Updated June 15th, 2023
I recently got a blood test and I have high cholesterol. Womp. Womp. I don’t want to take a statin, I want to get my cholesterol down by diet and lifestyle. So naturally I did a Google search and found this book on Amazon.
What can you do to lower your cholesterol naturally?
Well, good question! That’s what this book is about. It was written in 2006 so some of the studies are outdated, but I gleaned all the positive stuff that will work for me. I’m going to follow this program and report back several months later with any progress, so next time you read this, hopefully it will be updated. See my update at the end of this post.
Cholesterol Down- Book Summary
The book is broken down into three basic sections. One is the science behind cholesterol and why so many Americans and people around the world have such high cholesterol. If you’re not interested in that, you can get right to section two, which are the 10 steps you can take to lower your cholesterol. Section three is the heart-healthy recipes. To cut to the chase, here are Dr. Brill’s 10 steps for lowering your cholesterol without statins.
- Eat Oatmeal
- Eat Flaxseeds
- Eat Margarine (plant sterols)
- Eat Soy
- Eat Garlic
- Take Metamucil
- Eat Almonds
- Eat an apple a day
- Eat Beans
- Go for a walk
That’s the book in a nutshell. Each part is explained well and I appreciate this work from Dr. Brill!
–> Check out the book here <–
Personally, there are steps I just won’t do. For example, I don’t do grains well, so I ain’t doin’ no oatmeal. And I also ain’t doin’ no margarine. Given that this book was written in 2006 and there is still confusion about some things health, I for sure try to stay away from all vegetable oils, including canola oil. There’s nothing in Cholesterol Down that mentions the dangers of canola oil. And also she cites “The Seven Countries Study” so right there I knocked off a point in my rating since that study is misleading at best.
Um, so what now?
Another good question, reader! I’m going to get bloodwork again in a few months, so from now until then, I’ll add more fiber to my diet, start using soy milk and flaxseeds in my daily smoothies, and add a handful of almonds and eat an apple each day. Beans- well, we’ll see about that one- I already eat chickpeas fairly often. I already eat a ton of garlic and exercise pretty much daily, and I’m doing a hard pass on oatmeal and margarine.
How Many Stars for Cholesterol Down?
4 🙂 3
Minus one point for recommending margarine and not really informing readers about the dangers of all vegetable oils, and for citing Ancel Keys’ “Seven Countries Study” without disclosing that he studied more than seven countries, but just cherry-picked the seven countries that fit his theory that fat causes high cholesterol and leads to heart disease. But other than that, the rest of the my science in Cholesterol Down seems sound and I’m excited to see if I get results.
My Cholesterol Down Update
A lot has changed since I last read this book. I even lowered the ranking a half a point! For reasons beyond the scope of this book and article, I believe cholesterol is not the evil molecule society has made it out to be. There are way better ways to assess your heart disease risk such as:
There’s also lots of evidence for keto or carnivore diets, which raise cholesterol, so it could be more about particle size (light and fluffy vs hard and dense). You want to avoid the hard and dense cholesterol. So can I wholeheartedly (no pun intended) recommend this book? Not really.
BOOK DETAILS ONE MORE TIME
Title: Cholesterol Down: Ten Simple Steps to Lower Your Cholesterol in Four Weeks–Without Prescription Drugs
Author: Janet Brill
Publish Date: December 26, 2006
ISBN: 0307339114 ISBN-13: 78-0307339119
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