cholesterol dieting

The doctor put me on a diet a while back to get my cholesterol level down. Really kind of simple and I didn't really follow the diet that well. But here's what I did:

limit eggs - no more than one egg yolk a week ( I make great egg-white omelets )

I only cook with olive oil and smart balance butter - the one exception to this is the occasional pot of chicken and dumplings which requires shortening to make the dumplings so I buy shortening in the smallest quantity and keep it in the fridge.

I buy smart balance peanut butter and mayo when I can find it

I quit trying to cook so much and we eat a lot of gourmet sandwiches(subway type toppings), soups, salads, baked potatoes, snack platters, etc., and try to buy more whole grain bread...

I buy only chicken or turkey sandwich meat about 95% of the time

we hardly ever have beef anymore - the occasional pot of chili or some spaghetti or whatever... but I probably decreased the amount of beef consumed in the house by 80% when I do cook meat, it is usually chicken or fish

I drink lots more water, some powerade, more milk and less soda, more tea

we still eat too much cheese and bacon, however I buy more provolone and reduced fat cheeses than before, we also eat the bacon as a condiment to a meal, crumbled on baked potatoes, salad, etc.

and this is probably the most important thing - take fish oil pills 3xday, am still trying to get good at taking all 3 every day lol. if you freeze those... there's no fishy problem...

oh yeah as a long time wic mother 95% of the cereal I buy is wic approved and I only buy 100% juice and REAL cheese.... didn't know what I was missing when I was a kid... one more side note,. this healthier eating is definitely more expensive...

so my cholesterol came down from the 240 range to the 190 range

I lost 43 lbs so far (this also decreases risk of heart attack and stroke from the severe obstructive sleep apnea factor) have to admit here that the weight loss is not entirely due to the cholesterol dieting, and that the walking to catch the school bus twice a day deserves some credit

in spite of all that hard work, my last visit to the dr. showed that my homocysteine levels were elevated which is yet another heart attack/stroke risk factor, good news is I can take a b12, a b6, & folic acid every day and it should bring that down. so now, faced with all that risk and the fact that while I was trying to limit risk from two directions, another risk factor popped up elsewhere... I realize I need to do more and am renewing my efforts to practice daily meditation, and yoga every now and then till it hurts less and for less time afterward lol then I'll step it up a little, and so on.