Beating high Cholesterol without the drugs 😱

[Sham67]

Hi, my name is Sham and I live in Milton Keynes. I have been diagnosed with high cholesterol but refused medication as I would like to manage this through diet if possible. Any information/advice would be most welcome.

Thank you

[Anne76]

I suggest you look on the web for whole food plant based diet. I found it through this site and within four weeks my cholesterol and LDL levels had come right down. I had a coronary artery scan last October which put me in a high risk bracket. I am now into thirty six weeks of the diet and hope when I have another scan in October I will see an improvement. There are about six doctors in the USA advocating this method and it is covered by Medicare in the States. Bill Clinton follows Dr Esselelstyn after his heart attack and you can see them speaking on YouTube. Hope this helps you.

[Sham67 in reply to Anne76]

Thank you very much for your advice/information Anne I'll have a look and let you know how it goes.

[sandybrown]

Life style change and food & drink intake control can help with healthy life style.

You need to watch out for hidden sugar and free sugar in pre prepared food.!

The new way of thinking is LCHF diet, you can take blue top milk, chees and butter. Watch out on portions. green leaf veg again with olive oil, coconut oil are good.

When you say high cholesterol, what are the numbers?

Did you GP offer for you to look at your food intake?

Did you have an explanation on QRISK2 calculations.?

sorry about the questions, this is because you need a base line recording of all your numbers before starting your life style change, good luck.

[Sham67 in reply to sandybrown]

Thank you Bala I was told my cholesterol was higher than normal back in January and ignored it to be honest but since then I've had a further diagnosis of fibromyalgia so thought I'd better start thinking about healthy life style choices as I don't really want to take medication. I can't remember what the numbers were and received very little information from the nurse. I'm going to see my gp so I can ask for this information and take more notice this time.

Thanks for advice it's been very helpful.

[Penel in reply to Sham67]

Basing your diet on fresh (or frozen) vegetables, good quality protein and healthy fats is always a good idea, as is cutting out refined starch and added sugar.

If you haven't already done so, have a look at the possible link between gluten and fibromyalgia. Some people benefit from cutting it out of their diet.

[Sham67 in reply to Penel]

Thats good to know thank you for your advice I will definitely look at that.

[PeterWh]

Sham.

I am only 20 miles south from you so hopefully there won't be too many differences in approach (there are very big differences across the country).

I certainly strongly agree with you that a diet change approach is the way to go (hopefully it will work permanently but at the minimum it will reduce the problem also be aware that there is new evidence / information in the last few months that some of the full fat products that were for many years thought to be bad for cholesterol and diet are not thought bad any more and actually are beneficial.

Firstly ask your GP for a printout of all the blood test results (you should just be able to phone up admin who will print them out and leave at front desk - that's what I can do at our surgery). Also ask for printouts of all other tests and and relevant letters and then set up your own medical file. Ask for copies from all future tests, etc including any correspondence to / from your GP. This will pay huge dividends in the long run.

You should look through past posts on this forum and also the atrial fibrillation forum because there are many relevant posts.

Also search through the relevant responses to posts that I have submitted regarding cholesterol and simavastatin. An overview is that at first (18 months ago) I was gullible and took simavastatin as suggested. A mistake but fortunately does not appear to have had long term ramifications. Five months medicine review by pharmacist (I only use one for everything) told to get new blood tests. As soon as GP's surgery got the results from the hospital multiple phone calls to me. The tests showed cholesterol had come way down but unfortunately liver functionality (well non) was 4 times worse than poorest limit. Immediately had to stop simavastatin. Fortunately GP wouldn't countenance prescribing any other of the statin family but managed to keep it down and well within limits by altering my diet but without having to go on one of the plant based diets that you will find on the Internet. I should say that I had quite a good diet previously and ate few junk takeaways. However one think that helped cholesterol and my AF was cutting out all processed foods and reducing sugar and salt.

Good luck.

[Sham67 in reply to PeterWh]

Thank you so much for sharing that with me its convinced me my refusal to manage this through drugs is not me being silly .

Thank you

[kasibarndoor]

I think you need to know your numbers, "high Cholesterol" means many things to different people. In fact over recent years the definition of "high" has changed. I would agree with the other posts that a healthy diet is important.

Until you have an explanation of what is high and what is normal and what your risk factor is then I would try to avoid pre-prepared foods. If you make meals yourself from basic ingredients, then you can see what goes into them, low fat means low taste, therefore they put sugar and chemicals in its place. Ready made sauces can often add all sorts of ingredients that your body isn't designed to eat.

There is a lot of information that says the link between dietary saturated fat and cholesterol does not exist. A lot of marketing has been done to sell us what we think are healthy products, for example breakfast cereal contains high amounts of sugar however we are sold it as a healthy product, IMHO it is the means to sell 10p worth of ingredients for £3 or £4 (often these ingredients are refined carbohydrates) and convince us we are eating something healthy.

[Sham67 in reply to kasibarndoor]

Thank you for your advice I have stated to prepare my food from scratch and already given up my occasional tasty Chinese take away 😂 I've always been a big believer in healthy diet and exercise but personal circumstances caused me to stop exercising and threw me into bad eating habits. But I'm determined to deal with this my way so thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

[Daveyboy77]

Hi try eating turkey instead of red meat . Its lower in fat also sticking to three meals a day can also help. Cut out all the sweet things if you can . Not saying its going to be an easy ride but with will power you can do it. Stick to brown pasta , brown bread , loads of fuilt and decaff coffee. And make sure to do lots of walking or running .

Best wishes.

[Sham67 in reply to Daveyboy77]

Thank you for that anything is worth a try.

[123congo]

Try plant sterols from Amazon. They worked for me after I took myself off Statins because of side effects. No side effects so far and cholesterol level reduced.

[Kelly04 in reply to 123congo]

Do you have a reputable seller?

[Anotherview]

Hi Sham67,

What matters is not just your total cholesterol but the ratio of the HDL (the good cholesterol) vs the LDL (the baddies). I found that Olive Oil sprinkled liberally on salad is excellent for pushing up the HDL and so it certain Fish Oils, Flax seed, walnuts,etc. Obviously vigorous exercise at least 3 times a day helps. I have the makings of a couch potato, so what I have done is bought a stationery bike and positioned it in front of the TV. I exercise which watching my favourite shows....I do not even feel I am exercising.

My friends who have gone on diet with high flax seed with oats (best with steel cut) porridge and walnuts every morning - have controlled as well. Oats is proven too work.

MOST IMPORTANT: Data show that of the people who get heart attacks roughly half have normal cholesterol!! Which means lower cholesterol does not mean lower chances of cardiac disease. Very controversial area...check the internet for good papers on the subject.

[welwynfrog]

Hi Sham

The diet is a start, check all food for Saturated fat, Everythings got Saturated fat in it, so try and keep it down. If you are a meat eater you don't have to cut out things just change the cuts of meat. Venison and Ostrich are really good, plus of course Chicken. You can even get lean bacon medalions and lean pork chops. Eat more oily fish, wean youselve off full fat milk, I now only have Skimmed milk and spreads that are recommended to lower cholestriol, no Butter and treat Cheese sparingly. Then of course exercise depending how fit you. build up slowly, but try to walk that extra mile.

All the best the less pills the better.

[Cunnymoma]

Hi Sham, high cholesterol is part genetic and part what you eat. Fresh fruits fresh veggies or lightly steamed.. Fish, chicken, I do eat meat ( I love a good steak) but only have maybe once every 2-3 months.. Grilled burger good. No fried! If so only in olive oil or coconut oil.. I've dropped Gluten almost totally.. And try to stick to organic and natural.. This year finally we have garden boxes built not just tubs.. 7 fruit trees, strawberries, beans, peas, carrots, onions, 2 diff lettuces', asparagus, watermelon, raspberries, 2diff potatoes, 4 diff tomatoes, artichokes, and blueberries.

Wish you much luck in your endeavors for health.. God Bless..