Diet to lower cholesterol

How Strange

My Mam has been diagnosed with very high cholesterol, she's been told by the doctor that she has to get it down within 6 weeks or she'll be put on medication.

She's only in her mid 50's, very slim, healthy, exercises every day (walking, swiming, yoga), eats a fairly healthy diet (compared to the majority of other people), rarely drinks alcohol. In fact I would've always considered her diet very healthy but perhaps a bit conservative. So the main problem she faces is how to change her diet (she doesn't eat convenience or junk foods) to enable her to lower her cholesterol.

I think she's going to need a bit of help to do this so could anyone point me in the direction of some good receipe books and websites for lowering cholesterol and also tell me what foods are considered cholesterol busting.

I've looked up the internet and the diet sheets seem to be quite uniform - more fibre, less refined sugar, less red meat, more fish, less saturated fats, more unsaturated but I can't find info on the benefits of nuts, seeds, beans and pulses.

Any advice would be very welcome.

eclectichoney

Sorry i can't help much How Strange but I believe oats are really good, so maybe a big bowl of porridge with some oat bran added in? (i think oat bran is very good as well). or i think you can even make porridge from just oat bran so that might work as well.

It's hard to find a really good website on this, as a lot of it just focuses on the whole 'exercise, don't eat too much satrated fat, eat fruit and veg' type approach, which if you are already doing, well it's not very helpful! I believe it can be hereditary to some extent so that may also be a factor??

Scoobydoobydoo

I cut my cholesterol quite significantly recently, my g.p. was quite interested in how I did it.
I bought a book called Cut Your Cholesterol:

http://www.rdstore.com/product_detail.cfm?pid=352&seo=Cut-Your-Cholesterol/Lose-30-Points-in-12-Weeks!

There is so much detail, covering all types of cholesterol etc. and of course, all the things you can do to reduce.

I decided to take certain supplements, such as Hawthorne and Co Enzyme Q10. I also took some that focus on aiding the liver, which breaks down the body fats - Milk Thistle & Dandelion Root. I also took Lecithin granules.
I didn't take as much as indicated on the containers all the time, but quite regularly.

I ate walnuts & almonds, a small handful each day.

I drank a lot of water.

I only used Benecol spread on bread, and generously. I also drank 1 or 2 Benecol or Danecol drinks a day.

The dietary stuff is obvious, so I won't bore you with much of that, but actually I didn't change a whole lot on that front - and it sounds like your Mum needn't either, if she eats healthily like you say.
I don't eat red meat anyway, and I eat a lot more fish than I used to. Oh and oats are fantastic, absolutely, throw in a few seeds as well!

I would recommend going to a good health food store and getting some good advice from someone in the know of alternatives. I know some people pooh-pooh that sort of thing, but if it keeps you off the drugs, I say try anything else first!

If your Mum does nothing else, I'd say at least do the walnuts and lots of water.

Best of luck.

neuro-praxis

How about a vegan diet with only wholefoods for the next 6 weeks? No animal fats at all. Then she can gradually reintroduce animal products. If it got her cholesterol down it would be well worth the sacrifice.

Sample vegan diets.

Transform

animal fats have no major effect on cholesterol levels and a vegan diet is not the answer to a hormonal system that need more good fats i.e. fish oils, nuts, seeds etc

Drugs are not the long term answer -

Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs are Less Effective in Reality than in Trials

Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs work to lower "bad" LDL cholesterol in clinical trials, however, in reality many patients do not stick to the pill-taking routine, rendering the treatment less effective than initially thought.

According to a recent study of 400 new statin users, levels of LDL cholesterol were lowered one-third less than expected from clinical trials. Three statin drugs, atorvastatin (Lipitor), simvastatin (Zocor) and pravastatin (Pravachol), were involved in the study and all three yielded similar results.

The gap between expected and actual outcomes may be due to patients’ adherence to the medications as well as diet, researchers say.

Additionally, some patients responded highly to the drugs while others did not. According to researchers, this variation indicates that poor results are likely due to a low compliance with treatment recommendations.

Patients may not adhere to statin therapy, which has been shown to lower the risk of both LDL cholesterol and the risk of heart attack, for several reasons. Researchers mention monetary reasons, concerns about the drug’s safety and simply not remembering as possible reasons.

Though statins are thought to be generally safe, one such drug, Baycol (cerivastatin), was recently recalled due to adverse side effects including severe muscle weakness and several deaths from rhabdomyolysis, which causes muscle to break down.

The recall has raised fears over statin side effects; however several national institutes, including the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, have recently stated that the drugs are safe and effective in treating high cholesterol.

American Journal of Medicine December 2002;113:625-629
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In October 2005 the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study in which the diets of 2,200 post-menopausal women with low total fat intake and they discovered:
“A higher saturated fat (from meat, eggs, dairy foods) is associated with LESS progression of cardiovascular disease (CVD) whereas carbohydrate intake is associated with greater progression”

i.e. stop eating so much bread, rice, cereals, pasta and potatoes and eat more fruit and veg
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In 2003 The British Medical Journal did a fourteen year study and found:
“There is no support for dietary fat/cholesterol and risk of stroke in men”

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Finally,

In May 2007 (Pharmacotherapy Journal) published a study, which showed a decrease in trigylceride levels by 45% and lowering of LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) by more than 50% through the regular consumption of fish oil supplements. This study lead to the groundbreaking approval by the FDA for omega 3’s (2-4/day) in the prevention of CVD.

So whats the most important thing to do to lower cholesterol levels - take fish oils every day and get you mum eating low gi foods

This is an area i have extensively studied and spreading bit of flora on bread etc is like a fart against a hurricane when compared to fish oils

siochain

oat bran is excellent and you could also try lecithin granules (lots of other benefits too). Thats only if your diet very clean, lead cuts of meat, fish, fruits, veg and keep the carbs down.