protein cocoa, pb on ciabatta toast, yogurt, a slice of cheese
chx burritos
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Harvard Med LDL-lowering diet: a look at hard numbers
- The specific nutrient in soy that impacts serum LDL is isoflavone (IF)
- SPI (Soy Protein Isolate) might or might not retain IF depending on the isolation process
- Soy milk powder is more complete than SPI and preserves IF/protein profile better
- NOW Foods sells an organic soy milk powder that competes with Soy Protein Isolate for $ / p.gram
Sourcing sterol-enriched foods sounds like a big pain in the butt. BulSupplements.com supplies isolated phytosterol powder. At 2g/da, $29.97 / 500g yields 250 days, i.e. ~$43.75 / year.
The last puzzle-piece is soluble-fiber-rich foods. I kind of hate oatmeal, I mean I can eat it if I have to but I would very rather not if there are less disappointing alternatives. Oatmeal punches higher than other soluble-fiber-rich foods because it's specifically high in beta-glucan soluble fiber, which is a "resistant" type soluble fiber that binds to bilious cholesterol precursor at a particularly effective point in the digestive pathway. 1 srv of oatmeal has 2g soluble fiber.
Most other "high [soluble] fiber" vegetables are closer to 1.0 ~ 1.5 g / srv. Brussels sprouts, sweet potato, asparagus, turnips but who tf actually eats turnips regularly, peas, and carrots (in that order) range from 2.0 down to 1.1 g soluble fiber /srv.
Psyllium has been studied extensively as a regularity agent, and it is known to have some effect on LDL, but its fiber is not the more proven LDL-specific beta glucan type. High B-glucan is specific to certain types of grain (oats, barley); certain mushrooms (reishi, shiitake, maitake), and certain yeasts, seaweeds and algaes. Lesser amounts are found in other foods e.g. rye. Barley actually has slightly more beta glucans (2.5g / cup cooked) than oats (3g / 1.5 cups).
1 to 1.5 cups of cooked grain is too much for one sitting, at least for me, and I'm not sanguine on the prospect of chowing down even a half-batch every morning, so a concentrated supplement is attractive here. BulkSupplement lists "Beta Glucan 1,3/1,6 Powder" as a best-seller, but it's currently out of stock. Assuming you use 3g / day, a 500g supply is good for 166.7 days. At $48 / 500g, that's only 28.8 cents per day.