AVOIDING TOO MUCH FAT AND CHOLESTEROL-JoAnne

[Guest guest]

Hi JoAnne,

 

Thank you very much for your detailed reply. I read it with a great

deal of interest, especially in light of the fact that my mother was

diagnosed as a " borderline " high cholesterol risk about 15 yrs ago.

The question I always ask her is how are we to judge if " borderline

high " is really " borderline high " and not " Normal " for some people?

My mother's health is exellent with the exception of the " borderline "

cholesterol. And coming from a German background, she believes firmly

in fresh fruits/veggies every day, walking every day year-round to

keep healthy, opening windows in the house (even in the winter), and

sleeping at least 8 hours a night. She never fried foods when I was

growing up but her weakness was always nuts. She loves nuts. Nuts in

her cereal in the morning, nuts for a snack later in the day, etc.

She cut back on that and her cholesterol fell by about 30 pts. in 1

month. My advice to her? Don't worry about the cholesterol, continue

to eat all those fresh fruits in the morning with her cereal, and

continue to stay active.

 

My husband is a deer hunter (no slams please; he isn't normally too

successful and this is the first year he has gotten one in 7 yrs) and

I find that my digestional issues (allergies/asthma) are not nearly

as affected by this venison than by conventional beef or chicken. I

realize that the deer tend to eat conventionally grown crops (to the

farmers' dismay!), but wild deer have no artificial hormones in the

meat. The animals are active throughout their lives rather than being

sedentary. I have to believe that this makes a much more

nutritionally complete meat and much better for you as it is a " free-

range " type of animal.

 

All the best,

Kristin

[Guest guest]

, " Kristin "

<industrial_girl_2000> wrote:

> Hi JoAnne,

> Thank you very much for your detailed reply. I read it with a

great deal of interest, especially in light of the fact that my

mother was diagnosed as a " borderline " high cholesterol risk about

15 yrs ago.

> All the best, Kristin

 

" Kristin " <industrial_girl_2000

Tue Jan 27, 2004 9:37 am

Re: AVOIDING TOO MUCH FAT AND CHOLESTEROL-JoAnne

 

 

Hi Kristin,

You are quite welcome Kristin. Cholesterol is a hot topic and so

grossly misunderstood. I can understand your concern. I would be

interested in knowing her **HDL** readings. Apparently If theres a

danger at all with cholesterol its typically when HDL readings are

ultra-low and not just necessarily overall cholesterol levels.

If her HDL (good ch) is high then in my opinion her risks

are very minimal.

 

Cholesterol from nuts? Thats a new one on me. <LOL

Perhaps peanuts may lead to high cholesterol, however in my humble

opinion most other nuts are fine.

I would really have my doubts that any type of nuts would elevate

cholesterol levels that much. If they elevated cholesterol, I would

have had a real problem after my illness because I really went

overboard on them.

They are typically high in good fats (essential fatty acids).

It might be better if she switched over to macademia nuts or almonds

and used extra virgin olive oil in cooking. These things provide

more monounsaturated fats. Jean Carper says monounsaturates are more

beneficial for elevating *good* cholesterol.

 

The only nuts that I can think of that would be harmful

is " Planters " Nuts which typically have soybean and cottonseed oil

in them, Now I believe those oils DO pose a threat to our arteries.

 

Cottonseed and soybean oils are some of the most caustic refined

oils around!! They are also omega-6s, and we typically get FAR too

many omega-6s from our diets anyway! AND to top it all off, these

types of oils are always genetically engineered!!

 

The best way to purchase nuts, if we're unable to obtain raw

organic nuts, is to buy them in the bulk foods department of your

local grocery.

Typically these nuts do not contain any of these extra oils and are

much healthier than the other pre-packaged ones.

 

On another note, if shes eating quite a few salads and fresh

greens, make sure that her salad dressings are organic. Any others

are usually high in hydrogenated (plastic) fats. Commerical Mayo was

my downfall! Even their lowfat or no fat mayo elevates bad

cholesterol. It is impossible to trust the grocery manufacturers

anymore. They're placing plastic fats in everything. We would do

well to get rid of them and get our diets sorted out. Than our

cholesterol readings will reflect our good diet.

Oh, I know. Free range is MUCH easier to digest. I changed over

several years ago and have never been sorry. I believe itsespecially

important to obtain *organic* meat and eggs if nothing else.

Blessings, JoAnn

[Guest guest]

Hi JoAnne,

 

Actually her HDL levels were very high so the doctor told her that he

really wasn't worried about her LDL. Nuts, yes, my mom buys the

conventional ones and they are already roasted. There is something to

be said about " raw " nuts vs. the cooked ones....

 

After the high cholesterol reading so long ago (it was around 272),

she cut out all fats (including any butter, cheese, eggs, mayo, and

switched to olive oil for cooking. Plus, she cut out the chocolate,

which she had a tendency to eat a little bit every day. Her

cholesterol fell to around 200-220 and that is where it has been ever

since. Keep in mind that when she was diagnosed with the elevated

cholesterol, I was still only in high school and none of us knew

anything about organic foods or nutritional therapies. It took me 10

yrs to get wise to all of this and now I share as much as I can with

my mother. I got her to cut down on a lot of the overly processed

sugars (which she used to eat about 5 hard candies a day in addition

to a few other little various items) and she dropped 1 pant size due

to reduced problems with her belly being bloated. It's amazing that

some of that " fat " that we think is on our bodies is actually " bloat "

from certain things, like refined sugars.

 

All the best,

Kristin

>

> " Kristin " <industrial_girl_2000>

> Tue Jan 27, 2004 9:37 am

> Re: AVOIDING TOO MUCH FAT AND CHOLESTEROL-JoAnne

>

> Hi Kristin,

> You are quite welcome Kristin. Cholesterol is a hot topic and so

> grossly misunderstood. I can understand your concern. I would be

> interested in knowing her **HDL** readings. Apparently If theres a

> danger at all with cholesterol its typically when HDL readings are

> ultra-low and not just necessarily overall cholesterol levels.

> If her HDL (good ch) is high then in my opinion her risks

> are very minimal.

> I would really have my doubts that any type of nuts would elevate

> cholesterol levels that much.

 

> Blessings, JoAnn