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Your
Cholesterol Diet
| Unfortunately, the medical community is quick to prescribe another
expensive medication to lower cholesterol but they are far less
likely to suggest herbal or homeopathic measures.
Along with getting plenty of fiber there are foods that will help
in promoting the lowering of cholesterol as well as herbs that can
further reduce cholesterol.
Foods containing pectin are advantageous to lowering cholesterol
levels. Carrots, apples and the white layer inside of citrus rinds
are particularly beneficial.
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Avocado, which is very high in fat, has unexpectedly become a
cholesterol reducer. A study of women who were given a choice of a
high monounsaturated fats (olive oil) along with avocado diet or a
complex carbohydrate consisting of starches and sugars reported
interesting results. In six weeks, the former group on the olive oil
and avocado diet showed an 8.2 percent reduction in cholesterol.
Beans. Gotta love ‘em. They are high in fiber and low in
cholesterol. What more could you ask for! A cup and a half of beans,
or the amount in a bowl of soup, can lower total cholesterol levels
by as much as 19 percent!
Garlic. We discussed garlic earlier but it is well worth
repeating here. Use it liberally in your diet. Not only will it help
to lower your cholesterol it is also credited with lowering blood
pressure. Be sure you include generous amounts of garlic as well as
onions in your daily diet.
Cayenne pepper (Capsicum minimum) and other plants that contain the
phenolic compound capsaicin have a well demonstrated effect in
lowering blood cholesterol levels, as does the widely used spice
Fenugreek.
Caraway is another aromatic spice with demonstrable cholesterol
lowering properties.
A whole range of Asian herbal remedies new to western medicine
are proving to be valuable in this field.
Remember when the “low-fat” mantra began? We all jumped in with
both feet and some of us still live on low fat foods, like having a
baked potato but no butter or sour cream. Maybe you eat pasta,
veggies and fat free desserts. So how come you still gain weight?
Good question. Researchers from the National Center for Health
Statistics studied the eating habits of 8.260 adult Americans
between 1988 and 1991. They found that Americans have significantly
reduced their fat intake but still packed on extra pounds in recent
years.
In fact, a national health and nutrition survey of over 8,000
American adults concludes that one third of the population is
overweight.
The answer is very simple and right in front of us. So many of us
jumped on the low fat diet and assumed that if it’s low fat it can’t
make us fat. Right? Wrong. We were so involved with the low fat
concept that we forgot to count calories!
If you are eating more calories that your body needs, whether
from fat or carbohydrates, the body will store them as fat. Period.
According to an National Institutes of Health study, by 1990 the
average American was consuming hundreds more calories a day than he
was consuming 10 years before.
There are researchers who believe that eating small amounts of
fat can keep you from overindulging on total calories. Ohio State
University nutrition scientist John Allred points out that dietary
fat causes our bodies to produce a hormone that tells our intestines
to slow down the emptying process. We feel full and are less likely
to overeat.
Add a little bit of peanut butter to your piece of fruit and it
can help to keep you from a binge later.
Here is another trap to avoid. Reducing fat might not be as smart
as it sounds. Tufts University scientists recently put 11
middle-aged men and women volunteers on a variety of average reduced
and low fat diets.
The results were astounding. Very low fat diets which provided
only 15 percent of fat from calories did have a positive effect on
blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels. By the way, that diet is
so strict there is no way it could be duplicated in real life. But a
reduced fat diet, which is more realistic, only affected those
levels if accompanied by weight loss.
Not only that, they concluded that cutting fat without losing
weight actually increased triglyceride levels and decreased HDL!
So while excess fat is not healthy, it isn’t a dirty word either.
Without some fat in our diets, our bodies could not make nerve cells
and hormones or absorb fat soluble vitamins.
If obesity is one of your high cholesterol causes, try losing a
pound a week with a 500 calorie solution. No, we aren’t going to ask
you to only eat 500 calories a week!
What you can do is easily lose a pound a week just by cutting 500
calories a day out of your diet. You can easily burn 250 of them
just be spending about 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, like
bicycling, dancing or just walking. To get rid of the other 250 try
cutting out mayonnaise, doughnuts and alcohol.
If there were no other reason to take control of cholesterol,
here’s one that certainly has merit.
A recent study found that men with high cholesterol are twice as
likely to be impotent as men whose cholesterol levels are normal or
low.
Researchers recorded cholesterol levels of 3,250 healthy men between
the ages of 25 and 83. Men with total cholesterol higher than 240
milligrams/dl were twice as likely to have trouble achieving or
maintaining an erection than men who cholesterol levels were below
180 milligrams/dl.
Men who had low levels of HDL were also twice as likely to suffer
from impotence. The same high-fat diet that narrows arteries and
blocks blood flow to your heart also narrows the arteries that carry
blood to your penis. Blood has to be able to get to your penis in
order for you to have an erection. Take control now and you’ll find
yourself improving in this area of your life as well.
The typical American diet consists of fatty meats, processed cold
cuts, dairy products and fried foods. As if that weren’t enough,
throw in commercially baked breads, roles, cakes, chips and cookies.
This is a surefire path to high cholesterol.
Oddly, ingesting cholesterol will not raise the blood cholesterol
nearly as much as eating a type of fat called “saturated fat.” Like
cholesterol, saturated fat is primarily found in animal products
like cheese, butter, cream, whole milk, ice cream, lard and marbled
meats.
Don’t believe that if you just change to vegetable oil you can
eliminate the problem. Some vegetable oils are also high in
saturated fat. Palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil and cocoa
butter are also very high in saturated fat. Unfortunately, these are
also most often used in commercially baked goods, coffee creams and
nondairy whipped toppings, so make sure you read labels.
Here is a chart showing the comparisons of different oils.
Product Saturated Cholesterol Polyunsaturated Monounsaturated
Canola Oil 7% 0 mg 35% 58%
Safflower Oil 9% 0 mg 78% 12%
Sunflower Oil 11% 0 mg 42% 47%
Corn Oil 13% 0 mg 62% 25%
Olive Oil 14% 0 mg 12% 74%
Hydrogenated Sunflower Oil 14% 0 mg 40% 48%
Sesame Oil 15% 0 mg 44% 42%
Soybean Oil 15% 0 mg 60% 24%
Margarine, bottled 17% 0 mg 47% 36%
Margarine, tub 17% 0 mg 37% 46%
Peanut Oil 18% 0 mg 33% 49%
Margarine, stick 19% 0 mg 33% 47%
Cocoa Butter 62% 0 mg 3% 35%
Butter 66% 31 mg 4% 30%
Palm Kernel Oil 87% 0 mg 2% 11%
Coconut Oil 92% 0 mg 2% 6%
Although all of the oils listed above (except butter) contain no
measurement of dietary cholesterol, to lower your own cholesterol
level, you must use oils low in saturated fat. Canola oil (7%
saturated fat) is one of the best available cooking oils. Olive oil
(14% saturated fat) is also good to use.
One more rule that makes this chart just a bit misleading. Any
fat that is hard at room temperature, such as stick margarine, is
not good for your cholesterol. Margarine has been hydrogenated
(hardened) and that process adds trans fatty acids.
Trans fatty acids may be as bad for you as saturated fat, so
stick margarine is equal to butter as far as your cholesterol is
concerned. Diet and soft margarines are a better bet. Also look for
brands of margarine or shortening that top the ingredient list with
oils rich in monounsaturated fat, like canola oil.
Try substituting butter and margarine with a fruit puree. Prune
puree is one particularly popular alternative but try using
applesauce and apricots as substitutes.
What has the chefs who specialize in nutrition so excited about
using prune puree is the significant difference in fat grams as well
as calories. One cup of prune puree has 407 calories and one gram of
fat. One cup of butter has 1,600 calories and 182 grams of fat. One
cup of oil has 1,944 calories and 218 grams of fat. You can see now
why bakers are excited about prunes!
Prunes also contain large amounts of pectin which helps hold in
the air bubbles that make baked good rise. They also have large
amounts of sorbitol, a sugar alcohol, which helps keep baked goods
moist and gives them the flaky, tender taste of shortening or
butter.
The only drawback to using fruits like applesauce and apricots as
fat substitutes is that baked goods tend to become soggy and moldy
within a day or two so plan quantities accordingly. Also, when
baking with substitutes for fat, use cake flour instead of regular
all purpose flour. It will keep the baked good tender. Don’t over
bake your fat reduced recipes as they do tend to dry out quicker
than traditional recipes that call for butter or oil.
Here’s another healthy living tip for you. If you really have
trouble giving up your favorite high fat cheese, try this. Turn it
into a low fat version. Just zap it in the microwave for a minute or
two. Pull it out and drain off the oil. It will significantly reduce
the fat content of the cheese. This will work well for cheese
sandwiches, toppings and other recipes that call for your favorite
cheese.
Scientists have discovered that water mixed with fructose
suppresses the appetite better than glucose with water or even diet
drinks. Fructose is the kind of sugar found in fruits. Drink a glass
of fructose rich orange juice a half hour to an hour before a meal.
You will eat fewer calories during the next meal and still feel
comfortably full.
Don’t think that just because we are discussing “fat free” regimens
that you must cut beef completely out of your diet. Too much of this
“good thing” won’t do you any favors. However, you can have your
steak and eat it too, provided it’s a cut that is relatively low in
fat and cholesterol and you do not add fat in the cooking and
serving process.
When shopping for beef, select grade eye of the round is considered
by some to be just that. A 3 ½ ounce serving has approximately four
grams of fat, less than half of the amount in a 1 ounce serving of
cheddar cheese. It also contains 69 milligrams of cholesterol, among
5the lowest for meats, and it is a good soruce of zinc, iron and
other nutrients.
Tip round, bottom round and top sirloin are also relatively lean
and high in these nutrients.
Turkey breast and chicken breast are prizes as soon as you remove
the skin. Turkey has less than 1 gram of fat and 83 milligrams of
cholesterol. Chicken has 3.6 grams of fat and 85 milligrams of
cholesterol.
Pork tenderloin is the top choice for the “other white meat,”
while leg shank is the leanest choice among lamb cuts.
Cinnamon has blood-thinning properties that can help lower
cholesterol levels, says Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.Sc, director of
the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque,New Mexico. He suggests this
tea: Mix 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon of trikatu (a lend of
ginger and two kinds of peppers) directly into a cup of hot water,
then stir and steep for five minutes.
Add a teaspoon of honey once the tea has cooled. Dr. Lad says to
drink this beverage twice daily, once in the morning and once in the
evening. Trikatu is available from Ayurvedic practioners and in some
health food stores.
One way to heal many health problems is with a detoxification
diet that cleanses the body and re-establishes the nutritional
balance needed for optimum health, says Elson Haas, M.D., director
of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin in San Rafael, California,
and author of Staying Healthy With Nutrition. His diet should be
practiced for only three weeks. It is not nutritionally balanced
enough for longer periods. Do not undergo it if you are pregnant or
suffer from deficiency problems marked by fatigue, coldness or heart
weakness. Here is the detox diet.
Breakfast
Immediately upon arising, drink two glasses of water, one of them
containing the juice of half of a lemon. Also have one to two
servings of fresh fruit – apples, pears, bananas, grapes or citrus
fruits such as oranges or grapefruit.
About 15 to 30 minutes later, have one to two cups of cooked
oatmeal, brown rice millet, amaranth or untoasted buckwheat. For
flavoring, you can add two tablespoons of fruit juice or use the
Better Butter described below.
Better Butter Recipe
Stir ½ cup of canola oil (look for one labeled “cold-pressed”) into
a dish with ½ pound of butter, melted or at least softened, and
refrigerate. Use about one teaspoon per meal for flavoring and don’t
exceed three teaspoons per day.
Lunch
Have a big bowl (up to four cups) of steamed vegetables – potatoes,
yams, green beans, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, carrots, beets,
asparagus, cabbage or others. Use a variety, including stems, roots
and greens. Better Butter can also be used. Then refrigerate the
water from the vegetables for later use.
Within two hours, slowly drink one to two cups of the water from
the steamed vegetables, mixing each mouthful with saliva. You can
add a little sea salt or kelp for flavoring.
Dinner
Same as lunch, with a variety of vegetables.
Evening (After Dinner)
No food at all, but you can have non-caffeinated herbal teas such
as peppermint, chamomile or blends. No caffeinated beverages.
Throughout the day, feeling s of hunger should be satisfied by
drinking plenty of water and eating pieces of carrot or celery. If
you are feeling very fatigued or if hunger persists, then you may
add up to four ounces of protein, such as fish, organic chicken,
lentils or garbanzo, mung or black beans. Optimally this should be
eaten mid-afternoon, around 3:00 or 4:00.
Again, this is a detoxification diet only and is to cleanse the body
and re-establish nutritional balance needed for optimum health. Do
not practice the diet for more than three weeks and do not undergo
it if you are pregnant or suffer from deficiency problems.
In a restaurant, opt for steamed, grilled or broiled dishes
instead of those that are friend or sautéed.
Vary your veggies. Eat more dark green veggies, such as broccoli,
kale, and other dark leafy greens; orange veggies, such as carrots,
sweetpotatoes, pumpkin, and winter squash; and beans and peas, such
as pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, split
peas, and lentils.
Read the Nutrition Facts label on foods. Look for foods low in
saturated fats and trans fats. Choose and prepare foods and
beverages with little salt (sodium) and/or added sugars (caloric
sweeteners).
If you eat 100 more food calories a day than you burn, you’ll gain
about 1 pound in a month. That’s about 10 pounds in a year. The
bottom line is that to lose weight, it’s important to reduce
calories and increase physical activity.
Know the facts about what you are purchasing to eat. Read labels
carefully.
Most packaged foods have a Nutrition Facts label. For a healthier
you, use this tool to make smart food choices quickly and easily.
Try these tips:
•Keep these low: saturated fats,transfats, cholesterol, and
sodium.
• Get enough of these: potassium, fiber, vitamins A and C, calcium,
and iron.
• Use the % Daily Value (DV) column when possible: 5% DV or less is
low, 20% DV or more is high.
Look at the serving size and how many servings you are actually
consuming. If you double the servings you eat, you double the
calories and nutrients, including the % DVs.
Make your calories count. Look at the calories on the label and
compare them with what nutrients you are also getting to decide
whether the food is worth eating. When one serving of a single food
item has over 400 calories per serving, it is high in calories.
Don’t sugarcoat it. Since sugars contribute calories with few, if
any, nutrients, look for foods and beverages low in added sugars.
Read the ingredient list and make sure that added sugars are not one
of the first few ingredients. Some names for added sugars (caloric
sweeteners) include sucrose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, corn
syrup, maple syrup, and fructose.
Know your fats. Look for foods low in saturated fats,transfats,
and cholesterol to help reduce the risk of heart disease (5% DV or
less is low, 20% DV or more is high). Most of the fats you eat
should be polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Keep total fat
intake between 20% to 35% of calories.
Reduce sodium (salt), increase potassium.
Research shows that eating less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium
(about 1 tsp of salt) per day may reduce the risk of high blood
pressure. Most of the sodium people eat comes from processed foods,
not from the saltshaker. Also look for foods high in potassium,
which counteracts some of sodium’s effects on blood pressure.
Remember there is no substitute for your physician. Make certain
that you clear any new treatments with him before embarking on any
radical health changes you are anticipating.
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