To all of you heart patients out there what's the healthiest spread to use. I'm sure some of you have checked or been told this. I'm using flora light.
Thanks everybody
Butter or Margarine: To all of you... - British Heart Fou...
Butter or Margarine
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Tombstone
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I use butter or olive oil, in moderation. Always have done. I find I can't eat other spreads.
A little butter (not lashing obviously!) is a profound pleasure and warms the cockles of the heart ! But I dont use it all the time . if I use peanut butter, never, and sometimes use honey or jam without it.
Hi, I use butter or Benecol but in moderation. I’ve tried other brands but Benecol tastes better on toast☺️
Flora light, taste is not bad but it aint butter! Makes your toast soggy as well.
Bertolli Light or Lurpak Slightly Salted.
Love101cats in reply to
Lurpak light slightly salted is yummy
Butter... real is always better for your body .. but still use in moderation! .. if you can use pasture butter, it’s slightly healthier.
Benecol Cholesterol Lowering Spread Light, bit pricy though
Benecol is the healthiest, it’s made of plant sterols. Dietition alao confirmed it
Aren’t all spreads hydrogenated? Which is very bad for everyone, let alone heart patients. I’m sure all dentists recommend sweeteners, which are poison, so wouldn’t trust a dietician!
Bloody expensive though
After my bypass the specialist heart nurse told me to always use butter not synthetic spreads.
Butter. In moderation.
Don’t use any atm. I was using very small amount of butter but my cholesterol was too high. I’ve cut out as much saturated fat as I can. So I’ve had to cut out my beloved cheese as well. But I rarely eat bread now due to reversing diabetes. When I do I use yeast extract straight into my toast, no butter. I’m getting used to it. I’m on ezetimibe and can’t have anything with plant sterols whilst on this med.
in reply to JennyRx
Hi, I used a low carb diet to reverse type 2 diabetes and lost nearly 6 stone, blood pressure dropped from high160/110 to130/85 and cholesterol 8. 9 to 5.6 which my doctor wants to be below 4 following heart attack and 4 stents. I cannot tolerate statins at all, I can barely function! Do you get any side effects from Ezetimibe? My doctor wants to put me on it followed by injections. I have read Ezetimibe can cause liver damage as well as all the other heart meds I am taking.
JennyRx in reply to
I get a bit burpy with exetimibe. I’m on 8 drugs so heaven knows what causes what. My liver and kidney functions were recently checked and all ok. I have to lower my LDL to less than 1.8 as a have a v high level of lp(a) so I have to be treated as if I have had a HA as my risk of one was actually higher than someone who’d already had one HA (probably because they’re being treated)
I don’t fit the criteria for the injection. Tbh I was on three weekly injections for cancer for a year so could do without that
in reply to JennyRx
Thanks for replying. I too am on many drugs and feel dreadful most of the time. It is so hard to get across to the medical team how it is affecting my life with their reluctance to change my meds. My last blood test showed kidney function down by 20 %, but they show no concern, "oh we'll just monitor it" . I don't feel like putting any more meds into my body.
Tombstone in reply to
I know the feeling they don't have to take the Meds be careful
I am on ezetimibe but havnt been told about a conflict with plant sterols. I use Benecol marg and drinks which have plant stanols. Should I be looking into this ?
If you aren't eating several slices of bread/toast and plastering your veg etc I am sure as most people have said it's everything in moderation and food is one of the increasingly few pleasures in life, really good for you to sit down to, enjoy a nice meal and relax. Anyway I subscribe to Marie Lloyd's music hall song "a little of what you fancy does you good"
absolutely !
I’m on 80mg of Atovastatin for life so butter and as much cheese as I like !
You devil you 🙂
Flora pro active, it's ok, apparently reduces cholesterol too
I use Graham’s Dairies spreadable butter, which is a blend of butter and rapeseed oil that is easy to spread thinly on bread etc. I use it for just about everything - baking, cooking etc.Everything in moderation!
I use Butter or Lidl's Danpak, Spreadable with butter and rapeseed. I also use their cold pressed rapeseed or butter for cooking. All in moderation of course 😀
I believe the tastiest and the healthiest is Benecol with Olive Oil.
I use Benecol. Tastes very nice
Hello All
I use benecol, pro active or alternative to all this avocado and i use cold pressed olive oil.
This is all in moderation, i would not miss butter if i did not have it. Its there in the fridge but its not something i would crave for -
Another big question is eggs - are we allowed to eggs, considering the cholesterol or fatty elements involved- if so, how many eggs are we are allowed to eat in a week?
At present, i am only eating one or two eggs if that - please any comments on this will be great because i get mix answers from doctors, nurses, family and friends etc
Thank you so much
Hi I love eggs I'm on Atorvastatin for my cholesterol like you I get mixed messages about eating eggs I have 5 eggs a week now one of the pleasures I get if you read everything on line you'll never eat anything take care
If you are on a statin (and most of us hearties are) I would not worry too much about too many eggs. They are such a wonderful food, rich in protein and good fats. Human beings need good fats, not empty fats sometimes found in cheap cooking oils. Most dieticians would recommend them!
Not a heart surgery person. The battle of the spread stopped this year. small amount of Guernsey butter is going down, beautiful. I followed Claris Dickson-Right, one of her books tells of the benefit to eat natural butter. Small amounts.
How much is small amounts i eat whole grain bread love it very low in salt just 8% per loaf thanks for reply
But Clarissa was massively overweight had terrible heart problems and died suddenly at 66. But she was great wasn't she.
But she was only 66 when she died!
Butter...definitely 100%...try to avoid processed foods!
Small amounts of butter rather than chemically processed vegetable oil !
I’d go for butter every time. It’s a natural food , with no additives or chemicals, unlike margarine. Just don’t use too much!
told from dietian to use bertolli
Olive spread from Lidl - can be used for baking too or Sunflower light spread from Aldi - much cheaper than Flora or Benecol.
Well, in answer to that, I use 'Lurpak Light', just because I like it. I absolutely hate Margerine.....!! 😊
Peony4575 in reply to
Me too and you can bake with it
Butter, coconut oil or olive oil are supposed to be healthiest - spreads and margRines are now seen as unhealthy, highly processed and full oy hydrogenated fats which are very damaging apparently. There are a number of studies saying that a couple of teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil per day is associated with a decrease in cardiovascular disease. The pioppe diet book researched and written by a cardiovascular specialist has great information re diet and also good links to recent research. You can get it on amazon kindle or bookstores.
Hi Tombstone. I was in Hospital for 6 Weeks last year on different Cardiac Wards - 2 different Hospitals! They always gave us Butter, you know the little Packs, lovely!! 😊😊
Also i think if your a fan of butter, than clarified butter or Ghee Butter would also be on the menu. From what I understand that the saturated fats are removed from the clarified butter or Ghee. Clarified butter or Ghee is very strong in taste and energy (it gives you wings 💓) , seriously it has benefits BUT personally i would consume it little in UK because you really need to exercise after to get the benefit from it. Predominantly its consumed and made in the subcontinent like India or Pakistan, they are hot climates so its burned off easily once eaten.
Also in addition, i think snowflakes20, made comments about hospital giving butter which i enjoy but i always complain about this to the caterers and nurses not rudely, but i this - we are heart patients and they always offer salted butter to us - they Answer is that i do have point, but we do not know why the catering dept offers this! 🤔
Thank you for comments on eggs Aswell- i do hope anyone else can comment on the consumption of eggs
Thanks again
👍
Sami
in reply to Khan29uk
Hi Khan. Yes, you do have a Point and a very good one too. When I was in Hospital there were some Patients who just moaned and complained about everything, and I mean everything. I have to say I found it VERY disrespectful. These Doctors and Nurses work extremely hard and I have nothing but praise for them, especially in the midst of a Pandemic as well. Going off the subject a little bit I know but, I was just SO glad to be in there and having the Operation!! They ALL did a fantastic Job and have nothing but praise for them 😊
Khan29uk in reply to
100% 😍
But honestly how much butter would you be given to eat? usually just one or two of those little pats., not enough to do any harm I should think. Similarly with eggs - I always used to have one every day for breakfast, now mainly have cereal but that isn't all "healthy" even those without sugar, but I still have at least 4 or 5 eggs a week. Just have a normal meal that you enjoy and the blessing of being retired is that you have time to eat it slowly (and at breakfast time do the crossword in my case) and don't worry. I'm sure stress especially when I have to ring my surgery and negotiate the receptionists does me far more harm than anything I eat!
Butter for me only. Margarine is toxic anyway, so don't want it anywhere near my body.
I use Benecol light, its proven to low cholesterol which apparently is the reason why I had an heart attack and had two stents fitted. To be honest it tastes nice but it is a bit more expensive than normal butter or margarine, about £3-4 but as I find it's worth paying the price for your health.
Hi All, read all your comments and agree that as heart patients we can eat everything in moderation. My consultant did say plant based, Mediterranean diets are best for your heart. I used to eat full fat Greek yogurt alternatives, normal butter etc exercised regularly, perfect weight . I never had high cholesterol, sugar nor blood pressure and yet I ended up with 90% narrowing in my main artery. Since then My dietition said it’s good to have 0% fat yogurt(bcoz I love yogurt and gave it up before my attach thinking it’s better to give up dairy) and benecol. Apparently benecol when consumed in amounts is proved to lower cholesterol. Her advice was to drink a couple of the mini benecol drinks before a meal and that will lower cholesterol.
All so confusing!
Personally I believe we are all different and the best way is to eat what we prefer to eat but have blood tests regularly to know if we are causing damage internally. I have noticed that in my case (I love desert!) when I am on holiday and come back my cholesterol goes up even though I’m in the normal range it must be kept to a minimum if we want to live a healthy life.
That’s my take on butter & dairy.
Wishing you all a great day. X
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