Showbags

Your diet seems very healthy so it's difficult to know what to add, salt, refined carbs and anything with sugar in it are the first things I excluded from my diet. What I added back in was oatmeal for breakfast and this does an excellent job of helping to lower cholesterol.

Yes plain yogurt tastes like crap, try adding some fruit to it to change the taste.

Spinach is great for many aspects of a diet, helps keep blood sugar low and is generally good all round.

Using olive oil for frying works very well, perhaps give it a try.

Cheese is protein and small amounts of hard cheese are allowed in most diets.

Just wondering how is your weight and what exercise you do, those could be parts of the jigsaw - 45 minutes a day for four days a week on the running machine will get your numbers down, trust me .

Alcohol is really bad for cholesterol, it raises the triglyceride levels so best left alone.

Dietary cholesterol comes in many forms, chicken is a big offender, lean grades of pork are a better option.

Yeah, this is one of the confusing things to me. I do not eat much junk food at all, no MacDonalds to speak of, maybe twice a year etc and less of any other rubbish, a donut maybe 4 times a year etc.

Oatmeal is a good idea, might switch from toast to this each morning for a while.

I like dried fruits, so can add to it dried sultanas, cranberries and whole raw almonds as well as the yoghurt and fresh bananas or kiwi.

Spinach we tend to already it quite regularly.

I know olive oil is supposed to be good, wondering what else is out there.

As for my weight, not too bad, little bit over but not much. I am 180cm tall and 83 kilo's.

Exercise is the big let down, I hate doing it for exercise sake, it bores me to tears and I cannot edoing it for long periods and consistently. Riding a bike is about the only thing I can tolerate and even then after a few days I am bored.

Alcohol is already low, no beer and when I do drink it is either gin and tonic or whiskey and soda. But those times are few and far between. As example, last drink was 1 g&T 3 weeks ago, before that was maybe 3 months and 2 drinks etc. Last big night was in March.

Chicken, yes we do eat a lot of chicken.

It looks like PT and Thaksin are going to trash yet another high season for Thailand.

Good, you get what you deserve.

First question...

Does plain natural yoghurt always taste like crap?

Should it be sour or is the tub I am eating off?

Should cheese be completely cut out of the diet, or is it ok in small doses still?

What else should be excluded?

We already do not add sugar and salt to anything home cooked or when eating out if possible.

We eat brown rice only.

We do not drink sodas or other rich sugary drinks such as ice teas or processed fruit juices.

I drink alcohol very little, maybe once every 2-3 months currently.

We eat bread, but usually only whole wheat or multigrain type breads.

Lots of vegetables and I guess a fair amount of meats, but also fish.

We are changing the way we cook and trying no more oils or at least find the ones that are ok to cook with.

Hoping people can add diet tips here for reducing cholesterol and blood pressure by food and drink alone.

Foods that you can add to your diet to help reduce both and foods that should be cut out to help also.

Also ask questions and any food conscious people may be able to assist.

I got given the results of a blood test recently and have high BP and the Cholesterol levels were all high, especially the bad one.

Told the doc I do not like medication and usually never take it, so would prefer to tackle it by diet alone first and exercise.

She said ok I'll give you 3 months, show me a change at next blood test and you will not have to start medication.

So a change is a coming....I think.