vjengels

Hi purple passion!
I had the same problem , even after losing a bunch of weight, exercising, etc, etc.
My Cholesterol was 279 in 2006, they wanted to put me on statins, I said no way, give me 3 months.
I bought a cook book called ' The American Heart Association Low fat Low Cholesterol cook book; with the information I found in there, along with recipes, I dropped my cholesterol to 235 in 3 months, another year later, when I had my blood work done again, I dropped it to 189. I still exercise, you have to.... but, it was just a few easy changes to my diet, things I don't miss went away, or are only eaten occaisionally, and everything else I liked anyway, I just didn't know it would save my life. P.S. many popular diets, such as Weight Watchers , are based off this diet. give it a try, you might be surprised how easy it is!
Good luck

Newby0709

Easier and a lot more fun! However, I want to be able to play with my grandchildren and see them grow up. I don't do as much exercise as I should but I aim for 30 min a day on the treadmill. Ideally, that should be increased. So many quilts waiting to be made.

QuiltMania

You can do it Purple Passion! The desire to change is the first step. It looks like you've already spotted a pattern -- the desire to snack on less healthy things in the winter. Choose one or two things to change, get those two things to be good habits and then add another.

Some healthy options -- 94% fat free microwave popcorn. You can pop it and then add 2 teaspoons of a healthy oil (canola, safflower, sunflower, olive and I forget the other ones). Tastes like the bad stuff without all the bad stuff.

Salsa and chips. Just make sure to get the ones that are baked and read the labels for fat content.

Baby carrots and Skinny Cow cheese (tastes like cream cheese with only 35 calories per wedge. It's good and they have flavors)

Lemon granita -- Not sure if I spelled it right. Take some lemons and juice them. Add sugar (could probably do it with Splenda but I haven't tried it yet. I like it sour so I don't use a lot of sugar) to make lemonade. Put in shallow dish in freezer. Every 20 minutes or so, scrape and stir with a fork to make a dish of ice crystals.

Good luck! You can do it!

Lisanne

There is just a ton of info out there about lowering cholesterol and fat in general, both online and at your library.

Exercise is also a great way to lower cholesterol. Walking, for example, but anything sustained. Besides lowering overall cholesterol, it changes the ratio of "good" cholesterol to "bad" cholesterol, which helps as well.

It takes about 3 months of eating right and exercising to see an improvement via a blood test. If you have a genetic predisposition to high colesterol, it may be harder to reduce it, but yours isn't horrendously high. I mean, it is high, but it could be much worse.

As for those creamy sauces, you could look into lowering their fat content, or just using less of them. Maybe make them with skim milk instead of whole milk, things like that.

PurplePassion

Another thing I have been looking at-- the % of things on the back of packages: fats, sugars, sodium ect. I noticed when it says cholesteral 0% on them ; does that mean those are good? Is there any where to find out what percentages are ok? Thank you for your help. Elaine

vjengels

Hi Purplepassion,
whenI started to investigate what I could do to lower my numbers, I went on the web, thank god for the internet! went to WEbMD first, it's pretty generic, but you can get some solid information there, then I typed in something like 'cholesterol lowering foods'... anyway I found alot of good information to get me started. I started paying attention to the labels on foods, particularly 'trans fats, and saturated fats; man those are Everywhere! Again, one change lead to another... It doesn't happen over night, but it can happen . The oatmeal is a good place to start, although the amount touted by Quaker to reduce your Cholesterol is 1 &1/2 , or 1&3/4 cups, ( I forget)that is WAY over a serving size, so you have to take the maunfactures claims with a grain of salt; yes, eating oatmeal will lower your cholesterol, as will other whole grains eaten on a regular basis, I eat oatmeal 3 x a week, when I just can't stand it any longer I have barley, brown rice and Quinoa ( an African grain that is a 'whole protein). Sorry, I'm long winded.... the point is eat more real foods, and a reasonable serving size, limit the bad fats you put into your body, exercise regularly, and things will change pretty quickly for you.

QuiltingGrannie

I have high cholesterol, Or did a year ago. (I've not been back to have it rechecked) I eat Oatmeal nearly every day, Cherrios I can only handle for a while, I try to eat low fat, I was also taking Omega 3 Fish oil, Flaxseed Oil,Niacin. Another factor in high cholesterol is STRESS. I was going through lack of work, money issues, etc. Those are not there as much now, so I even feel better. I have also lost a few pounds.
I just hope the things I'm doing is helping.

BellaBoo

I take Zocor, meds work for me better then diet. It's hard to control with food alone. If your Dr. prescribes a statin pill for you be sure and take a CoQ10 supplement. My Dr. insists on it. And FYI, a general practitioner isn't one I'd go to for high cholesterol management especially if you are on other medications. An Endocrinologist is who my family Dr. sent me to for managing my meds.

Lisanne

Very wise to read the labels!

Yes, 0% cholesterol is good, but it's not the whole story. Your body makes cholesterol, and it will make it out of other fats, so you also want the total amount of fat to be low. Also, be warned: cholesterol is only found in meat and dairy food, so things like candy and chips will have no cholesterol but still be high in total fat.

Here's a link to some good basic info on fats:
http://www.diet-i.com/nutrition/how-...ed-in-diet.htm

Shemjo

I am newly on meds for this. I have tried for years to control it with diet and exercise, but my whole family has this problem, cousins too! Weight is also an issue as I age. Dern!
I have eaten oatmeal for YEARS! And very little meat, but I still have high numbers.