cholesterol

[Amie]

Hubby test came back showing him having high cholesterol. I looked up foods that cause that, and now we have no more grocery list :9_cool:. I welcome any info that you have, hope that you'll share tips and stuff that you know, and maybe even recipes... please. :)

Amie

[Jotham]

sorry to hear that Amie, though it is easily controled by proper diet.
cari and i have normal levels and we've been eating the usual stuff listed as balancing out the levels.

we eat lots of raw almonds, walnuts, dark chocolate, garlic, pumkin, etc. . . and also use only virgin olive oil to fry/cook with as needed. Oh, and remember your oats : )

And we do not drink cow's milk! i've mentioned before we've been drinking almond milk for many, many years (& NO SOY products! that stuff will kill you).

[Paige]

I would echo the milk thing Thom suggested. Also, there are two kinds of cholesterols, HDL's and LDL's. I believe you want a good high number for the HDL, and a low one for the LDL.

Red rice yeast pills will lower blood cholesterol, but you have to be careful there too, because it acts as a statin in your system, thus having the same liver damage potential that pharmaceuticals have.

[Laren]

Amie,

I'd recommend you buy or get at library "The Zone Diet" book. Dr. Sears explains well in the book, how cholesterol is formed, where it is formed and the contributing hormones/chemicals. Too much insulin is the culprit. Balanced diet, with lean meat, vegetables, and limited flour, refined sugars.

Nuts are great, and fish (salmon and or fish oil). He goes into this in general terms, then in detail.


Also, to raise HDL's (good cholesterol) three things help, per literature: exercise, 4 ounces of wine a night or a beer a night, and Niacin.

[Laren]

another helpful hint: shop the outside of the aisles of grocery store only.

[ozark]

Amie,

I went through this a few years back when my cholesterol showed up a little high. I was able to lower mine pretty dramatically, but it took a little work. Like the folks said here, cut the red meat and change to chicken, pork, or fish. Heavy on the fish if possible. It helps raise the good cholesterol level.

Cut back on the sugars as much as possible. The way I understand it, they are involved in raising the worst kind of bad cholesterol. There are actually two kinds of bad cholesterol. One is the big fluffy kind which is not really that bad at all. The really bad bad cholesterol is the small tightly wound kind. It can cause some trouble. There are tests to determine which kind of bad cholesterol makes up the majority of your husband's. You may want to ask about it, if your doctor has not brought up the subject.

If he is a little overweight, the excess has to go, but a low cholesterol diet will take care of that. Exercise is also very important. It too will lower cholesterol.

If you are into supplements, fish oil is very helpful. Lately, there has been some excellent research on Niacin. The problem with Niacin is that many people have an uncomfortable flush after taking it. You turn red and feel kind of tingly. However, there is no flush Niacin available. I really like Life Extension supplements. I have taken many brands over the years. IMO, they are the best out there by far. They have a no flush Niacin supplement (http://www.lef.org/Vitamins-Supplements/Item01402/High-Compliance-Niacin-with-Luteolin-Quercetin-and-Olive-Extracts.html)that is so popular it is out of stock right now, but I bet they will get more soon.

My wife is very experienced with low cholesterol cooking. I don't even know I am on a diet. Next time I talk to you, I am sure she would be glad to give you advice on how to make a low fat diet taste like you are splurging.

Btw, switch your margarine or butter to Smart Balance brand. It actually lowers cholesterol.

[Laren]

The other thing to learn, and is covered well in the Zone book, is that dietary cholesterol contributes very little to a persons cholesterol levels. It really comes down to controlling the chemical released from the liver (can't remember name right now) that produces cholesterol. And the best way to do this is through blood sugar control (decreased sugars, flour etc) and appropriate protein ratios.

Also, make sure fish oil supplements are "purified" which gets 99 percent of mercury out. I'd look on the back of the fish oil capsule bottle and also make sure he takes enough to equal 1000 mg of EPA. Also make sure you get the kind that is designed to break down in the small intestine rather than stomach otherwise burping fish oil all day will be the result. yuk

[Jotham]

...Also make sure you get the kind that is designed to break down in the small intestine rather than stomach otherwise burping fish oil all day will be the result. yuktotally agree. and it reminded me of many times here on the oregon coast (lots of fish processing plants here) of bumping into plant workers out and about in the community after their shift doing shopping. . . talk about burping up fish! they still have their fishy-sloshy work boots on ! get the purpless fish caps ; )

[ozark]

The problem with diets is that one diet does not work for everyone. Zone type diets raise some people's cholesterol. A similar diet raised mine, but low fat lowered it quite a bit. Some people seem to get little benefit from low fat and thrive on zone type diets. You may just have to take a good look at what your hubby is eating and if anything seems out of balance, cut back.

Finding out about high cholesterol may sound like a bad thing, but it really can be a blessing. I am not saying this is true for you, but my wife and I thought we were eating a pretty healthy diet until I turned up with high cholesterol. We took a good look at things, and realized we weren't doing as well as we thought. Now, we both feel better than we did years ago.

[Amie]

I don't have time for a detailed comment now, but want to let y'all know that I am reading this and appreciate what y'all are saying. If you have more, I'm listening :).

Amie