how to lower cholesterol without a statin

the_anticarb said:

I need to come off my statin as I'm planning on becoming pregnant. How can I stop it bouncing back up to high? Do those benecol/ flora products do any good or are they all a bit of a con?

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Personally I think they are a con. I used to drink Benecol and my cholesterol at diagnosis was high. I now eat low carb high fat, making sure it's only ever good fats and my cholesterol is better than ever, now normal. It's all personal choice, I refuse to take Statins, the Atorvastatin made my hair fall out big time. No Statins here, thank you.

Good luck, please let us know how you get on.

the_anticarb said:

I need to come off my statin as I'm planning on becoming pregnant. How can I stop it bouncing back up to high? Do those benecol/ flora products do any good or are they all a bit of a con?

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Eat a low-carb diet.

In the words of Dr Richard Feinman:
"Dietary carbohydrate restriction is the single most effective method (except for total starvation) of reducing triglycerides, and is as effective as any intervention, including most drugs, at increasing HDL and reducing the number of small-dense LDL particles. Beyond lipid markers, carbohydrate restriction improves all of the features of metabolic syndrome."

Benecol and Flora products are absolutely a con:
http://www.drbriffa.com/2011/07/28/more ... vertorial/

I wouldn't worry about stopping statins (with your Doctor's approval). No-one has ever demonstrated that taking stating reduces mortality in women by even one day. I'm not a Doctor, but I don't understand why anyone would prescribe statins to a woman (except maybe as a last resort).

the_anticarb said:

I need to come off my statin as I'm planning on becoming pregnant. How can I stop it bouncing back up to high? Do those benecol/ flora products do any good or are they all a bit of a con?

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These products are not BASED on a con at all. There is a plethora of evidence to show sterols and stanols reduce LDL cholesterol. They occur naturally in small amounts in many grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds and have powerful cholesterol-lowering properties.
What could be described as a con is the price of the products they are added to.
For example:
Benecol Strawberry Yogurt Drink 93p per 100g
compared to
Sainsburys own lable cholesterol lowering drink 38p per 100g

There are of course other products (usually branded) that contain sterols/stanols e.g magarine but I quote the above from Sainsbury's web site just as an example of how much more you will pay for the branded variety.

2 or 3 years ago I tested my cholesterol before and after taking a cholesterol lowering margarine (I was abroad and it was an Australian product just for the record). It reduced my LDL to the point where it was uneccessary to continue taking Simvastatin. I now take a daily cholesterol reducing supermarket brand yogurt drink. Unfortunately it is not sugar free but the benefits in my opinion outweigh that.
Obviously its your choice but in your condition I wouldnt have any doubt what I would do. Consult your Dr first however.

the_anticarb said:

I need to come off my statin as I'm planning on becoming pregnant. How can I stop it bouncing back up to high? Do those benecol/ flora products do any good or are they all a bit of a con?

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I've been T2 12 years & involved in a screening project for 20 years.
20 years ago total chol was 6.4 - & Dr wasn't concerned.
At diagnosis, total chol was 7.6 - concern but see what the DUK/NHS achieves, dietitian advised that Benecol/Flora was effective (they claim 15% reduction) but expensive. I get through about 500 g each month.
After a few months total chol was 5.4 & it's remained 5-5.5 ever since.
6 years on I was given simvastatin & it dropped to 4 but muscle pains developed & I had to stop.
Low carb - for the last 4 years - still with Flora has kept it at 5-5.5.
I've no doubt that benecol/ flora products are effective. In my case a consistent reduction of about 30%.
Hope that helps.

Benecol and flora are not a can and will help to naturally lower cholesterol. Red Grapefruit is another food that has been proven to help too half a red grapefruit for breakfast or as part of a breakfast will help to lower cholesterol too.

Grapefruit is low carb as well, half a grapefruit is around 4g of carbs :thumbup:

Grapefruit should not be eaten if you are taking a statin, so one or the other only should be used

Can I have your grapefruit the Sid, my fitness pal says they have 10 grams of carb in half a one.

dawnmc said:

Can I have your grapefruit the Sid, my fitness pal says they have 10 grams of carb in half a one.

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Is it an American site? If so, you need to subtract fibre from the carb count to get the real carb value (as we record it in the UK).

the_anticarb, these opportunist cynical products rely on the absolute myth that cholesterol is BAD.

The same can now be said of the evil, vile ,DEVIL drug, the STATINS !

"$29 billion reasons to lie about cholesterol ", a book, and DVD, yet to be aired on the Beeb, by Justin Smith.

STATIN/ CHOLESTEROL = reason to fleece the poor idiots that actually believe the so-called medical professionals that are in the pockets of the greedy pharmaceutical B******ds

After the age of 50 a high cholesterol level gives you a LONGER life ! FACT !

So get real, eat more fat !

Superchip

Superchip said:

After the age of 50 a high cholesterol level gives you a LONGER life ! FACT !

So get real, eat more fat !

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Not disagreeing with either or these two statements individually, but wanted to point out that eating more fat probably won't give you higher cholesterol (unless you eat lots of carbs with it).

According to Dr Thomas Dayspring, lipid specialist, phyto sterols can also be atherogenic. Anyone interested in the whole lipid story might find this podcast interesting:

http://www.askthelowcarbexperts.com/201 ... ters-most/

He considers selling phyto sterols as a way of lowering cholesterol as criminal.

The discussion of this is around 1hr 2mins into the podcast.

And that's not even covering whether the plant sterol/stanol "margarines/spreads" contain trans fats.

[Technical question: why does it give me the option to use URL code, then when I submit it, tell me that I cannot use the URL code. It shows as OFF, but in my profile it shows as [url] as ON. Very annoying.]

Phytosterols aren't the only option for managing/reducing LDL cholesterol when considering coming off statins. And not all the other options require you to eat expensive "functional" foods with added sugar, fat or salt.

Eating a healthy diet for managing cholesterol will also be a healthy diet for pregnancy/conception (and the best of luck on this front).

Surely it's more helpful to focus on the good options rather then the bad.

Portfolio diet has been shown to achieve some reduction. (25% apparently)

• plant stanols/sterols ie from Benecol type products or from those naturally in things like squash, veg oils and grains
  almonds
  soluble fibre (beans, oats etc)
  soy protein

http://heartuk.org.uk/images/uploads/he ... _portD.pdf

Since the GP said to drop the statin near enough 3 months ago as my "Atkins style diet is very unlikely to harm my levels for a test period" I've been taking Phytosterols as a replacement. They will get tested quite soon as I need to get another quarterly set of tests done.