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EZ-Etoday at 4:54 AM7 repliesview on HN

I fixed my high cholesterol problem with oats... Months ago I replaced my daily dinner with a mix of oats + banana + protein powder + 1 tbsp olive oil + peanut butter + flaxseeds + oat milk - all mixed in a blender. My bad cholesterol (LDL levels) tanked from 160 mg/dL to 91 mg/dL. My daily dinners before that were not even that unhealthy. Dropping sat fat intake had nowhere near that much effect for me. For me and I assume for many others, lack soluble fibers are the root cause of high LDL levels.


Replies

sci_progtoday at 5:15 AM

I've been doing something similar for breakfast, one cup of oatmeal + one cup of water and about two tablespoons of chia seeds, microwave for 2 minutes. Add a banana and some honey, top it with whole roasted almonds and some raspberries. It has been doing wonders for my digestion. I'll have to try to add olive oil as well. My LDL was 150 last time I checked. I wonder what it is now since I've been doing this meal several times a week.

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haritha-jtoday at 11:12 AM

Likewise i switched my breakfast to oats around 3 years ago when my cholesterol was above the recommended high threshold and its been constantly in the higher end of the accetable range ever since. I would like it to be lower, but its much better than it used to be.

nchmytoday at 9:18 AM

There's literally nothing wrong with saturated fat. Most polyunsaturated fats arelre problematic

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rpozarickijtoday at 9:29 AM

> peanut butter

While peanut butter does contain some useful nutrients, there are much better choices out there in case someone would like to further improve/optimize their nutrition. Many topics in nutrition can be quite debatable but IMHO most other nuts outperform peanuts (which aren't even nuts) in many ways. Furthermore I'd say peanuts aren't that useful as a protein source in this situation given that protein powder is already being added.

I recently discovered the world of nut butters, and usually choose them over whole nuts due to easier digestibility and nutrient availability. Unless I'm eating macadamia nuts which already feel quite easy on the gut.

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snthpytoday at 5:18 AM

Interesting. I have almost the same smoothie every morning minus the banana and oats. Instead I use psyllium husks for fibre.

My cholesterol has been in range for years despite eating almost exclusively saturated fat since I'm in the keto camp. Just watched an interesting episode by Peter Attia and Layne Norton on seed oils which might shift my view on PUFAs a bit.

Thoughts?

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petercartagenatoday at 8:28 AM

I did the same, my cholesterol was lower than ever. What I think it happens was that I increase my proteins intake as well as the muscle.

Buttons840today at 9:36 AM

Soybeans have more fiber than oats. More soluble fiber too.

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