My Cholesterol Story

About ten years ago, after a routine annual checkup, my doctor called me to discuss my blood-work report. What he told me came as a big shock to me.  He told me that both my total cholesterol and the LDL numbers this time  were alarmingly high and that he would like to put me on cholesterol-lowering medication. In previous tests, my numbers were always on the higher side but never too high to cause concern.

Here are the numbers from that report (10/30/2000):

• LDL: 168
• HDL: 45
• Triglyceride: 168
• total cholesterol: 247

At that time I just told my doctor that I would make an appointment to see him in a couple of weeks. In my mind, though, I could not accept the fact that I would have to go on medication for cholesterol for the rest of my life. It, however, gave me a reason to reflect back on my life thus far and try to figure out why the cholesterol levels have always been on the higher side and now they had really jumped up. I didn’t have to dig too deep to realize that the reasons should have been pretty obvious had I been paying attention. It all came down to my poor eating habits.

Up until that time, I had no knowledge or awareness of diet and nutrition. In my own naiveté, I was convinced that since I was practicing yoga I should be able to get away with any type of food since "yogis" can digest everything that they eat. I was very fond of Indian sweets – rasmalai, gulab-jamun, barfi and the rest. Most of the snacks that I ate would almost always be too salty and deep fried – samosa, pakora, chips, etc. It is true that there are a large number of people who eat all this kind of food and still have no heart problem and their cholesterol levels are OK. However, I soon realized that these indicators are not universal and that different people react differently to their eating habits and food intakes. In my case, I am perhaps heavily predisposed genetically  to heart condition because everyone on my father’s side of the family died of heart disease. So there was definitely a connection between my genes and my cholesterol numbers.

So the big question that I faced was – given my genetic predisposition, was it still possible to lower my cholesterol level without resorting to medication. I was already practicing yoga regularly so the element of exercise was taken care of. The only other factor was diet and I decided to do some research, learn about diet and nutrition and see if I could do something about it. I got myself a couple of books on nutrition and also on heart health.

During the yoga teacher training program at Yogaville, one name that came up prominently was that of Dr. Dean Ornish, a  Cardiologist. Dr Ornish,  while he was still a medical student, went to learn yoga from Swami Satchidananda at Yogaville so he could overcome his state of depression and stress (according to his own account, Dr. Ornish became suicidal for a while during college). He was so impressed by what he learnt at Yogaville, he decided to continue research on how a lifestyle change that includes yoga can impact the condition of human heart. His research findings have been quite remarkable and lead to his writing several books, one of the more famous one being, "Reversing heart disease". Recently, his program got an approval from Medicare.

I got a hold of the book "Reversing heart disease" and read it cover-to-cover and really found some valuable guidelines on how to control my diet. I also consulted with my sister who works as a nutritionist at a hospital in Chicago. Based on my research and consultation with my sister, I came up with a diet plan that I was willing to try for at least 8-10 months before deciding on cholesterol medication.

Based on my new awareness and understanding I made several changes to my diet. Here is a summary of those changes:

• Eliminate entirely all deep-fried food from my diet. This meant no samosa, pakora, puri, chips, french fries etc.
• Eliminate all desserts, especially all the Indian sweets that I was fond of – ras-malai, rasgulla, barfi etc. In the last four years or so I have started making my own dessert – apple crisp – in which I add very little sugar and almost no butter – tastes great!
• Avoid caffeine – no tea or coffee – I stayed off caffeine for about five years. Now I drink tea, one or two cups a day
• Add more fruit in the diet. In order to consume a lot of different fruits, I have been making a fruit smoothie with yogurt base. I drink it at breakfast. You can see my recipe here.
• Add raw veggie salad to the diet. I usually combine cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and radish in a bowl and add a little lime juice and some salt and pepper (chat-masala will do equally well)
• Add flax seed or flax flour to the diet. My wife adds some flax meal to the flour that we use for making roti. I have been adding flax to the breads that I bake, hot cereal that I make for breakfast, apple crisp etc.
• Cut down the intake of carbohydrates. I used to eat 2, sometime 3, rotis with my lunch and dinner. I decided to cut down the number of rotis  to one with each meal and correspondingly increase the consumption of cooked vegetables with the meal
• Use only fat-free milk, both for drinking and for making yogurt
• About five years ago, I started observing a partial fast once a week. On the day of the fast I skip both breakfast and lunch. At about 2:30 PM I eat some fruit – usually a banana and/or an apple. For dinner I have the fruit smoothie and at night a cup of milk, about an hour before going to bed

After making the above changes in my diet, I went back for another blood test about a year later to check my cholesterol. The doctor was actually very surprised to see that the levels came down significantly, enough that I did not need any medication.

Here are numbers (9/11/2001):

• LDL: 117
• HDL: 43
• Triglycerides: 139
• Total cholesterol: 188

For me this was a great revelation because my doctor had warned me that because of my genetic predisposition, I may not be able to lower the levels significantly.  This experiment convinced me that diet can and often does play a major role in one’s overall health condition and well-being. I have been going back for regular blood work over the years. What I observed was that the numbers did not stay at the same low levels as shown above but were always slightly higher. However, the numbers stayed within acceptable limits.Just a year after this test, the numbers came as follows (10/4/2002):

• LDL: 135
• HDL: 43
• Triglycerides: 128
• Total cholesterol: 204

Over the years, the numbers have stayed pretty consistently close to the above level. For example, here are the numbers from last year’s test (6/13/09):

• LDL: 133
• HDL: 47
• Triglycerides: 104
• Total cholesterol: 201

Even though these numbers do not represent an ideal situation, my doctor does not think that they warrant any medication. This is also linked to the fact that due to my lifestyle and other factors (I am not overweight, don’t smoke or drink, no meat, relatively stress-free lifestyle etc.), there are not too many other contributing risk factors for a heart disease.

I must emphasize that in addition to proper diet, there are other factors which are equally important in maintaining healthy cholesterol levels. In my case, I have been able to maintain a regular daily yoga routine which includes asana (physical stretching), pranayama (breathing techniques) and meditation. Another important factor is the overall state of the mind  – whether you are stress-free or you allow small things to bother you. Of course, a regular practice of yoga helps in keeping stress levels low and keeping the mind in a more relaxed state.

I am hoping that by staying with my current diet, I can maintain my cholesterol numbers at the above levels. Obviously, if in future, the diet is unable to control cholesterol, I will have no choice but to go for medication. The main reasons why I would like to avoid medication is that all medicines are known to have side effects. I know some of the medicines used to lower cholesterol can actually cause muscle and joint pain or problems with digestion.

I hope you will find my cholesterol story of some value to you. If will be great if you could share your own story. I would also appreciate any feedback and comments on this post.

Update 11/19/2010:

• LDL: 114
• HDL: 55
• Triglycerides: 80
• Total cholesterol: 185

These numbers show a slight improvement compared to last year’s numbers. Not sure what might have caused this improvement, since I haven’t really made any changes in my lifestyle!

Update 9/17/2012:

• LDL: 121
• HDL: 55
• Triglycerides: 73
• Total cholesterol: 191

Update 3/25/15:

• LDL: 122
• HDL: 56
• Triglycerides: 75
• Total cholesterol: 193