Recipes to lower cholesterol

[jellyminelli]

Hi,

My cholesterol is off the charts and I'm in the middle of moving from statins to fibroids due to being incompatible with the statins.

My condition can only be drug controlled, hypercholesterolemia, but I really need to sort my diet out too. I'm cutting out all meats apart from lean chicken but ideally, just fish and avoiding full fat dairy.

Does anyone in a similar situation have any good recipes please? I LOVE food 😅 all of it. Something that the kids will try too would be a bonus, one of them is a veg avoider. Thank you!

I also have genetically high cholesterol - not officially familial hypercholesterolaemia but similar - and the best thing I did for cholesterol was to cut out carbs/sugar. It's largely a myth that serum cholesterol is related to dietary cholesterol - that your blood results will go up and down based on how much cholesterol you eat in your diet. There's good evidence that low carb diets can improve cholesterol - that doesn't mean these trendy keto diets where you are eating only bacon every meal - but it does mean including quality protein and low GI carbs, so steak and sweet potato chips with lots of veg and not pasta and cake. Lots of healthy fibre (porridge, whole grains), fruit/veg, protein (lean meat/fish/not a big mac), healthy fats (avocado, nuts, etc). No processed foods, white carbs, sugar, junk food.

Thank you. I've had the diagnosis for years now but it's only recently the statins seem to be causing issues. I'm not getting any younger and I think it's time to start properly looking at what I'm eating.

I might have the occasional steak then 😅. I would normally have steak with a jacket potato and salad or veg.

Today I'm having prawn salad for lunch and I found a heart healthy burrito recipe. So whole meal wraps, quorn mince, low fat cheese etc

I have familiar hypercholesterolemia too and a family history of type two diabetes to take into consideration. I eat plain porridge for breakfast every morning. I keep it plain rather than a sweetened one as if I eat sweet things I want them more.
Be careful with prawns as they do contain a lot of cholesterol, as do eggs. There is a varying amount of research about the links, but those with familial hypercholesterolemia are advised to limit their dietary cholesterol intake.
I tend to largely avoid butter, pastry and cream.
Regular exercise also plays a very important role.

Lentil bolognese healthylivingjames.co.uk/speedy-lentil-bolognese/

Chickpea burgers www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/recipes/red-pepper-and-chickpea-burgers

Fish tacos www.heartuk.org.uk/tasty-recipes/recipe-detail/106-mexican-fish-tacos

Hidden vegetable curry www.myfussyeater.com/hidden-veg-chicken-curry/

Healthier chicken katsu realfood.tesco.com/recipes/chicken-katsu-with-extra-veg-sauce.html

Chicken and black bean chilli www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pulled-chicken-black-bean-chilli

Tuna tomato pasta neilshealthymeals.com/tuna-tomato-pasta/

Fish pie https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/recipes/fabulous-fish-pie/

Firstly make sure you have tried a few different statins, they are not all the same.

I’ve been on the max dose of Atorvastatin for 4 years and have no side-effects but then I’ve also made sure to take Magnesium supplements and CoQ10 just in case.

Before statins were invented doctors prescribed Vitamin B3 Nicotinic Acid (NOT Niacinamide). You want the Nicotinic Acid type as it causes a “flush”. I take 2 grams a day (yes way more than the RDA for a very good reason).

You probably know that your liver makes 80% of the cholesterol in your body, and sometimes people say that dietary cholesterol is not the same and for many people this is very truer. The liver acts as a buffer, if you eat less then the liver makes more.

However, your liver might make a type of cholesterol that is unhealthy - such as LP(a) which is small dense LDL (“with a long tail”) - in which case eating more cholesterol that is healthy (Large fluffy LDL) would mean your liver makes less of the bad stuff.

So its worth getting an LP(a) test but you might have to get it privately - the NHS refused me one despite my cholesterol being over 11 and having a heart attack and testing negative for hypercholesterolemia.

The other thing to ask about is other types of choleserol lowering drugs. You might be a hyper absorber. You might be able to get one of the new drugs, the PSK9 Inhibitors.

You need to watch this:

"Be careful with prawns as they do contain a lot of cholesterol, as do eggs."

Just had a prawn salad, ffs.

"I’ve been on the max dose of Atorvastatin for 4 years and have no side-effects but then I’ve also made sure to take Magnesium supplements and CoQ10 just in case."

I've been on the same for several years (without the supplements - just in case of what? Sorry, I don't know what they would do when taken with Atorvastatin). Never had any side effects but my latest bloods showed some issues raised liver enzymes, a couple of other raised markers that I can't remember the name of just now.

Thanks for the YouTube link. I'll watch that.

I'm wondering if my doctor has been a bit knee jerk changing the statins. She thinks it's the meds causing the anomalies in my blood work because she had me stop them for 2 weeks and the bloods are normal now

The BHF and NHS and all other sites I can find are saying prawns and eggs are fine, that it's a myth.

It's a minefield, no idea what to think. I've always been happy on the statins, not sure I trust the fibroids to work as well

I have familial hypercholesterolaemia and have no risk factors at all but was prescribed Atorvastatin 20mg. New doctor supports my wish to come off statins and lower cholesterol. He said stop statins, only use extra virgin olive oil NOT any seed or vegetable oil in cooking and eat Benecol drink and spread daily. I also eat porridge daily and am very active and a long term vegetarian. To be reviewed in six months. It’s a puzzle but seems to be genetic.

"He said stop statins, only use extra virgin olive oil NOT any seed or vegetable oil in cooking and eat Benecol drink and spread daily."

I was told the opposite with oil and bought a bottle of rapeseed oil just yesterday. Luckily I've got blood tests each month for a while so I can see the effects of anything I do but it's a confusing thing!

Can you swap to oat milk? Oats are good for cholesterol. I swapped to oat milk and found I preferred it to dairy.