Friday 22 January 2016

So then....

According to the Trust Me I"m a Doctor programme the other night, only olive oil (the best or bog standard) really seems to offer good protection for your heart see here.

We might start trying it, especially after my cardiac visit yesterday at the hospital, more about that on Monday!

Certainly neither of us fancy drinking it, but in soup would be fine, even spreading it on toast would be acceptable taken with a savoury meal. Raw is best although they don't say whether cooking it has an adverse reaction, simply that too much of it gets left in the pan - depends what you are cooking I guess:)

Death from sepsis was also another talking point see here.  Although this link doesn't say it, I'm sure I heard them say that more people die in the UK of sepsis each year than of bowel and breast cancer combined - that is an horrendous thought. I certainly didn't know about that number so here are the symptoms to look out for:

Slurred Speech or confusion
Extreme shivering or muscle pain
Passing no urine (in a day)
Severe Breathlessness
I feel like I might die
Skin mottled or discoloured

Unfortunately, not everyone experiences these but most talked about were the second and sixth symptoms.

The final part I found interesting was eating certain types of food when on certain medicines. DB already knew about not eating grapefruit when on statin's, but an example they showed of the adverse reaction was this: If you normally take one statin pill a day, and eat grapefruit, your body can react as though you have taken 13. 13 - good grief!
Other drugs also react with grapefruit.

You can read more about this here!

Now that I have mentioned all that, I hope you take note and have a good weekend:)

22 comments:

  1. You must have watched the same programmes as I did! I was horrified at the extra impact of eating grapefruit whilst in statins - that's terrifying!! Well done for bringing it to a wider audience - salient information for many :)

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    1. I find the programmes very informative without being sensational.

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  2. I watched it too, it was quite an eye opener. I was interested to see that ordinary cheap olive oil has exactly the same good effects as expensive extra virgin olive oil, so that could be a money saver. Hope your cardio stuff isn't too serious.

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    1. Good about normal olive oil also having the same effect as the raw pressed oil. Cardio thing just ongoing.

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  3. My Doctor wanted to put me on statins and I refused so has my husband. There's a lot of drugs out there that haven't been tested for every eventuality like eating grapefruit!We are trying to bring down our cholesterol using exercise, low fat living and Proc active spread. I only use Olive Oil and have done for years n years.

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    1. Escaping statins so far, cholesterol not too bad.

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    2. I'm on statins 20mg daily and I didn't know about the grapefruit thing! I don't know why I'm on them because I've never had high cholesterol and after losing a couple of stones over a couple of years am now only a bit overweight. However I'm diabetic and I think they're prescribed as the norm to diabetics. Don't know whether to believe the pros or cons about them though!!

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    3. Have a read of the instruction paper for your pills, DB's mentioned it in there.

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  4. Seville oranges also react with statins but not lemons, limes or sweet oranges, I guess.
    If you research olive oil (which I cant believe you dont use !) be aware that a lot of it is quite chemical- heavy in its production. The consensus seems to be we would do better to choose an organic brand, even a cheap one, if possible. I dont use anything else except olive oil and we go through quite a bit although I think a teaspoon a day if sufficient. I make a jar of salad dressing every week with olive oil, garlic, vinegar/lemon juice, mustard and dried oregano, salt and pepper. Delia Smith s basic, really.
    I use organic butter and lard for baking. No other fats. I dont know about olive oil being good for your heart but I do know that a mediterranean diet has been proved now to be beneficial.

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    1. The link explained what fruit reacts. We do use olive oil but this medical trial recommend taking 20ml daily which was what I was referring to!

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  5. Hi love your blog just thought I would comment on the olive oil debate to say that there is lots of research on the internet re olive oil that totally disputes that claim and even buying what we think is extra Virgin olive oil can be doctored with other not so good oils etc it's a minefield. I now only buy organic cold pressed extra Virgin olive oil and sod the cost but don't use very much. I use raw extra Virgin coconut oil for most things apart from roast potatoes lol

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    1. This trial is still ongoing I think but the short trial they did for the programme showed good results. We don't like cold pressed virgin olive oil so use something we like. I think the whole shebang of advice appears to be loaded one way or the other. Thanks for the info.

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  6. I watched that too, a fascinating programme, and lots of useful information.

    I'm another one (and my Lovely Hubby, even though he is a diabetic) that has stood firm and refused to be prescribed statins. The reason doctors were giving them out willy nilly to ALL over 50s is that they got a one off payment of £30 per patient for doing so from the drug companies. There will soon be a new drug on the market that will replace statins and doctors have been offered even more for changing their patients over to these instead.

    The olive oil findings were very interesting, more oily salad dressings for me from now on I think. I think it's so much better to look after our health from a more natural angle.

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    1. So do I where and when possible, the less pills the better.

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  7. mashed potatoes with olive oil in is lovely. I dont eat dairy so we use it a lot. I have tried dairy free products but I dont like the taste.

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  8. I like the 'light' olive oil that Aldi sell, it does not have such a strong taste and I prefer it in salad dressings. I have avoided taking Statins, my old doctors said I should take them but my new doctors have said because my ratio of good cholesterol to bad is really good I don't need them. Conflicting advice!

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    1. My cholesterol isn't too bad but I could work on reducing the bad stuff a little.

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  9. Don't take Statins...the side effects far outweigh any good they do. It has not been proved that they do any good anyway so steer clear...was prescribed them by cardiac clinic then suffered terrible side effects for three months before going to my GP who promptly took me off them saying that he never prescribes them and wouldn't take them himself.
    On return visit to cardiac clinic asked the Registrar what he thought...he wouldn't take statins either, neither would the Sister in charge......

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  10. Fran...be very wary of the 'light' olive oil in Aldi, it isn't pure but a mix of various types. Buy good organic cold pressed virgin oil if you are planning to use it for health reasons

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  11. Very interesting debate! As far as i am aware there are carcinogenic effects associated with overheating olive oil so that is something definitely worth looking into a bit more ;)

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    1. I have read about that before I believe so thanks.

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