Sample Meal Plans for High Cholesterol

Her higher cholesterol may or may not pose a health issue. As far as we know right now, only LDL that's been oxidized really poses a problem, and knowing if her LDL is oxidized would require further testing. If, however, you adopt a conservative and careful attitude about it and assume that she MAY have a problem, then you would want to construct meal plans around preventing oxidation and inflammation--antioxidant to prevent further LDL oxidation and the damage it causes; anti-inflammatory because cholesterol elevations commonly occur in response to inflammation. Adding liver supporting foods may also be helpful, since it's the liver that's responsible for producing healthy cholesterol responses.

So: lots of colorful vegetables and fruits; Omega-3's (salmon, sardines, flax, chia, pumpkin seeds, walnuts); olives and olive oil; liver foods (beets, artichokes, asparagus, avocados, bitter leafies--arugula, endive, dandelion greens); good clean protein in a Diet Direction you've deemed appropriate for her; maybe emphasize starchy vegetables over grains for her unrefined starches. (Cholesterol can go up in response to carbohydrates, and while this holds true most often for those who eat lots of refined carbs, some people have issues with grains in general and need to be careful. She can experiment and note trends over time.)

"Note trends over time" reminds me of another issue. If this friend has "high cholesterol" based on the results of just one test, I would highly recommend she not spend too much time stressing out about it. Cholesterol rises and falls with what we've recently eaten, with stress (because of blood sugar issues), with time of day, and probably with a host of other variables. I've been very fortunate to have found a doctor for whom the word "worry" basically doesn't exist. He's always good at reminding me that for most lab tests we watch for TRENDS OVER TIME, not isolated results. I have found this to be an extremely important concept.

One other factor that comes to mind is age. Is this woman menopausal? Cholesterol goes up after menopause. Steroid hormone synthesis is cholesterol-dependent, and when hormones are low, cholesterol goes up in an attempt to get more produced. And here's the clincher, from Uffe Ravnskov's book, The Cholesterol Myths:If high cholesterol is the only risk factor a post-menopausal woman has for heart disease, it's NOT a factor at all. There are, in fact, some studies showing that she-with-the-highest-cholesterol wins (lives longest). Not so for men, evidently. If your friend has a doctor who wants her to be on statin drugs, you may want to suggest she do some reading on these topics before proceeding with these drugs. Maybe find a new doc.

And, lastly, as a hopefully inspiring anecdote, my own cholesterol went from "ideal" to pretty darn high when I entered menopause. My weight didn't change nor did my lifestyle, and my diet has only gotten more healthful over the years. My Total Cholesterol is now generally in the mid-220's to mid-230's-----high enough to drive most doctors to the prescription pad. My LDL, of course, is high, since it contributes to the total---generally about 130. My HDL, however, is also very high, and my ratios are all in the low heart disease risk category. I also do a test called the VAP Cholesterol, which breaks the readings down into further sub-fractions, so we can determine if my LDL is light and fluffy (good) or small and dense (bad). I'm light and fluffy. I have 2 doctors (they don't know each other) and they both say, "Well, your cholesterol ratios are great. You just have a lot of it" and leave it at that, because this is my only heart disease "risk factor". So, if this is your friend's situation, I hope this helps her.