Confused.com

[Orchid31]

My cholesterol is slightly high I have just discovered. I switched from semi-skimmed to whole milk, and have butter instead of margarine, because I read that the fats in margarine were bad fats. Considering giving up on dairy altogether now and trying to be vegan but then will how will I get the right amount of calcium? I am a 50 year old female. Any advice anyone?

[G1nny]

I take 600mg calcium tablets twice day.

[Praveen55 Star]

Orchid31

It is good to know you are concerned about your health.The steps that you have taken e.g. butter and whole milk in place of margarine and semi-skimmed milk are in the right direction.

Please note that total cholesterol (TC) on its own is not very useful in assessing the risks for heart health. One should have complete lipid profile e.g. HDL, TG (Triglyceride ) and LDL also.

I do not know what are your health goals. Any diet, Vegetarian, Non-vegetarian , Vegan or Plant based can be made healthy by proper choice of ingredients. For example, regarding calcium - 100 gm of sesame seeds can provide almost 100% of our calcium needs. That is not an issue. Similarly, chia seeds is another calcium rich healthy food.

It all depends on your personal choice what you want to follow.

Main issue with vegan will be vitamin B12 which you have to take as supplement. If you are metabolically in good health, there should not be much of a problem in following plant based diet.

[Kai--]

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• Why Eat Dark, Leafy Greens? [Dr. Michael Klaper]: doctorklaper.com/dark-leafy...

• Plant vs. Cow Calcium [Dr. Michael Greger]: nutritionfacts.org/video/pl...

• Getting Calcium Without Dairy [Dr. Neal Barnard]:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=eeCmq...(Not working as expected?)

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No worries about calcium, Orchid31. 👍👍

Very best wishes to you. ☺️ 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞

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Bit more on calcium: healthunlocked.com/cure-art.... (Merely search page for "calcium".)

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[Hidden]

Hi Orchid31, firstly welcome to HE and well done for introducing yourself, here's a link to the NHS advice on going vegan, I'm pleased they list sesame seeds and tahini:

nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/t...

Lowering cholesterol:

nhs.uk/conditions/high-chol...

And here's a link to HU's vegan group VFL where you'll get lots of advice and how to make nut milks:

healthunlocked.com/veganfoo...

Hopefully if you eat well your cholesterol will lower and you'll feel better for it so good luck with this.

Jerry 😊

[Hidden]

I discovered that lots of pain killers can contribute to cholesterol, as well as alcohol & vitamin A medication. The liver processes all of these but considers that cholesterol is the least toxic, so processes the others first. When it uses up its capacity on pain killers, vitamin A & alcohol, more cholesterol escapes & flaps around our arteries. (Layman’s description obv...)

[Penel]

Hi

Having slightly raised cholesterol at 50 may not be a cause for concern unless you are also overweight and/or have high blood pressure.

Cutting out highly processed starchy foods and sugar can help improve overall cholesterol numbers. Cutting out dairy may not make much difference, unless you are eating a lot of it, but as others have said, you can get your calcium elsewhere. Remember that you need Vit D as well.

Porridge for breakfast can apparently make a difference to cholesterol levels.

[Georgeb46]

Is the switch to whole milk and butter from SS and margarine significant when trying to reduce cholesterol? I must admit I haven't made those changes and instead opted for skimmed and olive oil based spreads..... So much conflicting info isn't there