Help! Need Tasty Recipes for High Cholesterol DH

Hi J.,
try www.mealsforyou.com
it's a wonderful recipe site that has an "advanced search" option that will let you search for recipes by low cholesterol content among many other options. i've used their recipes many times with great success!
enjoy!
M. M.

Check out the South Beach Diet cookbooks. The "diet" was actually started out for high cholesterol and heart disease and has evolved into a weight loss diet. Look at your local bookstore for some ideas. Good luck to you and your husband and congrats on the addition to your family

Hi J.,

We went through a similar situation about 3 years ago. My husband's cholesterol was 286 and his Dr. wanted to prescribe medication. We are not proponents of meds, so went looking for a more natural solution. We stumbled on a company called Wildtree. They advertised no MSG, which attracted me immediately because my Mother is very sensitive to MSG. Their products also contain no artificial anything and are a healthier choice. So, we started cooking with Wildtree. Within 3 months, my husbands cholesterol went down 80 points and since then, even more. His cholesterol is safely under 200 now and I am a representative for Wildtree. You can take a look at our products at www.trudyanderson.mywildtree.com and let me know if you have any questions. I am a firm believer of eating naturally. What we put into our bodies is what we can expect in return. We have since found that Wildtree is great for diabetics, ADHD and many other food related problems. Congratulations on your new little Rookie!

Hi, go on eBay and buy The New McDougall Cookbook, or The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook. You can also get free recipes at his website www.drmcdougall.com. Look in the newsletter archives (each newsletter has five or so recipes). Ive lost 70 pounds and my cholesterol is down to 150. These recipes really work!

trade in those steaks for lean meats, low fat cheeses and COMPLEX carbs. Balance everything and get out and move the body!

My husband had an angioplasty a few years ago and we switched to ground turkey (white meat only, which is more expensive of course) which is 99% fat free. I use it for everything we previously used ground beef (or even regular ground turkey). Spaghetti, enchiladas, meat loaf, etc. He also uses fat-free cheese (I would rather not!) and fat-free sour cream.

When we're not eating some version of ground turkey, we're eating chicken (he eats breast only) or turkey. Occasionally we have lean pork chops and rarely we'll have a very lean cut of beef. You may have noticed no mention of fish! My husband doesn't like any kind of seafood, otherwise fish would be a good choice. Of course lots of salad and vegies, whole grain breads, brown rice. All with fat-free or low fat margarine and salad dressing.

You'll find some of these substitutes easy to make and others just unacceptable. Your hubby's doctor may refer him to a dietitian. Oh, Cooking Light is a great magazine with delicious recipes that usually aren't too complicated.

Good Luck!

South Beach diet does a great job of working on cholesterol. I found it hard to keep the ingredients on hand and the recipes were very involved for a busy mom. I switched to their South Beach quick and easy: 200 30 minute meals. They are still fabulously low in all the bad stuff and high in the good stuff, but it's easy to make, five ingredients or less and fast. You can get the fast and easy recipe book at Barnes & Noble or on Amazon.com for really cheap.

even though the title of the book seems quite out of date in the post-Atkins diet culinary world, "Jane Brody's Good Food Book-Living the High Carbohydrate Way", which my MIL gave me as a gift several years ago, has a lot of tasty low-salt, low-fat recipes that incorporate a lot of vegetables and whole grains. I also find it to be a handy reference for things like cooking times for dried beans, recipe substitutions, etc.
http://www.amazon.com/Jane-Brodys-Good-Food-High-Carbohyd...

I 2nd the suggestion for allrecipes.com. I love that site!

My Pasta Dish

2-3 cups whole wheat pasta (any type works fine you can also use egg noodles for a wheat free option)
1 TB dried parsley
1 TSP dried basil
1 TSP dried oregano
½ TSP pepper flakes
1 TSP garlic powder (or 3 fresh cloves)
1-2 red bell peppers
1 cup carrots
3 stalks celery
1 large onion (any type works here, and you can always add more)
3 zucchini
2 yellow summer squash
½- 1/3 package of frozen butternut squash
1 can 12 oz tomatoes
½ package frozen spinach
½ cup egg substitute (or 2 eggs)
½ - 1cup ricotta cheese (I use fat free and the smaller amount but for cheese lovers feel free to do as you please)
1 ½- 2 cups shredded mozzarella (whatever it takes to completely cover casserole)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1-2 TB olive oil

LARGE sauté pan
9x13 baking dish
Pot for boiling pasta or container for microwaving it
Blender

On medium heat warm oil and spices (except garlic as it tends to burn). Dice veggies and sauté them (takes 10-20 minutes).

Cook pasta for only half the time you normally would (you want it under cooked so it will absorb some of your sauce later- helps disguise that it’s wheat pasta and prevents dish from getting watery).

Add garlic powder to veggies after veggies are cooked ¾ of the way (I like them still crunchy so I only cook them for about 10 minutes- but feel free to make them soft).

Cut the spinach and butternut squash while frozen so you can put unused portion right back in the freezer. Defrost spinach (about 2-4 minutes in a microwave safe bowl at regular heat) and wring out water in a CLEAN dishtowel. Defrost squash (will be watery in texture). Put spinach, squash, egg substitute, tomatoes, and ricotta cheese in blender and mix until spinach is broken up. (If you are a big fan of ricotta fell free to set aside and use it to layer later.- if not you can omit it completely)
Layering:
Put pasta on bottom of dish and cover with sauce. (Put ricotta cheese on top of sauce if you left it out.) Cooked veggies are next, then smother in mozzarella cheese and sprinkle top with Parmesan.

Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes (cheese will burn if you leave it in too long so when you first do this start checking sooner in case your oven runs hot).

The great thing about this dish is you can use just about any veggie or amount of pasta and veggies and it works. I blend up the spinach because I hate the taste but if you like it try layering it instead so you can actually taste it.

You can add some cooked chicken to it or omit the butternut squash if you like a strong tomato flavor for your sauce, I also like on occasion to use a can of artichoke hearts (in water) drained, chopped finely, and sprinkled on top of the veggies under the cheese.

Make sure you remember to use LOW FAT cheese to fit with your husband's diet.

Hi there!
There are some great websites with rated recipes you can take a look at. One of my favorites is http://allrecipes.com/
You can click on "healthy living" (left hand column) and choose the "low-cholesterol" or "low-fat" diet recipes. I find these type of websites very useful because you can read what other people think of the recipe before you even try it. You can search by keyword or by highest rating.

I like to make a zucchini cassarole. Cook ground turkey with fresh garlic and onions then mic with stewed tomatoes and 4-7 skliced zucchinis. Mix together well then season more with garlic salt and add low fat mozzarella then bake at 350 for 45min to 1 hour.

Hi J.,

You may want to take a look at the South Beach Diet cookbook by Arthur Agatston. I have been using it quite a bit since my husband's cholesterol tested high, and I haven't been disappointed with any of the recipes. Not only they are healthy, but tasty for the whole family, and easy to make. His cholesterol levels have improved just with a healthy diet (he has also started to eat more fish) and exercise.

Good Luck!

One fast change that works well....stop using butter and replace it with olive oil. There are several levels of flavor strength. When stir frying or satueing I may use one with more flavor. I use a very light on for baking. No one can tell the difference and it is healthier. When baking you can use applesauce in place of oil or fat the baked goods come out very moist. When I started doing this my chelesterol count came way down.

good luck

Hi J.,

I have a wonderful cookbook for you to buy, it is called, "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon. In it you will learn everything you need to know to keep your family healthy. I must warn you that it goes against everything we have been hearing about for the past 30 years. But when you read this book and cook some of the wonderful recipes you will know it is the right way to eat.

By the way, the whole cholesterol thing is wrong, everyone's cholesterol should be at least between 200 and 300 - in the back of "Nourishing Traditions" Sally references her sources and there are many books that are worth reading, especially the one about cholesterol.

Do not let the doctor talk you or your husband into taking drugs to lower cholesterol. They are extremely dangerous (first the lowering of one's cholesterol is harmful, second these drugs have been known to cause cancer). I would also urge you to read Dr. Mercola's website at www.mercola.com and www.westonaprice.org both wonderful resources for all of this info. and much more.

Good luck,
M. S.