Whenever I see discussions on cholesterol I feel the need to mention my favorite breakfast food - oatmeal.
I got diagnosed with high cholesterol after a stint of eating bad (lots of hot dogs and cheese) and NOT being told I was supposed to fast before the test. Well I went back to eating oatmeal for breakfast and it helped dramatically drop my HDL. Right now I'm on a kick of oatmeal and spicy salsa.
I would hope that you meant droped your LDL not your HDL
High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is one of the five major groups of lipoproteins, which, in order of sizes, largest to smallest, are chylomicrons, VLDL, IDL, LDL, and HDL, which enable lipids like cholesterol and triglycerides to be transported within the water-based bloodstream. In healthy individuals, about thirty percent of blood cholesterol is carried by HDL.[1]
Blood tests typically report HDL-C level, i.e. the amount of cholesterol contained in HDL particles. It is often contrasted with low-density or LDL cholesterol or LDL-C. HDL particles are able to remove cholesterol from within artery atheroma[citation needed] and transport it back to the liver for excretion or re-utilization, which is the main reason why the cholesterol carried within HDL particles (HDL-C) is sometimes called "good cholesterol" (despite the fact that it is exactly the same as the cholesterol in LDL particles). Those with higher levels of HDL-C seem to have fewer problems with cardiovascular diseases, while those with low HDL-C cholesterol levels (less than 40 mg/dL or about 1 mmol/L) have increased rates for heart disease.[2] While higher HDL levels are correlated with cardiovascular health, no incremental increase in HDL has been proven to improve health. In other words, while high HDL levels might correlate with better cardiovascular health, specifically increasing one's HDL might not increase cardiovascular health.[3] Additionally, those few individuals producing an abnormal, apparently more efficient, HDL ApoA1 protein variant called ApoA-1 Milano, have low measured HDL-C levels yet very low rates of cardiovascular events even with high blood cholesterol values
