Vegetables to lower cholesterol?

[catjac1975]

Dr Merolla talks about this and I lean towards believing it. It is hard to not follow the guidelines regarding cholesterol though because we don't really know. The studies are all so different and it is hard to know what to believe. The web is so fantastic as a source for knowledge and also so full of misinformation guided by profit. My homeopathic physician says disease comes from inflammation fueled by being too acidic. Also cholesterol that is too low may cause cancer. A Dr. friend of mine is on a high protein diet that has enabled him to lose 60 lbs in about 6 months. Another result. His high cholesterol plummeted. The weight loss could account for that but I just cannot wrap my head around such a drastic diet change for myself. I also do not believe that the drug companies would ever reveal the truth about billion dollar drugs. The drugs made me so miserable it was a fate worse than death for me. Sooo I guess we can only go by our own instincts for our own bodies and health.

I don't want to rattle anyone's cage here, but there are a lot of researchers and dietitions who say high cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease or strokes; that the high cholesterol is actually protective, not harmful. I'm not sure I buy it, but I have become so suspicious of many other health "tenets" that restrict us to narrow parameters of healthy/not-healthy. Just like the "eating fat makes you fat" myth, many other so-called truths are being proven wrong.
I have read that taking pectin will help increase the good cholesterol. My DH takes it--the regular stuff people use for making jelly.

 

[hoodat]

My cardiologist gets very agravated when I take myself off a drug. He wants me on a drug that lowers my cholesterol and another to control high blood pressure. My tests don't show high cholesterol and I have never in my life had high blood pressure so why should I take something to prevent a condition I don't have? No drug is without side effects, often unknown ones. It's true I had to have bypass surgery for several clogged arteries but my tests don't show high cholesterol. Perhaps the doctors who claim there is no correlation between clogged arteries and cholesterol are right.
I still take 3 drugs, carvedilol to control my heart fibrilation (which I definitely have), warfarin to help the blood flow and help prevent stroke (a well proven correlation between atrial fibrilation and stroke) and dilantin to control acid reflux, which I have had since my time in the service. (war makes me nervous )

 

[journey11]

Here's a good article on cholesterol I saw today.

"A 98-year-old researcher argues that, contrary to decades of clinical assumptions and advice to patients, dietary cholesterol is good for your heart -- unless that cholesterol is unnaturally oxidized (by frying foods in reused oil, eating lots of polyunsaturated fats, or smoking)."

Horray for REAL butter! It's that hydrogenated stuff that will kill you.

I also saw another article today on eggplant and how very good it is for your heart. Lots of phytonutrients and trace minerals in it too. They said you should eat it a couple times a week, which seems like a lot to me...but I guess that's a good enough reason to love eggplant. I like to saute it and use it in place of mushrooms for some dishes.

All 4 of my great-grandmothers and 1 great-grandpa lived into their 90's. They all ate normal, wholesome, real food and worked hard. I think our modern life-style also tends to be more stressful, which also can't be helping.

 

[nittygrittydirtdigger]

Count me in as one of those who don't think all the info out there is accurate when it comes to cholesteral. My grandmother and my mother were both on cholesteral meds for years that gave them leg pain. But they both had trigliceride numbers over 200, so they did what the doctor said. My grandma passed away last December, a week shy of her 99th birthday. My mom will be 80 in the summer, and she decided that the meds weren't worth the leg pain. In the 4 months that she's been off the meds, her overall cholesteral number has remained just around 215, the same as it was when she took the meds.

My husband is a middle aged male who works in nursing, so he's always walking, bending, lifting, etc. He looks healthy as a horse. His number is over 250. I'm a sedentary chubby woman. My overall number is around 150. Except for the fact that I eat a lot more dairy than he does, we eat mostly the same diet, except he doesn't eat as much fruit and veggies as I do.

Just some random info.

 

[seedcorn]

Some researchers claim that a pure vegan diet with no animal products of any kind will not only lower cholesterol but actually reverse plaque in the arteries. Speaking for myself though I doubt I could go completely vegan.

If a vegan diet didn't kill me, I would wish I was dead.

Appreciate all the ideas. One thing I need to eat in place of beef is fish.

 

[hoodat]

Wild caught ocean fish are best. Freshwater fish have less benefits but are still better than meat. Try to avoid farmed fish whenever possible and at all costs never eat farmed fish from China. China is the most polluted place on Earth. Chance are those fish from China were raised in ponds that are little more than cess pools. Peru and Chile are getting into fish farming and they have a lot less polution.

 

[Smart Red]

Had a friend whose doctor wanted her on cholesterol meds. She said no. For a couple of years the doctor tried pressuring her into meds to control a slightly elevated cholesterol count. She continued to refuse the meds.

Finally, he said that if she wouldn't take meds she should start taking Niacin to control her cholesterol.

I was taking Niacin when I started seeing a new doctor. He saw my list of meds with Niacin listed and asked me if my cholesterol was high and if that was why I took Niacin. I figure it's worth a try and with fewer side effects than prescription meds for the same purpose.

Foods high in Niacin should be ideal for helping control high cholesterol.

 

[Mickey328]

One of the top things to help with cholesterol and lots of other issues is garlic. It does need to be fresh though...processing or cooking greatly reduces its efficacy. I love the stuff but unfortunately it gives me dreadful indigestion I've yet to try rubbing it on my feet though. Evidently if you cut the cloves and rub it on the soles of your feet the oils in it will be absorbed through your skin. DH said his sister often did this and oddly enough, she'd have "garlic breath" within a few hours, so it must get into your system. I'll have to try and see if I can tolerate it that way...he'd just have to live with the garlic breath thing, LOL

I tried the Niacin as well...oh my...the hot flashes!!! I simply couldn't tolerate them; even taking aspirin half an hour before the niacin didn't mitigate them enough. Maybe if my own "natural" ones ever diminish....

 

[seedcorn]

A warning on niacin, it changes your eye shape. Got a detached retina from it. Specialist took me off if that as soon as he saw that on my list.

 

[so lucky]

Here's a good article on cholesterol I saw today.

"A 98-year-old researcher argues that, contrary to decades of clinical assumptions and advice to patients, dietary cholesterol is good for your heart -- unless that cholesterol is unnaturally oxidized (by frying foods in reused oil, eating lots of polyunsaturated fats, or smoking)."

Horray for REAL butter! It's that hydrogenated stuff that will kill you.

I also saw another article today on eggplant and how very good it is for your heart. Lots of phytonutrients and trace minerals in it too. They said you should eat it a couple times a week, which seems like a lot to me...but I guess that's a good enough reason to love eggplant. I like to saute it and use it in place of mushrooms for some dishes.

All 4 of my great-grandmothers and 1 great-grandpa lived into their 90's. They all ate normal, wholesome, real food and worked hard. I think our modern life-style also tends to be more stressful, which also can't be helping.

YES, YES, YES!!