Slashing cholesterol without statins

[Gggh]

Please let me know what works?
in my case hopefully tapering prednisone.

trying daily oatmeal - made with water and apple
bamboo - there are some impressive studies and I eat a lot of Asian foods
probiotic foods

cut most gluten and high fat dairy.

It's a good idea to include oatmeal in your diet, you want to up dietary fibre wherever you can.

Whole grains, beans, lentils, vegetables, such as Brussel sprouts, broccoli, kale, spinach, carrots are especially good.

You could vary the apple in your oatmeal by throwing in some frozen fruits like raspberries and blueberries.

Definitely cut down on high fat dairy, red meat, fried foods, processed snacks.

Don't smoke; cut back on alcohol.
Excess alcohol can increase total cholesterol levels.

Exercise and maintain a healthy weight.
Sub butter with olive oil, sunflower oils.

Good luck OP, it's not hard once you make changes to your dietary and lifestyle.

I think you are confused! Prednisone is a corticosteriod, not a statin!

@FalseSpring I think it was a few years of prednisone that made my levels bad. Put on about 10kg too, so now on the borderline of being overweight. Hoping reducing prednisone will make a big difference as I want to avoid statins. Def had low cholesterol before the steroids.

Thanks @Zephyrcrossing no alcohol, smoking, processed meat. Diet fairly good so looking for anything that helps. Will make sure that any main meals are at least half those veg.

You could try eat food on rice cakes. They're nice heated also. Like avocado with an egg on top and salt/pepper/garlic granules. Or rice cakes and low fat hummus or peanut butter and sliced banana. 0% fat Natural yoghurt is handy too. You can stir fruit/seeds/honey/a few chocolate chips into it. It could reduce the need for more processed/high cholesterol food maybe

Are you drinking Benecol? That is supposed to help.

If dietary changes and weight loss doesn't help, then please reconsider statins. Sometimes high cholesterol is genetic and no amount of lifestyle changes will reduce your cholesterol.

https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/conditions/familial-hypercholesterolaemia

DH has always been thin, but he has had a stroke and heart surgery. He takes statins to revent a further stroke. He had a lot of cramps with the first statin he was on but is now on Rosuvastatin and has no side effects at all.

Try Benecol - either the yoghurt or drink. It's expensive but it does have actual evidence (rather than marketing).

Thanks @RampantIvy i got really ill after a serious reaction to a medication nearly five years ago. So am a bit nervous about trying anything new. Had to take steroids to reduce inflammation as part of the recovery. Prior to this my cholesterol was low. Hoping tapering the steroids, diet changes (it was never bad, but adding things like flax seeds) and shedding the steroid weight will make a difference.

Thanks for the Benecol tip. Will try that.

Good luck @Gggh
I hope you won't need medication.

Fibre Fibre Fibre!