Lowering cholesterol

Rossy2692

Hi all,

What is the best way to lower ones cholesterol? I have bought 'that' spread to help but what else can I do?

Ken68

Hi Rossy....Cut out all fats completely, marge, butter, hard cheese, animal fats. Go over to cottage cheese, semi skimmed milk, plain bread with nowt on.
Eat more veg and fruit and fish, some eggs. Lifestyle change is needed.

Bunny200

Porridge oats are very good as well as they have soluable fibre which binds to fat and helps to lower your cholesterol. I believe lentils and beans are also very good

windowshopper100

No need to cut out all fats, besides, that's very difficult. Cut out all the saturated fat you can, that said, they are all the fats mentioned above... fats which are solid at room temparature is a good rule of thumb. If you want cheese and the like, make it reduced fat. Also, processed food with trans/hydrogenated fats should be avoided.

It's OK to have monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil and rapeseed oil, marketed as vegetable oil, but check on the label it says 100% rapeseed. Limit these though.

Whole grains, oats, pulses and plenty of fruit and veg.

Take regular, moderate exercise.

'Those spreads' do work. But they are expensive and you need to take the amount that's recommended on the packet. Also, when you stop using them, the problem returns. You need to implement the other changes too - don't think you're doing good by frying bacon, egg and 2 sausages in it!

As Ken said, it's about changing lifestyle.

hollydays

Work out your food weaknesses,in relation to fat ie crisps,chocolate,fried food,takeaways,cake,biscuits,cheese,butter,cream,mayonnaise?Work out how you can make changes.
For example,I get very tempted to pick at lumps of cheese from the fridge,so I keep cubes frozen (lower fat cheese too) for cooking.Slices of ham,I could guzzle down in a second,therefore I make up sandwiches and freeze them.I don't have fatty stuff in my fridge,but rather cottage cheese,tomatoes,fruit,veg,Very low fat mayo.

I eat less red meat now,if i buy mince it will be the "healthier" steak mince,and only eat steak or beef if i go out,mostly,lamb too.

I look at the labels for food I buy and avoid eating pre-prepared food (this has a lot of hidden fat in).

Penelope_Penguin

Rossy2692 wrote: »

Hi all,

What is the best way to lower ones cholesterol? I have bought 'that' spread to help but what else can I do?

Hi, Rossy! Can I ask why you want to lower your cholesterol? Have you been advised by a doctor or do you have other health concerns?

Penny. x

floss2

Start the day with an oat-based breakfast - low GI, can help to reduce cholesterol too.

Low-fat meals - but a healthy diet needs some fat to allow your body to function properly. Look for oily fish (salmon / mackerel / tuna / sardines etc) & use small amounts of unsaturated oils for cooking.

Cut down on processed foods - that means things like pastry / pies / puddings / ready meals / sausage rolls / cakes / biscuits etc, also crisps / snacky things

Reduce your red meat intake - we only eat red meat about 1, maybe 2 times a month now.

Fresh fruit & veg - increase (if you can!) your daily intake

Dairy produce - cream, full-fat milk, full-fat yogurt need to change to low-fat versions.

Cheese - cut down how much you use / eat. Try going for a stronger cheese, you'll need less!
Eggs - no need to cut them out - but don't eat them every day!

Cut down your alcohol consumption - it may not have cholesterol in it, but wine & beer can assist in its production.

Go for light / reduced fat things like mayo - my DF swore there was a taste difference, until he found out he'd been eating the reduced fat Hellmans that I bought for about 2 years without realising!

Above all, keep it in perspective, and don't expect it to go down immediately. At one check up last year, I was a bit fed-up because we'd had a bit of a blow-out a week earlier for my birthday & our anniversary, but the GP said it took 10-12 weeks to produce cholesterol from food intake, which was worse for my test as that was Christmas!

Mine has been at points between 6.6 & 4.9 over the last 5 years, currently 5.4 without medication. My blood pressure is low, so I don't fall into the "danger - needs med's" area on the GP's graph.

Teria

Have at least 25g of soya protein every day - it's medically proven to lower cholesterol! That's about 750ml of soya milk, or a few soya yogurts - Alpro desserts are delicious, if a little pricy, but any soya milk would do.