Help me save my husbands life

fypspirit

I am really looking for help here. My husbands family has a big history of heart disease. He has lost a father at 55, and 2 brothers at the ages of 42 and 32 from heart attacks he is now 40. He has been on cholesterol meds for awhile and just got a call yesterday from doctor that he needs to double his dose cause it is still to high (175). This has me really scared, doctor says he is going to have a heart attack, he (doctor) is just trying to pro-long when it will happen. I have tears now just thinking of this. I am looking for everyday recipes for low cholesterol meals that use everyday items. Many that I have been looking on the internet for use so many items I have never heard of. Any help with this is greatly appreciated and will help many more years with him. Thanks

sjv1966

One easy thing to remember is that cholesterol only exists in animal products. If something doesn't come from an animal then it has ZERO cholesterol. Would the food you normally cook work without animal products? For example if you normally make pasta with veggies and chicken could you make pasta with veggies and canellini beans instead? Or if you might normally serve a salisbury steak with mushroom gravy and a side of roasted potatoes and carrots could you serve a Boca (veggie) burger with mushroom gravy and a side of roasted potatoes and carrots? Or serve a piece of fish instead -- even though it is an animal product I believe fish is actually good for a low cholesterol diet.

Actually the more I think about this Boca burgers could really be your friend. They are in the freezer section of pretty much any supermarket. They also sell "Boca Crumbles" as a substitute for browned ground beef. If you use them instead of beef you could probably make many of the things you make now.

That being said you asked for recipes. This is one of my go-to recipes. It has no meat, cheese or eggs so by definition it is low cholesterol.

Pasta with Veggies and Cherry Tomato Sauce

Ingredients (serves 4)
8 oz of whole wheat pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 pint of cherry tomatoes
1/2 tsp chicken boullion and 1/2 cup water or 1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1 can canellini beans (or white beans) drained and rinsed
1 tsp dried herbs
2 cups broccoli (or veggie of your choice)

Cook pasta in boiling water. In separate pan saute onion in olive oil a couple of minutes until starting to soften. Add the minced garlic and let it cook one more minute. Add the cherry tomatoes (whole), chicken boulion or broth, wine, beans and herbs. Let this all cook cook down together for about 10 minutes. When the cherry tomatoes soften use a potato masher or the back of a spoon to mash them a little bit so the insides come out and start to form the sauce. Meanwhile cook the broccoli in the microwave in a little bit of water. 1 or 2 minutes on high should do it. (I cook the broccoli separate because it keeps its color better that way. You can also just cook it in the pan with the onion and tomato.) Add broccoli to tomato mixture. When the pasta is done drain it and ad it to the pan with the tomatoes onion and broccoli. Toss to coat. If it seems a little dry add some of the pasta water or some more wine or stock.

If your husband is not a bean fan you can substitute walnuts or mushrooms.

clh126

I'm so sorry! Although it sounds like your husband has a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol and heart disease that hopefully the meds can help you out with, dietary changes can make a difference too. Granted I know vegetarians that still have high cholesterol because of their genetics but for a lot of people diet will make a difference.

If I were in your shoes I would try as best as you can to move to a plant-based diet to reduce cholesterol and saturated fat in your diet. Of course you don't have to completely eliminate meat, eggs, and dairy, but greatly reducing your intake will help. Do you curently cook with beans or lentils? Both are very versatile in terms of recipes and are nutritionally dense while also containing soluble fiber which has been associated with a decrease in cholesterol. A great site to check out is vegweb.com which has a ton of recipes and there's even a "quick and easy" section. Members rate the recipes and leave comments, so you can get a few tips before you decide to try one out. Allrecipes.com is good for this too. Random, but here's a beans and cholesterol article that I came across as I was googling for something just now - maybe it would be helpful. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/story?id=3689588

One of my easiest bean recipes that I've been doing lately is just to put some dried beans in a slow cooker overnight with water, some diced onions, cumin, and salt and then the next day I have healthy "refried" beans that I use to make tacos or burritos or can be added with some veggies and eaten with rice or quinoa.

Although you mentioned wanting recipes with common ingredients, I was wondering if you had ever tried quinoa? It has a great nutrition profile, is easy to cook and I feel like it has become much more widely available in the last few years - my mom has even found it where she lives in small-town Wisconsin:) Here's thread from couple of days ago where people posted their favorite recipes (including one from me that was recommended by 2 other people, it's really great - try it!)
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/500720-any-good-quinoa-recipes

Stacyanne324

I totally understand how you feel. My husband has a strong family history of heart disease too and he suffered a heart attack himself when he was only 28 year old. It was a scary thing to go through but thankfully he came out of it ok. We made a lot of changes after that... we both quit smoking (which was probably the most important change), he started to exercise and lose some weight, he began taking a lot of different meds to hopefully keep him from another heart attack, and we changed our diet. Up to that point our diet was terrible. We swapped out high fat ground beef for ground turkey breast, we greatly limited our red meat consumption, we switched to fat free milk, and I started serving more veggies.

Everything helps but in the end he has to make the choice to live healthy. You can certainly support him by shopping and cooking healthy but he'll have to watch his diet away from home as well and it's a struggle. My husband does wonderfully 90% of the time but he still is human and still eats things that aren't the best for him.

Hugs...I know it's scary.

bobthesmogs

I'd go to a certified nutritionist. I'm not sure MFP is the place for advice on such a serious health problem. I wish you both well and hope the meds can get his levels down.

Sarahmeridith

I would definatly talk to his doctor before making any big changes, but I think the other comments are a good idea, try and go toward less animal products. With eggs never use the yoke (maybe start with half yoke to get him used to it) stay away from the red meats especially.

SunshineT83

By no means will I pretend to know how to save your dear hubby's life. But I would like to extend an idea that may be simple enough (yet crazy enough) to work. There are a few blogs that have plant-based recipes, eating a plant-based diet may be exactly the thing to turn his life around. Here are some of my faves: (some of them are not all plant-based, but the recipes can easily be converted)

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/

http://www.skinnytaste.com/

http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/

http://thelazyvegetarian.blogspot.com/

http://jazzyvegetarian.com/ (she also has a podcast that's really informative)

I wish you and your family well, hopefully your hubby will be willing to put forth the same effort you are into saving his life.

MissOmi

If I remember what I read in my nutrition class right, fiber will help to flush out some of the cholesterol. But a nutritionist would be the best way to learn what your husband should be eating.

tlinval

I have high cholesterol, too. I've added lots of fruits and veggies and have cut a lot of meat out of my diet. Do you know what helped me? Cheerios. Breakfast was my trouble-meal. Eggs, cheese, meat...love it!! But I had to cut that out. So now I have cheerios every morning. There are a variety of flavors, and I add fruit to it. It's my go-to snack, too!

Like pp said, I'd talk with a nutritionist. You'll get great suggestions here, but I'd also be talking to a professional.

clh126

I also wanted to add this recipe that I think I'm going to try out tonight. It sounds delicious and super easy! To make it even easier, you can cook the rice and lentils in a rice cooker if you have one and then just cook the onions on the side and add them later. That's probably what I'm going to do.

http://theconfusedhomemaker.com/2010/03/10/mujadara-lentils-rice-and-carmalized-onions/
Mujadara: Lentils, Rice and Onions
1 Cup Lentils
1 Cup Rice
3 1/2 Cups Water
4 Onions
1 Tea­spoon Cumin
1 Tea­spoon Salt
1/2 Tea­spoon Pep­per
2 Table­spoons Veg­etable Oil

Serves 4–6

How to put it together:
Slice the onions. The onions should be sliced long, so they look like a rain­bow ver­sus diced into small pieces.
Heat pot on med-high heat. Add 1 Table­spoon of Veg­etable Oil and 1/2 an onion. Cook until onion is caramelized.
Add lentils, water, salt and pep­per. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and sim­mer for 20 minutes.
After 20 min­utes, add rice and 1 Tea­spoon Cumin. Cover and sim­mer for addi­tional 20 minutes.
Heat a fry­ing pan over med-high heat. Add the remain­ing 1 Table­spoon of Veg­etable Oil and remain­ing onions. Cook until fully caramelized and blackened.
Also, he used green lentils & yel­low onions for this dish.
We usu­ally serve our Mujadara with hum­mus & pita. Let me tell you it goes fast. And it is a great meal to have when you are look­ing for some­thing meat­less, easy, and delicious.

danarexanna

If you are like me, I need meat! There are so many different ways to fix fish and chicken and they are the best meats so far as being lean and lower in cholesterol. One recipe that comes to mind is crockpot chicken and baked potato.

wash whole potato and wrap it aluminum foil and lay it in the bottom of the crockpot
trim all fat from chicken breast and lay on top of wrapped potatoes
sprinkle with Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning
cook on high for 4 to 6 hours (depending on size of potato)

(the seasoned chicken runs down and seasons the potatoes)

fypspirit

Thanks for all the responses to my post. I know the topic sounded desperate but today for some reason that is how I feel. Just really worried especially with the lose of his brothers and father at such early ages so I do apologize for it. But I do appreciate the answers that I received. I just got back from the store and really gonna cut back on the red meat the most and stick with as much fish and chicken as we can. I have went through recipes and found some good ones on top of what has been posted on here. We will work on this on a day to day basis and get it kicked in the butt hopefully. I will see if I can find a nutritionist in our area and get some answers there also. Once again thank you for the replies and sorry for the desperate tone in my message.

BIGJIMMYU

The only advice I have is that no matter the cholesterol level most doctors will prescribe AT LEAST light walking for heart patients. The heart is the same as any muscle and must be exercised as so. My cholesterol was through the roof! After losing 42 lbs so far my doctor recently took me off the meds. People have to want to help themselves no matter what you try and do for them. I feel so bad for you and hope things turn out well. I would say a doctor prescribed diet and exercise regimen would do wonders. If his meds were recently doubled as you say I can only wager a guess he is not exercising or eating like he should? If I am wrong I sure apologize. Like the rest on here, I just care is all.