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HEALTH & DIET CENTERS
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HEALTH & DIET CENTERS
How Diet Changes One Woman's Cholesterol Numberspage 1 of 5 Several years ago, Alabama pediatrician Laura Sawaya-Cortez thought she knew just about everything there is to know about cholesterol—except her own numbers. “I didn’t want to know,” she now admits, since she suspected they were probably too high. Ten years earlier, when she went to a local cholesterol-screening program, her numbers were above normal. “But I was in my mid-twenties then and it wasn’t something I worried about,” she says. Last March, motivated by her family history, she finally had her numbers checked with a fasting blood test—and discovered that they were well into the danger zone.
You might think a doctor would follow her own doctor’s advice. But when Sawaya-Cortez’s physician suggested that she start taking a cholesterol-lowering statin drug, she said no. Or at least, not yet. Before she began a medication that she might have to take for the rest of her life, she wanted to see if she could bring the numbers down herself, following the familiar advice that many physicians give their patients. She and her husband cut way back on red meat. They started eating more fish and turkey and switched from whole milk to soymilk. They helped themselves to lots of fruits and vegetables. And within a few months her total cholesterol had dropped from 226 to 177, landing firmly in the the safe zone. Her LDL (bad) cholesterol was down an impressive 50 points, from 161 to 111. “Frankly, I was amazed. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible.” Stories like hers might once have inspired Steven Peterson, 55, a business consultant in northern California . Like Sawaya-Cortez, the last thing he wanted to do was take drugs after he learned that his cholesterol numbers were through the roof. “I tried everything. Oats for breakfast. Soy protein smoothies for lunch. No red meat. Olive oil instead of butter. Nuts for snacks. When I read somewhere that broccoli sprouts might lower cholesterol, we actually started growing them in a window garden in the kitchen. No luck. When Peterson went back to have his cholesterol rechecked after six months, it was slightly higher than before. He left the doctor’s office with a prescription for Lipitor, one of the family of leading cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Next Page » Also of Interest10 Steps to a Healthy Heart Related RecipesBacony Barley Salad with Marinated Shrimp
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