The Diet

When they first told us my cholesterol was shooting through the roof, there was not really anything known to man, medicine-wise, that could possibly make a dent in that situation. The only thing “available”, the only one, was … a diet. And a very strict diet, to say the least.

Nowadays, in America, pretty much everyone knows what foods are friendly to keeping your cholesterol down – olive oil, lots of nuts, certain fish, grains, beans, and the likes.

You would think these are not very varied choices, but back when I was 8, in Romania, the spectrum was even narrower than this! The only thing they knew for sure was that nothing that comes from an animal can be good for cholesterol. So, back then, the doctors commanded my parents to keep every animal product out of my diet. So, no meat of any sorts, no eggs, no milk or any kind of dairy products were allowed. The only things allowed were lots of green veggies, lots of fresh fruit, and lots and lots of apples. For some reason, they had some research available that stated that two (yes, as in 2) pounds of apples a day are beneficial to removing cholesterol out of your blood stream.

So, thus started my “apple diet”. My mom and my grandmother pretty much force-fed me apples for quite a while. As I have said before, to this day, I cringe when I see apples. After a couple of years of this gruesome diet – the diet also involved almost no condiments, especially no salt, as salt was still believed to be unhealthy for my heart – my mother gave up.

There was no visible change in my numbers, with diet alone, and as a growing kid, she said, my body was in desperate need of proteins to develop. So, she made an “executive” decision to stop any diet. Forever. And for good.

Starting at age probably 10 or so, I gave up any diet. I started eating anything and everything that was given to me. Since for most of my years till I was 21 and moved out of my parents’ home I didn’t choose my food, I ate whatever they gave me. That included things like full fat milk and dairy, fried food, things cooked in lard and full fat butter. In other words, “poison”.

After I moved to the US, and I started reading more about what’s better for you, and after trying different things and actually feeling better, my diet has very much improved. I have never been overweight, but when my numbers were incredibly high, I never felt good. I had chest pains, migraines and a varied range of pains in various parts of my body. The worst, probably, was gout. The most painful and debilitating thing I have ever experienced. When it localized in the cartilages of my sternum, breathing was impossible! So, I have started for a while to look for ways of lighting the “load” on my system, and eating less fatty foods. And it has helped.

I will have to say, though, that I am not a Nazi when it comes to my food. I know and I have seen it first hand that diet alone does not make a difference in my numbers. For people with FH, diet is little help. I have had all doctors, over time, tell me that even if I eat carrots and apples all day long, for the rest of my life and I take no drugs for cholesterol, my numbers are still going to be in the 600’s. It’s just the way my body, and especially my liver, works. So, yes, I try to feed this body healthy things, just on principle alone, but I don’t obsess over it. With the way I look at my disease and my whole life, the purpose is to have a life, not to be an experiment. Mine or anyone else’s.

So, what is my diet today?! I eat mostly chicken, lean turkey and fish. Very seldom, I eat eggs and sometimes shellfish. And although I absolutely love the latter, I don’t have it often. One reason is that it’s really rich in cholesterol, but another one is that zetia really doesn’t like it. I think, because zetia is designed to remove the cholesterol that comes from your diet and block it inside your gut, anything with a high content of it will put your stomach in knots. It has taken me years to get used to taking zetia daily! There is cholesterol in a lot of things I eat, and I used to feel deathly ill when taking zetia and eating anything with cholesterol in it. So, I try to avoid things that upset my stomach terribly.

I buy the multigrain or wheat breads, usually. I never use butter. I always use Smart Balance, as routine. Smart Balance is cholesterol free, but the saturated fat content is quite high, for me – 3g, so I use it sparingly. I have also used Benecol, but cost has sometimes prevented me to get it on a regular basis. I have also used the fat free “spray” kind of spreads. I almost never eat dairy products. Except for the occasional pizza, or cheese and crackers I have at a gathering, any dairy products leave me cold. I never eat cereal with milk. I do eat granola bars with lots of oats and honey for breakfast. Oatmeal and grits are also some of my breakfast favorites. Otherwise, multigrain toast with Smart Balance is another option.

I also try to use “brown” anything – wheat couscous, multigrain pasta, brown rice. Also quinoa.

I am not a big fan of fruits, but I do eat them daily, just as a safe measure. But never apples, of course. (Red) grapes, oranges, strawberries are some of my favorites. Before my acid reflux got out of control, I loved bananas. I like veggies, if they are cooked, and I am not a big fan of salads, but I eat them.

I eat lots of olives, and I cook with olive and canola oils only. I do this, because of what’s been written about their benefits in the past few years. I try to get “fake” stuff, as my husband calls, meaning fat free sour cream, cheese,milk (milk only for cooking with it), and fat free salad dressings. I also get just turkey bacon, and turkey hotdogs, instead of the “real” things.

My favorite fish is trout, which is a cold water fish, usually recommended for those who watch their cholesterol counts.

I eat three meals a day, and I am religious about them. Snacks are optional, but the three meals are a must. They balance my day. I try to make my lunch the heaviest meal, as I burn more calories during the day than I do after dinner.

With food and me, “everything in moderation” is the motto. If I travel, and again, I have little control of what I eat, I eat anything. And occasionally, I will have one egg, or a hotdog. I virtually never eat beef, pork, or lamb. I love duck, but I don’t have it more than once or twice a year, for the fact that it’s a very fatty bird.

The rule of thumb when I read labels is: try to get foods with no cholesterol and the saturated fat around 1 g. Of course, any meat will have one or the other or both. But I try to get the leanest meat possible.

With this kind of diet and the medicines I take, I have managed to, according to latest tests, pretty much stop my plaque deposits, and to feel better than I felt before. I still have chest pains. I still get out of breath on a fast walk, or a cold or hot day, but the angina is much, much rarer than say 10-15 years ago. I used to get a lot of liver pains. Now, they will tell you that your liver doesn’t hurt, because there are no nerve endings in the liver. But I used to get these very sharp pains under my right ribs, and the only thing that’s there is the liver. They used to tell me it was an enlarged liver and that’s why the pain was there. I have not gotten those in many, many years, thankfully.

I also used to get migraines pretty much daily. I still get them, but now, they’re more like 3-4 times a month, which I see as a big improvement. I think diet+drugs+lifestyle in general has helped me. I am not preaching it, I am just sharing it as a testimony of what I have seen on my own.

One of the great resources for a healthy diet for me was Doctor Ornish’s book. You can find a wealth of information in this book about every aspect of living with cholesterol and heart disease, and also lots of tips on diet and even recipes that are heart friendly. I will refer to it often, because honestly, I have learned a lot from it, and I am grateful that it crossed my path. As I mentioned before: diet alone will not help us, FH people, but why add to the problem, right? I like helping my body with what I can.

And you really don’t have to be obsessed over what you eat, in my opinion. Just like with everything in life, once you learn a few rules, it becomes a lifestyle, and second nature after a while. There will be some things that are good for you, but you’ll hate (like me with apples and fruits in general). But there will be something you’ll like – and our spectrum is not all that narrow. So, enjoy testing, and searching, and finding!