Health concern

So I went to the doctor at the end of July. Somehow the mid summer annual exam got pushed back a few months. It had something to do with the trip to Ireland and bad scheduling on my part. How silly of me to think that a month after the holidays I would be in tip top shape for a physical. Gotta love that post holiday blood work. Some of the numbers came in higher than they have before. My doctor suggested exercise and diet. No big deal just work on it. I hope that the 10 pounds down since the holidays and the reduction of red meat, butter and cheese since then will help. I have been keeping track of my cholesterol since 2003. It has always been around 200 so I keep an eye on it. This time it is at 253. The highest it has been since I have been tracking this. The LDL is just as pretty high. It is at 171. The HDL (70)and the triglycerides(58) are pretty good and pretty low so I suspect that is why my doctor had suggested exercise and diet as my approach to the numbers. Of course I have been googling to my hearts content on all the ways to reduce cholesterol. Foods to eat. What not to eat. And all those other things. So reduce the meat intake. Working on reducing the egg intake. Have tried some sardines. Have some herring in the fridge. Now trying to get some whole grains in the mix. And to find a free cholesterol screening a few months down the road.