Consider spending more time with family and friends.  Cost is minimal  
and social interaction seems to be very important for our health.

Party!

Bill

Exercise and diet. It's a factor in metabolic syndrome. The triglyceride is
inversely related to HDL. Your HDL is low.

FYI, my triglycerides dropped from over 200 to 120 within 6 weeks by adding
zetia. You might want to retest in 4-6 weeks. I'll be resuming exercise
next week (had to stop because of an injury) and it should drop a bit more.
Cutting back on excess alcohol & sweets could help too.

L.

Jerry,
It appears that you are off to a great start. You should talk to your
doctor about diet plans and exercise programs that will help you. Jogging
and riding a bike are great exercises. If you develop muscle problems, see
your doctor ASAP. Most of the people that take statins such as Lovastatin
have NO side effects and I hope that you are part of that group. Post your
questions in this newsgroup if you do have any side effects.
Jason

Stop eating meat.

Reducing calories should be helpful. In addition smaller but more frequent
meals, better glycemic control and fish oils 2-3 grams daily. Also rapeseed
oil:

J Am Coll Nutr. 2002 Apr;21(2):103-8. Related Articles, Links

Effect of a rapeseed oil substituting diet on serum lipids and lipoproteins
in children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolemia.

Gulesserian T, Widhalm K.

Department of Pediatrics, University of Vienna, Austria.

OBJECTIVE: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a predominantly inherited
disorder, which contributes to a defect of the LDL-cholesterol receptor. For
adults with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), it is known that a
supplementary diet of monounsaturated fatty acids reduces elevated levels of
total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol and may further increase
HDL-cholesterol. In particular the reduced intake of dietary fat reduces
total serum cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol in the range of 10% to 15% and
inhibits LDL-oxidation. Once the diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia
is made in early childhood a supplementary diet with rapeseed oil should be
started as early as possible to prevent development of atherosclerosis and
subsequent complications. So far there are no reports of a lipid lowering
diet enriched with rapeseed oil in children and adolescents. METHODS:
Seventeen children and young adolescents (male = 6, female = 11, ages 4 to
19 years) diagnosed with FH were enrolled in this study. They received
dietary training and a classical low fat/low cholesterol diet enriched with
rapeseed oil over five months. In the first two months they received orally
mean 15 g/day (8-23 g/day), for the remaining three months mean 22 g/day
(15-30 g/day) rapeseed oil. The calculation of the three-days dietary
protocols showed the following characteristics: 29.5% calories from fat,
14.3% calories from protein and 54.6% calories from carbohydrates. The
subjects had six sessions of dietary counseling, and serum lipids levels and
lipoprotein(a) were estimated; each month's diet adherence was controlled by
a dietitian and discussed with the patients and their families during this
five-month study. RESULTS: During five months of rapeseed oil diet serum
triglycerides decreased by 29% (119.2+/-62.8 mg/dL vs. 84.9 mean +/- 39.7
mg/dL), VLDL-cholesterol by 27% (23+/-12 mg/dL vs. 17+/-8 mg/dL), total
cholesterol by 10% (233+/-35 mg/dL vs. 213+/-36 mg/dL), LDL-cholesterol by
7% (151+/-31 mg/dL vs. 142+/-31 mg/dL). HDL-cholesterol (59+/-15 mg/dL vs.
57+/-11 mg/dL) and Lp(a) (29.8+/-36.3 mg/dL vs. 32.6+/-40.7 mg/dL) were not
changed significantly. The diet was well accepted; in most families a
sustained change was reported. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that in
children and adolescents with FH a lipid-lowering diet with rapeseed oil has
a similar effect on total serum cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol compared to
classical cholesterol reduction diets (step I). However, an additional
pronounced effect on lowering of triglycerides and VLDL-cholesterol can be
observed. PMID: 11999536

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1
1999536&dopt=Citation

cut back on white foods, sugar, white flour foods, potato, white rice etc.
take some fish oil, exercise.