Re: keeping cholesterol low? - my apologies... (long)

From: Cyli (cylise_at_gmail.com.invalid)
Date: 01/12/05 

Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:24:07 -0600

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 11:46:08 -0600, "Fossil***" <me@privacy.net>
wrote:

>I didn't come here with the intention of stirring up any conflict or ill
>feelings. I was just looking for some simple diet/cooking
>suggestions/constructive criticisms. Please accept my apologies.
>-ceg
>
Not your fault. Mason Mouse is ready at all times to denigrate herbs
(though he used to, maybe still does, sell some). Henriette has some
reasons to dislike the cholesterol lowering advice and, quite rightly,
more to think statins are too much and too strong a medicine. Gary
had some interesting points to make.

Some of us are a bit opinionated here. You are not to blame for that.
Simple advice is to eat a varied diet, use many varied spices and
herbs to cook with. Get lots of fruit and veggies. Drink whatever
juices of either you find good. Have a glass of wine a day unless you
or someone in your household who'll find the bottle has a problem with
drinking or it's against your religion or morals. Cooking with wine
can be very delicious, incidentally. Eat about 8 ounces of dark
chocolate a week. If you don't like olive oil (I hate it), don't
despair. There's canola oil, soybean oil, coconut oil, and peanut
oil. Be creative with your spices. Turmeric is good for you. Try it
on chicken or beef or in a salad dressing. Yes, right from your spice
rack is okay. Try one new spice a week or one a month. Try some
cinnamon and / or nutmeg (just a pinch) in your canned chicken soup.
Then you'll understand the sort of thing I'm getting at here.

While some of us take capsules, tinctures, and teas (green tea is
wonderful for you) as supplements, it's not necessary to go to the
jars in the health food store and take pills. Enjoy your herbs and
spices. If you use a varied assortment of them regularly, you may
never have to take any as a supplement. Don't forget cinnamon. Ummm.
Good. Yes, in cooking, as well as on your breakfast food, desserts
and on buttered toast. A cup of green tea is both a food and a
supplement. A cup of green tea stirred with a cinnamon stick is even
better.

If you have a particular problem, find the best health food / herb
shop in your area and start asking about practitioners. If you go to
one for recommendations, and they don't answer your questions, go away
and find another one (I recommend the same for medical doctors, too.).

And the point about total life / death in clinical trials becomes more
important once you have read about one review I saw of prostate
treatments. At the end of 5 years almost none of those treated for
prostate cancer had died of prostate cancer and almost half of those
not treated for it had died of prostate cancer, or still suffered from
the disease. However, just about as many of the treated were dead of
other causes. Almost all the people on both sides were dead within a
year or two after that. The ones treated for prostate cancer died of
heart or liver or other problems. The life / death for both treated
and untreated was the same. The doctors treating prostate cancer had
seen their work as a great benefit until then. Maybe still did after.

Total outcomes are _very_ important to the patient. Why go through
the agony of chemo if you're going to die at about the same time
whether you're treated or not? Hmmm?

Unfortunately I read it on my old computer and can't give a reference,
but I think I'd run into it somewhere on Medscape.

Not all diseases are like that. But doctors, like car mechanics, like
to fix the things that are obviously wrong with the patient.
Sometimes the side effects will be nasty, but the doctors see it as
worthwhile. Sometimes it is. Childhood leukemia has wound up with a
good cure rate. Breast cancer the same.

BTW, I'm pretty neutral on cholesterol. Mine is okay, especially
considering my age. I sometimes cook with lard and used to cook with
Crisco (and that was up until after my last cholesterol check). I eat
lots of red meat. I love fried or roasted chicken skin. I love fat
on my meat and if it's not fatty enough for good flavour, I may add
some beef suet. I use real butter with no substitutes accepted. Used
to be margarine (my cholesterol was higher then, just incidentally),
but I decided the flavour made the slight extra cost acceptable. I
also, however, use lots of herbs and spices in cooking and mostly eat
home cooked foods. The snacks I have, barring the occasional
chocolate (which is now supposed to be good for one), are mostly
almonds and cashews, though pretzels have been known to get into my
mouth. I drink v-8 juice fairly often. It seems to balance out.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: cylise@gmail.com.invalid (strip the .invalid to email)