Cholesterol: the good, the bad and the confusing.
It's the club nobody wants to join. Especially if you love fried chicken, crumbed brains and potato chips.
Drinks this week with a couple of girlfriends started with one of them apologising for drinking vodka and soda. Quite rightly, we thought. That’s disgusting. Then she said it was because she had been diagnosed with high cholesterol.
It brought back my own shock and horror when the doc texted me with the results of a blood test a few years ago. “Your cholesterol is too high”. I stared at the words, seeing my life shrink before my eyes. It’s the beginning of the end, isn’t it? Get on that cholesterol freeway and you’re headed straight for diabetes, obesity, cancer and senile dementia, without passing go.
You can have high cholesterol even if you’re as fit as a fiddle, eat like Pete Evans, don’t smoke or drink, and are as young as my girlfriend. The doc said some people just generate more cholesterol naturally - regardless of their diet (and recent studies have backed her up on this).
Basically, your liver sends out too much low density lipoprotein cholesterol into the bloodstream which form into fatty deposits that clog up your arteries. I don’t want fatty deposits anywhere, thank you, much less ones that narrow my arteries and lead to blockage and heart problems.
But who wants to live a long, healthy life without coffee and croissants? Without butter, spuds, sausages? Here, then, is my non-medically-proven way to muddle through the science without, you know, the actual science.
WHAT’S GOOD?
# Foods that raise cholesterol come from animals eg egg yolks, red meat, poultry, full-fat dairy products and seafood.
# Foods from plants do not contain cholesterol. Ergo, eat more plants. Start with the recipe for kimchi greens below.
# Plant-based fats - such as nuts, seeds, oily fish, rice bran oil, sunflower and safflower oil, olive oil, et - are all good. Avocado gets a gold-star rating. Think of it as green butter and slather it on.
# Soluble fibre from rice bran and wheat germ can also help – that’s also an easy call, just add them to your morning muesli, or your baking.
# Fruit and veg, always a pleasure.
# Legumes are brilliant at lowering cholesterol, so roll on chickpeas, kidney beans, cannellini beans, soy beans and lentils. Quinoa, also good.
# A glass of red wine a day is meant to do wonders. There is a god.
# Green tea is good – and delicious.
# Soybeans, soy milk – the less processed forms of the soybean.
# Nuts are good (especially walnuts) because they’re high in protein and low in saturated fats – with no cholesterol. Yes, they’re high in kilojoules, but given that they are more delicious and crunchier than most other fats, I know where I’d rather spend my kilojoules.
# Oats of any kind for breakfast, thanks. Seeds also, especially sunflower, chia, and hemp.
# Masses of herbs, spices and chillies, ginger and garlic. Alfalfa sprouts, too, and onions. Dried herbs – oregano, mint. Fresh herbs – oregano, marjoram, dill, coriander. Spices – turmeric and ginger.
# Grilling is better than frying, roasting is better than frying, and eating raw food is better than frying.
WHAT’S BAD?
Fatty meats - trim off some of the fat, or render it (melt it off) in the cooking. Full-fat dairy products, processed meats and sausages, snack attack foods such as chips, anything deep-fried, and most cakes, biscuits, pastries, pizzas and croissants.
Trans-fats (found in processed biscuits, pastries etc) are to be avoided, but we all knew that anyway. Hydrogenated oils, ditto.
Butter. Hmm, my sticking point. Swap for olive oil or avocado when you can.
Cheese and ice-cream are not ideal, especially together.
Juice drinks, soft drinks, etc. I think we know that already, too.
White bread. Go for whole wheat instead, or rye, lovely rye. Same goes for anything made with white flour. (I have a terrible feeling this includes croissants).
WHAT’S CONFUSING?
Eggs are bad/Eggs are good. Eggs are actually both. Just put a limit on how many you eat – some say four a week. It’s only the yolks that are the trouble, with each yolk containing around 200 mg of cholesterol, almost the uppermost recommended daily intake, but I cannot bring myself to suggest an egg-white omelette.
SO WHAT WORKS THE BEST?
Brains (not crumbed brains, they’re the worst). One of the greatest reducers of cholesterol is common sense. Use it freely. Don’t just cut out all red meat and seafood, for instance, or you will be miserable. Being miserable leads to eating lots of things at once that will raise your cholesterol, so it’s far better to be happy, and control it.
Otherwise, it’s the same old story – give up smoking, cut down drinking, exercise more, get lots of sleep and try to be a nice person. And that goes for everyone, whether you have high cholesterol or not.
If you have tips, advice or do’s and don’ts that you’d like to share, please do. For professional medical advice, check out Health Direct. And your doc.
KIMCHI GREENS
The greens listed here are suggestions - use all or some - but it’s the mix that makes it fun. Serves 4 as a side.
Gai laan or broccolini
Green beans, topped but not tailed
Peas, snow peas, edamame, spring onion greens
3 tbsp kimchi, finely chopped or sliced
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
DRESSING:
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
To make the dressing, whisk all ingredients in a bowl. Simmer the greens in salted, simmering salted water until tender – around 3 minutes. Drain well, tip onto a serving platter, spoon on the dressing, then top with kimchi and sesame seeds. Give it all a good toss when you get to the table.
Thanks for reading (and liking, commenting, subscribing, knock yourself out).
Copyright © 2020 Jill Dupleix. I live and work on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respect to elders past, present and emerging.