I don’t know precisely when I started to have high cholesterol levels. But one fine day in 2005, I felt I was gasping after a walk and I had this intuition that I had cholesterol. Went for a blood test along with my mom who already had started taking medicine, to find that I too had it. I did all to reduce weight, which was actually under control and my BMI was right.
I tried different stuff, controlled my diet, no eggs, no red meat and observed lent. I also ensured had lot of fish with Omega 3 fatty acids. The maximum of total cholesterol levels that I could bring down was 230. In between it had gone up to 305. With a a good familial background of cardiac arrest, my father and grand fathers’ from paternal and maternal side died of heart attack. My mom and dad had high cholesterol levels, but I never took medicine. In between when I ate lot of sardine and dates , the HDL levels had gone up but its very difficult to identify what exactly make a difference, because you never just eat one type of food. I never went for medicine as I was told that once you start to take medicines you can never stop it as the cholesterol levels do shoot up after stopping.
I recently came to to know that fenugreek can bring down cholesterol levels and it was not very difficult to try. Thanks to Fr. Paul Kynickal for his advice. The prescription was to put some fenugreek 15 or so seeds in to a small glass of water at night and drink the water and fenugreek seeds in the morning with an empty stomach. I tried for one month and here’s the result. There were no massive food restrictions and no exercise and of course no other medicines.
Here’s the American Heart Association recommended values http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4500
Date | Sugar | Total (<200) | TG | HDL(60 above) | LDL | VLDL | LDL/HDL | chol/hdl(<5) |
03-02-2009 | 84 | 248 | 174 | 43 | 170 | 34.8 | 3.96 | 5.77 |
04-03-2009 | 98 | 246 | 202 | 68 | 138 | 40 | 2.03 | 3.61 |
The main difference is the increase in HDL levels. I’m continuing the treatment and I’ll post the next results within a month. Now with no non-veg, the difference should be more. A bit of walking is also planned.
Side effects : I felt a craving for sweets, apparently fenugreek brings down sugar levels too!
Here are some other benefits of fenugreek, that’s not confirmed 🙂 but found on the net.
- Discalimer :I’m not responsible for authenticity of the statements below and the consequences of excessive use or abuse of fenugreek
- Fenugreek seed is widely used as a galactagogue (milk producing agent) for lactating women, I don’t know the consequence for men 😉
- Fenugreek is mainly used as digestive aid. It is ideal for treating sinus, lung congestion, reduces inflammation and fights infection. source : wikipedia
- Supplements of fenugreek seeds were shown to lower serum cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein in human patients and experimental models of hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyecridemia (Basch et al., 2003).
- It reduces blood sugar level.
- Reduce menstrual discomfort
- Minimize symptoms of menopause
Update : 2013 My last attempt of 1 month fenugreek without exercise has proved no change in cholesterol levels. But gooseberry juice has done wonders, reduced total cholesterol level from 270 to 230 without any exercise
This is probably an old blog from you. I also suffer from high cholesterol and triglycerides and it runs in the family as well. As of now I am on a low or zero carbs diet. Lost weight. One can have food with protein. US docs advocate eating lean cut pork. Pork is not considered red meat anymore. Lean chicken etc. Lot of green salads and completely avoiding wheat and rice will help. Well, all said and done I will know by end of the month when I do my next bloodwork. How is your levels now?
Nice of you to share on my blog. Had quit blogging, but now resuming and just restored from backups.
I like pork and didn’t know that pork is no more considered as red meat. I don’t eat much meat but eat fish.
Found that sardine increases HDL like anything even if fried in coconut oil(from our mill :-)no hydrogenation,refining and no exposure to high temperatures).
Here are my last three check up values
Date Sugar Total TG HDL LDL VLDL
12-02-2013 87 278 128 57 195 26 after a month of fenugreek there was no effect
30-03-2013 85 239 180 49 154 36 daily glass of gooseberry juice for around 50 days with no exercise and no egg
13-07-2013 81 275 201 45 190 40 no excersise, no juice but just tension 🙂
Hi ,
Thanks for info.
I have recently started using fenugreek powder (Vellife Fenugreek – Orange flavored)
It seems to be effective – I haven’t yet checked cholesterol yet. (I m using for weigh loss)
Will keep you posted my progress .
You can check more details by below link
http://www.vellife.in