John needs to lower his cholesterol

[John Coloccia]

:::sigh::: But we're pretty determined to keep me off of medication, so I need to make a few tweaks to the diet. First thing I did was cut out alcohol entirely. Why? Because alcohol makes me want to smoke, which makes me want to drink, which makes me want to smoke more, and I've been struggling for years to eliminate those last few cigarettes a week. The trigger is a nice glass of wine or a beer. Anyhow, the booze is now gone and it feels good to be truly smoke free for the first time in 20 years. Apparently that's going to help the HDL and triglycerides.

Next is changing the diet. I'm drastically cutting the red meat to maybe once every 2 weeks, and going up on fish like salmon. I'm filling in with some vegetarian dishes.

Obviously I'm exercising a lot more now too. I stopped for a while due to some injuries but I'm all better now. I think the injuries started all of this nonsense. My weight went up, and the struggle with smoking hasn't helped.

So why this thread? As most have probably noticed (or maybe not) I don't usually post about personal stuff like this, but I thought this would be a great oppurtunity for me to combine two of my great loves. First of all, I love life and I don't want to die with clogged arteries....at least not for another 40 or 50 years. Secondly, I love cooking and good food, and I'm determined to use every ounce of skill I have to create a delicious cholesterol busting menu.

I thought it might be fun to have a thread where we can share our healthy concoctions for others to try.

I'll start us off with my special salad dressing. Now, you have to use this sparingly because it is oil, however it has such a powerful flavor that you can use it sparingly.

Olive Oil (Canola if you wish...I've started blending the two)
Champagne Vinegar
Sliced Jalapenos (pickled in vinegar)
Mustard (dijon, just a dollop)
Honey (not much)
Sea Salt
Pepper Medley (ground)
Black Pepper (ground)
Basil (dry)
Garlic (dry)
Fresh Grated Nutmeg (just a touch)

BTW, go easy on the mustard and honey. This is NOT a honey mustard dressing. The honey is just there for a little sweetness to offset the mustard and the jalapeno. The mustard is mainly there for a little extra kick and body. If it comes out like honey mustard, it's wrong. LOL. Small amounts.

Toss it all in a small food processor, and let'er rip. I have a small processor especially for making dressings and salsas in small batches.

Sorry there's no amounts. I rarely go by measurements so you may need to experiment a bit, but the proportions are really not critical. Yours may not taste exactly like mine, but it will probably be excellent so long as you're reasonable with the amounts.

[David Weaver]

Got a vitamix? I'm not very good at eating vegetables, especially green vegetables that are fairly bitter. I am/was also a sugar hog and at a turning point where I'm going to go from a bit chubby to either back to not chubby or the other direction, and I realize at my age (which probably isn't much different than yours) that means I'm going to cut out the sugar.

One thing about diets that always irks me is that you often end up cutting weight at the expense of muscles, and you end up feeling thin and soft. I'm not exactly muscle bound, but I know one of the things that takes people out later in life is a lack of flexibility and a lack of at least a maintenance level of muscle mass.

My cholesterol is fine, but my BP is borderline high (probably genetic) and I can just control it with diet if I behave. And I could stand to lose 30 pounds.

Our blender busted a couple of months ago (I thought it was chinese made, turns out it wasn't) and I popped a gasket about cheap goods and bought a vitamix.

I'll bet I have had more vegetables in the last 3 months than I've had in the last year total. The only thing I do to eat them is put them in a vitamix mixed with fruit and add ice, with the bulk of the mix being vegetables. The result isn't gourmet, and it's not going to convince you that you're eating ice cream (the ice is gone by the time it's mixed, anyway, it gets blasted into liquid) or milkshakes, but a lot of green vegetables are really tolerable if they are mixed with apples and oranges, and you get to eat the whole vegetable, fibers and all.

I can't contribute much on the cooked side, because I don't get motivated to cook something unless it's going to be something like crepes with a butter/sugar/walnut mix in them, but I can sure dump the garbage processed food and substitute a lot more vegetables if I'm able to cover them up with fruit and blast them into a liquid. By rule we always have at least two type of fresh fruit around, too, and my taste for sugar is getting recalibrated so that it doesn't have to be super sugar overload for me to feel like I'm eating something sweet.

I've supplemented the muscle side by getting Mike Mentzer's book about muscle development, which involves 15 or 20 minutes twice a week rather than hours and hours circuiting around a gym (which I would never do).

[Greg Peterson]

John,

What I do runs contrary to general practice, but it has worked for me.

For six months last year I drank a gallon of whole milk a day, ate ice cream almost every night, consumed plenty of red meat and ate like a pig. My cholesterol level this past February was 80, resting heart rate is 54. In six months I gained 30 pounds -mostly muscle but some fat came along for the ride. No problem, and easy to fix.

I do strength training. To be clear, I do not do body building, I train for functional strength, high weight, low reps. Not interested in big bulging muscles. Many, if not most of the concepts of strength training run contrary to body building. This distinction is lost on most people.

Metabolism is not a function of age, rather it is a function of muscle mass and activity level. Functional strength training builds muscle which in turn increases metabolism.

When I finished off my whole milk, ice cream, red meat regime, I had a little extra fat hanging around. I just converted back to my previous low fat diet and continued my strength training routine. Protein is a key ingredient in building muscle, but so is fat. And the little bit of fat I had accumulated was quickly burned off by my routine.

In your case I am not suggesting you consume a high fat diet. A few Olympic lifts are the trick will get your muscle mass hungry and invigorated. Squats, deadlifts, press (not to be confused with bench press) and the power clean will give you all the functional strength you need. And any excess fat you may have will go towards feeding those muscles as you wake them up.

It is important to consider what attributes you want to accentuate when you design a fitness program. There are a limited number of attributes and the individual has to decide which few attributes they want to accentuate.

Strength, power, endurance, agility and flexibility.

Treadmills, bicycles and the like will increase endurance but add little to strength or power. Olympic lifts will increase strength, power and agility.

In my experience, Olympic lifts do get the heart rate up into the so-call 'fat burning' zone. I ride the stationary bike for 25 minutes, throw in some interval training on the bike to keep it interesting. Then I do some strength training. Usually train Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat. At 48, I need more recovery time than the younger bucks at the gym.

[David Weaver]

I do strength training. To be clear, I do not do body building, I train for functional strength, high weight, low reps. Not interested in big bulging muscles. Many, if not most of the concepts of strength training run contrary to body building. This distinction is lost on most people.



High weight and low reps is exactly what body builders do, to build size. Body building is about proportion and size, the diet is just much more strict than strength training and the building of muscles is targeted rather than focusing on exercises that engage a lot of muscle groups at one time (though guys like mike mentzer recommend those exercises, too, for bodybuilders).

The key to both strength and body building is a weight that causes failure in 6-8 reps. Positive failure, followed by negative failure followed by static failure. The same strength and mass can be gained in two sessions per week that can be gained from spending 2 hours a day in a gym.

Steroids are a necessary addition to look like Jay Cutler, Ron Coleman and even folks like what Mentzer looked like in 1980. I don't believe too many of the olympic and competitive power lifters are clean (they are just not using dianabol and winstrol and other common stuff), but they don't need to manage diet like a bodybuilder for appearance.

[Greg Peterson]

Sorry David, but you are wrong.

Body builders use relatively low weight, with typical reps between 10-15 reps.

Strength training reps are 5-7 reps, three sets.

Body building and strength training are two entirely different goals. The means to efficiently achieving those objectives are fundamentally different.

Power lifters have an entirely different training program than body builders. And I don't think anyone would confuse a power lifter with a body builder.

To be sure, I have seen some mighty strong body builders. But pound for pound, an individual that trains for strength will be stronger than a body builder. Bigger isn't necessarily stronger.

[David G Baker]

The commercial that touts that oatmeal lowers cholesterol has been true in my situation. I eat Quaker original oatmeal every day for breakfast and it has lowered my cholesterol down to a very healthy level.

[Joe Pelonio]

I was getting close to borderline, and the doctor has put me on these big fat supplements from Costco called Red Yeast Rice, an over-the-counter product. It actually does seem to work, as it went back to the normal range since. I have altered the diet too but did talk him into letting me eat bacon once a week! I think the biggest help is laying off the french fries and chips. Instead we get those puffed vegetable chips which are actually not too bad. I read that 2 tablespoons of vinegar a day helps but I couldn't even choke down 1 so I eat a lot of pickles.

[Steve Griffin]

John,
Way to take charge of your life and make some positive changes!

The key to a happy life, in my opinion, is to avoid exercise at all costs and be a become a drug addict.

I haven't exercised for probably 10 years. By exercise, I mean purposely getting on a treadmill or lifting weights or some other method of removing fun from your life.

Instead, seek out activities and sports that are fun to do. I'm an avid mountain biker, nordic skier, skate skier, hiker, snowboarder. Secondary interests include swimming, golf (walking of course),climbing, rafting, canoeing.

With a little creativity it's easy to find ways to get the heartbeat up and tire out some muscles.

By drugs, of course I mean endorphins. Once you get back in the swing of fun exercise, you will form an addiction for endorphins. These body chemicals make food taste better, pain less painful,music sound nicer and other pleasures more pleasurable. Don't fight it, and don't let life stop you from finding way to get your fix a couple times a week. Ditch out of family obligations, play hooky from work, skip the yard work--what ever it takes to keep feeding the addiction to endorphins. Because in the end it's the best thing you can do for others in your life.

Now for some people traditional exercise works well and I don't mean to down talk it. Unfortunately, only a tiny percentage of people enjoy it enough to keep it up, so the success rate is really low.

Good luck and keep it up!

[David Weaver]

Sorry David, but you are wrong.

Body builders use relatively low weight, with typical reps between 10-15 reps.



I guess you've never heard of mike mentzer, casey viator or dorian yates.

Mentzer went all the way down to one rep exercises to train, and won mr. Universe. Dorian Yates was Mr Olympia 5 or 6 years in a row, and not that long ago. Cutler is not a HIT advocate as far as I know, but I have heard him say he keeps his reps at 10 or lower.

There are other bodybuilders who don't use high intensity low rep sets, but to state that bodybuilders do high rep sets with lower weight is antiquated 1950s talk, as is the old wives tale that bodybuilders aren't strong like powerlifters. They may not be at the same specialty exercise as a powerlifter, but a powerlifter wouldn't match a modern body builder with spot exercises, either.

Maybe you're around too many amateurs. The sports science class I took in college a decade and a half ago also recommended low-rep high weight and one set with muscle failure.

[Mike Henderson]

I know you said you wanted to avoid medication but statins work well and have shown to have positive effects other than just lowering your cholesterol.

Mike

[Phil Thien]

It seems to me that more and more research indicates that fat isn't what is going to get you, it is the carbs/sugars. Those people that did Atkins typically increased animal protein intake and still reduced their cholesterol, didn't they?

[Phil Thien]

I know you said you wanted to avoid medication but statins work well and have shown to have positive effects other than just lowering your cholesterol.

Much to the chagrin of my doctor, my entire family has always had very, very low levels of cholesterol. So I've never had to investigate the drugs. What kind of pros do statins have? Any side effects? Are they expensive?

[Mike Henderson]

Much to the chagrin of my doctor, my entire family has always had very, very low levels of cholesterol. So I've never had to investigate the drugs. What kind of pros do statins have? Any side effects? Are they expensive?
Here's (http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/87/4/1451.short)one study that addresses the positive effects of statins, other than reducing cholesterol. Do a search and you can probably find others. Many of the statins are off patent now so they're generic and priced at generic prices. I think even Lipitor (the most prescribed statin) is off patent now. I take simvastatin.

All drugs can have side effects. Talk with your doctor about it.

Mike

[Here's (http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/content/131/4/1006.short)another study.]
[And one (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC209365/)more.]
[Another (http://www.aafp.org/afp/2003/1001/p1407.html)one.]

[John Coloccia]

re: eating all the meat you want, etc.

I did that for 38 years. I never had any problems to speak of until this last round of testing. I was always pretty reasonable with stuff....watch the butter, use healthy oils, stay away from chips and fries most of the time, but I never really thought about it much beyond vaguely trying to "eat healthy". There was a period of a few years where I lost a LOT of weight (I was overweight until I got to be about 23 or so). I did an excellent job keeping it off for almost 15 years until a year or two ago when I was just plagued with injury after injury, stopped biking, and all around just seemed to wind down. It's sort of cycle that feeds on itself.

And I think that culminated with this. That's okay, though. The injuries are healed, I'm eating better, feeling better, and the cholesterol is an extra little motivator to get my butt in gear, so I guess things are culminating towards a positive place now :)

[Phil Thien]

Here's (http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/87/4/1451.short)one study that addresses the positive effects of statins, other than reducing cholesterol. Do a search and you can probably find others. Many of the statins are off patent now so they're generic and priced at generic prices. I think even Lipitor (the most prescribed statin) is off patent now. I take simvastatin.

All drugs can have side effects. Talk with your doctor about it.

Mike

[Here's (http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/content/131/4/1006.short)another study.]
[And one (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC209365/)more.]
[Another (http://www.aafp.org/afp/2003/1001/p1407.html)one.]

Pretty interesting stuff. Two of those (and two others I found) said the statins can decrease the chances of t2 diabetes because they increase insulin sensitivity. But the Wikipedia article says they can increase the chances of diabetes.

But the stuff everyone agrees on looks very promising. Absolutely a drug that could improve the quality of life as we get older.

So if the doc ever tells me things have changed and I need to take them, I think I won't mind as much based on this information. Thanks.

[Phil Thien]

I thought it might be fun to have a thread where we can share our healthy concoctions for others to try.


Sorry to have gotten off on a tangent, we should probably return to the original idea.

In our house, we've been trying to reduce processed foods. They're unhealthy, expensive, use too much packaging. I can go on, if anyone needs.

Anyway, as a snack we often pop popcorn kernels in a special microwave bowl, and then lightly spray the popped corn with some olive oil and dust very lightly with salt.

Not a recipe, really, but a healthy alternative to snacks that come in cardboard boxes or cellophane wrappers.

[Greg Peterson]

Sugars and carbs in excess are not healthy. And by excess I mean that which your body can not utilize immediately. Sugar may, or may not, be harmful to your arteries and heart tissues. Some reports indicate that sugar has an inflammatory effect on these types of tissues. I'm sure there are reports that find sugar is beneficial, but I think the key take away point is that we should consider the role sugars play in our diet.

IMO, obesity and/or high cholesterol is not the result of too much meat. In large part it is the modern lifestyle and diet that play a leading role in causing these conditions.

If you do not use your body, it will simply rust away. Use it or lose it. And it is never to late to build up some strength and endurance.

[David G Baker]

I am one of those people that can not take statins. I tried several different statins and they all had the same result. Muscle pain, weakness and memory loss. I took the Red Yeast Rice and it eventually caused problems similar to regular statins. I take a product called Cholest Off along with oatmeal. This seems to help enough to keep me in a healthy range according to blood tests that I get every three months. I tried stopping Cholest Off for several months but my numbers starting going bad so I went back on it and they went back to normal. The vinegar use formula is; one ounce of vinegar, one ounce of water with a tablespoon on honey mixed in. I did this for a while but eventually stopped. I have an aunt and uncle that have used the vinegar method for years, they are in their 90's, very healthy for their age and still quite agile physically and mentally.

[Jim Matthews]

The only thing that has worked for me is to excise processed starch from my diet.

I'm not an adherent to any of the Atkins variants, but exchanging fresh fruit and berries for bread and pasta has taken my cholesterol numbers in the right direction.
I can understand reducing alcohol intake, but eradicating it is not going to happen until my boys go off to military school or join an Ashram...

Barry Sears approach (http://www.drsears.com/) works reasonably well for me.
There are some people that do this with a purely vegetarian diet.

I'll give up my barbecue pork when they come for my wine - that is, never.

[John Coloccia]

re: processed foods
I got rid of those a LONG time ago. I like the taste of fresh food. I can't even do frozen anymore. For YEARS (i.e. my whole life) I HATED brussel sprouts. I wouldn't even taste one. Recently (in the last year) I've started buying them fresh, tossing them with a drop of olive oil, salt and pepper, roasting them in the oven and I LOVE them. I tried doing it with frozen brussel sprouts and I immediately had that same disgust at them. That was really an eye opening experience. Too bad I over cooked Jim's when he was over. I've gotten better at timing them, Jim...Honest! I get distracted when I start yip-yapping and sipping wine :)

I'm not sure what we have that would be considered processed at all. We pretty much make everything from scratch these days. It's so easy and it tastes sooooo much better. I fear that I've turned into a food snob, but I have. I don't go out to eat anymore because I find the food to be absolutely disgusting, and I surely can't afford to eat at establishments that can get it right....not that there are any around here, anyway.

re: vinegar
Why would you drink it as opposed to simply incorporating it into your diet? That's bizarre. Put it on a salad, at least. Put it in a salsa. Part of the point of this thread is to get ideas out there so that this stuff can be not only healthy but desireable. I may actually start posting some real time videos of how quick and easy it is to whip up healthy and satisfying meals. I find there's a lack of that. People need to see it from beginning to end, not just tossing a bunch of bowls with pre-made components into a frying pan. There's a thought process that goes into processing the raw ingredients, storing what you don't use, cleaning as you go along, etc, that is just lacking and it introduces an element of magic into the whole process. I don't have an endless supply of pots and pans, nor a magic hole in my countertop where garbage and scraps just magically disappear into.

But I digress...

[Greg Peterson]

David - Have you tried a muesli? For years I have had regular oatmeal for breakfast but a year or two ago I tried a muesli. It contains whole grains, nuts, raisins and dates. The raisins and dates give it just enough sweetness so I do not need to add any brown sugar.

The brand I buy is called Bob Red Mill (http://www.bobsredmill.com/old-country-style-muesli.html). This stuff is fantastic.

[charlie knighton]

+1 on
but statins work well

What’s the best treatment for Diabetes Peripheral Neuropathy?

The best thing you can do for DPN is to try to prevent it. Prevention means managing your ABC’s and following the diabetes foot care guidelines (http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/information/inspiration_expert_advice/expert_columns/pape_may2005.html).

A1C – Manage your blood sugar and keep your A1C below 7% (http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/information/blood_sugar_management/testing/average-glucose.html).
B – Manage your blood pressure. Keep your blood pressure (http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/information/complications/heart/hypertension-diabetes.html) <130/80 mmHg
C – Cholesterol (http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/information/complications/heart/what-is-cholesterol.html) (Lipids)

Total cholesterol <200 mg/dl
Triglycerides <150 mg/dl
HDL >40 mg/dl for men, >50 mg/dl for women
LDL <100 mg/dl, or 70 mg/dl if you have heart disease (http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/information/complications/heart/cardiovascular-diabetes.html)

When you start to better manage your blood sugar, you may find out that your feet are more painful than they were. This can be because your nerves are starting to “work” again. Hang in there. They should get better.

my cholesterol is now 118 increased my HDL to safe levels and lowered my LDL to 67.5

i was having feet problems and i hope i am in the phase that your feet are more painful than they were. This can be because your nerves are starting to “work” again.

breakfast: crispy oat ceral from aldees with 1% low fat milk, sourdough english muffin with margarine & low cal strawberry preserves, 2 oatmeal cookies
25 minutes on treadmill

[Ron Jones near Indy]

The commercial that touts that oatmeal lowers cholesterol has been true in my situation. I eat Quaker original oatmeal every day for breakfast and it has lowered my cholesterol down to a very healthy level.

I do the same thing with Wal-Mart generic oatmeal. I add a little brown sugar Splenda and some ground cinnamon along with a few tablespoons of skim milk. I like the flavor, love the cost and have very good cholesterol levels.

[Joe Pelonio]

Geez, we're sure sounding old.

[Stephen Tashiro]

The way I like to eat oatmeal is with a little salt and some dill weed. I pretend it's mashed potatoes.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Why would you drink it as opposed to simply incorporating it into your diet? That's bizarre.
Don't knock it till you've tried it...
I can't "do" a shot of straight vinegar, but, mixed with a little water some salt and pepper and it's pretty good.

One thing's for sure - it does make your mouth water ;).
Just thinking about it even does :D.

[John Coloccia]

I have acid reflux, Rich, and that would just about have me in tears. It's well controlled thanks to the miracles of modern medicine and not much really bothers it other than heavy, greasy food, but a straight shot of acid would have me popping Tums like there was no tommorow :)

[Rich Engelhardt]

John,
Vinegar works wonders for acid reflux and/or heartburn
I have no clue as to how or why an acid - like vinegar - works so well w/heartburn and acid reflux, but, it's nothing short of a miracle.

You really should look into it.
I haven't had a trace of heartburn in years. I snack on hot peppers, dill pickles and lots of other things that are packed in vinegar.

People think I'm nuts when I chug a lug some tobasco and tell them it's to prevent heartburn.
The laugh is on them though since it works.

[John Coloccia]

I have no problems at all with hot foods. I snack on pickled cayennes and it doesn't bother me. I also eat pickles and they don't bother me. The raw acid does, though. I've seen a lot written on the internet about the vinegar thing, but I can't find any studies that support that. I wonder if we're not talking about two different things? GERD is not the same as occasional hearburn. GERD is fairly serious if left untreated and can lead to destruction of the lining of your esophagus and even cancer. When I'm not on meds, I have constant pain, day in and day out. A friend of mine had no pain at all, but felt like fainting any time he rubbed his chest. Another friend had no pain but started having trouble swallowing (I had some trouble like that to).

Do you know of any credible studies on this, Rich? It's certainly a simple solution to a problem if it actually works.

[David G Baker]

I have had GERD for around 15 years, I take 30Mg of Prevacid once a day. I had the balloon treatment to break up the scar tissue at the base of my esophagus, that helped for about two months without meds but after that I had to go back on Prevacid. Prevacid restored my quality of life. I didn't have pain all of the time, I had a bubble at the base of my esophagus at meal time, that would not allow food to pass into my stomach. That was when I experienced the horrible pain. The first couple of times I thought I was having a heart attack. Eventually I learned to deal with it on my own until I went to the doctor and got meds.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The first couple of times I thought I was having a heart attack. Eventually I learned to deal with it on my own until I went to the doctor and got meds. It's ironic that I had a similar experience. I thought I was having a heart attack and went to the ER. After some tests and an overnight stay, the doctor said I had acid reflux and gave me a script for something. I took the medication and my stomach felt worse and worse as each day went by. I quit taking the stuff and my stomach started to feel better.
Prior to taking that stuff - I wish I could recall what it was, but, it's been over 15 years since that happened - I'd have occasional heart burn.
After that stuff though, every once in a while I'd feel like a volcano went off in my gut and throat.
I ran across the vinegar remedy about five years ago.
I'd eaten some of my mother in law's "molten digestive tract sloppy Joe's". I love those things, but, they really do a number on me. I figured I had nothing to lose by trying so I gulped down a swig of dill pickle juice.
The relief was instant and 100% total.

The "pink stuff" and all the other over the counter stuff have always taken some time to kick in and do thier job. I'd always go through a good half hour where I felt like my back teeth were being eaten away by battery acid. The swig of pickle juice was like flipping a switch. One second was agony and the next instant relief.

I know it's hardly anything at all close to a credible study, but, it's worked for me.
Any time I even think something I eat is going to give me trouble, I'll munch on a dill pickel or some peppers from a jar, or hose something down with Tobasco or Italian salad dressing - anything that has a good amount of vinegar in it.
My MIL's "Gut bombs" are a good example.
I noticed the times they didn't bother me were the times she also made cucumbers in vinegar.
(She slices up cukes and puts them in a mix of vinegar. water, salt and pepper.)

I have to admit though, that, every time I feel that "lava" start to burn and I reach for something w/vinegar, I more or less expect it to be the time it won't work.
I really don't place a lot of stock in home remedys for the most part.
So far though, so good w/the vinegar.

[John Coloccia]

Hey, here's something neat and simple I discovered yesterday morning. First, let me start by saying I'm an Italian white boy from New York, so I don't know the first thing about grits, and my apologies for in advance for offending anyone. I've been down South. I know you takes your grits very seriously...LOL.

However, I've discovered that if you take steel cut oatmeal, and cook it with a bit of salt and a touch of canola oil (really just a touch), you end up with something that tastes remarkably like grits. Okay, not really, but it's very reminiscnet of grits and I much prefer it to the sweet oatmeal everyone eats. I just don't really have much of a sweat tooth.

The other thing I discovered is if you sprinkle the steel cut oats RAW on a bit of fat free vanilla pudding, you end up with something that tastes remarkably like an oatmeal cookie. It gives a very nice texture to the pudding, too :)

[Andrew Joiner]

The way I like to eat oatmeal is with a little salt and some dill weed. I pretend it's mashed potatoes.

Yes! I eat lots of oats. A cheap and natural way to improve cholesterol levels. Also a tasty whole grain.

I have good cholesterol levels and I'm 60. My dad died of colon cancer when I was 35. I got into eating whole grains more then since that helps reduce colon cancer risks.

I fill up on healthy foods first, then I don't have room for junk.

I need to eat low salt (borderline high blood pressure) so that was my new challenge. Now I'm use to it and most foods I don't make taste to salty for me.

I eat oatmeal without sugar and milk. I don't want sugar in my main meal. I may have a little sugar after a meal but not a lot.

One of my main meals is oatmeal with a steamed vegetable. I toss in pepper ,olive oil, Parmesan,garlic. Sometimes toss in a non-salt spice Cajun, Mexican or Thai. Maybe black beans or an egg for protein. A big bowl of this at 9 am and I'm full till dinner.

When family and friends see me making it they think I'm crazy. Well maybe but as an eccentric old woodworker I like to invent things, even food.

When I tell them it's like tabbouleh, hummus or whole grain pasta with sauce, they get it. It would be easier to sell people on it for a lunch or dinner food. I happen to like a little spice for breakfast.

[David G Baker]

I am from Michigan and I love grits. I buy grits from my local grocer and fix them the way I like them with lots of butter. Don't do it too often but when I get a craving I cook up a batch.

[Chris Padilla]

Oatmeal for me has done the trick for cholesetrol lowering. I eat mine with honey, ground flax seed (Bobs Red Mill), craisins and almonds. Oh, and I cut up a banana into it as well.

But, I also bike commute to work 28 miles per day and so I have a feeling that exercise helps, too. :D

Before I started biking heavily to work 10 years ago, I used to donate blood quite a bit. That was when I learned about my high cholesterol. Oatmeal did it and physicals since show it at a normal level ever since.

[Ryan Mooney]

Re: popcorn - I skip the salt altogether (usually) and toss on some cajun mix or curry powder. Lots of flavor.

One trick we found is that we have a rice cooker with a timer and we can put whole or cracked (usually cracked) oats into it the night before and have it play the "breakfast is ready" song right around when we're ready to go. I much prefer cracked to rolled. Add some toasted nuts and/or a bit of dried fruit and its good to go.

Also a big fan of various whole grain meals. I like to just lightly toast them in a little oil (grape seed works well, its high in good cholesterol and has a higher smoke point than olive..) and then use low salt (often homemade) stock to cook until tender. Rye, oats, triticale, etc... work well like this. Add in a bean and veggie dish and you have a complete meal.

[Jim Matthews]

I have recently dropped between three and eight pounds.

The difference has been notable, at my waistline.
With my belt and pants looser, I have much less heartburn.

I can't bring myself to give up blessed alcohol, but curtailing consumption after 7pm (even if there's overtime Hockey) was a large contributor to the War effort.

My folks (up the mountain in North Carolina, almost to Tennessee) swear by the apple cider vinegar supplement.
I think people who don't really like the taste of food go for this - it's hideous and has tremendous hangtime as an aftertaste.

Perhaps after insulting your taste buds, you just eat less of everthing else?

[Rich Stewart]

I recently watched a movie called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. Haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to.