Things to START doing –
or increase:
q
Take regular moderate exercise (walking, swimming)
q
Substitute hard fats with yoghurt (this makes a good spread
for sandwiches in place of butter or margarine!) 0% fat cottage cheese,
occasional slice of Brie or wedge of Camembert cheese, and use olive oil
for cooking. Be careful with soft margarines: the ones bought in a health
food shop that don’t contain “trans-fatty acids” are best.
q
Eat fish two or three times a week, especially oily fish.
o
Tinned sardines, mackerel, pilchards, tuna and salmon are
fine – but not if they
are in vegetable oil (it leeches away the good fish oils). Okay in tomato
sauce, but it is probably best to avoid fish in brine.
o
Although salt
isn’t specifically an issue with cholesterol it is with high blood
pressure, and obviously one wants to keep away from any more problems
developing with the circulatory system. For the same reason, keep smoked
fish to a minimum.
q
Eat loads of green leafy
vegetables (e.g. cabbage, broccoli, sprouts, kale) and other vegetables every
day: e.g. potatoes, tomatoes, including tinned, celery, sweet potatoes,
peppers, especially red peppers, all root vegetables, all salad vegetables
– in fact, go mad in the green grocers!
q
Onions, garlic,
leeks, spring onions, shallots are all especially helpful.
o
But note: when using garlic, peel, cut it up or crush it and leave
it for 20 minutes before putting into the cooking. It develops something
that is helpful for cholesterol management during the contact with the
air. (Ask Maggi for quick and simple recipe ideas for all vegetables if
you want to.)
q
It is a good
nutritional idea to use a teaspoonful of extra virgin (that means
non-refined) Olive Oil to dress salads (e.g. whisk it with a little lemon
juice and a pinch of salt, pepper and mustard) and to coat vegetables for
roasting. (See the note to ask Maggi for recipe ideas!)
q
Eat loads of fruit every
day – especially apples and oranges.
q
Eat porridge oats
often – it has been shown to clear cholesterol from the system, not just
reduce what is being made.
q
Eat beans (if your
digestion can cope? Baked beans in tomato sauce on wholemeal toast is
fine.) All dietary fibre (also known as “roughage”) helps to reduce
the build up of cholesterol.
q
Take the following
nutritional supplements:
o
Vitamin C (300mg
– 1 g per day, say Drs Davies and Stewart. See note at the end of this
information sheet.)
o
Vitamin E (400 –
800 International Units per day. Davies and Stewart.)
o
Grapeseed extract.
o
All of the above
are contained in Revenol.
o
Vitamin B3
(contained, with other B vitamins, in Maximol)
o
Chromium (as
trivalent chromic chloride solution) may be helpful for older people. Drs
Davies and Stewart recommend 200 mcg daily, which is more than is in a
daily dose of Maximol. Trivalent chromic chloride solution may only be
obtainable on prescription, although it has very low toxicity apparently.
You might want to ask your pharmacist or health food shop, or you could
try taking Maximol twice a day, rather than just in the morning, as this
would increase the B3 and the Chromium in a safe fashion.
o
Fish oil (essential
fatty acids, Omega 3) may be useful if you don’t like eating lots of
fish. (Good quality supplements of this will cost about £15 - £30 per
month – be warned! It is something that I myself am debating whether I
should make myself afford for my own health.)
q
If you are
over-weight, see if you can reduce your weight. (Following the above
dietary advice will probably have that effect in any case.)
q
One last note:
chocolate contains anti-oxidants, so it less bad for you than some
of the other “no-no”s. We all need to have treats, so go for chocolate
with a high percentage of Chocolate Solids (ideally 70%). Dark chocolate
will have more chocolate solids than milk and correspondingly less sugar
and fat. A make called Green and Black is available is Health Food and
Wholefood shops and is delicious! Sometimes Sainsbury’s has Cooking Chocolate drops made by the
Chocolate Society… chocolate to die for, not die of!
Lots of love and Good Health!
Maggi xxxxxx
