Down South Sisters- Gift and Thrift

Since they send me home from the hospital with a Statin prescription, I decided to educate myself… They sent me home with Lipitor which does have a high rate of side effects but is also one of the most effective. They gave me the highest dose of 80MG but based on this info it looks like I could safely take the lowest dosage and not only will this save me money but will lessen the side effects so I will be discussing this with my doctor.

All this information is valuable for discussions with your cardiologist or primary care physician….

Statins Chart

ok… it was too late for me to do this cholesterol control thing… I just got out of the hospital with a brand new piece of foreign object (Stent) in my heart.

I should have listened 10 years ago when I was cautioned about my high cholesterol… started to exercise, corrected my diet, added supplements. But I didn’t and here I am.

So start now, right now, TODAY…

Also… I should have listened to my symptoms long ago… aching in my arm (like a toothache), discomfort in the center of my chest, constant belching, fatique.. it was all there.. I just didn’t listen.

Hopefully, I can start now to prevent anymore blockages but for all of you out there who aren’t there yet… PLEASE listen to your doctor and start to make corrections NOW and if you do have symptoms don’t wait.

AND YES.. I am now on a Statin.. not what I wanted but it may have helped if I had started taking them earlier. IF YOU ARE NOT going to correct with diet then Statins may save your life.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it is reality.

Unless we change our ways early… we will deal with the consequences later.

I am rock solid undeniable proof… if you need it.

Still hanging in there.

Doing well with the supplements.

Diet is up and down.. good for a few days then not so good.

Still working on it… keepin’ on keepin’ on

I am going to try and add Oat Bran… seems like the research on this is pretty good so eat your oatmeal or your cheerios!!!

I am going to try real hard this next couple of weeks to add some physical activity.. this one is hard for me.

Ok have decided rather than bore you with daily journal entries… I will report only when I have some new development or news or information that I have found.

I have narrowed my actions down to the following so that it is very manageable and easy to do and also something I won’t give up on.

I am doing Omega 3 supplements daily, trying to eat more foods with Omega 3’s… especially fish and walnuts.

I am taking a baby aspirin daily.

I am drinking green tea daily.

I am limiting fatty foods and attempting to almost eliminate saturated fat.

I am watching my sugar intake and trying to limit also.

I will begin this week to look at possible avenues for stress relief such as meditation or yoga classes… deep breathing.

Will update you soon.

I am on a roll now…

Have been very good for several days!!!

I had Salmon for dinner last night.. boy do I love that stuff and so easy to cook..

just coat a pan with olive oil and add salt and pepper.. bake about 15 minutes and enjoy.

We get the Alaskan Salmon… it is higher in omegas is my understanding and the water is cleaner and purer….

I would eat it every single day if I could afford it….

My tummy feels so much better too… a side effect of my cleaner eating… and a good one.

A study by researcher and professor Carolyn M. Aldwin PHD… showed that lack of stress was not as important as coping well with stress when it came to cholesterol levels. It seems that the inability to cope with stress combined with “hostility” is the culprit when it comes to cholesterol levels and stress.

Meditation or biofeedback to handle stress better would be a worthwhile pursuit in our overall drive to lower cholesterol in adults.

A study at Lousiana University showed that added rice bran oil (found in brown rice obviously) to a diet that already had fiber of 13-22 grams per day… in other words double your fiber intake with half being from Brown Rice.

The benefits were a reduction of LDL (bad) cholesterol by 7%

Yesterday was a great day!!

Did everything right…

Now if I can just string a few of those everything right days together… ha

Giant Eagle Fat Free Milk

Bayer Heart Health Advantage

Benecol Spread and Light Spread

Centrum Cardio

Lifetime low fat block cheese and cheese slices

Minute Maid Heart Wise Orange Juice

Orowheat Wholegrain and Oat Bread

Smart Balance light and regular buttery spread

Promise Activ Spreads

Rice Dream Heartwise milk (regular and vanilla)

Vitamuffin and Vitabrownies chocolate and pomegranate

Proven ways to lower your cholesterol naturally:

Found this list and modified it a little… these are basically the same things we have been talking about except the Niacin is something to specifically lower your bad cholesterol… I am trying to add that… and I need to get more info on Stanols and Psyllium… will update with that later…

• Lose 5% of your weight if you are over your ideal and I AM
• Consume less food.. simple huh
• Get more physical
• Quit smoking— yeah I don’t do this!!!!
• Limit saturated Fat, overall fat and increase your fiber
• Increase Soluble Fiber
• Stanols 4g per day ideal (not sure what these are will find out)
• Sterols 6g (we already talked about this)
• Psyllium 5g (hmmmm need to check on this one too)
• Fish oil: 2-4g per day
• Ground flaxseeds 40-50g per day.. there are lots of foods now that have added flaxseeds but you can get ground flaxseed too…