We have all heard about the dangerous of high cholesterol and finally we have decided to reduce cholesterol. But where do we start? Do I have to eat sprouts and tofu all day every day just to reduce my cholesterol a few percentage point. The simple answer is no, in fact you might be surprised at just how few changes you have to make to turn that cholesterol elevating diet into a diet that not only will help you reduce cholesterol but might melt off a few of those extra pounds along the way.
There are two sources of cholesterol, your liver and the food you eat. Whether it comes from your liver or foods it travels through your bloodstream in particles called lipoproteins. The fatty substances in lipoproteins include cholesterol and triglycerides, the most common fatty substance in the human body. The proteins that combine with fats to produce lipoproteins are called apolipoproteins often abbreviated apo. Lipoproteins containing significant amounts of protein are called HDL(good cholesterol) and those high in fats and low in proteins are LDL(bad cholesterol).
A lot of technical stuff, right? Now let's get back to finding ways to reduce cholesterol. A we discussed earlier cholesterol can come from our liver and from foods. Since it is highly unlikely we are going to remove our liver to shave a few points off our cholesterol levels that leaves foods or possibly medication, but let's focus on foods for now. The type of foods we are looking for must be tasty, or at least made to taste good, and be low in saturated fat. We also should consider foods that can raise HDL levels without dramatically raising LDL levels. Think of HDL as the janitor that comes along and sweeps trash out of your arteries after messy LDL has trashed the place, leaving high fat food lying around for weeks.
If you are wondering what saturated fat looks like go to the grocery store and pick up a can of high fat chili. Heat it up in the microwave and then put it in the refrigerator for a while. That white stuff that forms on the top will be saturated fat and it is the same stuff that clogs your arteries.
So a good tip in reducing cholesterol is to consume less saturated fat or if you can't resist use the refrigerator trick above and siphon off the saturated fat, then re-heat your food. Every tablespoon of fat that drains away saves you about 100 calories, plus quite a bit of cholesterol and saturated fats.
Foods high in saturated fats include marbled meats, organ meats, poultry skin, dark meat poultry, bologna, salami, full fat dairy products, coconuts, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and solid vegetable fats that are hard at room temperature.
Foods are either low in cholesterol, raise good cholesterol levels, or reduce overall cholesterol levels are oatmeal, oat bran, walnuts, almonds, fish, sardines, albacore tuna, olive oil, canola oil, brown rice, beans, pomegranates, foods containing stanols or sterols, avocados, and apples.
What Next? When the goal is to reduce cholesterol, in most cases, it is about changing old habits, adopting new healthier habits, and enlisting the help of convention medications such as statins or lowered-cholesterol.com natural cholesterol reducing remedies if needed. Put simply, this basically means finding ways to increase HDL (good cholesterol) and decrease LDL (bad cholesterol levels). Certainly the aforementioned statin drugs will be one of your options but they do carry a number of serious label warnings. The side effect risks have made natural cholesterol reduction supplements combined with diet modification an alternative treatment combination worth considering.
Rob D. Hawkins is an enthusiastic advocate for the use of safe and effective high quality alternative health products and natural living, with over 10 years experience in the field. Learn more about natural remedies and natural health at purchaseremedies.com Purchase Remedies.com
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