Full Transcript Why LDL Cholesterol Matters 0:00 How to Lower Cholesterol with Dr. Greger's Portfolio Plus Powder Recipes 0:06 Hello, everyone! 0:07 I thought it'd be fun to do 0:08 a Dr. Greger in the Kitchen-type video, 0:11 though I'm not really cooking anything up 0:13 other than life-saving information. 0:16 The number one killer of men and women? 0:19 Heart disease. 0:20 The primary driver of our number one killer: 0:23 LDL cholesterol. 0:24 No wonder about 100 million Americans 0:27 are on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. 0:30 When it comes to LDL, the lower the better; 0:32 so, in addition to whatever drugs 0:36 you and your doctor may decide upon, 0:38 ideally, we would all be incorporating 0:41 any and all safe, simple, side-effect-free solutions 0:44 that lower our LDL as low as it will go. 0:47 Over this extended 16-video series, 0:50 I've tried to identify every cholesterol-lowering food, 0:54 herb, spice, and safe supplement 0:56 to create a portfolio of things to do 0:59 on a daily or monthly basis 1:00 to drive LDL as low as possible. 1:04 The problem is it's quite a list. 1:07 I mean, that's great, right? 1:09 That means there are lots of things we can do 1:10 to lower our cholesterol. 1:11 So, you can pick and choose 1:13 to figure out what works best for you, 1:15 but if you wanted to try to do it all, 1:19 how might you go about it? 1:21 What I want to show in this video is how I do it. 1:25 This is not to say it's how you should do it, right? 1:28 You need to figure out what fits into your life. 1:30 I just wanted to share what I've come up with, 1:32 in case it will give you any helpful ideas. 1:36 First, we start by reducing or eliminating 1:39 concentrated sources of the three things 1:41 that primarily raise our LDL cholesterol: 1:45 saturated fat, trans fat, and dietary cholesterol. 1:47 So, cutting down on meat, dairy, eggs, 1:50 and processed foods that contain
Building a Cholesterol-Lowering Diet 1:52 partially hydrogenated oils or tropical oils: 1:55 coconut oil, palm oil, or palm kernel oil. 1:58 It's kind of silly to go out of our way 2:00 to add all these cholesterol-lowering foods 2:02 if we are actively, every day, eating 2:04 cholesterol-raising foods. 2:06 So ideally, we end up centering our diets 2:08 around unprocessed plant foods. 2:10 But some plants are better than others. 2:13 I'm looking at you, iceberg lettuce. 2:16 So, in my book How Not to Die, 2:18 now in its 10th anniversary edition, 2:20 I created my Daily Dozen checklist 2:22 of all the healthiest of healthy foods and habits 2:25 that I encourage everyone to fit 2:27 into their daily routine. 2:28 For details, you can check it out 2:30 in your local public library or download the free app: 2:34 Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen. 2:36 In the appendix of How Not to Die, 2:37 I emphasize the importance of a regular reliable source 2:40 of vitamin B12, 2:42 vitamin D if you don't get enough sunshine, 2:44 and a good source of iodine. 2:45 You also may want to consider taking 2:47 a pollutant-free source of DHA. 2:51 Then, in my last few videos in this series, 2:54 I tweaked the Daily Dozen for cholesterol lowering, 2:57 adding and specifying all the things 2:59 with special cholesterol-lowering properties. 3:02 All beans and berries are good, 3:04 but that tablespoon of black soybeans 3:06 and two tablespoons of dried barberries 3:08 appear particularly potent. 3:10 Fruits and veggies are all great, 3:12 but we have that special data on apples and artichokes. 3:15 Bumping up the ground flax to three tablespoons a day. 3:18 Then, there's that weird Brazil nut thing, 3:20 and specific spices in specific amounts, 3:24 the psyllium, the sterols. 3:26 If any of this is unfamiliar, 3:28 please go back and watch those videos 3:30 where I do a deep dive into the data 3:33 to go through the pros and cons of each, 3:35 so you can make up your own mind. 3:36 I go through all the supplements, 3:38 why, you know, taking red yeast rice 3:41 is such a bad idea, 3:42 the risks and benefits of statin drugs 3:45 based on your ten-year risk, 3:46 which I show you how to calculate. 3:49 Okay, and then, in my book How Not to Age, 3:52 I recommended adding 3:53 to the list of daily recommendations 3:55 vinegar to boost the enzyme AMPK, 3:58 coffee to boost autophagy, 3:59 wheat germ for the spermidine, 4:02 strawberries and pippali for the senolytic compounds 4:05 fisetin and piperlongumine, 4:07 green tea to boost Nrf2 defenses, 4:10 potassium-based salt substitutes, 4:12 chili peppers, 4:13 mushrooms for ergothioneine, 4:15 purple sweet potatoes, 4:16 pumpkin seeds, cranberries, nutritional yeast, 4:18 cocoa powder, and black sesame seeds. 4:21 Now, that doesn't include all the cosmetic stuff in the book, 4:24 like recipes for topical vitamin C 4:26 and nicotinamide kind of youth serums for your face. 4:29 That's all up to you. 4:30 Okay, something I did not cover in the book was taurine,
Daily Dozen Additions for LDL Reduction 4:34 but to make up for it, 4:35 I did a whole webinar on the new evidence 4:38 to help you decide if taurine is right for you. 4:42 And if you're overweight, 4:43 my book How Not to Diet includes 20 other things 4:46 you can do to accelerate the loss of body fat. 4:48 For those of you above your ideal weight, 4:51 every five pounds lost (2.30 kg) 4:52 should lower your LDL about two points. 4:55 But even without the weight-loss boosters, 4:57 that's still a lot of stuff. 4:59 Who's got time to worry about all that? 5:02 Enter my Portfolio Plus powder. 5:05 First step, divide all these components 5:08 into one of three categories: 5:10 tasty, nasty, and bland. 5:14 Let's start with the bland. 5:16 It all began with ground flaxseed, 5:19 a light nutty powder 5:20 that I could sprinkle upon pretty much anything. 5:23 So, I'd keep a jar on my kitchen counter 5:25 with a tablespoon scoop 5:28 to remind me to check off my Daily Dozen box. 5:31 Then, with How Not to Age, 5:32 I started mixing flax and wheat germ, half and half, 5:35 and so using a two-tablespoon scoop 5:39 to get a tablespoon of each. 5:41 And from that, I realized 5:44 that I did not mind sprinkling two tablespoons 5:47 of a neutral tasting powder on a meal, any meal. 5:50 All right, okay, now if that's the case, 5:53 and I eat three meals a day, 5:55 then I have room for six tablespoons 5:58 of bland powders a day. 6:01 So, if I'm going to make a month's worth of powder 6:04 at a time, 6:06 that's six tablespoons a day times 30 days 6:08 at 180 tablespoons. 6:10 How am I gonna fill up that 180 tablespoons? 6:13 Okay, let's go back to the lists. 6:16 The cholesterol-lowering Daily Dozen 6:18 includes not one tablespoon of flax 6:20 but three tablespoons of flax a day. 6:23 So, three a day times 30 days is 90 tablespoons. 6:26 So, half of the month's worth of powder, 6:30 90 out of the 180 tablespoons, 6:32 is going to be ground flaxseed, 6:34 which comes out to be about five and a half 6:37 to five and three quarters cups (640 - 670 g). 6:42 So, let me add that. 6:45 This is about four. 6:50 Ah! 6:51 I'm already spilling. 6:54 (soft whooshing) 6:57 That's why the smaller cup would-- 6:59 Okay, so that was one. 7:00 Let's go one and three quarters here. 7:06 Okay. 7:08 The ants in this house 7:09 are going to have very low cholesterol. 7:12 Ah, see, that worked much better. 7:14 Okay, now the reason I'm using pre-ground brown flaxseed-- 7:19 Why brown? Well, check out my video 7:20 on brown versus golden flax. 7:23 Um, now, why pre-ground? 7:25 You know, I used to just buy bulk whole flaxseed, 7:28 grind a big batch in my Vitamix 7:31 until I read that that might contaminate my flax 7:35 with billions of plastic particles. 7:37 Vitamix does make a stainless steel container, 7:41 but it's like a hundred bucks. 7:42 Is it worth it? I don't know. 7:44 There have been 15,000 papers published on microplastics 7:48 since my last video series on the subject.
Designing the Portfolio Plus Powder 7:50 I have a lot of catching up to do. 7:52 Stay tuned. 7:53 In the meanwhile, I've just been using pre-ground flax. 7:57 By the way, please ignore any and all brand names 8:01 that I'm using. 8:03 Unless otherwise specified, I am literally just using 8:05 the cheapest sources I've been able to find online. 8:09 Neither I nor NutritionFacts have ever accepted any money 8:13 to promote any product from any for-profit company. 8:16 Never have and never will. 8:17 Okay, 90 tablespoons down, versus a little on the counter, 8:21 ninety to go 8:22 to make up my 180 tablespoons of bland powder 8:26 that I'm willing to sprinkle on my meals every month. 8:28 What else has a neutral taste? 8:30 Psyllium. 8:31 Psyllium is pretty tasteless; so, let's add that to the mix. 8:34 One tablespoon a day 8:35 is 30 tablespoons of psyllium husk powder, 8:39 which is one and three quarters to two cups (140 - 160 g). 8:44 Ta-da. 8:46 Okay, since you'll be getting about a teaspoon of psyllium 8:48 at each meal, make sure that you also drink 8:51 a cup of water (240 ml) at least each time. 8:54 Okay, we're up to 120 tablespoons, 8:57 sixty tablespoons to go. 8:59 In How Not to Age, I noted that just a single daily teaspoon 9:03 of ground black sesame seeds 9:07 can drop systolic blood pressures 9:09 by eight points over placebo, 9:10 which, if sustained, could reduce our risk 9:12 of stroke alone by 26%. 9:16 So, 30 teaspoons equals 10 tablespoons, 9:21 or between a half and two thirds of a cup (60 - 80 g). 9:27 So, we'll throw that in. 9:31 A little bit more. 9:32 Okay. 9:34 Now, ideally, we'd be using raw black sesame seed powder. 9:39 Most on the market is toasted, which is much more delicious, 9:42 but we want to try eating our nuts and seeds raw, 9:46 because we want to reduce our exposure 9:47 to advanced glycation end products. 9:49 All right, 50 tablespoons to go. 9:51 What else can we add? 9:52 Well, if you do not like artichoke hearts 9:56 or you can't find them frozen in your freezer section-- 10:01 if you can't find any with no salt 10:03 in the freezer section-- 10:04 you could add five teaspoons of an artichoke extract powder 10:07 to get 500 mg a day, 10:09 but I just eat the whole food. 10:11 Unfortunately, there's no whole food equivalent 10:14 to the bergamot extract, 10:16 but if you don't like taking pills every day, 10:18 you could open up 15 grams of capsules 10:21 once a month into the powder. 10:23 It's pretty bitter though. 10:26 I was hoping that a half gram 10:28 spread over that six tablespoons a day 10:30 would kind of dilute it enough. 10:32 I tried that, though still too bitter for me. 10:35 But maybe your taste buds are different. 10:38 The sumac, though, isn't too bad. 10:42 A half teaspoon a day works out to five tablespoons a month. 10:48 Um, it has a kind of sour fruity flavor 10:53 that I don't mind, but if you don't like it, 10:56 then instead of adding it to the powder, 10:59 you could just, um, 11:01 use it however you use your barberries, 11:05 has a similar kind of tart taste. 11:08 If you decide to do taurine, 11:10 four tablespoons of the pure powder 11:13 will get you about 1500 mg a day, 11:15 which you could add to the monthly batch. 11:19 I've been able to find two bulk sources 11:23 of phytosterol powder. 11:27 You'd need to add four tablespoons 11:30 to get two grams a day, 11:33 but as I mentioned in the video, 11:34 I am skeptical that the pure powder works. 11:36 So, I take--just take 11:38 the actual esterified supplement 11:41 three times a day to get my two grams, 11:45 but it's expensive, like a dollar a day, 11:47 though cheaper if you buy it on eBay 11:50 near their expiration date. 11:52 Pro tip. 11:52 What else can we add? 11:54 Well, for iodine, 11:55 I used to make veggie sushi a lot or sushi salad, 11:59 or in the winter, I have miso soup 12:01 with a little arame seaweed, 12:03 or I'd just sprinkle a half teaspoon of dulse 12:06 onto my food every day, 12:07 even though dulse is pretty mild, 12:09 you know, it just doesn't work with all dishes. 12:13 So, normally, I would tell people 12:15 to stay away from kelp, 12:19 because we risk iodine overload
Handling Bitter Supplements with Edible Film 12:24 if we get any more than just a tiny amount, 12:26 but a tiny amount would be perfect 12:28 for our purposes here. 12:29 This brand has 732 micrograms of iodine per gram; 12:35 so, if we want to get 150 micrograms a day 12:40 for a month, 12:41 two teaspoons 12:43 spread out over the entire month, 12:45 and it's diluted enough that you should not taste it. 12:49 Now, if you already have a regular source of iodine 12:51 in your diet, there's no need to do this. 12:53 I probably don't eat seaweed regularly enough; 12:56 so, that's why I add it to my mix. 12:58 You'll note, though, I'm going to have to shake it 13:00 really good, right, to evenly distribute it. 13:02 Otherwise, it kind of just defeats the purpose. 13:06 And, speaking of which, if you take vitamin B12 13:09 three times a day, 13:10 you only need two microgram doses, 13:13 whereas if you take it once a day, you need 50; 13:15 you take it once a week, 2000. 13:16 How does that make any sense? 13:18 Check out my video for the math. 13:20 But by crushing up 13:22 one 250 microgram tablet of cyanocobalamin, 13:26 which is the preferred form of B12, 13:28 and adding it to the mix, 13:29 you could theoretically get 13:30 your two to three micrograms per meal, 13:33 but that's assuming it's perfectly distributed. 13:36 So, if you are gonna try it, 13:37 I might use a 500 microgram pill. 13:44 So, I whip out my handy... 13:48 mortar and pestle here. 13:49 Doo-doo-doo. 13:51 (scraping) 13:53 Ta-da! 13:56 (clinking) 14:00 Now, one might argue it's more physiological 14:03 to get tiny amounts throughout the day, 14:05 but I looked into it, and I didn't see any downsides 14:07 of taking daily or weekly doses. 14:10 So, the only real advantage of kind of microdosing B12 14:14 in this kitchen-sink-type mix 14:16 is just not having to remember to take your B12 every week. 14:20 Okay, one less thing to worry about, 14:21 and it comes out to be, like, ten cents a month, 14:24 but again, it has to be 14:25 completely evenly distributed to work. 14:28 Okay, so I think that's all the bland stuff; 14:30 so, the final 44 or so tablespoons 14:33 is all spermidine 14:36 in the form of wheat germ. 14:38 So, that's two and three-quarter cups (315 g). 14:40 I would use the big one, 14:41 but then I'll just spill it all over the place. 14:43 Let's just go two... 14:46 Ooh, left-handed, look at that. 14:51 And three-quarter cups. 14:55 There we go. 14:59 All right. 15:00 And so, that should get you close to about four milligrams 15:04 of spermidine a day. 15:05 Let us shake. 15:08 Okay, so, to recap, 15:10 for a month's worth of the basic recipe, 15:13 assuming you're adding two tablespoons to each meal, 15:16 for three meals a day, right, 15:18 that's 90 tablespoons of ground brown flaxseeds, 15:22 forty-five tablespoons of raw wheat germ, 15:26 thirty tablespoons of finely ground psyllium husk powder,
Using the Powders in Everyday Meals 15:30 ten tablespoons a day of raw, powdered black sesame seeds, 15:33 and five tablespoons of sumac. 15:36 Now, if you're making a different-sized batch, right, 15:38 just follow a ratio of 18 to 9 to 6 to 2 to 1 15:43 for those five ingredients, in that order. 15:47 In place of some of the wheat germ, 15:48 you could add four tablespoons of taurine powder, 15:51 four tablespoons of plant sterol powder, 15:54 five teaspoons of artichoke extract powder, 15:57 fifteen grams of bergamot extract, 15:59 two teaspoons of kelp powder 16:00 (assuming it has about 700 mcg of iodine per gram), 16:05 and 500 micrograms of B12. 16:09 Then, whoo, we put that all 16:11 in an opaque airtight container, and... 16:18 we are set for the month. 16:23 Ta-da! 16:25 Okay. 16:28 So, that is the plain powder. 16:31 Now, we turn to the louder powder, 16:33 or as it's called, the "disgust dust." 16:37 Amla, for example. 16:39 Aww. 16:40 Barf. The stuff is gross. 16:43 So, what do you do with it? 16:44 Well, I mean, if you make smoothies every day 16:46 and you don't notice it or something, great! 16:49 Otherwise, how are you gonna get your third of a teaspoon 16:52 of amla every day? 16:54 Dun-da-da-dun! 16:56 Japanese edible film. 16:58 Japanese edible film is a... 17:02 It's gonna be hard to even take it out. 17:04 They're so thin. 17:05 They are squares or disks of just pure potato starch. 17:11 They're a way to swallow unappetizing powders 17:14 without tasting them. 17:15 So, let me see if I can demonstrate here. 17:18 Take my square, take my third of a teaspoon of amla-- 17:23 I don't think I have a third teaspoon. 17:24 I'll just have to wing it here. 17:26 Where'd my amla go? 17:27 Here we go. 17:29 Okay. 17:32 Doo-doo-doo. That looks like about a third. 17:33 Ta-da. 17:35 Okay. 17:36 Now, what you do with dry fingers, 17:38 you wrap it up like a wonton, 17:40 take the corners, right, boo-boo-boo-boo, da-da, 17:43 okay, wrap it up like a wonton. 17:45 Then, take a glass of water. 17:47 You dip it in the water, 17:48 and then it kind of self-seals up, 17:51 and you put it in your mouth. 17:59 Ta-da, you don't taste a thing. 18:01 Okay, now, if you want to try this at home, 18:05 start small, work your way up. 18:07 I don't want anyone to choke on it. 18:09 I'm up to about a teaspoon; 18:11 so, I use it to take my BAT powder every day. 18:18 Black cumin, amla, amla, and my, uh, turmeric. 18:26 Okay, black cumin, amla, turmeric. 18:28 My BAT powder. 18:29 So, a quarter teaspoon a day of the black cumin, 18:31 a third of a teaspoon a day of the amla, 18:33 and then a quarter teaspoon a day of the turmeric, 18:36 or, basically, just a teaspoon a day 18:40 of a 3-4-3 ratio 18:42 of black cumin, amla, and turmeric. 18:46 Basically, that's what it looks like. 18:48 Okay, and you put it in your, uh, in your edible film, 18:53 and you're set to go. 18:54 Now, there's other ways to swallow unpleasant powders. 18:58 You could use prefilled capsules, 19:00 you could fill capsules yourself 19:02 with a little capsule maker, or just make a shot, right, 19:04 you take that teaspoon, 19:06 put it in a little thing with some water, 19:09 stir it up, and just drink it down. 19:11 I call it the "curry slurry method." 19:14 Whatever floats your boat. 19:16 Okay, here's where we ended up. 19:19 The blend components 19:20 find their way into my sprinkle-on-meals powder. 19:24 The nasty bits go into edible film, 19:27 and then for the stuff I like, the tasty components, 19:30 that goes into my regular meal rotation. 19:32 So, for example, for breakfast, 19:34 I might have a warm grain, 19:36 like my cran-chocolate pomegranate BROL bowl, 19:40 or just some oat groats with defrosted frozen berries. 19:44 Lemon balm is in the mint family; 19:47 so, I mix it in a 1 to 3 ratio 19:49 with freeze-dried strawberry powder, 19:52 and I just put a heaping tablespoon of that 19:56 into whatever I'm having that morning. 19:58 I make it chocolatey with cocoa powder, 20:01 nut seeds, barberries-- I got my barberries-- 20:04 some chocolate balsamic vinegar, 20:06 and, of course, 20:08 two tablespoons of the Portfolio Plus powder. 20:10 So, boom, that's like 17 things checked off, 20:14 and I've hardly even woken up yet. 20:17 For lunch, I've been doing a lot
Tracking Progress and Final Takeaways 20:18 of kind of Italian recently. 20:20 So, whole grain pasta dishes like hummac, 20:24 which is mac and cheese 20:25 but with hummus instead of cheese. 20:28 So, the garlic, savory artichokes and mushrooms 20:30 pair perfectly well. 20:32 But, let's say you hate the taste of garlic 20:34 and instead you cook a lot of Indian. 20:36 Okay, fine. 20:36 Then, you're making BAT powder, right? 20:41 Make a lot of Middle Eastern? 20:42 Well, just use the sumac directly in the meals. 20:44 You don't need to put it in the powder, right? 20:46 Same thing with, like, remember the artichoke extract? 20:48 You can use that instead of actually using artichokes. 20:50 Then, in the afternoon, I'll have some green tea. 20:52 The apples make a great dessert. 20:54 The sweet potatoes can be a hearty snack 20:56 or air fried as fries on the side. 20:58 It's not something I do every day, 21:00 but just I want to include them in the list 21:02 as a reminder to try them out. 21:04 You can also get purple sweet potato powder 21:08 that you can put in smoothies or something 21:09 to get these bright purple smoothies that kids love. 21:13 I do my BAT powder in the morning 21:15 along with a capsule of plant sterol esters, 21:17 bergamot extract, DHA, and vitamin D. 21:20 Then, I take an additional capsule of plant sterols 21:23 at lunch and dinner 21:24 along with the two-tablespoon sprinkle of the bland powder. 21:27 I don't have room in my edible film 21:29 for the pippali 21:30 and didn't want to do two films a day. 21:32 That would change, though, if the purported benefits 21:35 do become more than just theoretical. 21:38 Likewise, if my ten-year risk of heart disease 21:40 ever crept up to five percent, 21:42 I would start a statin in a heartbeat, 21:45 and I'm still waiting on better data for the taurine, 21:48 but I think it's totally reasonable not to wait. 21:50 It all depends on your risk tolerance, 21:52 both in--in both directions, 21:54 both safety and potentially missing out on any benefits. 21:57 Okay, I imagine this video, 22:01 be a little overwhelming, right? 22:02 Look, if all you do is go out and eat an apple 22:07 once in a while, great, your body, your choice, right? 22:10 You know I try to keep things simple. 22:12 You know I hate supplements. 22:13 God knows what's in them half the time. 22:15 But given the evidence that we should try 22:17 to lower our LDL as much as possible, 22:20 I wanted to give everyone-- lay out every tool I can find 22:25 so you can mix and match them together 22:29 to have as much control over your destiny as you want. 22:34 To track your progress, you start by getting 22:36 a free LDL cholesterol test by going to familyheart.org, 22:40 thanks to the nonprofit Family Heart Foundation. 22:42 They just send it to you in the mail. 22:44 Then, you can have your doctor order tests 22:46 for you every month to see how you're doing, 22:47 or if there's a local Quest or LabCorp location near you, 22:51 you can just order your own tests. 22:54 Or, to save time, 22:55 you can get a little cholesterol testing machine. 22:58 They use little drops of blood and it gives you 23:00 a digital readout in a few minutes. 23:02 You can check it every week, 23:04 try out different foods or supplements, 23:05 and see what works for you. 23:08 I hope this video helped 23:10 or, at the very least, gave you some ideas. 23:13 From the bottom of my heart 23:15 to your future even healthier heart, 23:19 this is Dr. Michael Greger with NutritionFacts.org. 23:27 Ah. Dropped my spoon.
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