Are you suffering from high cholesterol? Has your doctor warned you to lower your cholesterol? You get high cholesterol from two sources: heredity and/or diet. In either case the three steps outlined here well help you. Although only so much can be done with heredity - you should work closely with your heart doctor.
The body and the cells require cholesterol for many purposes. It is necessary - without it we would not exist. The problem comes in when we have too much blood cholesterol. Cholesterol can penetrate the artery walls and accumulate there developing a plaque and causing the arteries to constrict limiting blood flow. As plaque builds up it might become unstable. If a piece breaks off, blood flow to the heart muscle may be cut off and a heart attack occurs.
Cholesterol is fat that is mainly made by the liver and distributed to the body in packets called low-density lipoproteins (LDLs). High density lipoproteins (HDLs) try to scoop up any cholesterol in the blood or in the cell walls and return it to the liver for disposal. So the balance of LDL versus HDL is important and these values are inputs to the total cholesterol computation that your doctor gets back from the lab.
The first step in any strategy to lower your cholesterol is to examine your present diet. How many calories do you eat in a day? Take a daily tally of the foods and snacks you eat, get a guide to calories in foods, and calculate your daily total. Most adults require about 2,000 calories a day to remain healthy. A Big Mac, an order of French fries, and a sugary soft drink can accumulate to more than 1,000 calories. A soft drink by itself can have 250 or more calories depending on the size of it. So are you eating much more than 2,000 calories/day? If you eat less, you not only lose weight, but you also help to reduce your total cholesterol.
Step 2 in lowering your cholesterol can be done by lowering your blood LDL level and/or increasing your HDL level - hopefully, both at the same time. Since the main input to creating LDL particles is saturated fat, your LDL level may be lowered by limiting your intake of these fats - eat less fatty foods. Saturated fats come from meats and dairy products. Eat 4-ounce portions of lean meat or fish in the supper meal. Substitute healthy snacks such as apples or nuts for unhealthy snacks like donuts or sticky buns. Drink water in place of sugary soft drinks. Eat natural foods not fast or processed foods.
After you have accomplished step 2, you can start on increasing your HDL levels. The food substitutions in step 2 will have a direct bearing on raising your blood HDL levels. To boost them further, start doing regular exercises (remember to consult with your heart doctor before starting a regular exercise program). There are many exercises to choose from - walking is probably the easiest. Walk for one-half hour a day for five or more days a week. Walk at a conversational pace - a pace at which you can keep a conversation.
So the 3-step program to lower your cholesterol is:
1) Adjust your diet to about 2,000 calories per day.
2) Avoid fast and processed foods and switch to natural foods low in saturated fats. Drink water instead of sugary soft drinks.
3) Start a regular exercise program - one-half hour a day for 5 or more days a week.
To learn more about foods that will lower your cholesterol visit:
foodsthatlowercholesterol.info foodsthatlowercholesterol.info
About the Author:
Tim Lazaro is a nutrition scholar and competitive, masters runner who writes on issues related to heart health, natural-food diets, and aerobic exercise. By employing the diets and life-style changes that he writes about, he has lowered his total cholesterol and lost weight.
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