How to reduce cholesterol in the Indian diet
Your husband has been diagnosed with high cholesterol and has been advised to follow a diet low in cholesterol and saturated fats. Now comes the challenge for the lady of the house – to serve healthy and tasty foods. This is as hard a task as changing the eating habits acquired over the past years.
It is a wrong notion that the more oil you use in cooking, the tastier the food. If you can follow the tips given below, your meals can be satisfying and healthy too! And believe me it is worth the change. It is also time to change the habits of everyone in the house and teach the younger generation about eating healthy.
Foods to restrict/avoid
Rich pastries, doughnuts, croissant, deep fried snacks and sweets, cream, butter, ghee, mayonnaise, shrimps, liver, sausages, hamburgers, red meats, full cream milk and yogurt, kheer, condensed milk, evaporated milk, all full fat cheeses, fast foods, coconut oil, palm oil,
Restrict use of coconut milk, dessicated or fresh coconut.
Foods allowed
All kinds of vegetables, in any amount.
All kinds of lentils. They contain good amount of protein but no saturated fat.
Whole eggs – 3 times a week and one at a time.
Choose chicken (skinned), and all kinds of fish prepared in any way but not deep fried..
Fat free milk and yogurt and low fat cheeses
Fruits – at least 3 in a day. Eat any citrus fruit when you feel the need for a sweet.
Use sesame, mustard, olive, sunflower, soyabean, oil in cooking.
Not more than 2 cups coffee per day.
How to cut down fat and cholesterol in the cooking:
· First of all change the daily menu and opt for foods that need lesser oil, lesser coconut products and no frying.
· Use oats to thicken soups as they do in the MiddleEast.
· Instead of cream or coconut milk, use ground paste of nuts or skim milk. Or even a little low fat paneer ground to a paste makes the dish both tasty and healthy.
· If you insist on using eggs, use one whole egg and the other only the egg white. Even in baking you may do so without affecting the texture of the baked product.
· You can cut down on 30 % of the given fat in a recipe and still get a good tasty dish.
· De-skin poultry and remove all visible fat before cooking. If you need to cook red meat, then cook in sufficient water, chill and skim the fat layer that forms on top. Then continue with the preparation.
Most importantly, exercise - Half hour of walking 3 times per week.
Parvathy R Krishnan
Parvathy R Krishnan, a Nutrition & Dietetics expert, is a member of Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India.
Check this space for more nutrition-related topics every Wednesday
Tags: cholesterol, Cooking, fitness, Health, Heart disease, Saturated fat
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very interesting and good for every person.
good knowldge, please sugst some more diets for low cholestrol, i have white mark on my eyelashes.
Consumption of coconut does not lead to heart attack. Most of the heart attacks that happen in Kerala is due to consumption of liquor and another reason is lack of exercise. You can consume ghee too moderately. These are needed for good cholesterol.
what about tender coconut water ?
Very good information provided.
Coconut can not be heated.. Then it will give you bad cholestrol.. But if you use fresh Coconut.. It is very good.. It is the opposite.. Go and research..
Coconut doesnot contain cholesterol. Cholesterol is found only in animals. Coconut is high in saturated fats and triglycerides.
Please note that coconut oil wont increase your bad cholestrol. This has been proved by lot of studies.Also it is proved that coconut oil consuming zones of the world are the least affected.
Kerala is the largest coconut consuming state and also reports highest cardiac cases
High heart desease in kerala is not due to coconut usage-but due to consumption of meat and fast food,lack of exercise etc.
Very true…………coconut oil as such doesn’t contain any cholestrol.
COCONUT IS VEGETABLE AND THERE IS NO CHOLESTROL IN ANY VEGETARIAN FOOD.
THERE IS A SPECIFIC LAW IN PREVENTION OF FOOD ACT WHICH SAYS THAT ” NO PACKAGE OF VEGETABLE EDIBLE OIL SHALL HAVE THE WORD FREE FROM CHOLESTROL. THE GOVERNMENT HAS DONE THIS TO PREVENT FOOLING OF COMMON MAN
YET THIS SO CALLED SPECIALITY SAYS THAT COCONUT OIL WILL INCREASE CHOLESTROL.
IN FAT COCONUT OIL INCREASE GOOD FAT.
good info site
Great blog! I truly love how it’s easy on my eyes as well as the data are well written. I am wondering how I could be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your rss feed which ought to do the trick! Have a nice day!
Very Very Good.
No doubt good but limited. should be an exhaustive list
dear sir
i am suffering from LH chest pain&my Bp is high,after examin the blood colostrol level is high count is 7.50
please suggest me.
Following the tips from the article should help you. If you are overweight, losing weight will help reduce both blood pressure and cholesterol.With cholesterol as high as yours I assume you have seen a physcian and got the right medications.
Take Oats daily
[...] more at sify [...]
Fresh coconut is good or bad for health . any suggestions plz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
quite informative,one can introduce Methi seeds to reduce cholestrol as I had my personal experience.
yes u r right, methi dana is very good to reduce cholestrol
Dear Madam,
My husband is having Cholesterol as well as BP.he is smoking and drinking as well pls suggest if these is good or not.
Quit Drinking at first stage and then reduce smoking
You already know the answer. He should either change his habits or you should change him. There is no alternative
I have been following all that is prescribed even before i discovered i had high cholesterol. How is that possible ?
And now what furthur measures do i take ?
Hi Parvathy
Right advise at rigth time, simply saying blessing in disgusie… today only i got the report for the cholestrol level for my husband…
Cholerstral level is more high than the rish factor so i was just thinkin to consult a dietician .
He’s used to take a half boiled egg every day… he smokes a lot and has boose every alternate days( just for refreshing )
How do i stop the above habits.. stopping all these three habitual practise will improve reduce cholestral level.
Also pls. suggest me having cereals ( like chenna, badam., rajmma. corns , peas, dhal’s ) and nuts ( ground nuts ) is good for him to continue and should i stop them immediately.
Also advsie me do’s and dont’s in details as we intake in our regular food
Await your reply as this going to add value to me in life
Regards
Dheepa
Just give him boiled Garlic, Clove water with lemon and Avocado, cellar y, onion, cucumber, salad in dinner. take him for some physical exercise in gym and four to five time a week on the bed. this way he will be happy and out of stress.
I was very tensed when I came to know that my hubby’s cholesterol level is very high. I was confused about his diet. but when I saw this information, You can’t imagine how relaxed i m feeling.
Thank you so much for your advice.Plz advise me do’s and dont’s in our regular food. If it is possible then plz suggest me some simple recipes also.
Await your reply…..
Regards,
Ranjita
I was very tensed when i came to know that my cholesterol level is 268.2 h . i was confused about my diet but when i saw your side i am relaxed.
My husband has been diagnosed with high cholestrol. His LPD cholestrol is also high.
I need follow the advise given in this article stricly now. thansk for sharing
hi,
I have cholesterol ring in both my eyes from 25 years. I have no vision problem. I have lowered my calories in my food.
When I checked my total cholesterol it was 238. I have showed to several eye surgeons in Bangalore, but they told me
that there will not be any vision problem and not to worry.
Please advise me regarding this.
Regards.
Shashikala
Reply
nice advice and it will useful for housewives
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Had to undergo Angioplasty with stenting to overcome 2 Vessel diseases. Cholesterol, Blood Sugar, and Blood Pressure are normal. I was a smoket and quit it recently. What should be the diet restrictions.
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dear sir /mam am 34 years old 80kg wt i have high cholestrol and bp was high but it is reduced by medicines but to reduce cholesterol please suggest me
Good info.
Mr. Kamat, ur weight is too much. Try to go for walk daily and do some Yoga or cardiovascular exercises.
U should change ur diet. Stop eating fried items, other snacks, junk food, cold drinks, sweets and chocolate. Instead include more of green and whole grains in ur meals. Have salad and fruits when u wana munch.
And have faith in urself, u can reduce ur weight.
All the best
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Very informative.. Nice blog
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The article is very very good and guided us how to reduce cholestrol.
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Great. Thanks to Ms.parvathy R Krishnan for such quality inputs. My prayers for you.
madam,
iam a pure vegetarian,me and my husband both has little bit of high colostrol,we are doing the walking regularly by 45minutes.we need a diet plan without egg and nonveg.we are roti lovers,and we would like to know the easy diet plan to loose the weight and colostrol too.
Drink one glass of ninbu pani every day in empty stomack with out sugar and salt
Thanks for your information….
hi,
i have been advised to avoid eating vegetables grown under soil eg. potato, colocacia, raddish, carrot, ginger…..
but above there is no mentioning, my husband has cholestrol . 223 and sugar..189.
pls suggest
minakshi
thanks for the good advise.
Hi
i want how reduce cholestrol briefly
give the information
Hi Suma
Please provide your current cholesterol levels so that our expert can help you.
Lakshmi
i liked your tips to control cholesterol. Try to feed more tips. Thank you….
thanks lot for your tips. it will very helpful to control my high 260 cholestrol .
very easy method to reduce wieght and very informatic Blog
I am gething married on may 9 2012,and my weight is 75kg.So pls give some more tips where in i should my weight upto 10kgs by my marriage. The Above Blog is also very good and excellent!!!!!
is butter milk (lassi) is good in high colestrol?
Very nice and easy tips to follow
very good information for all
Thank you, Kavin.
thanks a lot for such helpful tips..
i hope i’m able to follow your guidelines & improve my’ family’s health!!
regards.
Thank u for the above information.
im very much worried about my hubys cholestrol.
this work gave me a little satisfaction.
good information to control on weight and cholestrol
very good information
hi, My mother is having bad cholestrol range of 140. Her weight is 80 and aged 50. She doesnt have any other problems. plzzzzzz Help. Is there a neccessaryto be worried.
Recent studies show the yellow egg yoke does have cholestrol but is not a significant contributor to serum cholestrol (cholestrol in blood). So, it is not necessary to separate the egg whites for most people. Read the following:
“A solid body of research shows that for most people, cholesterol in food has a much smaller effect on blood levels of total cholesterol and harmful LDL cholesterol than does the mix of fats in the diet. Recent research has shown that moderate egg consumption—up to one a day—does not increase heart disease risk in healthy individuals (1, 2) and can be part of a healthy diet. (Make sure to store eggs in the fridge and cook them until the whites and yolks are firm, to prevent food-borne illness. For more tips on how to reduce your risk of salmonella from eggs, visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.) Clink on the following link.”
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/eggs/
Thank you Ambalam for the mail. Let me post the remaining paras of the full article so that there is no confusion regarding guidelines for those who wish to reduce cholesterol in the diet.
People who have difficulty controlling their total and LDL cholesterol may want to be cautious about eating egg yolks and instead choose foods made with egg whites. The same is true for people with diabetes. In the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, heart disease risk was increased among men and women with diabetes who ate one or more eggs a day. (1)
For people who have diabetes and heart disease, it is best to limit egg consumption to no more than three yolks per week.
This research doesn’t give the green light to daily three-egg omelets. While a 2008 report from the ongoing Physicians’ Health Study supports the idea that eating an egg a day is generally safe for the heart, it also suggests that going much beyond that could increase the risk for heart failure later in life. (3) You also need to pay attention to the “trimmings” that come with your eggs. To your cardiovascular system, scrambled eggs, salsa, and a whole wheat English muffin are a far different meal than scrambled eggs with cheese, sausages, home fries, and white toast.
hi, this is quite intresting….
am little away from obesity..
thanks.
Eating coconut is not the reason for Keralites having high Cholestrol. If this is the case then all vegeterians in Kerla also should have high Cholestrol? Main reason for high cholestrol/heart deseases in Kerala is consumption of red meat,fast food and also lack of exercise.
In Kerala there is a culture of re-using oil used in frying items. This shoud be avoided. It is difficult to just throw away all that oil,after one use-but that is the need of the hour.
Exactly, oil used for frying should NEVER be reused for frying.It should be used for lighting lamps during diwali. Or else you can use for seasoning if you can’t bear to throw it away.
Hi
Excellent article. Those who are heart patients with High Cholesterol the following suggestion would help.
1) Change to vegetarian.2) If Cholesterol high take just 5 garlic piece preferably in the morning. This is not just easy. So take along with kismiss, dates etc. so that you can swallow easily.3) Those who have Triglicerides more to take more fibre food preferably Roti ( Not Non etc made of maida ) 4) Try to avoid more oily foods, cheese etc. No ghee. 5) Take more raw vegetable salads and fruits to fill up your belly with taste. 6) Walking is a must daily for half an hour in the morning.7) Take night dinner before 8 pm with only half filled stomach.
Hope Parvathy madam will also acknowledge this. Have a healthy life.
it gave me a very good information….very useful n informative…..
How about dry fruits?
Dry fruits also contribute fibre. Keep in mind the quantity to eat so as not to increase calories.
flax seeds also good for high cholesterol people. two tsp a day.
Flax seeds (Alsi) should be roasted and made into a chutney with little til ,chili powder,salt,sugar.You can also use Flax seeds for seasoning in all veggies and curries along with mustard seeds. Nowadays you can see flax seeds being used on multi-grain bread along with til (stuck on top)
Thanks for the information , I will follow for a month and will give the feed back.
This info was really very useful can u also inform should the same diet be followed for a person who is having rheumatoid arthritis, blood pressure and high level of creatine..
mam thank you,great
I used to take only egg whites 4 no.s 3 times a day. walk 30 min a day. only skimed milk. no white rice. mustered oil only. no oily food. no muttton. no fish , no chicken. healthy weight. non diabetic. But got cholesterol & flakes. needed 2 stents. a lesson to all.
Well, This is an awesome suggestion, and will be implemented in my routine life from immidiate effect and let me see myself as a reduced fatty person within a year or so.
Thanks a lot.
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good infromation but i want to add regular exercise and use of soyabean in any way is very very helpful to reduce bad cholesterol. jay swaminarayan
Don’t watch TV. Go for a walk. Eat and sleep early and rise early. Cut down on parties. All problems solved.
Your normal home cooked food contains everything. Eat slowly and in small quantities. Don’t sleep immediately after food. Sit straight. Don’t give vent to your anger.
Very simple, practical and easy to follow.Thanks-keep writing
Pl suggest ways to specially reduce Triglicerides
Avoid red meat and fries. For sometime take medicines prescribed from doctor but to be stopped as it will elevate liver enzymes. Take fish in lot than any other non-veg.Stop fries. Stop drinking alchol.If u are diabetic keep diabetics in controll.Extreme case ask doctor to prescribe omega -3 fatty acid which are sold outside in medical shops.
I read your article on lowering LDL Cholesterol. I wish to tell you about the new discovery about Extra Virgin Coconut oil. It has amazing properties and we can even drink or add 1 or 2 table spoon with the rice or curry we consume each day. In fact my HDL (Good Cholesterol) level went up and Triglycerides dropped. It is also excellent for people with low memory level and even Alzheimer patients – though such patients may have to consume 7 table spoon a day and at least 4000 IU of Vitamin C supplements as they are mostly confined to indoors. Please Google “Virgin Coconut Oil” and you would get all the new discovery about this wonderful oil which our ancestors used to cook with and remained very healthy. The internet would provide you with the reason. However, No Virgin Oil should be used for cooking as heating distroys all its properties.
I found the best way to lower LDL (bad) Cholesterol is brisk walking, Yoga or an hour of mild exercise – though your topic is on Cholesterol lowering diet.
C. Mathew – Comments.
Once again the new findings are that 1 egg a day is in fact good for the general well being of the body – but not fried as any thing fried is not good for health. For non-vegetarians a little bit of meat and fish is in fact good in-order to increase the Protein level – but remove fat and no frying. However, if one is suffering from Gout, please stay away from all protein food (all meat items) and even some vegetables like Cauliflower, Cabbage, Spinach, Asparagus, All Citrus fruits like Oranges, No fruit juices as they contain Fructose Sugar, Lime, Yeast and all yeast products like Bread, all types of Shell fish like prawns, crabs, Lobster, Lentils, Lima beans, Peas, Mushrooms, all types of Dhal, Oatmeal, Gravy, Beer, Wine and all types of alcohol – especially when the Gout is flared-up. I personally went through hell recently and hence my advice. Cholchine Tablets and Allopurinol Tablets are the treatment. I found Cholchine Tablets to be more effective. Once your Gout totally healed, one can have a little bit of every thing once in a while. I even found Yogurt to be very harmful during Gout. The general thumb rule is NO Fermented items.
My final advice: Due to the present life style we never get sufficient Sun light – causing all kind of illness including Depression, insomnia etc. Hence I strongly recommend every one – including the elders who are confined to their homes to take at least 2000 IU of Vitamin C daily. I once again ask you to search the internet for this great Vitamin. If one can just look at the early morning Sun or the evening Sun, it is excellent, but still that won’t be sufficient for the required Vitamin C for a person.
Do Work Well, whichever Work you are doing
Do take ownership of the Work you do, whatever it is- This is to avoid Work Tension/Hypertension
Free mind of tension, as everything happening to you is Just Part of Life, and
nobody escaped , and should not escape too, all situations in Life
Eat what we should, and preferably local food and in the traditionally cooked way
Do not change anything of the past of Food Habits ( Past will mean what your parents/grant parents ate )
Do not Start Cooking With Oil , thou you may Close with an Oil Spray
Household Work, Kitchen Work, all Dometic Chores help in a BIG WAY
not only to contril Cholestrelo, but keep Life Full of Life
Walk wherever Possible
Take your Glass of Water
Wash Your Utensits
Wash Your Clothes
And after all these, if you can Play some time , do that
Do yoga if you know
Do exercise and cutdown on Qty of Food per time , if you want to cut donw on Weight
And thats all, no Chol, no sug nothing adverse almost
4 glass of water empty stomach in the morning before brushing, lowers cholesterol levels to a very great extent. This is called water therapy by japaneese
Does wheat roti in lunch, wheat ravva(Upma) in dinner and neembu paani with honey in the morning and oil less dosa in breakfast and 30 minutes walking in the morning help in reducing LDL ?
Hello All
Coconut oil increase tri glycerides … which is also a part of bad cholesterol …. so don’t use coconut oil ….. oil less and meat less food with little exercise is more than enough to reduce the cholesterol
I like ur tips to reduce the cholestol leval-eat amlond,walnut,fruits
All is well said but the excercise part is where i’m lacking since work is such long hours. But will get myself enroled in a gym so tht i will be forced to go…thanks for the tips.