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Post by adcooper on Mar 15, 2009 11:01:05 GMT -5
 my cholesterol is right back up as high as ever. I still don't want to go on the medicine, so I'm going to try harder with diet and exercise and I'm even adding OTC stuff I SWORE I'd never use (fish oil and niacin). My plan to eat whatever I want (which includes plenty of butter!) has not been very successful.  I'm still not going to eat margarine. I'd rather starve.
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Post by Goalie on Mar 15, 2009 11:19:19 GMT -5
I'm with you right there Ann about the margarine. Yuck Rick is just taking 2 fish oil pills in the morning and still eating his oatmeal and blueberries, and his lab tests came back last week borderline. Not enough to have to go back on the pills and he was happy about that. With his bad ankle from a motorcycle accident he can not walk for exercise so that is hard for him when the doc says to get some more exercise.
I wish there was a magic answer short of taking pills.
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Post by niaru on Mar 15, 2009 15:17:13 GMT -5
fish oil is yucky! And those pills are huge! Ad, have you tried Olivio (it's spreadable butter made with real butter and olive oil). I was skeptical about it at first, but we got used to it. That's all we use now (well, except for some recipes that call for butter, like almond-pear cake etc. lol) . I cook with olive oil, and "sautée" potatoes in duck fat, which is supposed to be healthier than butter...  |
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Post by adcooper on Mar 15, 2009 18:57:55 GMT -5
Is Olivio a spread? Now that I think of it, I tried making my own spread out of butter and olive oil, and it was pretty good! I should try that again, and I'll look for the Olivio, too. I have been using half butter and half canola oil in cookie recipes and such. That works very well. Duck fat sounds too good to be true! I'll have a glass of wine with those potatoes and call it supper. ;D Terrie, can hubby do an excercise bike, or is that too hard on his ankle? I've been using one at Curves and I keep thinking how much better it would be if I could watch a movie or read a book while I'm pedaling. Maybe you could set one up in front of the TV. Or better yet, the ironing board! He could get fit and press his shirts at the same time! |
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Post by elizabeth_h on Mar 15, 2009 20:17:21 GMT -5
You can try "Earth Balance" instead of butter. It is vegan and non hydrogenated. We use it because DH is vegan but it is quite good.
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Post by MariyaJoM on Mar 16, 2009 10:17:57 GMT -5
um, cookies?
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Post by Goalie on Mar 16, 2009 12:47:23 GMT -5
Terrie, can hubby do an excercise bike, or is that too hard on his ankle? I've been using one at Curves and I keep thinking how much better it would be if I could watch a movie or read a book while I'm pedaling. Maybe you could set one up in front of the TV. Or better yet, the ironing board! He could get fit and press his shirts at the same time!
Oh Ann, How I wish he would take an interest in an exercise bike. Alas the only bike he wants is a motorcycle again. We had to sell his Harley after he broke his back as it was a hardtail and not suitable for his condition. I wish he would like to iron but he doesn't. he doesn't mind doing the laundry though and so i'll let him do that and I'll iron later.
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Post by filly on Mar 16, 2009 18:29:15 GMT -5
What about a YMCA or something like that near you? He could swim. That really burns of tons of calories and is easy on the joints. Even a water aerobics class could be helpful. I know you might live far out but just a suggestion as I can't run or do much biking bc my hips and knees but I can swim all day like a fish in water. ;D
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Post by adcooper on Mar 18, 2009 16:57:11 GMT -5
 Yes. Cookies!
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Post by MariyaJoM on Mar 19, 2009 20:13:29 GMT -5
LOL!! you are being a bad girl  we know you know what you have to do to lower your cholesterol give yourself some time to wrap your head around it it, set a date, and begin slowly if i can do it, i know you can too. if you would like some small tips, i am more than happy to share |
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Post by intrepidfox on Mar 28, 2009 15:56:41 GMT -5
Hi, ad. I am new to the conversation, but have managed to drop my cholesterol substantially in the past few months AND keep eating butter and cheese (I do believe that local butter from pastured cows is healthier, but that's my own theory). What I eliminated instead was processed starch, including corn products, rice, most flour, even whole grain, and sugar (except the sugar in good dark chocolate, which I also cannot live without). My doctor was completely skeptical, but I knew what I could live with and what I could not--and she has backed off now that my numbers are good. I replace flour in recipes with ground nuts, flax seed, and oat bran, and use splenda instead of sugar. Snack on nuts and veggies, some fruit, some cheese. I cook with macadamia, olive, or walnut oil. I eat plenty of meat, too, although again I buy local grassfed meat, because I think corn is terrible for us in all its forms (oil, syrup, and meat fed on it). And we eat fish a few times a week, including canned tuna.
I do take fish oil, vitamin D, and resveratrol, but I believe it was the diet--and I do exercise some every day--that did it. My husband is a biochemist (we both work at a research university), and we both think that the medical community doesn't know as much as they think they do about cholesterol, or the processes that impact it in the body, and next to nothing about what is really the best diet. I hate how quickly we put people on drugs, without really understanding all the different systems and processes they affect.
Free advice is worth what you pay for it, and everyone's genetic makeup is different (I think our health is 50/50 genes and environment/lifestyle), but my bloodwork at age 45 is better than it was when I was 30.
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Post by adcooper on Mar 31, 2009 23:43:24 GMT -5
Intrepid fox, you speak to my condition! I'm not sure I can forgo the starches as much as you are doing, but I am trying to make some changes in diet and many of your ideas about the quality of our food supply sound right to me. I've been taking vitamins, calcium, fish oil and niacin. I've never even taken vitamins regularly before. I haven't heard of resveratrol--I'll look it up. My husband is a vegetarian, but will eat fish, eggs and dairy. And he loves to bake! So I have a diet with too much bread and cheese, I'm afraid. But he also makes lovely homemade granola with lots of oats and flax and nuts, so I'm trying to stick to that or oatmeal for breakfast and pleading with him not to make any more cinnamon rolls (no matter how much I beg!) He happily takes the cholesterol medicine, but I just don't want to do it. The fish oil is bad enough!
I think you're statement that you know what you can live with and what you can't do without sounds so sensible.
By the way, my daughter gave me some avocado oil, which I'm using for some cooking. It's nice, and she says it's better for you than corn and other veggie oils.
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Post by intrepidfox on Apr 5, 2009 15:16:00 GMT -5
My husband is more of an herbivore than I am, and I think it was succumbing to his diet that raised by cholesterol (and widened by backside) in the first place. Avocado oil is great - pricey, but everything about it is good for you. I admit it takes more self-control than I always have to give up as much of the simple carbs as I must (and I sometimes pine for pasta). I do take "holidays" now and then, but I am a bread addict so I have to rein it back in. I find that I can replace bread with baked tofu -- I literally slice firm tofu, brush a little macadamia oil on it, coat it with Shake'n'Bake, and bake it 20 minutes. Then use the slices the way I would crackers or bread. It's not quite as good, but it soothes the craving a little. Add a little chili powder to the coating, some guacamole, and it's not-chos! (sorry - really trying to convince myself they're great.  Not like the real thing, but better than dying young or taking meds. I think the cholesterol meds are not going to prove to be as beneficial in the long term as the medical community wants to believe they are now. Probably not too harmful, but I am with you on not taking them. If we all ate mostly veggies, fruit, local dairy and meat, wild fish, and moved around more, so many of our health problems would resolve themselves... We take the Longevinex brand of resveratrol. It's the compound in red wine (which we also consume, and way more fun than the pills). Could be just expensive waste, but the data looks good enough that we are willing to risk it. Also has vitamin D in it, which we need in upstate NY in the winter... Ack, who knows. But the medical community has been so damn wrong so many times, I no longer march to their drums. The American diet has less saturated fat in it than any time in history, and look at our health... But the way we subsidize some food markets, ignore others, and peddle profitable pharmaceuticals, it's no wonder things are out of kilter... |
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Post by alisonph on Apr 6, 2009 18:15:30 GMT -5
Ad,
My husband had stroke level cholesterol a year ago. He went for a routine physical at the age of 41 and had a blood panel done "for baseline numbers". HA! He abruptly stopped eating butter and 3 eggs for breakfast and cut out his processed sweets (he's a Little Debbie addict).
You know how I feel about local foods and unprocessed foods, so I won't preach to the choir. I also believe sugar is wicked stuff. I have a horrid sweet tooth, so don't follow my own advice, but my husband cut out sugar to see if it made a difference. In 6 months, his levels were down to normal. His Dr. wanted to put him on medication immediately, but gave him 6 months to change his levels with diet. It worked. His good levels are still pretty low, which is indicative of lack of cardiovascular exercise, but he has done all of the other work with diet alone.
Hey, in a few weeks your CSA should be starting and you'll have all the fresh vegetables you can stand! Strawberry salads with nuts, stir fried bok choi, etc. Have you had varigated kale? We are harvesting some right now and it is incredible. I've never been a kale fan, but this is really, really delicious.
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Post by elizabeth_h on Apr 6, 2009 21:16:30 GMT -5
If you are switching to oatmeal for breakfast, now that it is Spring everywhere but here try putting some sliced strawberries in while you are cooking it. I find that when they are cooked in with the oatmeal for a couple of minutes they have a wonderful buttery flavor. Also put in a splash of milk while it is cooking, and a little maple syrup (the real stuff). Heaven!
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I'm still not going to eat margarine. I'd rather starve.
we know you know what you have to do to lower your cholesterol 
Not like the real thing, but better than dying young or taking meds.