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My name is Christine Marquette and I'm a registered dietitian with the Austin Regional Clinic
and I'm going to talk to you about how to fast before a blood cholesterol test. Typically
the only thing that the lab will ask you to do is to make sure that you don't have anything
to eat or drink for twelve hours before they're going to do the blood draw for cholesterol.
You can still drink water. Some labs will allow you to also have plain black coffee
or tea, but no other types of fluids. No fruit juice, no sodas, nothing that has any calories
to it. You won't be aloud anything like Powerade or any sports drinks. Absolutely no solid
food for the twelve hours prior to your cholesterol test. There isn't a requirement as far as
modifying your diet any time up to that. For example: in the week before hand, you don't
have to change your diet in any kind of way, typically it's better if you don't. It's better
if you follow your normal eating habits, that way you get a more accurate indicator of how
your cholesterol is doing. In some people, cholesterol is very much affected by their
diet, so for example, if they're eating a lot of saturated fats, whether that's from
things like bacon or fried chicken or a lot of cheese, or those types of things, it will
show up in their cholesterol test and their cholesterol, their LDL cholesterol will be
elevated. By the same token, if somebody modifies their diet and starts eating a lot of high
fiber foods and they normally don't do that, say for example, they know they have their
cholesterol test coming up, so they really start eating a lot of oatmeal and reducing
any of their fried foods, eating a lot more vegetables. A lot of times that will show
up as well, and their cholesterol levels will be lower. So, the best thing to do is follow
your normal diet and then twelve hours before you're scheduled to have your blood drawn,
you're fasting, drinking only water. That will give your doctor the best indicator of
how your cholesterol truly is and then you will know if you truly need to make any diet
modifications or not. So, those are just a few tips on how to fast for a blood cholesterol
test.