I Lowered My Cholesterol Levels with Diet and Exercise

Many of you know I've been on a plan to lower my Cholesterol levels with diet and exercise.

Doctors readily put patients on Statin drugs rather than address lifestyle changes, but my doctor was thrilled when I approached her with my own researched plan. I'm over half Scottish and don't understand why people address the symptom with a costly drug and not the disease with prevention.

I'm not a nutritionist or a doctor, and I developed this plan because it sounded like something I can live with. Turns out, I CAN live with it. That doesn't mean it you can. You need to come up with your own plan and run it by your doctor so you aren't jumping on and off a diet that's impossible for you.

First, my numbers. The first number was on 7/19/12. The second was from 11/6/12, four months later.
Total cholesterol: 221, 186 (Target is below 200)
HDL (good) cholesterol: 36, 37 (Target is above 40)
LDL (bad) cholesterol: 136, 124 (Target is below 100)
Triglycerides (another bad cholesterol): 247, 127 (Target is below 150)

People tell me I'm losing weight, but since that's not the goal, I haven't been keeping track.

I accomplished this with a combination of diet, exercise and supplements.

EXERCISE

I exercise 30 minutes a day, on an elliptical at home in front of internet TV.

I also set up a place where I can stand to work on my computer, many hours a day. We Americans sit too much!

SUPPLEMENTS

I believe I should be getting what I need from the food I eat, so I keep the pills to a minimum. Daily:
500 mg DHA
2 capsules Juice Plus Orchard Blend
2 capsules Juice Plus Garden Blend

DIET

I'm not starving. In a sentence, I eat as much fresh fruits and vegetables as I want, and avoid baked goods, pasta and cheese.

My body chemistry adjusted to this within a couple of weeks and my taste buds came back with the reduced sugar content of the foods I'm eating. I taste the subtleties in food now.

I switched from coffee to green tea because of its proven value in lowering cholesterol. This was way easier than I thought, since coffee was my only remaining addiction, and many teas taste like dishwater. I chose a major brand, Bigelow, and down four coffee cups every the morning.

A typical lunch for me is whole grain oatmeal with Michigan blueberries, or sardines on slices of cucumber.

I snack on Michigan apples any time of day.

We do a lot of stir fry for dinners. We're NOT vegetarians, eating chicken, lean pork or beef, but it's possible the portions have reduced . We leave out the butter, cream and cheese, and have cut way back on salt. No pasta, bread or rice, just the great stuff that goes on top of it.

I say "yes" to:

Canola, peanut and olive oil.

Fiber: fruits, vegetables, beans, oats, barley.

Fish at least three times a week.

A handful of walnuts or almonds daily.

I say "no" to:

Whole milk, cream, iced cream

Butter, egg yolks, cheese

Liver and Kidney

Sausage, baloney, salami, hot dogs, duck, goose

Fried foods

Coconut oil, palm oil, shortening, margarine, lard

Fast food

Pop

Substitutions:

There are a lot of products out there that claim to taste just like the foods we're avoiding -- they aren't. I don't see the point in substituting when I an just not eat something.

I do use Benecol spread because it has plant stanols, recommended to lower cholesterol levels, but it's expensive, and the whole point of giving up butter is to not crave the taste, so I don't throw it in everything.

Beer is really bad for you. I drink brandy, but can see how alcoholism is easier on the hard stuff. I do not make cream-filled brandy alexanders.

I'm not a fan of tofu, or soy beef substitutes, so I don't eat them.

I found a pasta substitute that tastes great. I take a large zucchini and use a vegetable peeler to thinly slice lengthwise into wide ribbons. Stop when you get to the seeds. Put in a colander, toss with some salt and drain in the sink about 30 minutes. Rinse well and pat dry. No, you don't need to cook it.

So if you want to avoid the Statin drug for cholesterol, develop a diet, exercise and supplement plan with your doctor. It's working for me.