Know of Any Great Low Cholesterol, Low Fat Cookbooks?

My dad has a great diet that he's put together. You can access it on his website www.franksherwood.com His diet is based on the American Heart Association diet - they also publish a cookbook as well.

My son went through this at age 5. The reason for him was stress. He got over it when things got better for him.

Hi Linda,

It's more important to know which foods to eat and contrary to what we hear every day on tv about cholesterol lowering drugs, etc.. we need good fat in our diet everyday. Did you know that 75% of your brain is myelin which is a fatty subtance like cholesterol. Without it we would loose much of our cognitive ability. A really good book is The Paleo Diet. It's what is called the "hunter-gatherer" diet and is very healthy. It guides you to good lean meats, vegetables, fruits nuts and grains. The Mediterainian Diet is also good.

It will also help you loose weight or at least stabilize your weight, if necessary. It's important to supplemant your daily diet as well with really good nutraceutical products. We need really good fats like Olive oil, Coconut oil, Organic butter, etc. and Omega oils (3 and 9) we get enough 6's in so many of the foods that we eat, especially processed stuff, which we need to cut out of our diet as much as possible. Stuff like that is made with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats,and white flour. And it makes your triglycerides go up which in turn causes your cholesterol to go higher, as well.

About me: I am 62 years young, have had two angioplasties, a triple bypass,3 back surgeries, double knee arthroscopic surgery and I do not take any medication of any kind nor aspirin. I feel half my age and have a deep passion to help other people to know that what we consume is so important. I do take some really great Organic supplemantation called Dr Organics. My husband (of 40 years) was able to get off of his blood pressure med after 11 years and his BP is lower today than it ever was on the drugs. And he feels like a new person and is happy. There are wonderful natural alternatives, including foods. I did low fat after my heart surgery because the Dr's scared me half to death but, now I know better. Praise God, I am 21 years post open heart surgery and feel awesome. I am not pushing these products on you, but knowledge is power and we need to educate ouselves. It's mearly another resource for you. I have done alot of reaearch, taken many classes, etc. God bless you for taking action for your Dad, yourself and you precious family, I commend you. If you have any desire to check out the products that we take, the website is www.drorganics.com/9409558. If you have any questions for me, my email is ____@____.com. I wish you God's very best on your quest for divine health!!

T.

I don't know of any cookbooks off the top of my head but I have a few suggestions:

1. Really cut down on the dairy products except for skim cottage cheese, the hard cheeses like parmesan... I stopped eating soft cheeses and the like and my cholesterol finally went down.

2. Really up the fiber in your meals....lots of fruits and veggies. When I do, I crave sugar and fatty things less, and if I do have a treat, I don't eat the whole bag of chips or whatever...

3. Stay away from processed foods and read labels. TV dinners, even so called healthy breakfast bars etc. may contain a lot of those nasty fats and high sugar. Some things, even like store spaghetti sauce, contain too much fat and sodium.

Good Luck -- if I come across a cook book I'll let you know

The American Heart Assoc. has some great ones. The one I have is the quick and easy cookbook. Many are delicious! You may want to check them out.

Linda,

I was diagnosed with hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis (high cholesterol) at the age of 18 in 1991. I had a cardiologist tell me to cut all of the FAT out of my diet. I lost close to 20 lbs and guess what? My bad cholesterol went UP! I eventually went on Lipitor, but it wasn't until 4 years ago when I tried the Dr. Phil Ultimate Weight Loss Solution Cookbook and read Sugar Busters that I was able to control my cholesterol - even better than with medication. It explained a connection between refined flours, sugars and cholesterol and I finally learned to control it.

Here is the thing that is recently being discovered - and a lot of old school doctors still don't know. Sugar and white / refined breads, flours, pastas and rice will affect your cholesterol WORSE than having "healthy fats" from nuts, fish and olive oils will.

Have your parents read SugarBusters - it is a quick and easy read. Get the cookbook. The Dr. Phil cookbook is a little fancier. Switch everything to whole grain. Read the ingredients, not just the nutritional content. If they see the words "hydrogenated oil, high-fructose corn syrup, enriched flour, or sugar" DO NOT EAT. Bread is really tricky. In the entire bread section, you might find 1-2 kinds that are truly whole wheat and sweetened with honey only. Just because it says "100% whole wheat" or "whole grain" doesn't mean it is good for you. You have to read the fine print. If money isn't an issue, Great Harvest Bread Company is a great place to get healthy bread. Or you can make it yourself.

Make sure peanut butter is the kind with peanuts, salt and no other ingredients. Jelly should be made with fruit and nothing else. (Smuckers makes this.) If you can't pronounce an ingredient, chances are you don't want to eat it. The healthiest foods are the ones closest to what you find in nature. That means frozen dinners, convenience foods and foods that you are not sure how they are even made are not good choices. The bulk of the grocery shopping should be done on the outskirts of the store, where it needs to be restocked frequently because the food is fresh. The stuff that can sit on the shelves endlessly in the middle of the store is generally not very good for you. There are exceptions, but this is a good general rule.

If your parents are simple cookers, go simple. Example...

Breakfast can be a hot or cold cereal (Kashi is a great brand. Remember to read the ingredients because most cereals contain sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Evaporated cane juice is the way to go.) Add fresh fruit, light yogurt, low fat cottage cheese, fruit juice, (100% juice only,) toast with apple butter or jelly on it. I drink vanilla soy milk and love it. Low fat is the next best choice if your parents don't like soy or rice milk. Organic cereal bars are good, just watch the ingredients - no high fructose corn syrup. 1-2 eggs a week is okay, but no more.

Lunch can consist of sandwiches with the "good bread," low fat cheese and LEAN deli meat. PB&J is good, homemade or low sodium / healthy choice soup is good. Salads with non fat dressing and topped with LEAN ham, chicken, turkey are good. Make sure and eat LOTS of fresh veggies.

Dinner can consist of brown rice, whole wheat pasta, lean meats seasoned with herbs and spices, sweet potatoes, steamed veggies, etc. Beans are a really good choice for protein that doesn't add cholesterol. Fish has healthy omega 3 and is also a good choice for 1-2 times per week.

Snacks should consist of fresh veggies and fruits, whole grains, low fat dairy products and plain nuts.

Most "healthy" eating cookbooks I have found aren't that healthy, they just cut back on a little bad stuff or have one good ingredient, but still contain plenty of bad stuff.

You may want to consider having your cholesterol checked. And you may also want to have your daughter's checked pretty soon. My daughter's cholesterol was near 200 (medicating level) at her 2 year old appointment. It took a while to figure out it was the Gerber Graduates foods, white rice, white pasta, white potatoes, white tortillas and not quite whole wheat bread that did it. The Pediatrician told me to cut the fat out of her diet - useless. But when I cut out the "white and refined" her cholesterol thankfully went back to normal.

Best of luck,
S.

How about a magazine subscription? www.lightandtasty.com -- real food with real ingredients!

You may already know this, but an easy solution is to use egg whites instead of whole eggs in any recipe and to substitute apple sauce for oils in baked goods. My husband can be pretty picky about "healthy" stuff, and these changes slide right by him :) good luck!

Linda, there is a website, www.christinacooks.com, that I recently checked out which offers great advice on healthy eating! If your parents are willing to change a few items in their diet(mainly to whole foods), then this site will benefit them both greatly.
It's created by Christina Pirello, who also has a cooking show and I'm sure some cookbooks. Anyway she has lots of information on her site about what various foods can do for the body and their nutritional values. She herself went through a total diet makeover when she was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 26. She changed her diet with the help of a book called "The Cancer Prevention Diet". After folowing the diet for a couple of months the doctors said her blood was changing and told her to keep doing what she was doing, because they didn't have an explanation for it. So after about a year and a half her blood tests showed no signs of cancer. That was 16 years ago.
I've recently introduced a few whole grains into my family's diet, flaxseed meal(helps lower bad cholesterol), whole wheat flour and quinoa(pronounced keen-wa),all of which are whole grains, highly nutritious and to my surprise great tasting.
Another site is www.bobsredmill.com. If you click on the whole grain resources section there are links to info on the health benefits of whole grains and other foods.
I hope this info is helpful to you and your parents, and I hope you'll check out these sites. They both offer recipes to try including casseroles and desserts. Good luck! C.

My dad recently experienced heart failure due to blockage so we too have been researching healthy alternatives. Ironically, we thought we were eating pretty healthy before! At any rate, I spent hours at Borders leafing through books and ended up purchasing "Cholesterol for Dummies" for Dad. I also found 2 good cookbooks put out by the American Heart Assoc. Like you, I was interested in recipes that had easily accessible ingredients as my parents live is a rural community and don't have easy access to specialized products. I also did a number of online searches over the holidays for heart healthy baked goods and found a lot of information!Something else I found to be extremely helpful was to meet with a dietician at our local grocery store in Omaha. I had Dad come with me and we discussed healthy options. She then took us shopping in the store and taught us how to read labels and what was healthy versus "not so much!" Good luck!

Hi Linda-
I'm a wellness coach. We teach people how to eat right- I"m also an herbalife distributor and you can check out our stuff at http://www.mydietshop.org
One of our Doctors wrote a book- the colorful diet- Dr. David Heber. We work with people one on one to help them make these choices.
We also have great heart healthy products- that lower cholesterol naturally. You can listen to a talk at
1-800-405-2236 passcode 11105895# given by two of our doctors on them- one is a nobel prize winner!!
Hope that helps some.
I'm out of town for 2 weeks- but will be happy to answer any questions you have when I return.
My email is ____@____.com

B. Jarmoluk

Have you tried this one yet? Its online by Leanne Ely - she is a contributer to FLYLADY. Anyway, check out
www.savingdinner.com It ahs great recipes along with easy tips, menu plans AND a shopping list!! Just compare the shopping list with what you already have in your pantry and fridge and then head off to the store! Its been great. Its a great way to save money too!

"The SONOMA diet". Excellent!!

Not sure of cook books but I do know that Omega 3's & Fiber help with cholesterol. So adding flax see(ground up) to oatmeal, cereals, or anything really is a great way to get extra omega 3's. Fish is a great souce of omega 3 as well. Adding Fiber to your diet also helps to reduce cholesterol as well, like eating fruits & vegetables, fiber rich foods like whole grains but you can also get fiber shakes. Also cooking with olive oil intead of butter or other oils is much more beneficial.
You can find a lot of recipes and information by just googling cholesterol & healthy recipes as well :-) -D.

Try any of the cookbooks for the South Beach Diet. They are based on the South Beach Diet which was written by a cardiologist. They emphasize a diet of whole grains, veggies, fruit, lean protein, and good fats in moderation. You might want to read the South Beach Diet book to get started. It is a very healthy way of eating for the whole family. It's great that you want to help your dad improve his health as well as improving your family's health. Good luck! Liz

I am diabetic so my needs are a bit different but here are two cookbooks I use a lot:
Better Homes and Gardens: Easy Diabetic Meals
ISBN 069621548-9

Cooking Light: Light and Easy Menus
ISBN 0-8487-2383-X

Although your parents may consider some of the meals or ingredients exotic, I've experimented and found that I really like some of the new flavors, especially since I need to control sugar, carbs, fat, etc. And both cookbooks have basic meals. I don't know if libraries have cookbooks but perhaps you could check that out to try some of the recipes.

Cooking Light magazine also publishes an annual compilation of recipes in the magazine for the year. I have their books for a few years and always find great recipes. I have a second home and those cookbooks are at that home so I don't have the ISBN numbers. I'm also not sure if the bookstores carry them or if you have to order through the magazine Cooking Light.

Good luck!

Have you tried flax seed? It is amazing! It is wonderful for lowering cholesterol. You can buy it anywhere now. We just grind it in a coffee grinder. You can put it in cereal, salads, yogurt, even bake it into things. I'm sure it is better for your body in a raw state though. Also, fish oils and raw coconut oil are great for people with high cholesterol.
I think one lady mentioned subsituting applesauce for oil in baking? That's great advice and it's yummy too!
Good luck!