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General health

CHOLESTEROL - has anyone lowered it naturally?

46 replies

CuriousMama · 14/03/2013 19:27

Dp's had to go on statins as his cholesterol is 7.3. I'm pretty worried about the side effects as is he.

He wants to try to lower it without the statins if possible? Has anyone managed this? He'll talk to his GP about it just thought I'd ask on here first.

He did used to exercise a lot more a few years ago. So more exercise is on the agenda.

TIA

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denialandpanic · 14/03/2013 20:11

my dp went from 8.4 to 5.2. he gave up dairy (turns out allergic separate issue), stopped smoking, started running and then gave up alcohol.he also eats huge quantities of homemade soup for lunch. it's been a gradual reduction.the last point we have directly attributed to giving up the booze.he's not miserable and he really enjoys his running.

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CuriousMama · 14/03/2013 20:28

Thanks for that denialandpanic. Did he not have to go on statins then? This gives me hope.

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careergirl · 14/03/2013 21:16

mine was 6.1 and reduced it naturally by shifting some weight and taking on board more fibre. I also take the yoghurt cholesterol lowering drinks. It came down to I think 5. something but within normal range anyway

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CuriousMama · 15/03/2013 00:11

Thanks careergirl.I put those drinks on the shopping list. Plus advocados, linseed, and lots more. He's up for it though and cutting down on sat fats. He has done that already though.

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CuriousMama · 15/03/2013 08:28

My shopping list is a lot different to normal. We do eat a lot of veg anyway but there's nuts and avocado, things like that on it. Plus benecol type drinks. Won't be buying sausages etc..

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Dahlialover · 15/03/2013 09:59

Mine went from 6.5 to 4.9

Cut out full fat dairy (still have low fat for the calcium and vitD - w/rose do nice lf yogurt but it is hard to find). Occasional cheese on top of things, mixed with breadcrumbs and herbs (or for christmas). Cut out biscuits, especially the chocolate wafer sort which seem to have a huge proportion of saturated fat. I make cakes with flora and make the ones with more fruits and seeds and interesting things in. I have a recipe for 'italian lemon cake' which is eggs, sugar, ground almonds and lemon rind and essence.

More pulses, nuts (almonds and walnuts) and porridge and seeds. More fish, less red meat and regular chicken but not too much (chicken is nearly all Omega6 oils which is not good if you are trying to get your Omega3 balance up)

I just put Helmans light mayonaise on sandwiches (which is rape seed oil) if needed and have given up putting fat on bread/toast, as the low fat spreads taste of nothing and make the toast wet. Sometimes I use mushed up avocado as a spread.

Use rape seed oil or olive oil for cooking in reduced quantities. I toss my parboiled potatoes in 1tbsp of rape seed oil and put them on a flat tray for roasties. Use nice olive oils and nut oils for salads. More avocado nuts or seeds in salad and herbs.

Also, I am trying to keep to low GI as the it is easy to end up with more sugar (and alcohol) as they are 'low fat'.

PS - high cocoa plain chocolate. Cocoa butter and coconut milk and palm oil are also high saturated fats

This sounds complicated! Sorry Confused

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digerd · 15/03/2013 17:15

Eat loads of olives.

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Elibean · 15/03/2013 17:21

I lowered mine from 6.something to 5, by taking Benecol drinks every single day.

I also cut out biscuits, cakes and chocolate (didn't eat all that much red meat in the first place) and made sure I doubled my oily fish intake to at least 2x week.

No statins - though I would take them if I needed to: dh has the genetic type of high cholesterol, not touched by diet, and he is fine on them!

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Elibean · 15/03/2013 17:22

ps my GP - who is not usually swayed by anything alternative or food related - absolutely swears by the plant stanol thing (Benecol etc). If I did just one thing, it would be that. My mother lowered her cholesterol that way too.

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Abra1d · 15/03/2013 17:28

I use plant stanols and saw a small drop. I have gone back on to butter, though, because I cannot see that the small amount I eat makes any difference and I hate margarine. Some people say that vegetable oils are not good for your cholesterol either.

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careergirl · 15/03/2013 19:41

i also use the flora pro-activ as well as take the benecol

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mercibucket · 15/03/2013 19:56

Is he actually at risk with that level cholesterol? Mine is that high and I'm not bothering to do anything. I don't smoke, do a fair bit of exercise etc

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mercibucket · 15/03/2013 19:56

Is he actually at risk with that level cholesterol? Mine is that high and I'm not bothering to do anything. I don't smoke, do a fair bit of exercise etc

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CuriousMama · 15/03/2013 23:45

Thanks everyone.

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fruitscone · 16/03/2013 14:50

The 5:2 diet (2 days fasting, 5 days normal eating per week) is supposed to be very good for reducing cholesterol. Michael Mosely did a Horizon programme on it in August and there has been loads in the media and he now has a book out. I think he reduced his cholesterol considerably doing this. I have been doing it and don't know about my cholesterol but I have lost 1.5 stone in weight and it is very very doable.

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CuriousMama · 16/03/2013 15:05

I've seen that diet. I'll mention it thanks.

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BIWI · 16/03/2013 15:09

You can control it by diet - but also you need to ask if it's really a problem. IMVHO the real problem is putting everyone on statins. The side effects are awful.

It's worth bearing in mind that the medical profession keeps changing their minds about what constitutes 'high' as well.

And there is controversy about cholesterol levels and whether getting them low or not is a good idea. Low cholesterol levels are associated with high levels of heart disease amongst women!

have a read of this and I would also recommend that you buy a book called "The Great Cholesterol Con" by Dr Malcolm Kendrick.

A real eye-opener!

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BIWI · 16/03/2013 15:11
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BIWI · 16/03/2013 15:14

And I have c+p this piece, also by Zoe Harcombe because I think it's so interesting:

"Fat does not clog up our arteries

If a juggernaut were travelling around the road transport system ? which roads would clog up? The minor roads and country lanes would be impassable and the motorways would continue to run with little disruption. Fat never clogs veins. By a process of common sense, therefore, fat also never clogs arteries. It would make no sense whatsoever that the only parts of the blood circulatory system that got clogged up were the ?motorways? ? the widest and the fastest flowing pathways.

Without getting into the detail of different chain length fatty acids, it is a reasonable assertion to make that fat is not even travelling freely in the blood stream. Fat and water don?t mix so, since blood is effectively water, fat cannot travel freely around the blood system. Fat travels around in lipoproteins ? along with cholesterol, protein and phospholipids. The idea that fat somehow leaps out of the lipoproteins to attach itself to the arterial wall to try to clog up the system and kill us is ludicrous at every level.

The far more likely explanation for narrowing of the arteries is that the wall of the arteries (called the endothelial wall), quite uniquely, can suffer damage such that a ?lesion? (think of a lesion as a ?scab?), forms. The body is so clever and self protective that the body cannot and does not risk the scab breaking away and freely floating in the blood stream ? as this could cause a blockage. The lining of the endothelial wall tries to repair itself and forms a new layer over the scab ? sucking the scab back into the lining of the artery wall in so doing. That?s how smart and life preserving our bodies are. The trouble is ? if we continue to be exposed to whatever was damaging the lining of the arteries (suspects are smoking, processed food, pollution, stress ? modern aspects of modern life implicated in a modern disease) ? we continue to form lesions. We only need too many ?scabs? in one area, and the repair kit being unable to keep up, and we could be in trouble ? big heart attack or stroke kind of trouble.

This brings us on to the ?repair kit?. The best repair nutrient of all ? the body?s chief anti-oxidant, anti-blood-clotter and repairer of blood vessels is vitamin E. Another trouble is ? vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin, found in nature?s real fat foods (meat, fish, eggs etc), which we are continually telling people to avoid! Another huge irony is that cholesterol and fat are the two main repair substances in the body. So, a lesion forms and cholesterol will head to the area to do its repair job and to try to fix the scab. Then, if the person dies because there?s only so much cholesterol can do, pathologists find cholesterol around the scab ? at the scene of the crime so to speak ? and blame cholesterol for causing the damage. How unfair is that?! Police are always at the scene of the crime, but no one accuses the police of committing all the crimes!

When will we see the most obvious fact of modern life and modern illness? Man-made things are harming us and nature?s natural things have always been there to help us. The more we have of the former and the less we have of the latter, the more ill health we risk.

The final trouble is that food, drink and drug companies are bigger than many countries and they want to grow even bigger. Food and drink makes us fat and sick and we then need drugs and surgery to manage obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, damaged joints and limbs ? it is a perfect symbiotic relationship.

Good fats are those made by nature; bad fats are those made by man ? that?s all we need to know. The idea that unsaturated fats are good and saturated fats are bad is actually quite funny if you know the composition of food?

Nature puts saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in foods in the ?right? measure. As an example ? in 100 grams of pork chop (United State Department of Agriculture example food ? pork chop, boneless, raw, lean and fat), there is no carbohydrate, there are 21 grams of protein and 4.2 grams of fat. The rest is water (75%). Of the 4.2 grams of fat, 1.5 grams are saturated and 2.7 grams are unsaturated. The (very small) part of this pork chop that is fat is 47% monounsaturated fat, 40% saturated and 13% polyunsaturated fat. Do we really think that the 40% of our pork chop is trying to kill us while the 47% monounsaturated fat is trying to save us ? presumably with the 13% polyunsaturated fat providing backup? It is utterly ludicrous."

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SirEdmundFrillary · 16/03/2013 15:21

My understanding is there is 'good' and 'bad' cholesterol, and it's the ratios that matter, so if he can up the proportion of 'good' that would be good :P i.e. oily fish and avocado, etc.

Although who can tell? That's what they say now but it might all change again.

I apologise to everyone also for recent strangeness of my posts, the result of unwellness.

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CuriousMama · 16/03/2013 15:28

Thanks for all that information BIWI.

SirEF I hope you're feeling better now? Not that I've noticed any strange posts.

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SirEdmundFrillary · 16/03/2013 15:34

Smile Thank you, curious.

Also, I think oatbran is good. I've been told it lowers it. The one I get is in an orange packet, if that helps Grin

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BIWI · 16/03/2013 15:35

Hope it helps, CuriousMama.

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purplewithred · 16/03/2013 15:42

theres a check the doctor can do on your cardiac risk over the next 10 years, taking into account your cholesterol levels (good, bad, ratio, triglycerates), weight, height, BP, family history, can't remember. That will tell you a) if you have to worry and b) what you should worry about (might be on a website somewhere)

My cholesterol was 6.5 or something but very good ratio of good:bad, plus low bp, no family history, etc so my cardiac risk is very low.

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BIWI · 16/03/2013 15:44

.... but don't forget there's a lot of money in recommending statins ...

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