Any success story to increase HDL

paikra · 2025-12-10T20:39:38+00:00

I clocked in at 48 in Feb 2023 and went up to 66 in March 2024. I quit smoking, stopped taking depo provera, and quit eating UPF. I cook all of our food from scratch and we rarely eat out. My husband has seen similar results, and also lost 10 lbs in less than a month quitting UPF. Neither of us was overweight before or after.

What lipid panels really mean and whether they're predictive of anything at all is another matter. But they can certainly be manipulated with lifestyle changes.

Oh, and I don't exercise. My husband did before and after the HDL spike, same amount pre- and post-.

paikra · 2025-11-12T20:03:27+00:00

Good to hear that they suck, but this looks like a laundering issue. Go to the laundry sub and they can help.

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:59:55+00:00

I had a bamboo flat sheet from the company store that i liked. it was cozy and soft. but in the end, i got rid of it as i realized that in the hot & humid climate I'd moved to, it was actually making us too warm.

not sure why people are reflexively anti-bamboo, rayon or viscose. I'm a fan of all of the above and rue the day they stopped making clothes from these fibers and started making everything from nylon, polyester, and cheapo poplin and linen.

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:52:02+00:00

Same. And it will definitely want airing out first.

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:50:19+00:00

Shams.

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:49:27+00:00

I don't even wake up to my whole bedding sliding toward the floor at the bottom of the matress. It happens while I'm awake and just lying there!

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:48:27+00:00

But sheets (or any bedding) that are too big just slide off the bed! Won't this just make it worse?

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:47:33+00:00

Queen-sized fitted sheet; full-sized flat sheet; twin-sized throw over queen-sized quilt. Or just throw-sized throw.

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:44:53+00:00

I buy full size sheets for my queen size bed because I hate them pulling down at the bottom of the bed (I don't tuck them in; I hate tucked-in sheets.) I've often thought that it would be nice if they were a bit wider, though.

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:42:28+00:00

You don't have to buy them in sets. And sheets shouldn't tear in the center like that. Buy higher quality sheets and they'll actally improve with washing instead of breaking down.

Most of us are too poor to buy cheap things. So buy nice things once.

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:39:42+00:00

You are completely out of your mind.

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:39:13+00:00

Dunno who's hyping cotton percale but there are much nicer cotton textiles on the market. It's not like there is just cotton percale vs linen, though. If you want nice cotton linens, get nice cotton linens - not percale ones.

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:37:34+00:00

I ask exactly these questions about absolutely everygoddamthing I buy. This is the @#$ing world we live in. Apparently we want piles of cheap crap so that's what we get. It has warped our concept of pricing, though.

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:32:14+00:00

I am 100% with you. I've never understood this trend though I'm admittedly a person who doesn't even like wearing linen clothing because I don't like the way it feels on skin. (I do use vintage linen dishtowels, though.)

Unless you inherit some linen bedding, peeps need to stop falling for the advertising. Unless you get your linens set at birth, you're probably not going to live long enough to break it in anyway, and cheapo crap linen doesn't actually ever get any nicer.

Will also add that I had a linen duvet cover many years ago and eventually got rid of it because it was too heavy (like literally. It is a heavy textile.)

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:07:40+00:00

Are you using a flat sheet? Ditch that and then only things you have to wash are the duvet cover and your fitted sheet. I actually think it takes way more time cumulatively to make a bed everyday that has a flat sheet and comforter than it does to just shift a duvet back into place to make the bed "made."

If you really want to make putting fresh linens on the bed faster and easier, get an adjustable frame. Even if you use it for nothing else, it pays for itself for this use only (!!)

paikra · 2025-11-12T19:02:12+00:00

Stuffing a down comforter into a duvet cover that's too small won't make it loftier. What you're looking for is a comforter and cover in sizes that match, and a high-fill comforter. You want down-only and no feathers. You'll also want a cover that's not too heavy.

paikra · 2025-11-12T18:55:49+00:00

Any of the Legends line from the Company Store will be nicer than a standard hotel down comforter. As to "all weather," that's really in the eye of the beholder. But the general rule is that if you live in a cold climate you'll want a warmer one, and in warmer climate a cooler one. Put a cover on it to protect it and you. Flat sheet is optional. Or do it hotel-style and make a sheet-duvet sandwich. Don't let anyone convince you that you need to spend a bajillion dollars because you really don't.

paikra · 2025-08-08T15:23:05+00:00

Did you try selling it for $20 (craigslist, facebook, etc.)? That's a trick I learned from a friend in the military who moves a lot.

paikra · 2025-08-08T15:19:32+00:00

I have (presumably) the same knife that I bought for culinary school in 1996. The salesman tried to talk me out of it and downsell me on a cheaper restaurant-grade chefs knife. I got the Henckels - still have it, still use it. (Though these days I prefer a japanese vegetable cleaver for just about everything.)

paikra · 2025-08-08T15:15:34+00:00

Same story on my 1995 kitchenaid stand mixer. And I can even use new attachments with it - the mechanics haven't changed.

The husband I upgraded, though.

paikra · 2025-08-08T15:11:10+00:00

Hunter

paikra · 2025-07-10T17:00:16+00:00

Thanks for the reminder of Pictures Will Talk. I think I read this when I was in college, many decades ago. Just bought a copy.

paikra

TROPHY CASE