Cholesterol Readings

My cholesterol woes seems to be disappearing -the latest cholesterol readings show an all-time low for my total cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, VLDL cholesterol. But the HDL(good cholesterol) one is still below healthy levels, but definite improvement(more wine please!). All other minerals and stuff(potassium, urea, chloride) are also well within limits. Almost a year of consistent running except for a week when I was down with a flu seems to be working well. But exercise should have bumped up the HDL one as well, but that doesn't seem to have an impact. May be I need to be consistent in drinking wine too!

Did stopping diary products help ? May be not. Research that I read says it can help improve cholesterol woes - but it is just around a month

Image via Wikipedia

and I wasn't a diary product junky either. Let's wait for some more time to pass any judgment.

Coconut - is NOT a problem as many people think it to be. Coconut was very much part of my diet and I have upped it a bit by using coconut oil exclusively these days and more of tender coconut. If it was causing the HDL to be low, it should have caused the other cholesterol components to go bad, which didn't happen - so coconut remains the king in my books.

Here is my diet with the occasional wine or beer which I need to make a regular one to enhance my good cholesterol.

• Breakfeast: Juice(100% Tropicana Orange/Grape or Watermelon), Rice cakes(puttu)/Chappathi
• Lunch: Red boiled rice, vegetables, fish(2d/week) in coconut gravy, fish fry occasionally, fruits.
• Evening snack: fruits, biscuits, juice(if available)
• Dinner: Chappathi and vegetables/Red rice if fish is available, fruits, juice
• Oil used for all cooking: Coconut Oil

My exercise program consists of 3 days running and some stretching and yoga with cycling to work on other 3 days with a rest day in between - see here.