How Can I Lower My Cholesterol Level?
I recently found out that my cholesterol level is borderline being unhealthy. Could anyone please give me some advice on how I could lower it?
I recently found out that my cholesterol level is borderline being unhealthy. Could anyone please give me some advice on how I could lower it?
Apart from regular excercise, the following would lower your cholesterol level:
1. Eat a fibre-rich breakfast such as oatmeal, wholegrain muffins and/or fruit. Read cereal box nutrition labels to choose one with five grams or more of fibre per serving. Oat bran and rice bran are the most effective.
2. Switch to whole grains. Choose wholegrain breads, crackers, bagels, muffins, waffles and pancakes.
3. Eat legumes (beans) at least three times a week. Try bean soup, cold bean salad, hoummos sandwiches and black bean dip as snacks. Soy protein is especially effective, so be sure to include plenty. Even soya milk, tofu and textured soy protein are good.
4. Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. One at breakfast, one veggie (e.g. carrot sticks, tomato slices) and one fruit (e.g. orange sections, apple) at lunch, and one salad and one cooked vegetable at dinner…that makes an easy five. Choose whole fruit, skin included, instead of juice. Juice is the fruit with all the fibre removed.
5. Eat garlic. Cooked or raw garlic both contain compounds that help lower your liver’s production of cholesterol. Other good foods include raw onion, salmon, olive oil, almonds, walnuts and avocados (the latter five are all high in fat, but most of it is monounsaturated fat which helps to improve cholesterol).
6. Eat plenty of foods that contain the natural antioxidants: vitamins C and E: Rich in Vitamin C Rich in Vitamin E Red and green peppers Cantaloupe Sunflower seeds Walnuts Strawberries Papaya Almonds PeanutsOranges Grapefruit juice Wheatgerm Soybeans Broccoli Brussel sprouts Wheatgerm oil Soybean oil
7. Studies show that a little bit of wine or beer helps cholesterol levels. Binge drinking is not effective, but light to moderate drinking through the week is.
Unhealthy cholesterol levels can boost your risk of heart attacks,
strokes, and other problems.
According to experts, there are four basic ways to get your
cholesterol where you want it:
Eating a healthy diet.
Exercising
Losing weight
Taking medicine — in some cases
While each of these works, some people have more success with one
than another. Many need a combination of approaches.
No matter what your age or the state of your health, you can reduce
your risks of serious problems by controlling your cholesterol — and
it’s not as hard as you think.
1. Lower Cholesterol by Eating Right
You’ve probably heard it before, but foods that are high in saturated
fat and — to a lesser extent — high in cholesterol, boost your
cholesterol levels. These include foods like egg yolks, fatty meats,
and full-fat dairy products.
You also cut down on trans fatty acids as well, which are more often
found in processed and fried foods.
But eating a heart healthy diet isn’t just about deprivation. In
fact, some foods — eaten in moderation — can actually improve your
cholesterol levels. They include:
Fatty fish, like tuna and salmon
Nuts, especially walnuts and almonds
Oatmeal and oat bran
Foods fortified with stanols, like some margarines and orange juices
2. Improving Cholesterol With Exercise
Exercise is another way to improve your cholesterol levels. Increased
physical activity can have a modest effect on cholesterol, lowering
bad LDL cholesterol to a lesser extent, while boosting your good HDL cholesterol.
The type of exercise is up to you. Walking is the simplest and
easiest. Buy a pedometer to measure your progress and start moving.
3. Lose Weight: Lower Cholesterol
Being overweight tends to lead to unhealthy cholesterol levels.
Losing weight can lower your bad LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. It
also can raise your good HDL cholesterol.
Of course, weight loss is usually a product of a good diet and
exercise. So what if you’ve already improved your diet and started
exercising but still need to lose weight?
Then you need to make some further adjustments — gradually. Once
you’ve reduced your intake of saturated fats, trans fats, and
cholesterol, you can focus on cutting out some calories. In the same
way, once you’ve gotten into an exercise routine, you can step up the
intensity to lose some pounds.
4. Controlling Cholesterol With Medication
So what happens if diet, exercise and weight loss aren’t enough to
bring your cholesterol under control? Your doctor might recommend
medicine.
Do not self-treat yourself, and do not rely on a pill:
cholesterol-lowering drugs have many adverse effect, and you may end
curing one illness while getting another. Taking medicines is a
drastic measure, and you can start doing it only after consulting your
doctor.
Some people use Lecithin as a supplement, others kick out all fats from their diet. Some add special margarine designed to lower cholesterol when used with a healthy diet.
People need some fat, eating the correct fats which promote HDL and not the LDL. Cutting out as many saturated fats as you can. The hidden bad fats can be found in many things we eat, check the labels.
Lastly, make sure you continue to have it checked, should it go up to a certain level it will need to be controlled with drugs.
Get more exercise – it helps lower cholesterol.
Eat more veggies and fruit and whole grains. Eat less fatty meat, butter, margerine. Read labels. Avoid food with a lot of cholesterol in it.
You can buy lecithin from the health food store, it will raise your GOOD cholesterol.
its okay to have some cholesterol in your body because your body makes 75% of it. the other 25% needs to come from food but if you have too much then that is unhealthy. so to lower it you should exercise, eat less meat and eat foods that help lower it like cheerios or honey nut cheerios.
If you google LDL:HDL ratios you should get a lot of information on good and bad cholesterol. This really helps i think. I would explain but I don’t have time, but that should be of help.
porridge oats for breakfast, as recommended to me by doctor. fish a couple of times a week. a good walk for 30 mins a day, rea lly go for it with the arms swinging and cut down on the booze. good luck
Eat less fatty and unhealthy foods, and eat more vegetables and oatmeal. Exercise more.
Stop eating fatty and greasy foods and beef. Start eating grilled, baked foods, chicken, pork, and fish.
Exercise.
Cut out fats, cut back on sweet things, do some regular exercise. eat more salads and / or vegetables (steamed).
Get your nutritionist to write out a diet plan for you.
Eat a bowl of Cheerio’s every morning.
If you stop eating fatty foods it might help.
Take statins
if you walk a lot that will lower it and wathc what your eat!