high cholesterol - tasty suggestions??

topic posted Wed, November 21, 2007 - 8:08 AM by  BiteMe
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One of my kids has alarmingly high cholesterol so even though we eat healthy at home, now she's going to be restricted from some of here faves. We usually eat fresh fruits and veggies for snacks and salad with meals.... she's not a meat eater, but now eggs, cheese, and peanut butter are pretty much out.

I'm thinkin' maybe I could just use egg whites instead of whole eggs (eggbeaters/fake egg products scare me), but cheese will be the hard one cuz she LOVES cheese.

So....what are some kidfriendly suggestions?
posted by:
BiteMe
SF Bay Area
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  • Re: high cholesterol - tasty suggestions??

    Wed, November 21, 2007 - 10:31 AM
    oatmeal with flax seed, walnuts and cranberries! YUM

    garlic garlic garlic

    goat cheese instead of cow cheese

    monosaturated fats instead of saturated fats. Avocado, nuts, etc.
    • Re: high cholesterol - tasty suggestions??

      Fri, November 23, 2007 - 4:37 PM
      I'd never heard that goat cheese was any better - I'll have to check that out!
      • Re: high cholesterol - tasty suggestions??

        Sat, November 24, 2007 - 8:25 AM
        having had high cholesterol (over 300) myself being a cheese lover also I can emphathize. Lower fat cheeses usually have less cholesterol though you will still have to reduce how much she eats give her the lower fat ones when she does eat cheese. They really don't taste that bad... non fat cheeses on the other hand taste aweful -- stay away from those.

        Use very small amounts of oils and good oils such as olive oil or benecol butter. Stay away from Palm or Coconut oils for example. Although you want to be contientous of the fats you feed her... do limit or stay away from Avacado and penut butter. There are four vegetable foods that have naturally occuring fats in them -- Palm, Coconut, Avacado, and I think the 4th one is peanuts. Almonds are good though, but in limited amounts, I used to eat a small handful each day (about 10).

        High fiber such as oatmeal is good as it helps to clean out the system. Also garlic is good as it thins the blood making it harder for the plak left from choleterol to stick. Also very very good it Plant Sterol Esters. This was one of the very best things I found when lowering my cholesterol. I was able to get my cholesterol down more 100 points by diet alone. I used Cholest-off (can be found in any RiteAid, Walgreens, etc) but you can also find at Trader Joe's (and less expensive) Plant Sterol Esters gel vitamins. If you did nothing other than have her take this vitamin it would have a very good impact on her numbers, but I would still recommend adjustments to her diet anyway.
        • Re: high cholesterol - tasty suggestions??

          Sat, November 24, 2007 - 11:45 AM
          my sister eats veggie cheese because she's sensitive to real cheese...so i tried it one day on a sandwich and to my surprise! it was really good...so give it a try and don't tell her at first what it is and see how she likes it...you never know.
          • Re: high cholesterol - tasty suggestions??

            Sat, November 24, 2007 - 7:45 PM
            My husband brought his cholesterol down from dangerously high to normal by cutting out red meat and full-fat dairy, and really ramping up the fiber and especially flax and whole oats. And lots of vigorous, healthy exercise, along with (of course) the fruits and veggies.

            Goat and sheep cheese is often lower fat than cow's cheese, and because of its strong flavor, the fat-free stuff is much more edible (tastes "real" not rubbery, like fat-free cow's milk cheeses.) Although fat-free chese sticks (mozzarella) are quite tasty.

            Giving up high-fat cow's milk cheese is hard. It is one of life's great pleasures. But it can be eaten in small doses, and other yummy things (like roast nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc.) can be treats.
          • Re: high cholesterol - tasty suggestions??

            Sun, November 25, 2007 - 11:42 AM
            be careful with veggie cheese. If its made with hydrogenated soy oil, thats trans fat, which is about the worst thing you can eat if you have heart disease and high cholesterol.

            I suggested the goat cheese because the goat milk molecule is about the same size as the human milk molecule, whereas cow milk is 3x the size, thereby making it harder to digest.
            • Re: high cholesterol - tasty suggestions??

              Sun, November 25, 2007 - 6:38 PM
              yeah, I'm a hardcore label reader and avoid processed stuff... found some almond cheese that didn't look to toxic at Berkeley Bowl today. We're big on oatmeal & fruit in the winter (no nuts for her, we usually add flax seeds for crunchiness/nutty flavor). She loves plain baked sweet potatoes and her fav "sweet treat" is skim milk and frozen berries whirred around in the blender until frothy.


              I think she has a pretty good grasp of what she can and can't have for an eight year old... she recently had a medication change and her cholesterol had shot up around 70 points within four months. So things that were being "moderated" are now being completely cut out. The only thing I can think is that they lagged on following her special diet at school once the new school year started <sigh> but I can't follow up on that until tomorrow.

              *keep your fingers crossed for us*

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