High cholesterol

thank you Diane. i'll stay clear of them.

thanks Trisha. i'll do my best not to worry.

Hello. thank you for your advice. I have cut out dairy and some red meat. no chocalate or biscuits. I do like my fruit. I do exercise to try and keep myself well and fit. I do walking,skipping, hoola hoop, treadmill and i do water aerobics twice a week when we're not on lock down x so I

am trying to the right things hopefully 🤣🤣

thank you for your reply.i don't eat cakes nor chocolate . it does sound like hell though. lol

if you're not vegetarian, definitely do not have to cut out beef. It's a great source of stearic acid and as long as you make sure you buy grass fed rather than grain fed, it's full of good nutrients. It will absolutely not raise your cholesterol. Dont give up chocolate either - cocoa butter is VERY good for you, just try to avoid the chocolate with lots of added sugar. Sugar is the enemy, not fat - not even saturated fat. The studies that pharmaceutical companies use to sell their pills were mostly done in the 60's and 70's and they were flawed - the saturated fat they referred to was mostly margarine, which is in effect poison. Good fats (butter, olive oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter, avocado) are often considered saturated but they are not going to cause the body any problems. As others have said - your cholesterol at 4.5 is not high. Studies done on alzheimers sufferers commonly showed they had low cholesterol, around 3.5 and below - at that level it's classed as a deficiency and it will affect brain function. 4.5 in our 60's is just about perfect to maintain what the body needs.

AliceNay,

Don't forget you need diary for your bones. Magnesium builds your bones from within, calcium on the outside. Generally people get enough calcium by having, milk in drinks, cereal and yogurt. Magnesium, calcium and vitamin D all work in tandem. Magnesium is very important and most people have insufficient due to chemicals used on the soil to make fold bug resistant.

No food is bad, all in moderation.

Excellent. Sounds like perfection and if that hasn't reduced your cholesterol then something serious is up - time to have several doctors' opinions and to change the type of statins at least.

But an important caveat: Are you abstaining from alcohol too, which robs the liver's ability to deal with everything else (thus causing too much cholesterol production) ?

If you have a serious cholesterol problem then unfortunately one has to try not drinking so much and then check if there's a better result. Part of my success with cholesterol reduction coincided with reducing my booze from 50 to 14 units per week. I am very fortunate in that I clearly hadn't become addicted yet and the withdrawal symptoms only lasted 3 or 4 days; am aware that it can be far harder for many people. I've had a couple of alcoholic friends die young which was a wake up call. Cutting down can effect one's state of mind so we do need to compensate by seeing more of good friends who can make us laugh without booze, also getting out into nature for a ramble or bike ride really supported me too. Having some kind of new purpose such as professional or charitable achievement seems to be a good one too. Of course, maybe booze isn't your issue but it seems to be a note worth mentioning here because people often forget the connection to cholesterol.

Also for a mega reduction unfortunately no more (that means zero) bacon, burgers, sausages, pork pies, ham. Some people say eggs should go too. A bit of chicken should be fine but not if it's deep fried from KFC!

I also have a relative who swore they'd cut dairy (no more milk in their tea) but was getting through a tub of ice cream per day. Hard to know whether they were lying to themself or others but the issue was comfort eating and they hadn't been aware of why they needed the comfort. Thankfully that has been worked on and the health has improved.

Don't forget plenty of seeds (seeded bread is an easy way to get them), sardines, salmon, mackerel and as much green vegetables as you can possible manage. Loads of oats and buckwheat. Apparently all this helps the body to regulate the good and bad cholesterol.

If possible, try to steadily do fractionally more strenuous excercise, daily.

Weight Watchers will tell you all this and they have become much better in recent years. Worth a try?

Either way, you can do it !!!!!!!!

hello Jen Thank you for your advise to help me, the problem is that I can't have milk as it doesn't really agree with me. I have changed it for alpro soya unsweetened, does or would that help with bones and magnesia.

Hi Alice. If you cant take lactose, there are lactose free cow's milks on the market. If not, opt for oat milk, almond milk, hemp milk or rice milk - much better for you than soy milk. If you can get it hemp milk is the best for us ladies over 60.

Hi AliceNay,

Apparently, the manufacturers of almond milk fortify it will calcium to stop people missing out on this much needed mineral.

I am not a fan of soybean as over 90% produced today is genetically modified and we still do not know the outcome of this on our health, which I am sure will not be good.

Around six years ago, I got scared noting how the country was getting ill, virtually every family is touched by cancer, dementia, diabetes, special needs children is widespread with autism etc., it is a phenomenon of recent times. I started educating myself about food and drugs, finding out how we became this sick and the reasons behind it, hence, I went back to real food as much as possible in our plastic world. Sorry I am ranting again.

Couldnt agree more Jen with your comments. I'm not usually a fanatic about health foods etc., but modified and processed food would seem to be at the root of a lot of health and weight problems. I dont eat meat but that isnt for health or ecological reasons, it's because I cant bear the thought of killing animals just to put on my plate. So much conflicting advice has been spread over the media about what is and isnt good for us. In the end I am happier if I avoid genetically modified, processed or in some way adapted food. I now find myself looking very carefully for things which have MSG in them - very nasty substance and quite astonishing how many different foods have it added, mainly for artificial flavour. There's a guy who has a youtube channel who is really interesting and gives very logical and sensible info on what foods should be avoided. His name is Sten Ekberg - he's a holistic doctor who is an former olympic decathlete and I find his straightforward approach and explanations really useful.

Hi Loxie,

I am tired of going shopping and seeing everything free from, people only need to look pre 1980s and see how slim and healthier people were, we ate full fat, full sugar etc., The new devil is sugar, instead of our real enemy artificial made sweeteners. Since the 80s and doctors told us don't eat this or that, giving drugs for everything the nations health has deteriorated to the sad state we are in today. mmr safe? not with every other child having some modern condition, you can make research results read however you choose, which earns more money? Rant over. 😷

Absolutely right. The real enemy IS sugar, in every form - not just sucrose but fructose, carbohydrates, starch, etc. The great statin epidemic is solely for the benefit of the pharmaceutical industry, there are better, and healthier ways to keep excessive cholesterol in check and it isnt by reducing fats but by reducing insulin resistance and liver function. My mantra now is, if it's been adulterated in any way - its junk, pure and simple. I can choose to eat it sometimes if I want but I at least know it's a treat and not daily staple. We're told not to eat saturated fats but that's only a half truth. Grass fed beef is an excellent source of protein and stearic acid and if not vegetarian, should be on everyone's menu, however it's important not to eat grain fed meat, it's toxic to our digestive system - ignore the claims of 'organic' etc., the cows could still be receiving feed that isnt good for us. Milk, cheese, butter are all good in moderation, whereas margarine, low fat spreads, and so on are to be honest just plastic in palatable form. Anything with a fake flavour (crisps, packet food, tinned soup) is full of MSG, no thanks. The best way to look at what we eat is to look at firstly what the animal ate before it got to our table and how the plants were grown that end up as our vegetables. Many fish are now farmed and fed foodstuffs that they wouldnt normally eat, salmon is a prime example - they are fed grains that contain dye in order to make their flesh pink because they dont get the exercise to give it colour naturally - buy line caught wild salmon never ever farmed fish. What a nightmare maze we have to weave through not to poison ourselves.