I was still stunned to learn my cholesterol levels where above 395 as I left my doctors office, I was 40 years old, not a smoker, not drinking, physically active. How was this happening to me in the first place. The doctors words still resonating in my head; we have to lower your cholesterol!
Lots of thoughts started crossing my mind, the main one being that my family has a history of predisposition to everything sickness related in the medical books; cancer, heart attacks, diabetes, stroke, etc. you name it, we have it.
On top of that my wife was having a full time passionate romance with a book of recipes about the wonderful Mexican traditional food and therefore I was having a passionate affair with the fruits of that relationship. Dear God, nobody cooks green chicken enchiladas like her!
But anyway back to my more worrisome thoughts that day. It came to my mind what would happen to my three great awesome kids and my loving wonderful wife if one day I am not able to take care and provide for them anymore and all because of the scarring words heart disease, clogged arteries and so on, I was determined to do something about it.
And as anyone nowadays, I resorted to my keypad and computer screen to do some research about the best ways to fight down my cholesterol levels along with the advise from my doctor and found out that oatmeal is very good at lowering cholesterol levels, not the instant type but the Steel Cut Oats.
This type of oats do not come in flakes like the most common oats we know but are grain-shaped, cut into little pieces, they take longer to cook (I cook enough for two days in a row with fat free milk for about thirty minutes, I eat one portion in the morning for breakfast and save the other portion on the fridge for next days breakfast)
This Steel Cut Oats have a creamy and nutty flavor like and along with some honey, fruit, a few slivered almonds and some cinnamon powder in the mix makes a great and healthy cholesterol lowering breakfast. I started taking this oatmeal breakfast right after we ended our daily romance with those delicious but fat laden Mexican dishes my wife was cooking day in and day out for our family, I still have my green chicken enchiladas plate once in a while but without the tons of melted cheese and gallons of Mexican cream we used to pour in our plates before.
The important part is that after 3 months of following a low fat diet and having this delicious oatmeal dish for breakfast my cholesterol level came down to 170 and it had remained like that since. Of course I still have that breakfast on a daily basis, stick to the low fat diet and do moderate exercise.
What makes this oats so beneficial is the soluble fiber which turns into a gel type substance that once in the digestive tract traps the bile produced by the liver for digestion purposes and since this bile contains cholesterol and its removed when one goes to the restroom the body needs more cholesterol to produce bile then it takes it from the bloodstream, one more good thing about soluble fiber is that it also stabilizes your blood sugar so it wont drop so fast and you do not go hungry for longer periods of time, this might help you lose some weight also, not a bad way to start your day eh!
It had worked wonders for me and I hope it does for you to, its very easy to find Steel Cut Oats. You can buy them at your health store or most supermarkets, I buy it in bulk for around 80 cents a pound. It certainly beats the cost of an open heart surgery.
I'm 46 years old now and eat more sensibly, I take 30 minute walks 3 or 4 times a week and enjoy being with my family, I believe worthy doing whatever it takes to be healthy so I can be around them. And this is one delicious easy way to accomplish that goal. So go and learn ways to lower your cholesterol.
No comments:
Post a Comment