Low-colesterol diet advice needed

Cafe Society
1

I just got my bloodwork results, and my colesterol numbers are nasty. Since heart disease/stroke has been the Grim Reaper for many of my family members, I need to get these numbers down.

The biggest problem - I am a Southern girl raised on fried food. I can’t stand to smell fish cooking, so I only have fish when I eat out. I know some veggies are good - and I like almost all veggies - …

I’ve tried Googling but there is just SO much out there I don’t know where to start. I’m overwhelmed by the total overhaul I’m going to have to do to my diet. I’ve always been a stress eater…now I can’t even do that.

This is depressing.

Does anyone have any starter ideas for me? I know red meat is not a good idea and fried food is out. Can I have tuna sandwiches?

Anything will help. This is the pits.

2

Anecdotes follow, not medical advice.

I greatly improved my numbers with a two pronged approach:

  1. Salads for lunch. This eliminated a lot of red meat from my diet, since my previous average lunch was almost exclusively from the cheeseburger food group.

  2. Working on my good cholesterol. Red wine every other night with a square of dark chocolate (I prefer the 70-something-percent, but my local grocery caries a 60-something, so that’s what it usually is) and replacing the ludicrous amounts of black tea I used to drink with green tea.

3

You mean I can’t even have TEA?

Just shoot me now.

4

You will certainly hear from many advising a whole host of different approaches (and honestly compared to typical American fare most would be an improvement) but a good place to start is with the American Heart Association’s basic guidelines.

The DASH diet, while promoted with high blood pressure in mind, also is a great default nutrition plan.

5

It may help if you can give some idea of the things that you like to eat and we can work from there. I like cooking light recipes for taking a heavier comfort food and making it comparable but better for you.

6

Did your doctor or dietician explicitly tell you to go on a low cholesterol diet? I ask because (my understanding is) that for most people, the amount of cholesterol you eat has little effect on its levels in the blood. I was put on a very low-chol diet for 3 months when first diagnosed with elevated LDL levels many years ago, and the effect was quite small - IIRC 7.6 to 7.2 (we were aiming for 5.5).

I suppose they might be doing to see if you are one of those individuals for whom the diet has a large effect, but I’ll predict you’ll be on statins before the year is out.

7

Luzianne makes a very nice green tea that brews just as easily their black tea* and which I sweeten with Splenda and find every bit as refreshing as my old half-gallon of sugar-sweetened black tea a day ever was.

  • And faster even. Green tea doesn’t like very hot water, so I pull the water off the heat just as soon as it starts to make noise. Saves 2-3 minutes over waiting for it to boil.
8

True; your body makes something like 90% of the cholesterol that it uses in a day, which is why even eating eggs (about the most cholesterol-laden food there is) isn’t as bad as they used to say. If there’s something to avoid, it is anything with artificial* trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oil, especially partially hydrogenated) added, which not only raises LDL but lowers HDL. Of course, if you are trying to eat healthy, you won’t be eating any of that stuff in the first place, since it is mainly found in highly processed foods (but also in things advertised as being healthier, like “cholesterol-free” margarine).

*I say artificial because meat and milk from ruminants (e.g. beef) contains a natural trans fat which may be able to lower cholesterol, and significantly so.

9

Exercise helps as does weight loss. Dietary cholesterol doesn’t effect blood cholesterol they way science once thought it did. Cholesterol is manufactured by your own body and is mainly genetic. It will be best for your overall health to start phasing out most of the fried food you now eat, but have a fried treat once in a while, but getting your numbers where your doc wants to see them may require medication. I have an appointment next week to see if my own numbers have come down enough in the last 6 months to not go on meds, but I’m pretty sure I’ll have to.

Transitioning to a healthier diet isn’t as hard as you might think. You can still enjoy foods you love, just not as much or as often. Instead of deep frying, you can pan sear with a heart healthy oil such as olive or canola, or oven bake. Choose whole grain options when you can - whole grain bread, brown rice, etc instead of white bread or white rice. Adding oatmeal to your daily menu can’t hurt anything. Veggies are your friend. Have as many non-starchy vegetables as you want. Just don’t bread and deep fry them. Steamed, raw, sauteed in olive oil, oven roasted…all delicious.

As a Southern girl, I also love sweet tea. I either make my tea with Splenda or use Walmart’s brand of liquid water enhancer in Southern Sweet Tea flavor. No calories and it is really good.

10

Thanks for all the great advice! it doesn’t look like things are going to be quite as bad as I thought. I’ll miss fried pork chops…whimper…but I can have them once in a while.

I am overweight; my doctor didn’t even wait for diet/exercise to help. I started Crestor today. Oddly enough, even with being overweight and having high cholesterol, I don’t have high blood pressure.

I like veggies, and I do like oatmeal. I like whole grain breads. I do not like 2% milk, but since my goal is to live longer than my mother did (she died 9 days after her 53rd birthday; I’m now 51) I guess I’m gonna have to start drinking it.

I’m going to end up getting divorced over this - it’s not the only reason but I think it will end up being the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Every time I try to lose weight, he sabotages me. He’ll do things like bring home ice cream, or make a grilled cheese sandwich late at night when my willpower is low. I told him yesterday my cholesterol numbers were bad…and he brought home a half gallon of chocolate peanut butter frozen yoghurt. I may have to kill him.

11

Okay, as mentioned in another thread, I’m not a dietician. However, I cook for my husband, who has dropped 70 pounds in the past year, and whose cholesterol and blood pressure have dropped accordingly. Mr. M is so southern I should refer to him as Bubba, loves food, and has been surprised that his “diet” (lifestyle change) has been relatively painless.

First off, liking vegetables is a good thing. There’s the advantage of living in hot, muggy, buggy Georgia: long growing season/great fresh produce almost year-round. Fill up half of your plate with veggies (prepared with a minimum of pork products, of course. Adding a smoked turkey wing or a little dab of ham to your greens won’t kill you. But use some common sense.) Before I start cooking dinner, I chop up a bowl of raw veggies to tide everyone over - cucumbers, tomatoes, bell pepper, whatever’s around. Everyone is free to munch at will, so I’m not rushing like a maniac, trying to get whatever is fastest on the table - gives me time to really give thought to the meal, and appetites are blunted a bit by their preprandial snacking.

Beans and rice are also a good thing - in fact, that was tonight’s dinner at our house. I seasoned the beans with defatted ham stock, so they had a nice smoky flavor without the extra fat/cholesterol. Brown rice is good, but if it tastes “wrong” to you, beans and white rice aren’t as bad as all that. My family will eat brown rice with other meals, but not beans. It’s still a healthy and filling meal. For red beans and rice, I make my normal recipe, but I use turkey sausage, which is browned before adding to the bean pot - drain the fat in the pan, of course.

Also - fat-free buttermilk is a great marinade for many low-fat meats, which tend to be dry: chicken breast, pork tenderloin, etc. Brining is also a Good Thing.

The big thing? All things in moderation. An egg won’t kill you. A piece of chocolate won’t kill you. Learn what portion sizes really look like. And if you’re a stress eater, before you reach for something to crunch on, tell yourself "I can have some after I’ve … " whatever. Taken a walk around the block. Put a load of laundry in the wash. Painted my nails and let them dry. If you still want that snack, find something modestly not terrible for you to crunch on. A cup of dry cereal (I’m partial to Apple Jacks, myself.) A small individual-serving bag of chips. A square of really good chocolate.

12

Conversely, the doctor of a coworker who was morbidly obese (keyword “was”) asked him, when preparing his ‘weight-attack plan’ “are there times when you feel like eating something but don’t because you’ll be going to lunch in a short while?” “Yes” “OK, have fruit at hand. Apples, oranges or pears should hold well in an office environment. When you get that feeling, eat one. That way you won’t be anxious when you finally sit down to lunch and you won’t gobble it; you’ll actually enjoy your meal more. And if that means you’re not hungry when the waiter asks what will you have for dessert - well, don’t have dessert! The desserts in restaurants tend to be diet bombs anyway.” We couldn’t bring lunch, it had to be restaurant meals every day.

13

I bought a big bag of carrots for snacking; I never was bad with chips and the like. I have baby spinach on the shopping list…I can eat it raw or steamed.

I’ll have to learn to make red beans and rice; I like it ok when I’ve had it but I’ve never made it myself.

I had finally found the Mocha Iced Coffee a friend recommended right before I got the bad news. I have one half gallon and won’t be buying anymore. whimper

I can do this…can’t I?

14

You absolutely can do this. It’s not even as hard as you think it will be.

15

When I found out I have high blood sugar, I went through a series of diet changes. I used to LIVE on pasta. Spaghetti. Ziti. Anything. I cut most of that out of my diet, although I still occasionally go to Skyline Chili.

I never used to eat salads. They were a waste of time. Now I live on salads. I crave them.

Over the years, I’ve also found substitutes for some of my old favorites. Deli chicken breast makes a surprisingly good substitute for lasagna noodles.

I eat fairly healthy now, and still have elevated cholesterol. I started on simvastatin a year or two ago. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do…my numbers are great now.

You CAN do this. You’ll be shocked at how smoothly the transition can go.
-D/a

16

Actually, my diabetic nutrition dude has me on a slightly different food profile than the one I spent years on -

We changed me to oatmeal made with 2 tbsp raisins and liberal cinnamon and a couple drops of splenda most mornings, I can do pancakes/waffles [effectively 1 cup of batter sweetened with splenda instead of sugar and with a minimal amount of real butter and real maple syrup on them] once a month, and 2 poached eggs on a single piece of toast with a grilled tomato twice a month for breakfasts

Lunch is almost always a chopped salad, with garbonzo beans as the protein, with a dozen black olives and a quarter cup of croutons [about 3 cups of chopped cabbage, romaine lettuce, spinach, celery and grated carrot] and homemade olive oil/balsamic vinaigrette. I can do 4 non-salad lunches a month, usually when we are travelling. I don’t mind fast food salads, as long as i can avoid the heavy sugar and fat dressings. I tend to try and get the basic garden salad.

Supper tends to be pretty typical, single protein, 1 cup of one or two different non-carby veggies, half cup of carb or single portion bread. We like wild rice as the carb as it has a nice amount of fiber, or brown rice, or sometimes a combo of both.

I still don’t tend to eat the 3 snacks, but when I do I like carrots with hummus, though tonight I just had 2 halves of fubarred deviled egg. I don’t mind if they are not picture - pretty, they taste just as good =)

The doc took me off statins, which I attribute to actually getting some cholesterol sources in my diet with more frequency than previously.