High cholesterol....

mental07

So I was informed today that my cholesterol levels are slightly too high. Doc is giving me six weeks to get it lower, if there is nothing doing then she says she'll prescribe me medication. So my question is: What are the best things to eat?? Doc told me to avoid cheese and red meat, boo hoo.

corkcomp

mental07 wrote: »

So I was informed today that my cholesterol levels are slightly too high. Doc is giving me six weeks to get it lower, if there is nothing doing then she says she'll prescribe me medication. So my question is: What are the best things to eat?? Doc told me to avoid cheese and red meat, boo hoo.

could you post up your current diet (typical day) so we can get a better idea?

I found the following helped lower my cholesterol ...

porridge
oat bran
apples
pears
kiwiis
ALL types of vegetables ...
unsaturated fats found in: e.g. olive oil, fish like salmon, mackeral etc ...
nuts (lows of good fats)
seeds

If your trigliceride levels are high be careful of refinded carbs like while flour / pasta etc

if you want to have cheese you could use ricotta or mozzarella which have good proten content also ...

You should be able to eat LEAN read meat in moderation ...

eclectichoney

I know I'm gonna get shot here, but I found one of those bencol drinks everyday actually had a good effect. I'm currently on meds that mess up my liver a good bit so there is a real need to try and keep my cholesterol down or else i'll have to stop the tablets. My diet was pretty much ok to start with: lots of porridge, oily fish, minimal processed carbs. It's not a panacea, but over the space of a month, my cholesterol came down and it was the only change i made. If you can change your diet, that's obviously the most important thing though. the yogurt is just an extra if everything else is in order, it's worth a shot imho.

Brian?

eclectichoney wrote: »

I know I'm gonna get shot here, but I found one of those bencol drinks everyday actually had a good effect. I'm currently on meds that mess up my liver a good bit so there is a real need to try and keep my cholesterol down or else i'll have to stop the tablets. My diet was pretty much ok to start with: lots of porridge, oily fish, minimal processed carbs. It's not a panacea, but over the space of a month, my cholesterol came down and it was the only change i made. If you can change your diet, that's obviously the most important thing though. the yogurt is just an extra if everything else is in order, it's worth a shot imho.

Aren't those benecol drink proven to work?

eclectichoney

well apparently yes, but I'm a bit of a cynic :pac:

El_Dangeroso

eclectichoney wrote: »

well apparently yes, but I'm a bit of a cynic :pac:

And right you are to be one, here's a new study released last week:

Plant Sterols May Pose Health risk

They might be known for lowering bad cholesterol and reducing heart disease risk, but plant sterols have their own health risks, say researchers.

The researchers found that these compounds may accumulate in heart valves and lead to stenosis, abnormal narrowing in blood vessels.

Aortic valve stenosis (AS) is caused due to accumulation of cholesterol in the valve between the left ventricle and aorta, which impedes the flow of blood and puts extra pressure on the heart.

Nearly, 2 pct of individuals over 65 and over 5pct of those over 85 have AS, and as the population ages, it is becoming an increasing problem.

Plant sterols can block the absorption of dietary cholesterol into the body, and as such high vegetable diets and/or plant sterol supplements are often used to alleviate high cholesterol.

The team led by Satu Helske collected blood samples from 82 patients with severe AS and aortic valves from 21 individuals undergoing valve surgery.

They found that non-cholesterol sterols, including plant sterols, can accumulate in aortic valves, and at levels that directly related to their blood concentration.

These findings suggest that beneficial plant sterols may end up becoming a risk factor for AS.

The study appears in the July 2008 JLR.

http://living.oneindia.in/health/di...ase-180708.html

A lot of people don't realise is that cholesterol is a healing hormone. The reason you have high cholesterol (High was 7 two years ago, now it's five, I wonder why? *Cough*Statins*Cough*) is because your body is trying to heal it's heart. Cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease but it may be a signal of it. I say 'may' as they are notoriously inaccurate but it's all we had to go on for years so it became the defacto measurement of heart disease. To be sure, you need to get a heart scan done, but they're expensive.

So to lower your cholesterol by statins, or flora proactive, or plant sterols such as benecol is like taking the battery out of your smoke alarm to put out a house fire.

eclectichoney

Interesting study. Like most things I suppose you will always find conflicting studies and it is probably impossible to prove anything 100% one way or another.

You may note that in my post I actually outlined my reasons for needing to lower my cholesterol btw, not for its own sake, but for another somewhat unrelated reason altogether.

El_Dangeroso

Yep but maybe your body was raising your cholesterol to counteract damage being done by the liver medication? Then taking plant sterols would just be reducing your body's ability to defend itself..

How high was it if you don't mind me asking? Total cholesterol is kinda meaningless. You want high hdl. moderate big fluffy ldl particles and low triglyerides. In fact, if your hdl is high and and triglycerides are low then your ldl is going to be the big fluffy protective kind. Ask your doctor about getting the particle size of your LDL checked.

Check out the emminent cardiologist Dr. William Davis's blog for a great repository of the latest science on heart disease:

http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/

corkcomp

OP, i think your doctor has advised you to lower your cholesterol so i guess you should take his / her advice on this .. it would be a good idea to start with diet though because you have a good chance of both lowering bad chol and raising good chol by taking this approach ... I was asking a friend about this a couple of yrs ago (doctor) and apparently the main prob with satins or products like flora pro active etc is that they dont lower triglicerides only overall chol .

El_Dangeroso

Agreed, triglycerides are a far more important indicator of heart health.

Brian?

neddas wrote: »

Agreed, triglycerides are a far more important indicator of heart health.

This stuff claims to do all the good stuff, raise HDL, lower LDL and triglycerides.

http://wellness.xtend-life.com/product/Cholest-Natural.aspx?id=214090

Any opinions?