Ghee, other Q's for lowering cholesterol

[Blaundee]

Is ghee better for you than butter? Is it something a person on a diet to lower their high cholesterol should eat?

I know nothing about it... My dad just got a note from the doctor saying his LDL is high, and his triglycerides are VERY high. So, he's eating egg whites and lots of veggies, and my sister will start cooking fish a few times a week for him too. Basically, a no dairy, no red meat diet is what we've been reading is good for him. He LOVES dairy, esp milk (he already drinks 1% milk, though- can he keep drinking that?). He's going to start walking for exercise, the hardest thing for him will be not eating as much salt. He and I boht have a love of salt, and both need to get away from it.

Any info and tips yall can give me would be greatly appreciated- keep in mind we're poor and live a long way from town, so anything we can do to modify th foods we already have or have available at the small grocery store in the next town would work out best.

 

[k15n1]

I would guess that it's identical in every way to butter.

 

[me&thegals]

It's just clarified, refined butter. Fat consumption raises cholesterol, esp. animal fats, so I doubt it would lower cholesterol. How about loads of leafy greens, good exercise and a modeate fat intake? Cutting down sugar is especially helpful for high triglycerides.

If he has a tight budget, try cutting down on meat and subbing in brown rice and beans, other grains like quinoa. Beans are super excellent for health and cholesterol, plus cheap. Good luck!

 

[Blaundee]

It's just clarified, refined butter. Fat consumption raises cholesterol, esp. animal fats, so I doubt it would lower cholesterol. How about loads of leafy greens, good exercise and a modeate fat intake? Cutting down sugar is especially helpful for high triglycerides.

If he has a tight budget, try cutting down on meat and subbing in brown rice and beans, other grains like quinoa. Beans are super excellent for health and cholesterol, plus cheap. Good luck!

Yeah, he's starting all of those We have a lot of meat in the freezer thanks to the deer and elk, and he prefers it over beans (though he has a lot of beans! Beans are a staple for all of us lol). He is wanting to try, he is serious about fixing this, so I'm trying to come up with ways that will be easier for him. He went and bought a bunch of spinach and other fresh veggies to get him motivated to start cooking with them

Lunchmeat is a big no-no, and that's what he always takes for lunch... so to come up with good, easy, fast, no-spill, HEALTHY lunches that can be eaten on the run, driving a pickup, is a challenge. That's actually been a challenge for me for a long time, because my hubby has the same kind of job, and I keep going back to balogna sandwiches- any ideas on how to make a healthier version that tastes god cold? Salads are great, but you need 2 hands to eat them and they dont stick with you long.

 

[me&thegals]

How about nuts, fruit and raw veggies?

If you can give them lunch right before they head out for the workday, how about frozen smoothies? Fruits, veggies, yogurt and juice, enough calories to last a while.

If you want sandwiches, try cheese/sprouts/onions/spinach with mustard. Super tasty. Or PB&J. Or even grilled cheese, leftover. Although the grilled cheese will be as fatty as lunch meat.

 

[the_whingnut]

wrap the salad in spring roll wraps (thin ones in asian markets) or in a larger piece of lettuce you can always make a tupperware container with prewrapped salad in lettuce or what not and add in nuts and fruit. it can be a carry on kinda thing. i had pretty good luck in doing it that way over the summer when i was on the road a lot.

also lots of water, cutting down on caffene (i said cut down not cut out! i can feel the disapproving stares!) and cut down on sodas. the diet ones are way worse on you than the regular ones.

you can make those cereal bars for hiking that are filling and packed full of nutrition and they don't taste like cardboard! but its labor intense. if you check out some of the primal living sites, or vegan recipe sites they do have really good ideas for eating on the run or the road. you could probably make some kinda of wild game/ salad burrito prewrapped for munching. i've done that with game sausage, egg white and fresh veg in a burrito before just to change things up and still use the things i had on hand.

http://www.trucking-world.com/9-healthy-food-staples-for-truck-drivers/

http://www.healthtrucker.com/healthy-trucker-food.html

https://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread22687.html

just some places to look for ideas.

 

[Emerald]

cut out all the margarine and fake low fat stuff. that goes into your bloodstream like it is pumped in. Hubby was diagnosed with type two and high blood fat/cholesterol a few years ago. we cut out all fake stuff and switched to real butter, lard, olive oil and I limit how much he gets per serving to a scant scant amount- we also added avocado and removed some of the cheese and dairy on his tacos/sandwiches. avocado is good for your blood fats.(monosaturated fats is what I think they are called)
He also eats oatmeal for every breakfast but sunday which he then gets what ever he wants.
sounds goofy but crisco and all low fat and margarine stuff is really bad for you. His blood fats have halved and his good cholesterol is finally starting to out do his bad. Dr. thought that my diet for him would make it worse but was shocked to see that it has come down. switching to the wild meats is good too and we try to only buy grass fed beef as the fat in there is more like it should be and not like the bad fed cow meat.
We do eat more fish and I tripled the veggies that we serve for dinners. with the type two we had to get rid of many of the potato stuff we would normally have as french fries and other fried potatoes(think hash browns) pump the sugar in. So far baked potatoes do not seem to bother him except that I won't let him put tons of butter/sourcream/cheese on ! but drained plain yogurt can be subbed.
Sure every diet is different and do what needs to be done to lower the blood fats.

 

[me&thegals]

Good ideas, Emerald! Chia seeds and flax are also great. Oats for lowering cholesterol. Sweet potatoes are a great alternative to white potatoes and have a lower glycemic load.

Read any of Dr. Fuhrman's books about diet, immune system, etc. They're excellent.

Definitely cut out fake stuff like diet drinks and fake fat.

 

[hqueen13]

Eat real food!!! You might want to do some research into the Primal of Paleo concept of diet. Cutting out red meat and dairy really isn't going to be beneficial. Red Meat can be very healthy, particularly if you take the time/money to get quality meat from a good source of grass fed cows. Egg whites are horrible, too. When thinking about all these items that have to be processed in order to "make" them, stop and think about what goes into making an item low fat, or removing the yolks out of eggs. They have to do all sorts of things to the foods that really aren't good for them in order to make them palatable again, which is difficult for our body to process and doesn't serve our health.
The biggest key is knowing that fat doesn't make you fat. In fact, healthy natural fats will actually help you lose weight.
Oats will also spike the blood sugar. I try to stay away from grains and sugars, which will help more than anything.
Check out www.marksdailyapple.com or Dr. Mercola's website for more information that could really help him. The solution isn't what we've been taught!

 

[moolie]

Is ghee better for you than butter? Is it something a person on a diet to lower their high cholesterol should eat?

I know nothing about it... My dad just got a note from the doctor saying his LDL is high, and his triglycerides are VERY high. So, he's eating egg whites and lots of veggies, and my sister will start cooking fish a few times a week for him too. Basically, a no dairy, no red meat diet is what we've been reading is good for him. He LOVES dairy, esp milk (he already drinks 1% milk, though- can he keep drinking that?). He's going to start walking for exercise, the hardest thing for him will be not eating as much salt. He and I boht have a love of salt, and both need to get away from it.

Any info and tips yall can give me would be greatly appreciated- keep in mind we're poor and live a long way from town, so anything we can do to modify th foods we already have or have available at the small grocery store in the next town would work out best.

Yeah, he's starting all of those We have a lot of meat in the freezer thanks to the deer and elk, and he prefers it over beans (though he has a lot of beans! Beans are a staple for all of us lol). He is wanting to try, he is serious about fixing this, so I'm trying to come up with ways that will be easier for him. He went and bought a bunch of spinach and other fresh veggies to get him motivated to start cooking with them

Lunchmeat is a big no-no, and that's what he always takes for lunch... so to come up with good, easy, fast, no-spill, HEALTHY lunches that can be eaten on the run, driving a pickup, is a challenge. That's actually been a challenge for me for a long time, because my hubby has the same kind of job, and I keep going back to balogna sandwiches- any ideas on how to make a healthier version that tastes god cold? Salads are great, but you need 2 hands to eat them and they dont stick with you long.

Ghee is butter, butter is ghee--it's exactly the same thing, just "purified" to remove the water and milk solids so that you are left with only the fat.

Some great ideas already posted, but here's a few more thoughts:

On the eggs thing, there is a ton of conflicting information out there, but from what I've read you should be fine eating "free run" eggs. Super cheap and easy if you have your own birds (avoid the cheap grocery store eggs at all costs). Eating cholesterol in foods doesn't add to the body's cholesterol count, eating the wrong fats and sugars is what's bad for you.

If you have a lot of meat in the freezer, start using it as more of a "condiment" for the flavour and some texture in your cooking, rather than as the "main event" in each meal. Lentil or bean dishes with a bit of meat like chilis and stews are great this way

For keep-on-trucking lunches on the go, make "healthier" sandwich alternatives from leftover home-cooked meat rather than balogna! Add in lots of veggies, anything you can think of, and go light on any sauces other than mustard (mustard has no fat but lots of flavour!) Make your sandwiches with whole wheat pita bread halves (everything goes into the pocket, no mess!) or "wrap style" in whole wheat torillas or lettuce/cabbage leaves. Such a simple switch to make, and so much healthier and tastier.

Make sure he eats a good breakfast to start the day: oatmeal or muesli or granola with fruit and plain yogurt plus something for protein (eggs, lean meat that is not fried, nuts/peanut butter etc.). This will set him up for the day and not make him crave the foods he can't/shouldn't have.

Hope that helps!