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
