Cooking to bring cholesterol down

poohbear59

I am just recommending oat bran as well as all the other diet changes already mentioned. My dad cut out all animal fats straight away but swore by the oat bran too He loved to eat a lot too


PS I am a trained Home Economist

chevalier

Thanks for the replies guys.
He doesn't smoke, or doesn't drink much - a couple of cans of lager a week, and maybe one can at a league game at our home ground.
His figure was 8.2, and his ratio of HDL to LDL was too high too.
He did walk twenty minutes from the bus station to work and back before Christmas, but then the office moved and so he didn't have that walk anymore.
He will start doing this again, but isn't very motivated.

Thing is he is tired all the time and has a very stressful job so I am sure that isn't helping.

Anyway we will endeavour to eat less red meat (lots of the bargains recently have been red meat so that is what we have been eating). But I agree with others that it isn't just diet. I truely did think that we were doing ok with that, so that is why his reading coming back so high was an unwelcome surprise.

Examples of meals we have are
meat stew, with lots of veggies like carrots, parnips, tomatoes, red lentils, oats etc in the mix.
risotto made from scratch so no packet mix, with mushrooms, onions, and other veg mixed through it and some sort of meat or fish.
fish curry, made with cocunut milk and again veggies,
spag bol (has hidden lentils and oats in it to bulk it out)
lasagna (say once a month)
we might have a takeaway once a month
All this is done from scratch as my DS1 has a peanut allergy.
Then crumbed fish several times a month, bacon every now and then.

I admit we don't eat much veggie stuff, though I do do a mean macaroni and cauliflower cheese.....
I don't think he takes it seriously either. He forgets that his grand dad dropped dead with a heart attack before 60.....
chev

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Just had my pacemaker and bits checked today. Previously cholesterol was around 3.8 2.8. It has come since to 3.4 2.1.

Today it reads 2.8 1.8.

Look for glucose syrup and sugars. These are added to those fancy cakes and crisps. These you need to cut out, as well as the ans of fiz etc.

maman

I believe that there's high cholesterol caused by genetic/inherited factors as well as dietary ones.


There's also the issue that experts seem to constantly 'move the goalposts' as to what is a level to be worried about.


My DH was in the position where his cholesterol was considered worrying (although we knew loads of people with higher scores) but GP thought it probably mainly hereditary. Like you we thought our diet was healthy. We looked at it carefully and made a few changes (cut out butter, less oil, less red meat, less cheese, increased fruit and veg) cholesterol is down until goal posts get moved again.


And then there's the statins issue....

chevalier

maman wrote: »

And then there's the statins issue....

Yes this is what he will be going onto if he can't get his figures down with diet

sjbm45

You should really cut out the coconut milk as this is full of saturated fat. It is advisable to cut out red meat altogether for the same reason. There are good second hand books available on amazon to give you a food list to work to. Good luck.

~Chameleon~

sjbm45 wrote: »

You should really cut out the coconut milk as this is full of saturated fat. It is advisable to cut out red meat altogether for the same reason. There are good second hand books available on amazon to give you a food list to work to. Good luck.

Coconut milk contains medium chain triglycerides as opposed to the long chain ones found in animal saturated fat products so is metabolised in a different way. It's not actually unhealthy and coconut products, including oil, are highly recommended as it's much healthier than polyunsaturated oils (e.g. vegetable, sunflower, rapeseed etc) which create a ratio imbalance of omega 3 and 6. This causes inflammation and other problems in the body.

~Chameleon~

chevalier wrote: »

Yes this is what he will be going onto if he can't get his figures down with diet

I'd be very wary of taking statins as they have some very unpleasant side effects and new studies reveal they're not very effective at reducing LDL cholesterol in most people.

butterfly72

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Coconut milk contains medium chain triglycerides as opposed to the long chain ones found in animal saturated fat products so is metabolised in a different way. It's not actually unhealthy and coconut products, including oil, are highly recommended as it's much healthier than polyunsaturated oils (e.g. vegetable, sunflower, rapeseed etc) which create a ratio imbalance of omega 3 and 6. This causes inflammation and other problems in the body.

Chameleon, I'd be interested to know what you think about the differences in using olive oil v rapeseed oil in cooking, considering they are both monosaturates. Which is the better for cooking. Thanks.

maman

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

I'd be very wary of taking statins as they have some very unpleasant side effects and new studies reveal they're not very effective at reducing LDL cholesterol in most people.

Absolutely right. My DH tried various ones and all had side effects mainly extreme fatigue or huge muscle aches especially in his legs. In the end the GP told him not to bother.


I still have concerns that the goalposts seem to keep moving. Is there a cholesterol level that's considered generally OK or does it vary from person to person or is it area to area or GP to GP?