lowering cholesterol

You're kidding right? You must know these foods aren't good foods, for anyone. They should be occasional treats, not everyday meals.

You need to be eating fresh vegetables on half your plate, brown carbs (rice, pasta, or spuds) on a quarter of your plate, and lean protein (eggs, chicken, lean beef) on the remaining quarter.
I've got Mr Sheds on the Low GI diet for his heart (and belly ) - get the recipe book out of your library. He doesn't even notice he's on a special diet, to be honest.

Mince isn't necessarily bad for you but a lot of mince that you buy in the shops contains a lot of fat (it's cheap!) and is often beef mince, therefore more red meat. We tend not to use very much meat at all and put a lot of pulses and veggies in caseroles / spag bols / chillies etc. Taste just as good but much better (and cheaper!) for you. I'm lucky that I don't like much fatty foods as it tends to make me feel unwell and am forever grateful that when I tried smoking as a teenager that I didn't get it and therefore never started.

ditto TS comments - and on the exercise front, whilst allotmenteering is, of course, good exercise, you need to get some aerobic stuff going on - it is highly unlikely you would get aerobic and then maintain it for long enough at lottie.

Aim for 30 mins a day - you need to get breathless but not so as to almost pass out new school of thought is that you can split this and therefore do 15 mins 2 daily or 10 mins thrice daily

You can eat them everyday, just in small amounts, I love cheese but always buy very strong varieties and therefore a small amount goes a very long way and don't feel that I've missed out.

it says in this booklet the nurse gave me it says no more than 4 eggs a week
and to have a high fibre diet, well the JAs should be ready and I think they gots lots of fiber in umm, mybe not to have them as chips thow
could do um in cream only joking
whats Low GI?

Dobby, you know what you have to do...STOP smoking! Failing that I'd try & go for lower fat types of what you like (crisps etc & only have occasionally) as well as cutting down, unfortunately sometimes 'lower fat' can mean higher in sugar/salt etc. so you have to watch that too. I was told to lower my cholesterol too a couple of years ago. I didn't do anything drastic & don't eat meat anyway but I found that eating fish (preferably not in batter or a rich sauce!) helps & also taking a daily Omega 3 capsule which boosts the 'good' cholesterol. Cut down a bit on the cheese & other dairy foods & use either none or a lower fat type of spread on bread etc. Eat plenty of fresh veg. which you probably do anyway as you grow it & keep running up & down the drives with the shopping deliveries!

I too have been told to lower my cholesterol. I am cutting down on saturated fats which are contained in red meat, processed red meat is especially bad so yes, mince, kebabs, pies are all monthly 'treats' now. A good lean steak however is not a no-no once a fortnight. If you have chicken you should take the skin off before eating.

I think though, its best to look at the positives... the things you CAN eat, and in abundance are all those fresh veggies (without drenching in butter though), lots and lots of oily fish, that's makerel, sardines and the like and really good posh museli - if you're on a budget a very good thing for cholesterol reduction is - rolled oats. Switch to low fat milk, olivio spread (or similar), those specialist ones for lowering cholesterol are supposed to be good but they're expensive.

The other thing you should get from your doctor is the actual result of your blood reading. There is HDL cholesterol and LDL and to get a proper picture of how vulnerable you are to having a heart attack or stroke you have to divide one into the other, the figure you get determines your risk, I can't remember exactly how to do it at this moment but you can google it easily.

As for smoking - I've just given up. I read Alan Carr's 'the easy way to give up smoking' and I haven't had a ciggarette for five weeks, with no cravings at all.

Good luck. And don't worry... get your reading and find our your 'number' by doing the maths.If I can think of anything else I'll pop back.

Alison we love the strong cheese the first thing i cooked for sue was seriosly strong cheese on toasted barm cakes, and was butterd too it was dripping mmmm

Low GI means low glycemic index foods, which basically means foods which take longer to break down & release sugars into your blood, they're recommended for diabetics also. There's some nice recipes on this website that are 'lowGI'.
The GI Diet - Free Low GI Diet Recipes

Mr D the biggest change you could make to your health (cos I assume you're eating some of these veggies you're growing?!) is to stop smoking.

You know it is a good idea and if not at first, fairly soon after stopping you will feel much better for it. If you can't just stop, contact some of these NHS help groups, ask your doctor for help.

As an ex-20 a dayer who stopped after 20 years in 2000 I know it can be done, it just isn't necessarily easy. Give it a go and if you slip first or second or third time, keep trying...you know it makes sense.

Mathaclematis
is it this book
THE ONLY WAY TO STOP SMOKING PERMANENTLY BY ALAN CARR on eBay, also, Non-Fiction Books, Books, Comics Magazines (end time 07-Oct-08 20:46:00 BST)

I used the AC method back in 1995, I have never touched one since and never wanted to - it is an excellent tool, but as with all these things it only works for you if it works for you - erm if you see what I mean!

But yes indeedy, the single most important thing you can do is STOP SMOKING - you know this, so tackle this first ....

...oh yes, I remember what I used as an additional help tool for stopping smoking - cherry toms and pints of water

Get to it and good luck

Cereals are very good too - except the sugar-coated stuff. Porridge - real or instant - is a good source of oats and actually fills you up and makes you feel fuller for longer.

I agree with the others - ditch the ciggies!

thanks sue there is hope theres cookies on there
Vegetarian Chocolate Chili ?have to try this
Tuscan Pasta Bake looks good to we got borlotti beans