<p>NyMomof2:
This is straight out of the American Heart Association cookbook - about $20 at Barnes &Nobles and my new favorite cookbook:</p>
<p>Black Bean Soup
Put a little olive oil in the bottom of a pot, saute a couple of minces garlic cloves and a chopped onion- (I also have used scallions or a leek instead of the onion) for 3-4 mins.</p>
<p>Add 3 can’s black beans (I get low sodium or reduced sodium), 1/4 c dry sherry, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp white vinegar, 1 tsp parsely and a bay leaf. I also like to chop a roasted red pepper and add that. Add about a 1-1/2 qts of water. You can also uses vegetable broth or chicken broth.
Simmer for 30-60 mins.
If you like your soup smooth then you can run it through the blender, if you like it thick you can just mash some of the beans (right in the pot) with a potato masher.
Garnish with cilantro, salsa, chopped cuke etc. </p>
<p>I also make this with dried black beans. Soak the beans first and cook then make the soup. As with most soups - it tastes better the next day.</p>
<p>My oatmeal is cooking - I put in pecans and some blackberries at the end. If you are cutting back on carbs (sugar) use a little brown sugar Splenda to sweeten. Yum!</p>
<p>Great thread! I was put on a statin and ended up with severe muscle pain… changed the statin but pain returned. So now I’m trying to lower it through diet, exercise and fish oil supplements. I worry bc there is big time heart disease on one side of my family but I much prefer to go the natural route if possible. </p>
<p>Am eating oatmeal, nuts, cutting back on red meat (but now that it’s grilling season, boy is it hard to resist a hamburger!), etc. Any new or creative suggestions are much appreciated. Is the book “Reversing Heart Disease” only applicable to those who have suffered from heart attacks, or for anybody?</p>
<p>I know I should use more beans but can’t figure out how to do that. Any recipes to that effect would be wonderful!</p>
<p>Donna - try veggie burgers, salmon burgers or black bean burgers.</p>
<p>Statins are indeed “miracle drugs”. They work wonders and save lives, but…
they can cause muscle pain, weakness and degenrative muscle loss. Not everyone can reduce cholesterol enough through diet, but if you can it’s best to stay off statins and use them as a last resort.</p>
<p>donna…if you MUST have beef, why not try the organic grass fed kind? It’s lower in fat and has Omega 3s (like fish oil). DH and I indulge about once a month. We buy teeny little 3/4 oz filets from Wegmans. Grill them (don’t overcook). Serve cut up on a salad or in a sandwich (sour dough bread is my favorite) with roasted red peppers, mushrooms, feta. Yum.</p>
<p>Donna - The book is great for anyone and suggests different approaches depending on your heart health. For example, DH took the most comprehensive plan because clearly, at age 44 with his good health habits, it wasn’t enough for him. On the other hand, younger daughter and I follow a preventative plan. </p>
<p>Dean Ornish has written many books since then, but I like the Reversing Heart Disease because of it gives a great overview of all the aspects of heart health. </p>
<p>And yes - going low fat does not mean you start to pig out on simple sugars!</p>
<p>Please avoid canned beans. Use dried beans instead. Canned beans are often mealy tasting and high in sodium!!! The most simple dried bean recipe I use has been in my family and untold others for generations. Pick most any bean; pinto, black-eyed peas, mueller beans, navy beans. Add a low sodium broth, onions, garlic powder, bay leaf, a BIT of salt, ground white pepper or black pepper. Simmer for at least two hours on medium/low heat and stir occasionally.</p>
<p>Also, kidney bean chili is a favorite of mine. Instead of ground beef I use either turkey or dark meat chicken. Hmmm.</p>
<p>JustaMom, thank you so much for the recipe! It sounds great, and I will make it over the weekend.</p>
<p>Prompted by the references to Dr. Ornish’s books, I check to see whether our library had them in downloadable format. They didn’t, but they had The South Beach Heart Program: The 4-Step Plan. I downloaded it, and have been listening to it. I had been vaguely aware of the South Beach diet, but thought it was just another fad diet plan. It was developed by a cardiologist (the author of the book). The book is fascinating. I’m learning about current theories of cardiac disease and, at least according to the author, there is the possibility of halting and even reversing the disease by lowering the bad stuff in your blood as much as possible by diet, exercise, and (if needed) medication. As Lergnom, worknprogress and toneranger pointed out, sugar is just as damaging as the wrong kind of fat. I recommend the book highly, and I am planning to learn more about the diet.</p>
<p>Lake Washington - you are right about the sodium in canned beans. There are some brands with low sodium and I buy them when in a pinch. I do prefer my soup made from dried black beans but use the canned in a pinch.
I forgot this but I also like to add cumin to my black bean soup.</p>
<p>Anyone undertaking a heart healthy diet - to reduce blood pressure and/or cholesterol should read about “Metabolic Syndrome”.
The risk factors of hbp, high cholesterol and/or high triglycerides often go along with type II diabetes. Controlling refined carbs (sugar and white flour) is important and can really make a difference.
Make sure your physician performs a fasting glucose along with the cholesterol and pay attention to that as well.</p>
<p>One more tip - for those who like sandwiches, Peperidge Farms Deli Thins are pretty good and better than bread. Arnold makes them too (I forget what they call them)
You can get them in whole grain and they have fewer carbs than bread.</p>
<p>@toneranger - red yeast rice.<br>
It does have a natural statin but the FDA intervened. Companies can’t sell red yeast rice anymore with other than trace amounts of the ‘statin’.</p>
<p>Yes, Red Yeast Rice. I’m not a big believer in nutritional supplements as a cure all but this was recommended to me by my cardiologist after I told him I didn’t want to take statins. Do a google search on it and you will find scientific university studies that show its efficacy. As mentioned above it does contain a natural statin.</p>
<p>They carry it at Trader Joe’s. It’s surprisingly good. I normally hate dense breads with sprouted things in it, but I like this. I buy the plain (orange wrapper) variety, but they also have it with raisins. I store it in the freezer, because it goes bad quickly.</p>
<p>With some health issues diagnosed late last summer, H began the South Beach Diet (I hate using the term diet, because it’s really about lifelong eating habits). He lost about 35 pounds, lowered his cholesterol and blood pressure. I have adapted most of the South Beach Diet suggestions and will find out what my latest cholesterol is sometime this month. Like I said, it’s not a diet… it’s a lifestyle choice.</p>
<p>And beans… from a recipe I found while googling South Beach Diet recipes: </p>
<p>Soak a pound of dry black beans overnight in four times the volume of water to beans. Drain them and put them in a crock pot with the following ingredients:</p>
<p>1-2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (I probably add a bit more)
1 jar of prepared salsa or two cups of homemade salsa (you have to be careful when you buy salsa and find one that doesn’t have sugar as an ingredient)
broth - chicken or vegetable to cover soaked beans
ham bone - optional - leave out for vegetarian beans - you might want to add other flavorings if you leave the ham bone out. I added a couple of slices of bacon.</p>
<p>The recipe calls for high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours. However, when I cooked it on low for 8 hours, it wasn’t long enough, so now I basically do it on high for 6 hours. Then we serve it over brown rice, but you could get creative with how you serve it. </p>
<p>I made this Monday night, and it was enough for dinner for the two of us for almost three nights this week. It is one of my new favorite meals.</p>
<p>There is some evidence that red yeast rice can help lower your LDL cholesterol. However, the Food and Drug Administration has warned that the following red yeast rice products could contain a naturally occurring form of the prescription medication known as lovastatin: </p>
<p>Red Yeast Rice and Red Yeast Rice/Policosanol Complex sold by Swanson Health Products Inc. and manufactured by Nature’s Value Inc. and Kabco Inc.
Cholestrix sold by Sunburst Biorganics
The presence of lovastatin in the red yeast rice products in question is potentially dangerous because there’s no way for you to know what level or quality of lovastatin might be in red yeast rice.</p>
<p>Mom2m - I have been eating oatmeal every morning for about two months now. 3/4 c uncooked old-fashioned oats; add about 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce, about a T of brown sugar and LOTS of cinnamon. Some mornings I add so much cinnamon that I feel a slight tingle/hotness in my mouth… seriously, I probably add at least a teaspoon. But I was told that eating spicy foods once a day is good for you. So I load up on it.</p>
<p>Thank you for the recipe, teriwtt. I agree with you about viewing a change in eating habits as permanent. I had already decided to skip the first phase of South Beach and go right to the less restrictive, long-term phase. I don’t know all the foods that are consistent with South Beach yet - I gather that the emphasis is on fruits, vegetables, fish, whole grains, lean protein, natural foods - and I’m glad to hear that beans and brown rice fit in.</p>
<p>NYMOMof2 - I could not do Phase 1, although H did. I am a fairly picky eater and there just wasn’t much I could eat after all the elimination of Phase 1.</p>
<p>toneranger, I hadn’t known that grass-fed beef was lower in fat. I just came across this slide show on “superfoods” for weight loss and cardiac health:</p>
<p>[12</a> Superfoods for Faster Weight Loss: Meats (Pasture-Raised and Free-Range) - 5 - MSN Health & Fitness - Nutrition Slide Show](<a href="MSN)</p>
<p>and this is what it says about grass fed beef:</p>
<p>“A 3.5-ounce serving of grass-fed beef has only 2.4 grams of fat, compared with 16.3 grams for conventionally raised beef. In fact, grass-fed beef is so much more nutritious than commodity beef that it’s almost a different food.”</p>
<p>The next slide is on fish:</p>
<p>"Generally, small, oily ocean fish (herring, mackerel, sardines) are low in toxins and score highest in omega-3s. Wild Alaskan salmon, Pacific halibut, rainbow trout, and yellowfin tuna are generally low in toxins and high in nutrients. And then there are fish that we should avoid at all times: farmed (or Atlantic) salmon, farmed tilapia, Atlantic cod, Chilean sea bass, and farmed shrimp. "</p>
<p>I started a thread on sardines recently, because I wanted to learn to like them, and someone posted a recipe for Sardine Tonnato from Epicurious that is fantastic - one of the best things I’ve ever made.</p>
<p>So about 2 yrs ago I was told my cholesterol was around 300. I decided to change my diet, ya think??</p>
<p>I cut out out as much saturated fat as possible. I read every label, and pick accordingly. This means eating red meat only once or so a month. Drink skim milk and low or no fat dairy. Read labels and pick foods with low or no saturated fats and low sodium. Try to eat fresh veggies and fruit. Oatmeal too.</p>
<p>Also, increase your fiber. </p>
<p>So I recently had a test. My numbers have drastically improved. I am still not where I would like to be, overall 229, but a major improvement w/ diet and exercise alone.</p>
<p>I also lost 15 or so pounds too. Good side effect!</p>
<p>For those of us who don’t have Wegmans (pout, pout, pout), can you find this at a typical grocery store? And to buffer the shock, about how much per pound can I expect this to cost?</p>
<p>I eat butter and red meat. I add cream to my sauces. I eat cheese. I eat shrimp. I don’t much like eggs but I do eat them. I do drink non-fat milk and eat non-fat yogurt (I prefer the taste). I cook mostly with olive oil. I have avoided trans-fats (artificially hydrogenated fats) since 1973, when my biochemistry professor told me he considered them extremely dangerous. </p>
<p>My HDL is 95 (yes, really) and my LDL is 105. My total cholesterol is over 200—but only because my HDL is so high. </p>
<p>I do walk about 20 miles a week, in addition to regular <em>anaerobic</em> exercise in the form of short sprints 2 or 3 times per week, probably totaling about a mile a week. (I do enough of those that sweat drips off my hair.) I reluctantly do yoga once a week.</p>