Blood test

[S3dINS (AKA Nik)]

I got the results from a blood test today and was told my cholesterol is 5.9 which is slightly elevated but my triglycerides are 3.6 which is in the high band.

I'm slightly overweight at 15 and a half stone but I eat a lot of fish and have cut down on the beer so I drink a pint or 2 maybe every 3 days. I only eat red meats maybe once a week. I will carb load if I know I'm riding the next day but other than that I tend to shy away from calorie rich foods. I think I need to eat more veg. I'm active on the bike at least 3 times a week.

Is there anything else I could be doing to decrease the cholesterol and triglycerides?

It's got me a bit concerned.

[voodoopiles]

I think it all gets a bit much when they go on about poly this and unsaturated but in saying that I also daren't go for a blood check in case I see some results that frighten me (not HIV) because I know I probably drink more than I should. I do eat reasonably well though and have porridge for breakfast with a handful of sultanas and a spoonful of honey in it. I also make a large smoothie every morning just by lobbing a banana, an apple, a carrot, a stick of celery , and handful of fresh spinach into a jug, top it up with fresh orange juice and blend with a hand blender (just under a pint a day). After excercise I blend a banana into a pint of milk with spoonful of honey .....I don't always remember but I try. Good luck with your reduction techniques.

ps...I eat other food as well mainly meat and fresh veg but very rarely any frozen stuff, not even chips (although Aunt Bessie's roasties save a lot of faffing about ...and her parsnips)


pps ...and her Yorkshire puddings



edit: nearly forgot her stuffing balls

[Tarbo]

Feb 18, 2010 17:47:18 GMT voodoopiles said:

edit: nearly forgot her stuffing balls

Is that food or a little something extra she does for you ? ;D

[Damon]

My friend's Father lives in the South of France, cycles 50 miles a day, eats well, doesn't drink and has always looked after himself.

He suffers from high chol too. I don't know much about it, but it doesn't seem as simple as becoming a boring fitness freak to cure

[al]

Ignore the results, anyone that cycles three times a week has nothIng to worry about.If you are concerned just watch the tv and have a lok at somebody from America and it will make you feel much better.

[smudge]

I dont really know how the whole cholesterol thing works, I am 5' 8" and weigh 10st 6lb, I ride, swim and run and eat healthily (lots of fruit and veg etc) but at our works medical before xmas my cholesterol was 4.4. A woman who works with us weighed in at 23st 4lb, drives everywhere and doesnt move from in front of the tv at night or weekends, her diet consists of crisps, biscuits and fry ups mostly, at the medical her cholesterol came in at 4.2 . What are we doing wrong?

[campbell]

I'll probably get 'wrong bonged' for this (yes, I'm getting old and listen to Evans not Moyles in the morning), but from my annual first aid stuff (no doubt out of date) we get taught a bit about cholestorol, and there are two types - good and bad.

You can probably have too much of either. Do you know which one that test refers to?

I wouldn't get too het up on anything like that, I would have thought that if your resting heart beat is OK and your recovery times are OK, then you are fine. If you're getting out thrice weekly then you're going to be in decent shape, no matter what your shape is...

[S3dINS (AKA Nik)]

Cheers guys.

Campbell, you have a good point. They didn't say which cholesterol it was but it was more the triglycerides I was concerned about. I think I'm gonna go see my doc and see if he can explain it a bit more.

As for resting heart rate, I've timed between 65 and 68 bpm over a 5 day period. I was out for a ride yesterday and my HRM told me my max max HR was 205 but I'm almost positive it was having a brain fart because I was barely breathing hard. My recovery is a bit on the slow side but It'll get better.

I'm going to switch to semi skimmed milk and eat a bit more fruit though.

[boolie]

Feb 18, 2010 18:11:22 GMT Tarbo said:

Feb 18, 2010 17:47:18 GMT voodoopiles said:

edit: nearly forgot her stuffing balls

Is that food or a little something extra she does for you ? ;D

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[voodoopiles]

**blushes**

[tinytim]

you get ldl and hdl which are low and high density lipids, cant remember which one is good or which is bad sorry, but you seem to be doing ok with the exercise side of things the diet doesn,t seem bad at all but you dont mention dairy products or shell fish and plenty of other things that could effect your cholestrel and its not extremely high but what the doctors always forget to tell you is that some people naturally produce lots more cholestrel than others through their liver and diets and exercise will not fully contribute to lowering it. thats why they resort to drugs. you dont have to be unhealthy or have a bad diet to have high cholestrel just unlucky sometimes

[danevs]

I haven't got a clue when it comes to Cholesterol etc so can't help there but I guess it couldn't hurt to lose a bit of weight?

Why do you carb load before a ride? Are you doing high intensity workouts or just riding along?

If you're actively trying to lose weight/get fitter then you'd probably be better served by letting your body work on fat instead of carbs until you hit your target weight then see whether carb loading's required.

Just a suggestion anyway (if a little off topic :

[S3dINS (AKA Nik)]

Feb 18, 2010 23:05:15 GMT @danevs said:

I haven't got a clue when it comes to Cholesterol etc so can't help there but I guess it couldn't hurt to lose a bit of weight?

Why do you carb load before a ride? Are you doing high intensity workouts or just riding along?

If you're actively trying to lose weight/get fitter then you'd probably be better served by letting your body work on fat instead of carbs until you hit your target weight then see whether carb loading's required.

Just a suggestion anyway (if a little off topic :

I bonk hard (in both senses of the phrase ) so I carb load the evening before to get my glycogen levels up then I'll have some porrige on the morning of the ride to keep some carbs in the fuel tank. I suffer really badly with hypoglycemia if I don't and it can totally ruin a good ride. I find that when I carb load I am able to go on and on until the end of my ride. I do need to try and find how far can go on a full tank so I can try and end my rides before I hit, or as I hit the wall.

As for burning fat I'm doing quite well and have lost about 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks by doing moderate exercise (while off the bike with a bad knee) and eating better and less.

I don't think I'm unhealthy but I could definitely be healthier.

[voodoopiles]

"I bonk hard (in both senses of the phrase)"

Is that how they describe switching hands these days ?

[S3dINS (AKA Nik)]

Feb 18, 2010 23:54:56 GMT voodoopiles said:

"I bonk hard (in both senses of the phrase)"

Is that how they describe switching hands these days ?

Well done, I like it.