I have high bad cholesterol and low good cholesterol plus diabetes. I control the diabetes with diet. My Dr. claims that my cholesterol problem cannot be controlled with diet. She would rather that I took a medication for the diabetes as well (not insulin). As I said in an earlier post, I took Simvastatin (Zocor) for a while and had some bad side effects. I seem to be sensitive to a lot of drugs and the reactions have just seemed to exacerbate the myriad of health issues I’ve faced for several years. I would appreciate hearing about people’s first hand experiences controlling with diet.

Also, I read about this voraciously and there seems to be a lot of controversy now about whether red meat is really bad for you. I’d appreciate input on that as well and other dietary advice and tips.

Hello, The problem might be the diabetes. Diabetes can cause high cholesterol and kidney disease. My father went through that. You need to be strict with your diabetic diet, which is the most important thing for you to do. In addition, you can count the total fat and try to keep it 25% or less. Also try to replace the saturated fats with non-saturated and watch the trans fats. You might want to ask your doctor to send you to a diatician to learn how to incorporate the diabetic diet with a low-fat diet so it makes more sense.

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Magpie

Lesli,
I will respond (sorta) to the red meat issue. As I understand it, red meat is not as bad for you if the cattle has been fed on the "open range". Any ruminant (cud chewing critter) that eats grass has a higher level of Conjugated Linoleic Acid. Which is good for you. Surprisingly enough the chopped meat (hamburger) from this critter is the highest source of CLA. I would definitely limit excessive amounts (more than 20% of my diet) even with the grass fed beef. As far as the diabetes condition is concerned.....I have no advice.