Cholesterol way down on eating Brazil nuts

My cholesterol has been going up and up in the last few years but I’ve not really done anything to my diet over the years.

Total is at 9.9 or was.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>GF reading a book about natural antidotes to various ailments.  Came across eating one Brazil nut a day having significant impact on cholesterol.</span>

So since Jan when it peaked with a combined number of 9.9 – yikes, i tried not adjusting anything about my diet apart from eating Brazil nuts, one a day.

Result three months later , total 7.7.

I really didn’t fancy statins so I thought was worth a shot.

Anecdotal I know but I do like my food so didn’t particularly want to compromise too much on butter etc.

Not an overweight person , but high cholesterol runs in the family.

So I’m back to 1 year testing according to the Doctor and satisfactory numbers.

Interesting! Nuts are genuinely a superfood, everyone should be eating a variety of them every day IMO (in moderation obviously!)

re. butter, I don’t think that the role between saturated fats, good/bad cholesterol & heart health is agreed or even understood so I wouldn’t worry too much! May even be beneficial (again in moderation).

butter etc

I suspect that shit carbs probably drive cholesterol more than butter does

(and as zilog says, the debate over cholesterol & causation is potentially a long one – though statins do seem protective against cv disease (by whatever mechanism))

Interesting. I notice in UK (or even EU) we don’t advertise cholesterol on food packaging, and yet in US it’s on everything.

No idea what mine is. Whenever I’ve been tested for stuff with the doctor it’s just “if you don’t hear anything, you’re okay”.

Can you just ask for an appointment with nurse at local GP practice to get it tested, without having to book a GP appointment? My local practice is bugging me about seeing a nurse for blood pressure test, despite them having taken one numerous times over last few years but they apparently have no record of it. Might ask if they can do cholesterol also, assuming they’ll tell me what it is.

I can get a kit from Boots to check it, but it’s pretty expensive and reviews say it can be vague or just not work at all.

Nuts and seeds are good for lowering cholesterol but stay hydrated or they bung you up.  I think macadamia nuts have the highest good fat content.  Also, stay off the salt, buy natural unsalted if poss and bake them.  Portion them up for snack food.

I suspect that shit carbs probably drive cholesterol more than butter does

Agreed.

Interesting. I notice in UK (or even EU) we don’t advertise cholesterol on food packaging, and yet in US it’s on everything.

I thought food cholesterol (as in prawns) was not linked strongly to body cholesterol?

Fat is actually quite good for you – it’s white carbs, or too many that cause issues.  You did good to avoid statins.

Just 1 brazil nut – wow.

Magnesium innit.

Good work on getting it down to that level, but I’d probably still see someone about it if I were you. 9.9 is in the realms of a genetic condition called familial hypercholesterolaemia, which might have implications for your family members even if you don’t want to take statins…

I thought food cholesterol (as in prawns) was not linked strongly to body cholesterol?

Hope so. I eat a lot of prawns!

Fat is actually quite good for you – it’s white carbs, or too many that cause issues

For now, until it isn’t again. But saturated fat is still bad though, it’s just for statistical purposes fat people on sugar / carbs are worse for the NHS so it’s the current evil. Dangerous to just switch to high saturated fat foods and low carbs. Might not get so fat, but well on the way to a heart attack.

Though can be low fat, high cholesterol, e.g. prawns, apparently.

Brazil nuts are higher in saturated fat.

What a load of tosh…………..there is NO way you can only eat 1 nut of any variety ?!?!

Is the brazil nut shortage over?

I suspect shitty carbs and highly processed foods are the root cause for almost all of our modern diet issues.

we’ve actually evolved to have saturated fats as part of our diet. They’re only a problem if you’ve already got a cholesterol problem probably caused by shitty carbs in the first place.

my cholesterol is ok and I enjoy butter and a bit of cheese in my diet, the odd fry up etc.. But I don’t have much by way of shitty carbs or highly processed food.

everything in moderation and as natural as you can manage and you can’t go far wrong.

Science says Tim Noakes is right on cholesterol – and lots more!

I suspect shitty carbs and highly processed foods are the root cause for almost all of our modern diet issues.

This. Everything in moderation, high quality fats and getting more of your carbs from veg/ low GI etc is the way to go for me.

Complete prohibition of nice stuff never works though. There is nothing finer than the first slug out of an ice-cold can of fat Coke (substitute beer/wine as appropriate) on a day like this, particularly after exercise.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/the-cholesterol-myth-that_b_676817.html?guccounter=1

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/the-science-of-saturated-fat-a-big-fat-surprise-about-nutrition-9692121.html

My cholesterol has been going up and up in the last few years but I’ve not really done anything to my diet over the years.

Total is at 9.9 or was.

Good to hear that you manage to lower your cholesterol to 7.7.

Went for a check up recently and was told my cholestrol level was high so need to lower them with proper diet.

The thing is that the food we eat nowadays are full of bad cholestrol mainly due to sugar.  The explanation given to me by the nurse was that bad sugar attached to the blood cell clogging up the arteries etc.  My blood sugar is fine except one of the catergory (breakdown of blood sugar category) of the blood sugar catergory has a spike higher than normal.  According to the nurse this could be the contributor to high cholestrol.

As I have been drinking a lot of sweet condense milk with tea this can be the problem.  I have been drinking a lot of tea with sweet condense milk to perfect the tea formula like in the far east.  Above normal …

Now I have to cut off all pastry, white bread, all oily food, cakes, ice cream, butter, dairy, cheese … practically everything.

In 6 months time I will have another check but the nurse said would get the doctor to put me on statins if my cholestrol does not go down  …

Now all my food are steam, boiled and roast …  : -(    No with flavour at all.

I shall give Brazil nut a try.

My blood pressure is also higher than normal so not good, although it has dropped by 1 or 2 points not good.

p/s: from one of the article above, I think the nurse was referring to this.

Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL: This “bad” cholesterol circulates in your blood and, according to conventional thinking, may build up in your arteries, forming plaque that makes your arteries narrow and less flexible (a condition called atherosclerosis). If a clot forms in one of these narrowed arteries leading to your heart or brain, a heart attack or stroke may result.

Yeah go for it Chewkw if you’re not got a nut allergy etc.

I was told by plenty of Doctors that diet only accounts for a 10-20% shift in total cholesterol levels. Which I took a bit of comfort in to be honest.

Will stay on the brazil nut and see what happens longer term!

Will definitely give Brazil nut a try as I am not allergic to nuts.

Friend in the far east also advised me to boil okra and then drink the water but not sure of the effectiveness as this vege is not something that is readily available.  Steam okra is nice to eat with spicy prawn chilli but other than that I don’t know the effectiveness to shift cholestrol.

I have also ordered some “cholestrol busting ginseng” related medication from my hometown.

I am also sure weight (slightly overweight), cholestrol and high blood pressure are related in one way or another.

Sugar and salt are the biggest problem in all food nowadays so need to cut them down drastically.

🙁