Cholesterol Dilemma

A patient recently came to me before the CNY complaining that her cholesterol levels remains, high, if not even higher before she was prescribed a statin to aid in her cholesterol lowering plans. Her last visit to us was approximately 4 months back when her total cholesterol was at 6.7 with the breakdown of HDL at 0.9 and LDL at a staggering 4.5. The subsequent visit saw her cholesterol levels soaring to a greater height at 7.8 with her HDL level trough to an all time low of 0.6 and her LDL kept going up to 5.3. That mustn't have sounded good but she was adamant to reinforce the fact that she had kept her word when she claimed that she followed exactly what the doctor ordered her to do 4 months back during her last visit to the clinic.

She said she had gone through a massive change eluding red meat and opted more of vegetables and fruits. In fact, she has taken so much greens that she claimed that she has become green herself. Much of a joke in a far busy clinic, I wasn't taken aback. I had for the past few years checked my own cholesterol levels countless times with experimental foods and I know significant methods to increase one's HDL, LDL and as well as lowering them. I stood by my learning curve rather than the recommended text and I know when I am about to give her a piece of an earful, she may not sound happy. So I warned her first that what is to come ain't pretty. I gauge a bit on what she ate and then calmly asked her one spot on question which left her face hung down in shame.

"May I know mam, how do you cook and prepare your vegetables?"

That was enough to send her a shockwave stronger than a tsunami. Well, of course she fried her food, each and every meal in every single day. I then listed down the foods out of my brain without a stoppage. It's so rapid that a bullet train could have swerved past her brain a few hundred times before she gets knocked back to consciousness on what conversation we just had. She is a pleasant middle aged Chinese lady and to utter such foods against her will especially when CNY is around the corner ain't pretty. But I am happy that she took it well. Not many can, some would still go back on their cheat foods, and then realize that it's worth a shot to eat all they can and then double their doses of statins or start dieting a few weeks before their blood taking. That usually won't work. Cholesterol is a cumulative blood level and what you did previously takes into account. Once you lower your HDL level to a par low level (and it is difficult to push them up no matter how hard you exercise or how great your diet is within a few weeks or months), you are bound to deserve a higher LDL or a TG even.

So I am going to share with you the lists of food that I memorize down and utter every single time when a patient asks me what can I eat to reduce my cholesterol. I rather, mention to them, what you cannot eat and not what you can eat. Statins (cholesterol lowering drugs) only helps you to reduce 30% of your cholesterol levels and it's function is stopping the internal (natural) mechanism of cholesterol synthesis and not the external consumption that you take from your food. That is why you take these medications at night when there is no food consumption. That is the time when your body takes a break from all those eating and starts making essential cholesterol to build your muscles, cells and tissues.

I often break down the food to these, and so I tell the aunty in question,

Aunty, from now on, if you want to see a perfect cholesterol level and save you some long term illness, you should stop eating:-

Kaya, kuih, curry, butter, margarine, santan, egg yolks, cream, cakes, cookies and crackers, puddings, ice cream, sauce, junk foods, sausages, chips, nuggets, fast foods outlets, instant foods, beef, lamb, pork, shellfish, clams, crabs, squids, prawns, lobsters, animal fat, skin and bone marrow.

Go for low salt, low sugar and low fat diet.

Opt for high fiber foods - these are things like grains, oats, barley, lentils, beans, peas and wheat. There are so many sorts of beans out there that you can choose from provided that you don't have gout, and if you do, then opt for others. All sorts of vegetables are good. All fruits are good, but don't go for durians, cikus, rambutans and mangosteens which are high in sugar content. Take green apple and oranges or even dragonfruits, bananas once in a while as well as kiwis which possesses high amount of vitamin C. Watermelon cuts it too and so does grapefruits.

And when you cook, forgo fried, deep fried and anything that has to do with oil, but in fact go for steam, boiled, grilled and roasted. Go home (like what my cardiologist would say) and throw away all the buckets of oil stored up in your house. Save money and buy more expensive deep sea fishes (mackerel, trout, herring, tuna, salmon and pomfret) greens, fruits, high fiber diets and use only water to boil your food. Eat them like this if you want a good diet and a diet which will enrich your body.

Eat at home more than you eat outside.

Take antioxidants! Drink green tea, pu-erh tea, red wine once or twice a day, grapefruits, red and yellow peppers, broccoli, bitter dark chocolate (1-2 squares a day) and many more others which you can read off the net.

Snack in between if you must, opt for good nuts in a handful per day. Almonds and cashew nuts are ranked number one and two respectively in their good fats and good nature in increasing HDL. Make oat bars and keep in your fridge and eat them when needed. Blend celery juice (low caloric content) and eat them if you must.

Don't trust in any pills that have more side effects than keeping you slim all the time. There is no short cut in trimming your waist and lowering your cholesterol levels. My seven tips of lowering cholesterol and pushing up your HDLs are incorporated all above.

1) Lose weight, slimmer and slender body habitus

2) Exercise - do cardio exercises, the ones that push up your heart rate to between 75%-80% of your suggested heart rate and maintain for 30 minutes a day, do daily

3) Nuts (as above)

4) Dark bitter chocolate

5) Red wine

6) Chinese tea, green tea

7) Orange - keep them cut and not blended

Often, this consultation would take up to an hour if I really want to go lengthy, but I reserve such conversation with patients who are resistant towards the best cholesterol medications and are yet to improve on their diet. Patients who suffer from heart failure complicated by coronary artery disease who are still taking red meat and consuming large amount of fried foods. These negates the benefit that any medication could do for you. Sometimes, it is wise to start young, start early and maintain the pace up till you reach middle age and further. This would make it into a habit, and by training your palate to taste bland, but good and healthy nutritious food, you can actually do better and stay fit and ahead than others.

Remember, there is no reason that you should give when it comes to caring for your own physical body. God has given unto you a beautiful body with remarkable wonders. Take good care of it and be a blessing to others. God bless!