Wake-up call

good for you, marj! i'm glad to see your tests came back normal and you've been given an early warning on the cholesterol.

we recently overhauled our diet to accommodate DH's familial tendency for high cholesterol and we nipped it in the bud quite quickly. we switched to chopping up vegetables for homemade soups and having lean turkey instead of hamburger, and we ditched anything that came from a boxed mix (rice a roni, hamburger helper, etc) or fast food restaurants (his major vice), and i started packing him a healthy lunch every day. oatmeal is a good move too.

he also started taking flax oil supplements, about 5 pills a day. that really knocked down his TGs- which are what runs high in his family- but also helped decrease everything else. he is now within normal limits except for mildly elevated TGs, about 6 months after we changed diet and about 3 months after the flax oil. his mom has recently started taking flax too but has yet to be retested.

i wish you the absolute best. i hope that our experience is of some help to you, it can be done, we've been there too!

 

Good for you...my best friend's 36 year old husband just had quintuple bypass surgery, so I'm glad to see you taking care of this now.

I can't say enough good about getting substantial vegetables and fruit in your diet. I find that I feel so much better with 4-5 servings of veggies a day and 3-4 of fruit. (And that's veggies WITHOUT cheese, which sucks, but makes the need for veggies moot.)

Hope this can help. You're doing the right thing with the oatmeal; a glass of red wine every now and then is great for you , too!

Best wishes...

 

I've found the key to a healthy diet is to cook almost exclusively with fresh produce. It can even be cheaper that way! There's one recipe for vegetable soup i got from my grandmother that is absolutely phenomenal, and uses almost all fresh ingredients... the best part is, the total cost is about $20, and yet will easily fill you up 10 times or more! throw in some bread or something, and you can make that a few more meals... I'd like to see McDonalds come out with something that good, and good for you, for that cheap! even a freaking "value meal" is 4-5 bucks!

Something else that might help, is to really get into the whole process - I recently stumbled across http://www.aerogrow.com/ Since i'm currently renting and such, i can't have my own garden for stuff, but this lets me make fresh herbs, peppers, lettuce, and a number of things all right there in the kitchen! I should be getting mine here in the next day or two, but i expect my cooking to get even better once it's here - When you've got a 6 month supply of Italian herbs growing right there, it really encourages you to go out and find some good recipes!

 

Good luck Marj! When you make a drastic change in your diet, you'll find that your tastes will change. When I went vegan some years ago I stopped craving meat and started craving salads instead. Your body knows what it needs to be healthy. I'm not vegan anymore but the healthy habits and cravings have stayed with me. Do they have Trader Joe's in Kentucky? If so, they have a great selection of healthy salads.

 

Veggies are good some ways, and bad others. FWIW, i always used to hate broccoli - my mom would buy it in a frozen bag, poor it into a dish and nuke it... ugh, i had to have cheese! But then last year one of my house mates started steaming it, and it was like a whole new food...

One way to get around that is to utilize stuff in your cooking - rather than having the veggies sitting on the side of the plate where you eat them separately, try cooking with them. with a little creative Googling, you could probably find recipes that include just about every fruit or veggie as part of the main dish, instead of on the side.

As for the salsa... it is best used as a dip, but you can find some other uses for it. I don't know the exact recipe, but my mom makes some chicken dish using salsa for the sauce - it tastes great, and you don't have to worry about the chips! perhaps something like http://allrecipes.com/recipe/salsa-chicken/detail.aspx except without the cheese?

 

My cholesterol was 330 a few years back. They put me on medication and I try to watch what I eat. I walk 4 miles a day. Last time I had it checked it was 180...so I guess something is working. I think a lot of it is heredity. Not much you can do about that. Good luck with your numbers and lifestyle changes.

 

One thing i've found is that many, many people either don't know how to cook or are afraid of it. I was too, until i moved into a place with 5 house mates who loved to cook... needless to say, i quickly learned. You might want to find a friend or relative nearby who can cook well, and set up some sort of arrangement with them - You'll buy the supplies, and they'll be the "head chef"... you can observe, ask questions, and be put to use chopping and stirring stuff, while they make sure everything comes out edible... you'll learn a lot! (i know i did... i used to be able to make two things: pasta, and hamburgers on the grill - now i feel as though i can make just about anything!) Granted, i was exposed to it every day for a year, but doing this once a week with someone will go a long way to increasing your confidence.

Of course, the key to the whole thing is to learn how different foods cook... For example, you can make the same recipes by varying the meat - from chicken to salmon to brats (not as healthy as the first two), so long as you've made dishes with each of the items and know their differences.

But at any rate, don't be afraid to give it a try! pick out a recipe give it a try. the worst that happens is you burn the house down kidding, of course! Barring that, the worst that happens is it doesn't taste good... in which case you have a backup plan - whatever you're eating right now without cooking. Some burnt dinner may cost you $5 each, but in the long run it's definitely worth the cost - especially since the food tastes that much better when you've made it yourself.

Also, try to get as many people involved as possible... it's boring standing in the kitchen cooking by yourself... get 4-5 people in there with you, everyone doing a little something, enjoying a glass of wine, talking and laughing, and you'll start to look forward to making dinner.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Nov 27 2006, 04:26 PM) [snapback]354549[/snapback]</div>

I, too, used to hate vegetables (unless cheese-covered) until I discovered:
1) the power of steaming or roasting
2) the power of garlic and onion
3) the power of olive oil

It's amazing what these things bring out in vegetables...all my vegetables until my 20s were boiled with big pieces of "fatback" in 'em. Ugghhh....now, one of my favorite things to eat is roasted asparagus, drizzled with olive oil and garlic and aged balsamic vinegar. YUUUMMMMMM...of course, I still hate celery and peas, and no amount of persuasion will change my mind about those two things.

I hope you find some people to help you learn to cook. It's an outstanding creative outlet! Hell, take a class if you must. It'll really help you in the long run...

 

Congratulations on catching your situation early enough to be proactive. I am in a similiar situation and my doctor told me the only thing he had really seen work is the Southbeach diet. He stopped short of recommending the diet but he stressed that I needed to find a food program that I could live with instead of a short term fix.

So for the past week, with the one notable exception of Thanksgiving, I have had virtually no carbs (no sweets, bread, pasta, rice), and no sweet veggies...

Last night I had a little steak on the grill with onions, pepper, brushed with olive oil and garlic... A salad with olive oil and balsamic, ans my wife made these "cookies" basically made out of dirt (some sort of non carb binder stuff), cream cheese, and fake sugar... They were darn dry but they really filled me up very quickly (I think they expanded like a sponge in my belly).

Breakfast is now one of those wicked high fiber cereals that tastes terrible. Lunch is coffee.

Good luck.

 

marjflowers,

It's great you are changing your diet!

A little over two years ago, my wakeup call was the blood bank turned me away because my pressure was 160/100 (downright too high). My total cholestrol was 255 - also unhealthy.

I still struggle with eating moderate portions, but at least it's less junk food.

The other half of my story is exercising daily - it will do as much good as the diet overhaul you are doing. If the doctor clears you to do aerobic exercise, going 60-85% of your max heart rate will help. The easier ways to do it is setting the treadmill on a heavy incline while walking, using an ellipse, stairstepper.

My total cholestrol dropped 30-40 points by taking 1200mg of Red Rice Yeast with CoQ10 daily. It works a lot like statins and much cheaper. It helped get my HDL (good cholestrol) up to 60.

 

I know this is going to sound counter intuitive but try to reduce the carbohydrate calories in your diet. This has not been shown to be true in a study as far as I know, but it has been true for me and a couple of people I know.

I think what happens is that cholesterol is high in part because you achieve high enough (probably higher) circulating glucose with just what you eat. You need to eat less carbs to allow circulating lipids, which contain cholesterol, to be metabolized by the liver into glucose, thus reducing their level.

You can always try it and see if it works for you.

I used to be mildly overweight and lost all of it with a low-carb diet. At which point my cholesterol plummeted. After, that I started doing serious exercise (thanks to Apple and Nike) and have been able to eat any kind of food, in moderation and keep my weight off.

What is true is that the one factor that has been shown to improve longevity in mammals is reduced caloric intake. But who can live like that!

 

Alric,

An article in the last week (Newsweek or MSNBC?) claimed the diabetic epidemic is caused by high-carb diets.

 

Marjorie -

First things first ... It's great that you're starting to take the necessary steps to get yourself back to better health. It's not an easy thing to do, but it will be well worth it in the long run. You've been given a mulligan on your life and it's good that you're taking advantage of it.

Changing the way you eat is very difficult, but eagle33199 & livelychick give good advice regarding the change and the cooking. Cooking can certainly seem daunting if you've never really done it. But it gets easier (and more fun) as you start doing it. Eagle's idea of inviting over friends who cook is sheer genius. In my experience, people who enjoy cooking are more than happy to share their knowledge. I love to cook and I'm always glad to find someone to talk food with. Cooking techniques aren't that hard ... they just take a little practice. And with someone to help you, they can be more fun.

One important thing to remember is there's more than one way to cook veggies. If you don't like them, you may not have had well-prepared ones. Broccoli (to use Eagle's example) is very easy to cook badly. But it's also very easy to cook deliciously. I prefer to sauté mine in olive oil with fresh garlic & red pepper flakes. It turns a beautiful bright green and stays wonderfully crispy. But that's me. You may like it steamed or roasted.

Soups are a great way to start cooking. They're effectively one-pot meals. Most will start with sautéing an onion and then you add broth (or water) and the veggies and cook. Another way to get a good mix of veggies (once you have a better handle on cooking) is stir-frys. And you don't need a wok. The way I do it is really just an extended sautéing of the veggies and mixing in soy sauce (low salt, of course).

Starting an exercise program will give you wonderful benefits besides helping you lose weight. Once you get going, your mental health will improve along with your physical health. You'll sleep better, too.

I know it seems like all of this is a huge life upheaval, but if you take it slowly and realize it takes some time, you'll be fine.

I also recommend reading the books 8 Weeks to Optimum Health and Eating Well for Optimum Health by Dr. Andrew Weil. He's not for everyone, but there is some great information in the books.

Please keep us posted on how it's going. We'll be glad to support you.

And if you start to cook, I'm sure we'll be more than glad to share recipes with you.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Delta Flyer @ Nov 28 2006, 11:30 AM) [snapback]354779[/snapback]</div>

Yes. For more on that and how the oil and corn monoculture industries are killing us read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan.

The high carb in everyone's diet is pushed to us in the form of high fructose corn syrup.

 

....which reminds me to try harder to stop being a chain Diet Coke drinker.

 

Nobody has mentioned your SALT intake, so far. Most of us eat far too much. When I visited New York a few years ago I was impressed by the public health service initiative in putting large posters in public places advising people to eat less salt.
Some people get into the habit of sprinkling salt on almost everything they eat. This is unnecessary and probably harmful in the long run. One way of eating less salt is to make your own bread without any salt. Making bread is very easy but the easiest way of all is to get an automatic bread machine.
Within a few weeks you'll find that ordinary breads taste much too salty.

Same thing with sugar in tea or coffee: cut it out gradually and then you'll find it unpleasant if there is sugar in it.


Your body knows what it needs to be healthy.
[/quote]
I doubt the truth of this. If true, why do people like rich chocolates, fatty foods of all kinds, and far too much of everything?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alric @ Nov 28 2006, 07:55 AM) [snapback]354785[/snapback]</div>

I'd rather pay more and get honey or sugar as the sweetener. I can't stand Nutrasweet.

Dave M.