Which foods should you eat/avoid in order to lower your cholesterol?

StarlaTheTempAtKZUG
StarlaTheTempAtKZUG Posts: 10
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
My mum has roughly 15-20 kilos to lose (33-44 pounds), and has high cholesterol.

Does anyone know which foods she should eat more of (and which ones to avoid) in order to lower it?

Thank you, everyone.

Replies

  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    edited February 2015
    It's a bit more complicated than just lowering your cholesterol. High cholesterol in itself isn't good or bad. Its the ratios you need to look at. Ideally the things to aim for is higher HDL's and lower Triglycerides (the lesser the ratio between the two the better). Also eating foods which increase LDL particle size would be advisable, as it's not the number of LDL particles that are the issue but whether they are small and worse oxidized.

    Simple weight loss and exercise will will help.

    Diets low in carbs and high in saturated fats have been shown to improve all of the markers above.

    Try to limit your intake of polyunsaturated fats (possibly even just focus on omega 3 and 6 essential oils) when it comes to polyunsaturated fats.

    The main thing to understand is it's not dietary cholesterol that your doctors read, its the cholesterol your body naturally makes itself (and everyone needs cholesterol, it's a vital hormone in the body)
  • mabug01
    mabug01 Posts: 1,273 Member
    Saturated fat is the thing to avoid. If she eats meats of any kind, that's a problem. Maybe she can decrease her intake of meats by eating beans or legumes (like bean burritos). I wouldn't go with pasta as a substitute because that may cause insulin problems. I like to eat sprouted grain bread and tortillas because they offer some protein and fiber. Increase fiber because it takes cholesterol out of the body somehow (admittedly I'm fuzzy on the science) by eating vegetables at every meal, including breakfast, and take a fiber gummie supplement. Fish oil supplements seem to help some folks. Walk every day. And be patient because it doesn't come down overnight.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,261 Member
    mabug01 wrote: »
    Saturated fat is the thing to avoid. If she eats meats of any kind, that's a problem. Maybe she can decrease her intake of meats by eating beans or legumes (like bean burritos). I wouldn't go with pasta as a substitute because that may cause insulin problems. I like to eat sprouted grain bread and tortillas because they offer some protein and fiber. Increase fiber because it takes cholesterol out of the body somehow (admittedly I'm fuzzy on the science) by eating vegetables at every meal, including breakfast, and take a fiber gummie supplement. Fish oil supplements seem to help some folks. Walk every day. And be patient because it doesn't come down overnight.
    Yes, you are fuzzy on the science. Saturated fat in a dietary sense increases HDL more than any single food stuff, and it changes the particle size of LDL for the better....... this is 40 yr old dogma, but I suspect this thinking will not go away any time soon.

  • mabug01
    mabug01 Posts: 1,273 Member
    .[/quote]Yes, you are fuzzy on the science. Saturated fat in a dietary sense increases HDL more than any single food stuff, and it changes the particle size of LDL for the better....... this is 40 yr old dogma, but I suspect this thinking will not go away any time soon.

    [/quote]

    Actually, I was talking about the science regarding how fiber helps. I've lowered my cholesterol by 50 points by giving up saturated fat, so I guess I'm the miraculous exception, according to your logic.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,261 Member
    edited February 2015
    Nope, not miraculous, decreasing saturated fat lowers HDL pretty much every single time.
  • BABetter1
    BABetter1 Posts: 618 Member
    Am I missing something here? You 2 seem to be saying the same thing but saying it as if you are disagreeing . . . . . .
  • mabug01
    mabug01 Posts: 1,273 Member
    Starla, regardless of what neanderthin biker boy says, please do not advise your mum to start eating gobs of saturated fat.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    mabug01 wrote: »
    .
    Yes, you are fuzzy on the science. Saturated fat in a dietary sense increases HDL more than any single food stuff, and it changes the particle size of LDL for the better....... this is 40 yr old dogma, but I suspect this thinking will not go away any time soon.

    Actually, I was talking about the science regarding how fiber helps. I've lowered my cholesterol by 50 points by giving up saturated fat, so I guess I'm the miraculous exception, according to your logic.

    Still fuzzy on the science, now compounded by confirmation bias.
    You probably lost weight, changed your overall diet. It could be a number of factors.

    To the OP:

    - ideally losing the extra weight is the single most important factor to improving cholesterol profiles - but diet wise a general increase in produce (greens/veg/fruits) will help overall - it will tend to reduce calories, by creating fullness - resulting in weight loss, etc...

    It isn't one specific food that is suddenly magical...
  • caryb2015
    caryb2015 Posts: 38 Member
    I would recommend asking your Dr to refer you to a nutritionist if he/she doesn't feel they can advise you on specifics. As you can see from the contradictions above there are contradicting opinions on this but I found that replacing processed snack foods with fruits and veg dramatically improved all the numbers associated with "high cholesterol".
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    bgorum wrote: »
    Am I missing something here? You 2 seem to be saying the same thing but saying it as if you are disagreeing . . . . . .

    Yep they are saying the same thing, but where the confusion lies is Fuzzy science Woman doesn't understand that if there is one thing you want to be doing with your cholesterol, it's raising (or at best - not decreasing your HDL count). And that is what biker boy is trying to get across!

  • ccarry48
    ccarry48 Posts: 4
    mabug01 wrote: »
    Starla, regardless of what neanderthin biker boy says, please do not advise your mum to start eating gobs of saturated fat.

  • ccarry48
    ccarry48 Posts: 4
    Not only as a nurse, but as a family member who has watched the low fat fad flat out not work for my loved ones. I believe in getting back to all natural. Get away from processed sugar, flour as much as possible, moderation is also key. But my husbands family history with cholesterol and heart disease is horrible and we eat eggs, bacon, ham, steak, and tons of venison but he also eats tons of garden vegetables and fruits. He stayed thin, I got fat. Other factors at play of course, but since I focused on more Atkins type diet, or Paleo, not extreme of either...all of my numbers are better. Our history in this country clearly shows that with the low fat, sugar free craze we have had an increase of heart disease and obesity. The latest studies do point to going back to eating meat to be healthy. Now again we eat tons of venison and pork that my husband hunts and processes, and we eat out of our garden all that we can.
  • mabug01
    mabug01 Posts: 1,273 Member
    Obviously from my post, I understand the importance of raising HDL because the things I suggested - beans, walking, fiber, etc., all help raise HDL. I never suggested anyone should not eat meat, I merely suggested that relying on meat at every meal may be problematic because you can get more benefit from foods with fiber in them like beans and legumes and vegetables. The poster wanted to know what her mum should add to her diet, and my opinion is add stuff to help with the HDL, and swap those calories from the meat category. Our difference of opinion seems to be that neanderthin believes meat will more effectively raise HDL and lower LDL than will fiber-rich foods, and I disagree, as do many studies, as well as my own experience.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,261 Member
    EvgeniZyntx wrote: »
    mabug01 wrote: »
    .
    Yes, you are fuzzy on the science. Saturated fat in a dietary sense increases HDL more than any single food stuff, and it changes the particle size of LDL for the better....... this is 40 yr old dogma, but I suspect this thinking will not go away any time soon.

    Actually, I was talking about the science regarding how fiber helps. I've lowered my cholesterol by 50 points by giving up saturated fat, so I guess I'm the miraculous exception, according to your logic.

    Still fuzzy on the science, now compounded by confirmation bias.
    You probably lost weight, changed your overall diet. It could be a number of factors.

    To the OP:

    - ideally losing the extra weight is the single most important factor to improving cholesterol profiles - but diet wise a general increase in produce (greens/veg/fruits) will help overall - it will tend to reduce calories, by creating fullness - resulting in weight loss, etc...

    It isn't one specific food that is suddenly magical...
    I hear Lucky Charms are magically delicious, and it's a grain, so it should lower cholesterol. j/k

  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
    For a dietary approach to reducing LDL cholesterol, focus on getting more fiber (beans; whole grains especially oatmeal have empirical data supporting LDL reduction) and having a greater percentage of fat grams be from plant sources (nuts, avocados, e.g - higher monounsaturated fat percentages) and fatty fish (wild-caught salmon, e.g.). To improve HDL and thus the ratio, add in exercise. As noted above, the body produces cholesterol and often a dietary approach to reduce overall levels is not sufficient, especially if there are risk markers for cardiovascular disease.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,261 Member
    maxit wrote: »
    For a dietary approach to reducing LDL cholesterol, focus on getting more fiber (beans; whole grains especially oatmeal have empirical data supporting LDL reduction) and having a greater percentage of fat grams be from plant sources (nuts, avocados, e.g - higher monounsaturated fat percentages) and fatty fish (wild-caught salmon, e.g.). To improve HDL and thus the ratio, add in exercise. As noted above, the body produces cholesterol and often a dietary approach to reduce overall levels is not sufficient, especially if there are risk markers for cardiovascular disease.
    Exercise is great for improving HDL and influencing the livers production of lipoproteins in general. HDL has always seemed to be the red headed step child.

    A few years ago there was an interesting study conducted by UCLA medical dept where blood was measured over a few years at 500 hospitals across the USA and gathered data from over 135,000 heart attach patience and found that around 75% had LDL under 130 and just about 50% at 100 or less but was also interesting, they all had very low HDL. Basically there was fewer incidence with patience with higher LDL but also had higher HDL. Which basically just proves once more that the ratio is what's important and not neccarily being fixated on one particular number.

    ahjonline.com/article/S0002-8703(08)00717-5/fulltext

  • AnnieRN6
    AnnieRN6 Posts: 48
    edited February 2015
    Eat boatloads of fruits and vegetables, and minimize (i.e. almost zero) simple carbs and fats for a month, then recheck his labs. Produce (mostly veggies) should be 10-12 servings a day. His cholesterol and fat levels will drop fast. (old nurse.)
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    mabug01 wrote: »
    Obviously from my post, I understand the importance of raising HDL because the things I suggested - beans, walking, fiber, etc., all help raise HDL. I never suggested anyone should not eat meat, I merely suggested that relying on meat at every meal may be problematic because you can get more benefit from foods with fiber in them like beans and legumes and vegetables. The poster wanted to know what her mum should add to her diet, and my opinion is add stuff to help with the HDL, and swap those calories from the meat category. Our difference of opinion seems to be that neanderthin believes meat will more effectively raise HDL and lower LDL than will fiber-rich foods, and I disagree, as do many studies, as well as my own experience.
    I'm not sure anyone is suggesting saturated fat and low carb will reduce LDL particles because they won't.

    What it will do is increase the size of them and this make them less dangerous
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,261 Member
    edited February 2015
    tennisdude2004 wrote: »
    mabug01 wrote: »
    Obviously from my post, I understand the importance of raising HDL because the things I suggested - beans, walking, fiber, etc., all help raise HDL. I never suggested anyone should not eat meat, I merely suggested that relying on meat at every meal may be problematic because you can get more benefit from foods with fiber in them like beans and legumes and vegetables. The poster wanted to know what her mum should add to her diet, and my opinion is add stuff to help with the HDL, and swap those calories from the meat category. Our difference of opinion seems to be that neanderthin believes meat will more effectively raise HDL and lower LDL than will fiber-rich foods, and I disagree, as do many studies, as well as my own experience.
    I'm not sure anyone is suggesting saturated fat and low carb will reduce LDL particles because they won't.

    What it will do is increase the size of them and this make them less dangerous
    While true that saturated fat may not lower total LDL they do reduce the total amount of particles from LDL by increasing the volume of cholesterol found in individual LDL lipoproteins. Even though this might sound counterintuitive that more cholesterol might be a bad thing it's actually the direct reduction in the triglyceride content of the LDL lipoprotein....... basically we have a larger more buoyant particles delivering cholesterol, which is what it's suppose to do instead of dropping trig in the blood and oxidized cholesterol into foam cells, which is not what we want to happen, far from it. Basically the total LDL isn't reduced, and may go up slightly but we have fewer lipoproteins doing the same job, with fewer oxidized particles and less triglycerides, a no brainer. I think a lot of the misinformation has been saturated fatty acids in the blood, which is not a good thing, not good at all but totally different then dietary SFA. SFA's in the blood is due to carbohydrate metabolism and the conversion to triglycerides, so basically trig in the blood can be directly reduced by reducing carbohydrates, and to be more specific, ones high in sugars.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    StarlaTheTempAtKZUG wrote: »
    My mum has roughly 15-20 kilos to lose (33-44 pounds), and has high cholesterol.

    Does anyone know which foods she should eat more of (and which ones to avoid) in order to lower it?

    Thank you, everyone.

    I'd suggest your mum asks the DR to refer her to a Registered Dietician rather than take advice from Random people on the internet who's knowledge of Nutrition Science is shaky at best
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    sometimes though eating healthier and exercising doesnt always help especially if you have Familial hypercholesterolemia.I have this and have had it since I was in my mid 20 and I was in no way overweight then(am now) nor did I eat unhealthy. I have tried everything to lower mine and even with the diet they prescribed to me,and exercise it only went down a little. I was on statins but had to stop because most of them were causing me major health issues. The only one they did prescribe(zocor) was the only thing that did work and didnt give me issues. everyone is different so seeing the dr and trying a special diet for high cholesterol(provided by either the dr or a nutritionist) may help.There are no guarantees.I know people who are vegetarians and their cholesterol is high. I know people who eat nothing but junk and dont have an issue with cholesterol.all depends on the person Like I said.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    neanderthin wrote: »
    tennisdude2004 wrote: »
    mabug01 wrote: »
    Obviously from my post, I understand the importance of raising HDL because the things I suggested - beans, walking, fiber, etc., all help raise HDL. I never suggested anyone should not eat meat, I merely suggested that relying on meat at every meal may be problematic because you can get more benefit from foods with fiber in them like beans and legumes and vegetables. The poster wanted to know what her mum should add to her diet, and my opinion is add stuff to help with the HDL, and swap those calories from the meat category. Our difference of opinion seems to be that neanderthin believes meat will more effectively raise HDL and lower LDL than will fiber-rich foods, and I disagree, as do many studies, as well as my own experience.
    I'm not sure anyone is suggesting saturated fat and low carb will reduce LDL particles because they won't.

    What it will do is increase the size of them and this make them less dangerous
    While true that saturated fat may not lower total LDL they do reduce the total amount of particles from LDL by increasing the volume of cholesterol found in individual LDL lipoproteins. Even though this might sound counterintuitive that more cholesterol might be a bad thing it's actually the direct reduction in the triglyceride content of the LDL lipoprotein....... basically we have a larger more buoyant particles delivering cholesterol, which is what it's suppose to do instead of dropping trig in the blood and oxidized cholesterol into foam cells, which is not what we want to happen, far from it. Basically the total LDL isn't reduced, and may go up slightly but we have fewer lipoproteins doing the same job, with fewer oxidized particles and less triglycerides, a no brainer. I think a lot of the misinformation has been saturated fatty acids in the blood, which is not a good thing, not good at all but totally different then dietary SFA. SFA's in the blood is due to carbohydrate metabolism and the conversion to triglycerides, so basically trig in the blood can be directly reduced by reducing carbohydrates, and to be more specific, ones high in sugars.

    Blasphemy - how dare you blame sugar
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