What he said.

Yogurt is a great substitute for ice cream.

Because uninformed crap is harmless in most cases, but not when it comes to someone's health. This thread didn't start as a debate about general healthcare principles: someone asked if anyone here took Lipitor, because he has a raised cholesterol level and his doctor is recommending it for him. If he really is foolish enough to take medical advice from this board, it seems he will now be ignoring his doctor. Wonderful!

For your information, when my condition was recognized, it had already gone far beyond just raised cholesterol. I ended up in intensive care and was told I had very limited prospects without immediate bypass surgery. But I was also warned that unless my cholesterol levels were reduced (and at this point they didn't know why they were raised), I might need repeat surgery every few years.

So I took a chance and decided to work on my cholesterol first. I started on Lipitor and worked on my lifestyle. Which is the other reason I'm "defensive", as you put it.

Most people in good health will benefit from the general advice given in this thread, but that isn't remotely enough if your body is already damaged. Not only is radical change likely to be needed, far more so than most people probably imagine, but then you have to take care that reducing and cutting out certain foods, you add others to keep yourself supplied with all the vitamins and minerals you need. Depending on your condition, the type of exercise which might benefit one person, could be extremely damaging. In short, you need detailed advice specific to your condition and it really isn't helpful - as several have done in this thread - to imply that if someone simply takes better care, everything will be fine.

what uniformed crap?

you are very clearly an exceptional case. you are describing a VERY EXTREME personal situation. most people who are prescribed lipitor aren't in intensive care with doctors recommending immediate surgery or telling them they might require surgery every couple years. far from it. you are not the general population of people trying to lower their cholesterol. as i have said quite a few times now, obviously medicines like this have their place and yours was certainly one of them.

There is a HUGE difference however, in the immediate need to lower cholesterol levels when you are at risk of dying, which requires drugs and being one of countless people today with high cholesterol which rely on a drug over diet and exercise which people commonly tend to do.

lets not pretend that Lipitor is something ONLY prescribed to people who are at risk of death at any minute. its not. like far too many drugs today, its given out like candy because doctors know that the vast majority of patients won't make the required lifestyle changes. i had one friend that was an attorney prescribed lipitor to lower his cholesterol and among other symptoms, he was experiencing vertigo and falling out of chairs at meetings. he was so miserable that he quit it, talked to a nutritionist and created a diet plan and started working out. in 2 months, he had significantly lowered his cholesterol levels. THOSE are the people i am talking about. THOSE represent the majority of people being prescribed drugs because doctors know that the vast majority of patients won't make the required lifestyle changes to help themselves without drugs.