Reducing Cholestrol OS Ideas please

pickle

Sunflower oil, olive oil - good for cholesterol
Increase fibre - eg. fruit and veges

Check the ingredients on the packaging of the "special" products to reduce cholesterol - I checked the margarines once and found that the cheap regular low-fat product was actually better than the so-called cholesterol reducing one.

Get in the habit of always checking the ingredients to check for the saturated/hydrogenated fats.

Smiley_Mum

Perhaps your local library may have a copy of "The Liver Cleansing Diet" by Dr Sandra Cabot. It is well worth reading and has lots of nice recipes and loads of ideas etc on reducing cholesterol etc. If you are passing a book store take a quick look through it, certainly worth having a look at it.

BTW it doesn't matter what fats/oils you use, refined, unrefined, good oils/fats can still be turned into dangerous fats if they are heated to high levels. Using olive oil is good, but gently stir fry foods and definitely no deep frying but I doubt your mam would be doing that. :rolleyes: So long as oils are kept in good conditions and not heated to high temperatures then you should be fine and just have moderate amounts of spreads etc. Like light scraping of spreads/nut butters or even hummus, tahinin (sesame seed spread) or even mashed up avocadoes (you can buy them quite reasonably at Lidls and things like that.

Aries

Thanks for this very helpful thread.
my nurse told me not to waste money on those expensive margerines, a scraping of Flora is just as good.
also my diet sheet mentions,change your oil to Rape seed oil measured with a spoon.
I am not a meat eater, my problem has been brought on by my sweet tooth.

thriftlady_2

I think I'm right in saying that rapeseed oil is monounsaturated like olive oil.I also think I'm right in saying it is known as canola oil in the States.

lynzpower

I read an article in the observer or guardian a while ago that said there is NO point watsoever in buying these lowere cholestrol things. Seriously, when you think about how much spread you actually use, its failryl miniscule. My OH has very high cholestrol (8. something) We have basically cut out anything that was bad ( much of the worst offenders such as processed meat, from before we met).

hes been told 5-7 portions of fruit & veg a day, he manages 5 most days. Sometimes, too. Skimmed milk only, no nasties. No eggs. We might have one a week in a pancake batter for example, between us, but thats about it. The only processed meat we have is maybe finest sausages once in a while, but aside from that v lean turkey, and for treat, angel delight with skimmed milk, or some of that fat free frozen yoghurt. Most weightwatchers products are v low fat too eg, thier ice creams, mini cheesecakes, which we might have very occasioanally as I can no longer make my own cheesecakes what with all that butter and fat...

pickle

The skinny cow icecreams are good for those sweet cravings.

Aries

Thanks pickle, I may try that. Maybe just a small portion of low fat ice cream may stop my sweet cravings.
I have tried to substitute fresh fruits for Chocolate and pastries.

Claudie

I was told the best thing to do is to quit smoking. May sound obvious but it was v good advice.

Despite quitting smoking (10+ years ago now) and adopting a healthier lifestyle, my cholesterol was still 6 - 6.8 for a long time and showed no signs of lowering - combined with a bad family medical history I was advised to stay on cholesterol lowering drugs on a long term basis. It is a decision I am more than happy with.

If there is a family history of heart disease I would certainly discuss all options with a GP. There are new studies which show that cholesterol medication can act as a preventative measure...I think (certainly worth checking with your GP) that there may be a combination of lifestyle and heriditary issues.

Good luck....

At my last check up mine was 4.1 - I was well pleased!

tootles_2

I have had high colesterol for years, diet made not a scrap of difference, in my case it seems to be hireditary, one of my sons has it too the other 3 children are ok.........My specialist told me it did not make any diference what I ate, my cholesterol would still be high, so I take medication, no other choice really, it took them a while to get the right one and the right dose, but for the last 2 years the levels at my 6 monthly checks have been steady.

At my first appoinrment at the clinic I took along a sheet showing what I had eaten in the pervious week for the dietician, after reading it through she remarked that she did not know what she could advise me too do as the diet I had was one of the best she had seen and I eat butter, in small amounts but cook with either veg oil (rapeseed) or olive oil and use a soya margarine to bake with, as many portions of fruit and veg as I can manage each day, we have baked beans at least once a week either as a veg or on toast, I also eat nuts........one thing I do take is a high dose cod liver oil capsule each day, helps to keep the joints healthy. I never cook meat in fat..... I roast on a grid so the fat drips into the pan, and we do not have fry-ups, a cooked breakfast is grilled, just occasionally I fry eggs, but we mostly have either poached or boiled eggs.

Until I got this damned virus infection last November I was very healthy, had not had a cold for 6 years.......