins cause liver damage. This isn't the weight board, so I think I'm allowed to write the above.


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## lypeaches (Feb 23, 2009)

OK, just my 2 cents. There are those who believe that this high cholesterol hoopla is pretty much manufactured fear by the pharmaceutical companies. I've done a bit of reading on the net, and while I haven't come to any firm conclusions, I will say that I've looked at some rather interesting studies that would seem to indicate that that's true, and that in fact it's possible that people with high cholesterol actually live longer. My doctor feels that more attention should be paid to the C-reactive proteins, that they are a more accurate risk indicator than cholesterol levels. 

Listen, I'm not telling you what to be concerned or not concerned about. Definitely talk about it with your doctor. I'm just pointing out that you MAY be stressing over something unneccessarily.

Here's a link to an article to start you off, should you care to check into it. See footnotes if you want to get into serious digging, or just google it. 

http://www.marlev.com/Cholesterol.htm


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## Miss Vickie (Feb 23, 2009)

Peaches, I agree. And the research backs it up. There seems to be more emphasis now on inflammation (this is where CRP comes in) and there was an interesting article on NPR last week about HS-CRP and its role in pre-determining risk for vascular events like MI's and strokes. (For anyone who's interested it was about the Jupiter study).

What's truly bizarre, and what I don't understand at all, is how the newer statin drugs manage to block inflammation. They used to think that the way statins reduced heart attacks was by reducing arterial plaque but now they're finding that it's also their anti-inflammatory properties, which aren't fully understood.

Crazy, interesting stuff. But this fellow's girlfriend needs to talk to her doctor so that they can take into account her medical history and other risk factors. Only then can they determine whether a modest raise in weight (and/or cholesterol) is dangerous for her.


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## lypeaches (Feb 23, 2009)

You know Missaf, I completely agree. What's interesting though, is exactly how myopic some doctors are regarding your cholesterol levels. It seems that there are SOME who just follow the lock step general wisdom that your level should be below such and such, no matter what. Just like there are SOME who are myopic about healthy body weights. I came across one of these last year. Hopefully they're few and far between. I only suggest being your own advocate, study an issue if it concerns you and talk about it with your doctor.

PS I should add, I have a healthy mistrust of studies....there can be so many variables. I just try to approach any health issue with my eyes wide open, if you catch my drift


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## Miss Vickie (Feb 23, 2009)

Doctors are like that mostly because of the Framingham Heart Study where they found that people with lower cholesterol levels had fewer heart attacks, lived longer, blah blah blah. But the truth is much more complciated and the whole correlation argument, rather than causation, needs to be looked at.

And yes, cholesterol is complicated. A lot of it is genetic, but it is also a marker for other conditions, which we're just now looking at seriously, rather than just trying to lower it in a knee jerk way. My cholesterol levels started increasing after my thyroid was removed. I figure there must be some protective mechanism to that, particularly since now that my thyroid levels are normal under correct titration of my dosage, they've gone back down. There is a lot of argument that cholesterol is protective, and that people with too-low cholesterol levels have higher rates of suicide, aggression, and even cancers. Our myelin sheaths, for example, are made of cholesterol; we need those to protect our nerves against damage, such as is found in MS. Our brains have high amounts of cholesterol. Our hormones are made from cholesterol. There are lots of reasons to have sufficient cholesterol in our bodies to do its job. I'm not so sure that we know what that optimal number is, and I'm pretty sure it varies for everyone. But I think the more we look at the role of inflammation, and also insulin, in heart disease, the more cholesterol will be seen as perhaps not the cause, but rather the body's defense mechanism to protect against more vascular damage. (Just a hunch...)

Anyhow, this is just my babbling. I'm excited for any new knowledge about this stuff because it's so obvious to me that we need a broader perspective when looking at body chemistries.


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## Pookie (Feb 24, 2009)

I think if she wants to still gain, there are ways to do so without adding to the cholesterol 'problem' and in fact help reduce it  smoked mackerel with heaps of rice and veg, the mackerel contains the good fats to help the cholesterol issue and it will moisten the rice so you dont need dairy fats like butter, and of course the lots of carbs will be good for gaining. 

You just have to be creative... and cut out the worst offenders if possible, sweet delicious butter... I miss it! But its not a bad thing to have to eat mackerel and salmon, both are delicious and give that happy mouth fatty feeling that I miss.

*edit* i spel gud


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