Following some mildly alarming observations on 'fat deposits' in my eye-balls from my optician, I requested a full blood test from my GP which unexpectedly (to me anyway) revealed I had tripped over the Cholesterol trigger-point for the recommendation of statins.
My first reaction was, ‘But that’s the beginning of the end!’ Meaning, ‘I’m too young for this medication! Too healthy! Not me, not yet!’
The second was to ask about possible side-effects. The response was not encouraging even though, he said, ‘most people take them without any problems’.
The third was to ask if there was anything I could try first, like could it be brought down by diet changes, for instance?
The answer was, ‘possibly’, and I negotiated six months to go away and try to reduce my level back to under the demarcation bar of ‘high enough risk to warrant the regular taking of statins.’
Time to do some research!
So what is correlated with higher levels of cholesterol?
The ‘risk’ factors for developing high cholesterol seem fairly clear.
- Being overweight. Okay, guilty, and particularly so the last few months.
- Too much fat around your middle. Yep, ever since the menopause that’s been where the fat accumulates.
- Eating processed foods. Like most of us my awareness of the 'badness' of processed and ultra-processed foods has grown in the past few years. Even so, I hadn’t realised a digestive biscuit would classify as processed. Or things I think of as ‘good foods’ like quiche or meat pie! Essentially any ready-made food, anything but raw ingredients, seems to be a problem. So yes, I ate processed food, probably more than I realised.
- Not enough exercise. This I don’t think is part of my issue. I actually quite like exercise and I’ve got a bit more time for it now. So generally I go horse-riding and play either tennis or badminton each week. Over the summer I’ve also been swimming once or twice a week. I used to regularly do Pilates and Yoga although that’s dropped off a bit and I am just starting Tai Chi instead. I often go out for a walk. I am also doing the press-ups and squats every day as well as some physio exercises. So I feel I’m doing quite a lot. Although it is also true that I sit working at a computer, or reading, or watching TV a lot too!
- Smoking. No, although I am an ex.
- It can also be affected by genetics and age. Not much I can do about that!
What can I do to reduce my cholesterol levels to avoid having to take statins?
The obvious area to explore was diet. What I found out is fascinating.
Did you know, there are foods you positively SHOULD eat, to reduce your cholesterol levels? Did you know that the jury is out on how much cholesterol IN food (like diary and meat) actually affects your cholesterol levels? No me neither. Here’s what I have discovered and how I’ve tried to put it into practice.
- Eating sufficient fibre daily (20+ grams) can reduce cholesterol levels by 12% over three months.
- If 9 grams of your fibre comes from oats, you get an additional benefit as oats contain beta-glucan and ingesting 3 grams of beta-glucan can further reduce your cholesterol levels by 2-8%
- About 30 grams of nuts (plain, unadorned!) seem to offer a protective effect by boosting the ratio of ‘good’ to ‘bad’ cholesterol
- 30 grams of Soya daily can reduce cholesterol by 1%
- Two tablespoons daily of Olive oil or Rapeseed oil offer protective effects by boosting the ratio of ‘good’ to ‘bad’ cholesterol
- 2 grams a day of sterols or stanols (no me neither) may produce a 15% reduction in cholesterol levels after three months.
These are known as the six miracle foods and I got this information from Ian Marber and Dr Laura Corr’s book ‘Eat your way to lower cholesterol’ Highly recommended.
Anyone who has ever been on a normal 'reducing' diet will instantly recognize that oats, nuts and olive oils are usually on the ‘prohibited’ list, not the ‘must eat’ list. I found the idea of a diet consisting of foods I MUST eat very compelling. The challenge has been how to eat all this every day!
My Positive Eating Plan
It’s taken me a couple of weeks to get the hang of what meals look like trying to fulfil these requirements, especially within the constraints of normal life that doesn't include time for fancy lunch preparation, and the fact that my partner is the evening cook.
To help I bought not only Marber and Corr’s book but also Brenda Chun, RD’s book ‘The 5-ingredient low-cholesterol cookbook’ (it does what it says on the tin). Also recommended.
Here's my quick and easy solution to how to eat the right amount of everything every day.
Getting my oats.
Oats is easy. Porridge or cold oats with lashings of fruit (fibre!) and soya milk (soya!) in the mornings. For a weekend treat there are lots of other recipes in these books. I particularly like banana pancakes. Which I eat with fruit (fig this weekend) and maple syrup (I looked it up, it’s good for cholesterol – who knew?)
If I don’t eat oats for breakfast then I need to eat three oatcakes during the day, either as snacks or as a base for lunch
Filling up on fibre
I eat fruit in the morning. Then at lunch I’m getting the hang of thinking lentils, chickpeas etc. Can also use wholemeal bread, with oily fish or tins of sweetcorn.
I also usually get fibre in the evening meal with potato or wholewheat pasta and as much green veg as I can persuade my husband to cook.
Over the winter I usually make a lot of soup at the weekends to freeze and have at lunch time during the week. The main change I seem to need to make is to use ‘low salt or sodium’ veg. stock. I can also look particularly for bean based soups. An additional recommendation is to substitute butter beans for potato. Better apparently. Then I will eat the soup with a wholewheat roll and proactive.
Getting daily sterols
This is easy, this is a Benecol ‘shot’ every day after the last meal. We have also switched to Pro-Activ spread, away from butter.
Essential Oils
Easy. I just use rapeseed oil (olive oil being outrageously expensive at present) for anything I prepare while my husband still uses olive oil. I’m sure I get the recommended dose every day. But if I was worried I might put it on bread instead of the Pro-Activ.
Going Nuts
I love nuts. Eating a handful a day is no hardship. Mid-afternoon snack if I haven’t incorporated them in cooking.
Soya
This has proved the hardest to incorporate. I’ve switched to soya milk but probably don’t use enough each day to reach the required level, therefore I have investigated tofu (which required the investment in yet another cook book ‘The Complete 2024 Tofu Cookbook for Beginners’ by Vakare Rimkute). My main challenge is that my husband won’t touch it so if I buy any I have to eat it for days! I am just freezing some leftover from a recipe for the first time.
The easiest way to incorporate it seems to be by eating edamame beans (available from our local Sainsbury’s) a couple of times a week.
Other foods
I’m still eating meat as my husband is a confirmed meat eater, but only chicken and without the skin.
Eggs are interesting. I like eggs. Most research, apparently, suggests a few eggs a week is okay, unless you are a ‘super-responder’. I was going to give them up but they are in quite a few of the recommended cookbook recipes so for now I’m eating them.
Anything I’m not sure about I just google. There is a lot of information out there.
Why I feel this counts as positive eating
I think this counts as positive eating because it is absolutely what you positively should eat to help your health, particularly in terms of cholesterol. It's about eating to move towards something - good health, rather than away from something - being overweight. I think this makes a world of difference. In addition, I think am finding it a positive experience as...
- I can ‘stick’ to it just by using rules of thumb
- Take a benecol shot every day
- Eat a bowl (or equivalent) of oats everyday
- Eat much fruit and veg every day – include beans regularly
- Eat a handful of nuts every day
- Eat Tofu or Edamame beans (or edamame humus)
- Cook or drizzle stuff in olive or rapeseed oil
- I can make sweet things and more adventurous meals at the weekends. For example, I have made no-cook chocolate brownies (the recipe uses dates as the sweetener), the aforementioned banana pancakes and oat beetroot muffins (surprisingly nice, my husband ate them!) – and there are loads of other such recipes
- It doesn’t feel like the usual diet of deprivation, in fact it can be a challenge to fit all the daily recommendation in!
- My husband is being very accommodating while continuing to maintain his own preferred diet. I fend for myself breakfast and lunch and he cooks an evening meal I am happy to eat.
- I like this diet. I like fruit, vegetables, nuts, beans, wholemeal foods. So that helps!
- It feels (although the proof of the pudding will be in blood cholesterol levels in a few months time) doable and like I can maintain it without too much effort.
A few other notes
A word about statins.
My initial reaction at the recommendation was, as I say, dismay. However, I have since discovered I know a number of people who have been on statins with no problems for years. Also, I saw a newspaper article arguing that their protective health benefits were so great that all over 70s should be prescribed them as a matter of course.
Both of these things have encouraged me to accept the recommendation to start taking them should my diet efforts not produce the desired results in terms of lowering my cholesterol readings.
A word about losing weight.
When I realised what this diet proposed I should eat every day, I did start to worry that I would put on weight. So, I decided that at the same time I would adopt time-restricted eating. This is the idea that, essentially, you do all your daily eating within either 8 or 10 hours and don’t eat outside those times.
For me this means having breakfast after 8.00 a.m. and supper around 6 p.m. (which is our normal time). It means cutting out any evening snacks and that early morning digestive (how did I ever allow that habit to creep in!).
This seems to be working in that I am losing rather than gaining weight (no figures for this as the idea of getting on scales makes me very anxious and I haven’t weighed myself for decades).
Can I keep it up for six months?
I am hopeful I can. And that I will see benefits. Winter is always a challenge as I crave carbohydrates in the winter months and usually put on weight over winter and spring. We’ll see.
But so far, I feel very good for it. My digestive system has adjusted. And I am finding I can tolerate the ‘fasting’ period, fuelled by feelings of .... self-righteousness? Accomplishment? I’m not sure but they are good feelings.
Positive Exercise Update
Still doing the press-ups and squats each morning. Have found it a very easy habit to form because I feel a small but noticeable immediate benefit. Am up to 9 ‘off the floor’ push-ups. Quite pleased with that.
