Need help for recipe ideas for new diet - doctor called, said cholesterol and triglycerides lvl is high?

Try to go all natural like if something comes from the earth. You can eat chicken and fish, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts. Vegetables and fruits are very good for helping reduce cholesterol but exercise will help even more. Walking 30 minutes every day will work wonders for your triglycerides. Walk for 15 minutes, then turn around and come back, it's doable.

One of my favorite recipes is to cut up a mixture of vegetables like carrots, broccoli, onions, and others you like, put them in a casserole dish, a few crumbled crackers and shredded cheese on top with some spices, cover and bake till the vegetables are tender. You can also add some cooked, cut up chicken before baking...

Learning to eat healthier, and that's basically all your doctor is asking you to do, doesn't mean you automatically look for some fad diet to follow. It's all about commons sense, eating the right foods, and just getting used to it. I LOVE to cook, but keep it healthy, which means low fat, limited carbs, whole grains, knowing your foods.

"High side of normal" means you should get that number down, so don't ignore that. But don't think of it as some sort of punishment. More people should eat healthy, which doesn't mean food can't be great!

Triglycerides are fats carried in the blood from the food we eat. Most of the fats we eat, including butter, margarines and oils, are in triglyceride form. Excess calories, alcohol or sugar in the body are converted into triglycerides and stored in fat cells throughout the body.

Most fruits are high carb (not starchy) foods. They should be in your daily diet but limited. Instead of juices, the body processes the fruit better, so different types of oranges, tangerines, etc. are better.

There are almost no limits when it comes to fish, chicken and turkey. There's also loin pork chops. They are not high fat. There are so many ways to cook these things. There's turkey kielbasa, turkey Italian sausage, etc.

The key to using pasta (whole grain) is keeping the portion small. Consider it a side dish, NOT the main course. So that means being sure to add a nice salad or other vegetable. If you enjoy the salad or veggies, you won't need a huge pasta portion. I recently made an amazing mac & cheese casserole that was low fat. I made it with ww elbow macaroni, skim milk, 2 kinds of reduced fat cheeses, and it was thickened with a roux made with ww flour and olive oil. No butter. Key seasonings for that are nutmeg and dry mustard (yes, common for mac & cheese), and salt & pepper. I made them in 2 little individual casseroles, and at half that as a portion. It was plenty filling.

Tonight I'm having shrimp sauteed in a little olive oil, fresh, crushed garlic, a spice mixture, fresh, finishing it off with a little white wine, fresh dill and parsley. I'll toss some steamed broccoli in with that and put it aside. With that, I'll have ww spaghetti (I'm making my own pasta, but clearly you wouldn't have to do that). Once the pasta is cooked, I'll toss it all into the shrimp and broccoli, and heat for a few minutes. The pasta portion can be small when there's shrimp and broccoli.

If you want it without that pasta, it's still a great dish. Add a nice salad, and you'd be full when done.

Here's a great page you should read for a better understanding of what you need to do, and some diet suggestions.

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/prevention/nut...

Natural Cholesterol Guide?

Mediterranean diet may be ok, but not for me! I hate drenching all foods with olive oil!

Contrary to popular urban myth, eggs, beef, cheese etc are not cholesterol building foods. They are good foods to eat.

Salads are very low grams of carbohydrate foods!! Think in terms of the green stuff as veggies and the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers etc as fruits!!

I follow the South Beach phase 2 food plan for diabetes. As long as I keep my glucose in control, my lipids numbers are also in control!! These books have fantastic menus and recipes! All normal foods! Nothing very special about any of them. The Atkins diet phase 2 is also great!

Dieticians say that dried beans are perfect! I disagree! Yes, they are full of fiber, but they spike my glucose way too much. I much prefer to get the fiber from broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, etc.

All meats, especially red meats, chicken, fish, etc are NO carbohydrate foods unless you bread and fry or bake them!!

Don't stint on the fats even tho the doctor probably warned you to eliminate most of them!! Low carb food plan and low to no fats guarantees failure!! You get the Starvin Marvins and cravings for trying to go low carb and low fat at the same time.

so also read this and decide about the fats in your plan:

http://www.drcranton.com/nutrition/oiling.htm

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/cholesterol/is...

http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/statinalert/

You cannot avoid all carbs, get a glycemic index chart, for diabetics.

Fruits & vegetables are the best carbs; avoid processed foods.

They consist of flour, sugar, salt, & lard, the white death foods.

Avoid red meats with saturated fats, like beef, lamb, pork, etc.

If you can get them locally, try grass-fed meats: elk, venison, buffalo.

Use ground turkey or chicken instead of ground beef.

Eat more poultry & fish, even canned tuna, salmon, or sardines.

cut back on fats and sugar and pastas and potatoes - the best way to lower tryglicides is exercise - like taking a walk every day. Dont eliminate these foods - just cut back and consume more green vegetables and natural fruits instead.

Add protein powder to fairly sweet recipes (like these Rice Krispies treats) to further improve the nutrition.

Skip ordering pizza and make one of these simple crusts at home: gluten-free special potato crust, a quinoa basil crust that's also gluten totally free, or this low-carb cauliflower brown crust area.

Halfway through your food, stop and drink some water and decide should you be really hungry for the rest or in case you are just eating it because it's in your plate.

The best way to get both those numbers down for most people is by losing weight, plus at least some exercise.

First you may want to read my answer here about "cholesterol" and the differences between dietary cholesterol and serum (blood) cholesterol, and more:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201109...

As for triglycerides, the amount actually in your blood ("serum" cholesterol) usually has to do with the amount of fat you're consuming. If you cut back on fats, and rely mostly on the "good" fats, you'll lower than number**...and you'll probably lose weight for free.

The Mediterranean diet relies on lots of "complex carbohydrates" like fruits and veggies (including legumes--lentils, beans, etc) which also contain a lot of fiber, with smaller amounts of meat/fish/poultry and leaner versions of those, as well as a fair amount of olive oil. And many people in areas where a Mediterranean type diet is used don't eat processed foods and get a reasonable amount of exercise.

Meals with a lot of fiber and also meals with fat will make eaters feel full for longer, but the type of fat is important (olive oil is one of the "good" oils so usually okay, but some people with a strong genetic component** may have to cut back on total fat, or take meds). Fiber is always okay, though some people may have to increase it slowly to avoid too much gas while the body adjusts.

I had to cut back on fats after pancreatitis (strong genetic component since I hardly drank at all--the other leading cause--and already ate pretty healthy).

In the beginning I had to restrict my fats *a lot*, then gradually increased them to "reasonable" levels while taking a triglycerides med. That first part was tough, but I did learn *how* to cook and eat all kinds of things that were *high taste* which makes all the difference, even when I was at the lowest levels of fat intake. Nowadays I try to keep my intake to 25 g of fat per day (mostly monosaturated and polyunsaturated plus coconut oil which has recently been given an ultra-healthy bill of health because of new research into medium-chain fats). I also don't deny myself anything... I just eat less of it, portion-wise or even-wise. So for example I still eat pizza but instead of 2 big slices, I'll have one slice with a lot of salad on the side...or I'll have 1-3 bites maximum of almost any food I want which satisfies the *need* and fills the tastebuds, etc.

Knowing all about the types of food there are and nutrition levels/types in each, as well as serving sizes, reading nutrition labels, and more, will probably be necessary to get your numbers (and health) under control.

Foods that have lots of sugar and ones with primarily sugar (like sodas, alcohol, fruit juices, etc) have to be regulated (but you can certainly drink them in moderation--the same as what you'll be doing with fats and all other foods).

You can read more about all that stuff in my answers and links here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201102...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201010...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201105...

sodas

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201107...

fiber

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201105...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201110...

salt & sodium

(.....these 2 links moved below under Sources)

loads of good recipes and ideas here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201101...

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/03/recipe-index.ht... (scroll down to see list of recipe categories)

http://www.drgourmet.com/recipes

** Some people have more of a genetic susceptibility to higher serum cholesterol numbers and/or higher triglyceride numbers, so they have to deal with those things more than other people who may have similar diets/exercise levels/etc. And the younger you are when those elevated numbers show up, the worse it will probably get as you get older.

A few of those people will actually have to take meds to control those the numbers if the genetic component is strong enough.

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