💬 My cholesterol came back high in July so I changed a few things

My cholesterol test in July came back at 238. The doctor said it wasn't scary but he gave me 6 months. I'm 38 and I've never been ill. I went home and told nobody for 2 days. Then I told my mother and she cried a little, which made it worse. She started a list that evening. It was mostly my uncle's advice. Raw garlic, amla juice, no more Friday haleem. I did all of it. The first 2 weeks were hard. I walk 40 minutes after Isha now, around the lake road near our place. Fried snacks are down to Saturdays only. Rice at night became broken wheat, which my kids called mud. The garlic is 2 raw cloves with water at 7 every morning. I won't pretend I like it. At work they call me the guy who says no to samosas, and that's been 3 months now. I'm getting tested again in January. Part of me wants the number to be good just so I can brag. The doctor told me the walking matters more than the garlic. I'm keeping both going anyway. I don't know which of these things is working. Maybe all of them, maybe none. I made 1 rule for myself, which is to ask the doctor before I try anything new from the internet. My daughter has started walking with me on Sundays. She's 11 and she complains for 10 minutes first. Then she runs ahead and waits at the corner with her arms crossed. I walk slower on purpose. What did you change when your numbers came back high? And what did you quit after a week? Garlic is on its last 3 weeks of my patience, so be honest with me.

Sam has a point, garlic alone won't do much. What worked for me was changing everything in the same month. Walking daily, weighing myself every Sunday, and cutting alcohol down to almost nothing, all at once.

Not trying to be that person, but I get nervous when garlic gets too much credit for cholesterol. My uncle ate it raw every morning for 10 years and still had a mild heart attack last year. His BP was never checked properly. The doctor said the garlic wasn't the problem, ignoring everything else was. Keep the walks, they matter most. The garlic is nice to have on top.

Getting my BP under 120 over 80 took more than cutting salt, I had to weigh myself weekly to stay honest about the weight part too. Lost close to eight kilos over five months just from walking and skipping the evening samosas at the office canteen. My colleagues thought I was joking when I said no to fried food for a month straight.

Green tea took some getting used to after years of drinking chai twice a day. I still have one cup of chai in the morning but switched the evening one to green tea, mostly plain, sometimes with a bit of lemon.

Swapped white rice for daliya at dinner about a year back and really did not expect to keep it up this long.

Family history is the part I never took seriously enough until recently. My father had his first heart issue at forty five, and I only started getting my lipid profile checked regularly after that scared me into it. Everything came back fine so far, but I go every six months now instead of waiting for symptoms, since apparently that is when it is too late.

My numbers went up in a bad year at work, even though I ate clean and walked every day. A friend said, try 10 minutes of Anulom Vilom before bed. I rolled my eyes and did it anyway.

I can add to the garlic part. I quit smoking after my uncle's bypass last year, mostly out of fear. The first month was rough and I put on 3 kilos from snacking instead. But the stairs at my office stopped feeling like a workout, and that was worth more than any clove. Your daughter walking with you is the best part. Mine won't leave her phone for 5 minutes.

I started the thirty minute walk about six months ago after a routine checkup flagged my blood pressure. It took nearly two weeks before it stopped feeling like a chore. Now I look forward to it, mostly because I use the time to call my brother who lives in Dubai. My BP has come down enough that my doctor cut one of my tablets.

My father started having two raw garlic cloves every morning after his cholesterol test came back high. His doctor was surprised at the improvement four months later. We also swapped out fried snacks for roasted chana at home, which made a bigger difference than any of us expected. The only downside is the smell lingers on his breath till lunch, but he says it is worth it.