Butter alternatives to lower cholesterol?

[AvoidingPandaEyes]

DP has had a blood test which shows his cholesterol level is just getting higher (and the LDL is not good) so we are looking at improving our diet.

He really loves butter, so I buy Kerrygold as a grass fed butter but I think we now have to look at alternatives - is there a good, healthy alternative spread as I have avoided margarine for years? I see that Heartuk.org .Uk recommend Flora Proactiv but are there others we should consider?

Flora....but it will take getting used to any change from butter.

Personally I prefer the Benecol to the Flora ProActive one.

https://benecol.co.uk/products/buttery-taste-spread/

Increasing fibre will help more than switching to a different spread.

Sorry, I missed these responses yesterday. I’ve not seen the Benecol buttery taste one but it might be a better option to try than Flora Activ to wean him off the butter addiction.

It’s all part of a holistic approach to his diet ShrubRose, so his love of pies will have to be ditched and we’re going to have to get used to brown rice and wholewheat pasta. I also need to find a decent soya mince too as batch cooked chilli from the freezer is eaten here whenever there’s no time to cook - Quorn mince isn’t a great substitute.

We’re going to have to get used to brown rice
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10375490/#:~:text=In%20rice%2C%20inorganic%20arsenic%20is,rice%20than%20in%20white%20rice.
Not sure if you're aware of the arsenic content in rice, and it's higher in brown rice than white rice.
I would go easy on the rice, and use other grains instead - barley, quinoa, etc.
If you want to use rice, good idea to soak it overnight and cook it in double the usual water.

Oh no 😟 There's always something to be aware of. Luckily, I always use lots of water and drain/steam it for a few minutes at the end but Chilli without the rice is a step too far 😀

😂 😂 😂

Benecol is definitely the best and closer in taste snd texture to butter.

Adapting to fillings that don't contain any spread or just a drizzle of olive oil is better eg a little avocado

Less butter than upf-filled spread.

I think I'd to focus on wholefoods and just cut down on butter rather than go for the spread. Depends how high it is I guess.

I have the same and also high BP ..loved butter but didn't want to go back to spreads so I now make a sort of hummus for morning toast .. I use chickpea, tahini and walnut and olive oil all blended up ( but no lemon garlic etc) . No salt but a little white miso added . Sorry no recipe but I just use a hummus one and add a handful of walnuts in blender )
Its really good... DH ( who doesn't have high cholesterol, now eats it out of choice and weve almost totally stopped buying any butter ( I used to eat loads of it, but dont moss it at all. The ' walnut- y spread works wit sweet and savoury..DH has jam and marmalade on his toast with it)

I'd rather no butter than a plastic spread.

I’d either use less butter or use olive oil as the spreads are disgusting imo. Or no butter but good mayo.

But everyone has to die of something, just decide what is most important in your life!!

My DH has switched to peanut butter on his toast and I use olive oil for baking, even pastry!
Also 2% fat turkey mince makes good chilli if you add a beef stock cube for flavour.
Own brand plant sterol yoghurt drinks mixed with oats for breakfast and soya milk in his coffee.
Also switched from brewed coffee to filter coffee as we had no idea that brewed coffee has cholesterol raising substances in it.
DH got his cholesterol down from nearly nine to just over five without medication and he has low LDL and low triglycerides.
He has found giving up chocolate hardest.

Regarding replacements for veggie mince for chilli, etc., try lentils instead. Perhaps this is not for everyone, but I still use green lentils instead of mince, even though there are no longer any vegetarians in the house. BBC Good Food has some decent recipes.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I’m not sure how many alternatives he would consider as we’ve joked for years about having some bread with his butter and it must be cool toast so the butter doesn’t melt

I’d forgotten about turkey mince, and he’s realised this evening that chocolate should be off the table…

I have high cholesterol and have been under the care of a Professor at my local hospital for many years.One of the first things he told me was not to buy the spreads that claim to lower cholesterol......they don’t.

Honestly? Benecol is crap. Yes, it might lower cholesterol a little bit but plant stanols have been studied and show no reduction in heart disease.

Personally I'd use less of the "good stuff" and skip the fake butter.

Do not use any man made butter alternatives, they are unhealthy.
Also, the rationale, that cutting out butter will affect cholesterol levels does not track. Your body makes most of cholesterol that you need, and you do need it.

There is so much conflicting information about what is, and isn’t good for lowering cholesterol that we may revert to Mum2Jenny’s thoughts that you have to die of something, although “everything in moderation” might be a better way of looking at it, and watching overall saturated fat intake with as many unprocessed foods as possible. I can foresee much more looking at labels and getting him to start using Myfitnesspal to track what he’s eating (and a lot of grumbling). It will do us both good.

Is all this in addition to statins?
DH tried for a couple of years to reduce cholestrol via diet. Got nowhere and hated the miserable diet. Statins did the job right away and he's now back enjoying bread with his butter.

He’s to start taking statins too (which I wouldn’t be happy about) so it’s a belt and braces approach and I will benefit from the changes to our diet too. My cholesterol has stayed the same for the last 10 years but they have changed the safe level so I’m that bit closer to it, although my LDL isn’t a concern.

No I wouldn't have been happy about statins as a first approach but I think diet alone is seldom successful. I was advised to take them even though my cholestrol was well below the recommended level but I have a high qrisk score for other reasons. I can live without butter as I don't often eat bread but if I do I add olive oil. That's not very appealing to butter lovers though!