I'm 51 & I've been healthy all my life, not overweight & now going through menopause. I don't eat junk food either. My cholesterol is over 200. What are some simple ways to lower my cholesterol? What foods are the worst to eat & the best to eat? Is walking leisurely enough with regards to exercise?
I can only tell you what did it for me. I went low-carb. My numbers went from much higher than you to nothing short of amazing! I've fought cholesterol all my adult life and tried all the traditional ways of lowering it… low fat, losing weight, exercise to raise HDL, etc. I cut out all added fat except olive oil for two years. Even that didn't do it. Then I discovered low-carbing, Atkins in particular. Although my numbers had greatly improved with everything I had done it wasn't enough. Once on Atkins my HDL went from high 40's to nearly 90. My triglycerides went from 200 to 60. LDL went from close to 150 to around 100. My risk factor went from extremely high to so low the computer calls me abnormal. My doc says only 5% of adults have numbers like mine.
It would be easier to give you more information if I knew what all your specific numbers were. Being over 200 in itself is not necessarily bad if you have very high HDL. It's the balance that matters.
The worst foods are saturated fats, trans-fats, sugar and processed foods. By sugar I mean ALL sugar, including naturally occuring sugar in some fruits like watermelon, grapes and bananas. Cutting sugar will cause your triglycerides to literally plummet.
BTW… I'm 59.