Consuela, I am also in the crappy genetics boat and refuse to go on statins.

My father went super-low-fat/vegan and dropped his cholesterol by 40 points in 3 months, so it is possible.

Yay, although argh. Gonna be difficult.

Consuela, I am also in the crappy genetics boat and refuse to go on statins.

My father has had 5 heart attacks and a quadruple bypass and I refuse to go on statins. More and more research is indicating that cholesterol levels are not the problem, but inflammation is. A HUGE contributor to cardiovascular disease is [sob] sugar consumption.

I'm just sitting watching Ellen. I should at least be shredding and dealing with paper. Maybe next.

I walked up to the movie theater (about a mile away), had pho on the way, and am going to watch the Oscar-nominated animated short films.

My throat still hurts a lot. I'm wondering if it's strep. But Dr Google tells me even if it is it should go away in 3-7 days. I've spent SO much on medical care already this year ($40 copays for physical therapy, $50 for the pink eye trip to urgent care, etc). I really don't want to go f they're going to say "oh it's a virus".

I'm going to watch this Colbert and then Elementary, and then go run away from zombies for a little while.

As an anecdata point, my parents both did the extremely low fat vegan thing for a while (then backed off to low fat mostly vegan with some occasional animal products (mostly fish)) and my dad's doctor still had him on a half a pill of lipitor until recently. I think standards might have changed, I don't think his numbers did. Anyway, he's glad to be off it.

One of my co-workers just did some kind of anti-inflammation no sugar detoxifying regimen and so far is feeling great. There was some specific thing she was hoping it would improve and it seems to have, though I'm afraid I don't remember what it was. Even by anecdata standards my research is shoddy, sorry!

A HUGE contributor to cardiovascular disease is [sob] sugar consumption.

Sigh. I was planning to go off sweets this month, as a follow-up to my month without alcohol. Now it's no sweets, no dairy, no red meat. Joy.

My body hates me. On top of my foot and that pain, I've had a horrible headache since yesterday. Not like I can take more pain killers. Stupid body.

That is a lot of exclusions at once, but you can do it!

I took my cholesterol down 100 points in a year mostly by adding lots of oatmeal and good stuff and just paying a bit more attention to the bad stuff. I already didn't eat meat so that wasn't an issue, but I watched eggs, better, and cheese.

Yeah, a quick look at the NIH website about statins & red yeast rice is not reassuring

That's why I tried it for a while but then stopped. I don't think RYR in the US has statins, but knowing that supplements generally increase the risk of liver damage makes me want to avoid supplements that specifically increase risk of liver damage.

My cholesterol got better with diet and exercise even though I just vastly reduced red meat (to once a month or so) rather than cutting it out completely. But I should be more careful about the wine and the sugar too.