high cholesterol

baby_fuzz

looks like no one wants to talk to us

But I tried out a recipe that was inspired by something I saw online. went a little something like this:
minced beef
finely grated carrot
finely chopped onion
oat bran
wholemeal breadcrumbs
tandoori spice seasoning (you can get it in many chinese and asian stores - I used one that came as a powder)

Mix the lot together with some seasoning, and then press into patties (kebabs would work just as well). Pan fry (in a non-stick pan with little or no oil), or grill. I pan-fried it, and added a little water into the pan half way through to steam them a bit (so that they cook faster, and stay moist).
Serve with oatbran buns, or wholemeal pittas with some salad, maybe some 0% fat yoghurt if you want...

Sorry there are no amounts - I didn;t really pay attention to how much I put in; I just did it by eye/guesswork.

Turned out quite nice.

sunrise27_2

my husband has just found out that his cholesterol level is slightly high its not bad but as he could with losing a little weight as well he has decided to try and eat more healthily i enjoy baking and often make cakes etc but to be honest i end up eating them for the sake of it as well so i just wondered if anyone had any good recipies that i could make

Pink.

Hi sunrise,

This thread may help:

high cholesterol

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the recipes and suggestions together.

Pink

Muesli

We have recently found out that DH has high cholesterol so I am trying to readjust my mind to more suitable cooking, particularly for family meals, which would be for myself, DH and two children, youngest of whom is nearly 2.

I guess we should have been doing things differently anyway, we were probably having stuff which isn't so healthy such as sausages, bacon, pastry, mince etc and I obviously want the children to learn good habits but it needs to be a reasonable cost as well as healthy and that is where I struggle. We usually cook pretty much from scratch, so at least that's one habit we won't have to change.

We had cut down on takeaway already and we were sometimes having supermarket takeaway instead but I think fat-wise it's just as bad as real takeaway so I will be looking for low fat takeaway too!

I will have a search around for recipes/lowering cholesterol hints but any ideas welcome :T

bluebag

Hi, my OH has to have a low fat/low cholesterol diet and to be honest it was easy and fairly cheap. I use wholemeal bread and a low fat sunflower spread and semi-skimmed milk.

I cook things like spaghetti bolognaise using the lowest fat mince and some lentils, chicken curry is good and most supermarkets do a jar of low fat tikka or bhuna sauce. I use the low fat naan breads too.

I don't do pies or sausages, although I do make a low fat shepherds pie and fish pie, I make the sauce for the fish pie using cornflour and skim milk, plenty of pepper.

Home made lasagna is good with the same low fat mince and the cornflour sauce, use half fat strong cheese mixed with breadcrumbs instead of the high fat layer of cheese on the top. Try chicken arabiatta or a simple tomato sauce over pasta.

Tortillas with chicken are good and can be used in so many ways, tikka chicken with mint and garlic yogurt sauce for example or fajitas.

Have a look at the dump chicken recipes on the internet, there are loads of different marinades to use with chicken.

Good old baked beans, a little grilled reduced fat low salt bacon, grilled tomato and a poached egg on toast is almost a fry up and fast too.

Take aways are a little difficult, chicken kebab on pitta is pretty OK, but most takeaways are horrific in fats, even the humble pizza is frequently sprayed with melted butter... no wonder they taste so good!

I keep takeaways for holidays only, that way it's very short term, becomes a much looked forward to treat and you lose the habit of having them.

Hope your OH is OK, we all got used to the less fatty foods and in fact can't eat many of them now. It's a whole new eating world!

ALIBOBSY

Don't take this the wrong way, but are you on benefits or a working family as you can get vouchers for fruit and veg and milk if you have young children. The biggest way to improve quality of the food you eat as well as reducing costs is to cook from scratch.
My OH has high cholesterol, and the advice is to cut saturated fats, and increase so called good fats like olive oil etc. However the government advice lags behind the latest research which suggests the whole situation is more complex than that and is about the balance of cholesterols in the blood and that some natural saturated fats such as milk and butter actually improve the balance of blood cholesterol.

The reality is 80% of cholesterol is made in the body and only around 20% comes from diet so although diet can help a bit the important things are to be the correct BMI for your height, not to smoke and cut down alcohol as much as possible and ensure you get the correct medication.
My OH is a non smoker and already is at the correct BMI, but it would appear from family history he has inherited high cholesterol so he is on satins and we have changed his diet.
Certain foods are helpful in reducing blood cholesterol, the bulk of these seem to be pulses, soya beans, lentils, etc. These can be used to reduce the amount of meat, espcially red meat in the diet. This is great because bulking out meat with veggies and pulses is a definate money saver and cutting meat cuts saturated fats.
Chicken used to be recomended as a low fat meat, but the reality is cheap chickens in many cases are more fatty than a peice of red meat.

We also try to have at least 1 veggie meal a week, both good for the cholesterol and MSE. We have found a liking for cous cous, and many other things we had never tried before. Oats are another good food so get cooking that porridge lol. Avoid processed foods as they tend to have high levels of salt and cheap fats, trans fats are terrible for the heart.

Plenty of info on the internet, but it can be easier to try to change bit by bit if OH finds it hard to change overnight.

Strangely it would in general appear a decent balanced diet, plus exercise is the way to go (but we all know we should be doing this anyway lol).

ali x

LittleLauz

I think this should be fairly easy to do as the foods with the highest saturated fat or cholesterol raising are often more expensive, like lots of red meat such as steak etc.
I work in a pharmacy and do cholesterol tests on patients pretty often so we are trained to give advice on lowering cholesterol. The majority of it though is common sense really, like using lower fat spreads instead of real butter, eating less red meat and more lean protein like chicken and fish and cutting back on fatty or fried foods.
As the previous poster suggested pasta meals can be both low fat and substantial and also cheap, so I'd definetly look into creating some new and interesting recipes for sauces etc.
He should also be aiming to eat more soluble fibre as this can help lower cholesterol, these are things like oats, beans, pulses, lentils and most fruits.
things like Brown bread instead of White And skimmed milk will also make a difference, a small one, but then all the little changes add up and he shouldn't feel too deprived at all that way! Lol

shopndrop

My husband has high cholesterol and the one thing he hated was low fat cheese in a sauce with skimmed milk, so I now use "a little" grated parmesan as the flavour is quite strong. Not sure how high the fat content is, but with flora pro active, cornflour and skimmed milk, lots of pepper and a little parmesan cheese he is happy.

Penelope_Penguin

Muesli wrote: »

We have recently found out that DH has high cholesterol so I am trying to readjust my mind to more suitable cooking, particularly for family meals, which would be for myself, DH and two children, youngest of whom is nearly 2.

As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add this to the existing thread to give you more ideas.