Originally Posted by
tulip
I'm not interested in posting what I eat every day here, because I log it all on Livestrong on my iphone. But I did want to pop in and say that since March 1 I have eliminated all refined sugar and bread, pasta, cereal, rice, and potatoes in an effort to reduce my chronically and mostly genetically high cholesterol in three months on doctor's orders. I am not overweight, but if I lose a few pounds, so much the better for climbing!
The first five days were agonizing, as I was totally addicted to sugar and all that comes with it in more ways than I chose to admit to myself or anyone else. All I could think of was angel food cake, cinnamon toast, and fluffy pancakes drowning in maple syrup! But for the last couple of days I feel great and the cravings are gone. I'm eating lots of veggies and fruits, yogurt, a few nuts (I don't like them), eggs, and either chicken, fish, or beef for dinner. Kale chips have become my staple it seems.
I don't have problems with gluten, nor do I think that grains are necessarily bad. I do miss baking bread, although I have gotten over the need to eat all the time. I need to do this to proactively prevent future problems that might come about from my chronically high-cholesterol. I am eating fats, including half-and-half in my tea, and a bit of cheese, and that's perfectly okay even though it seems counter intuitive. Cutting out the sugar automatically eliminates things like ice cream and cakes anyways. I don't have to focus on reducing fats because eliminating the sugar and potatoes takes care of most of that. There are many fats that are good, and I eat them as much as I want. Avocados and olive oil come to mind.
From what little I've read, I guess this is what paleo is all about, but I'm just focused on removing the sugar and white grains. Whatever, if it works I'll be happy no matter the labels. So far, I'm finding delicious things to cook and eat.
Anyways, just wanted to chime in. When I get my blood tested in a few months, I'll let you know if eating like this helps lower my cholesterol. If it doesn't, I'll likely have to go on meds, and I'd really like to avoid that.