A high cholesterol diet is not a heart healthy diet. In fact a high cholesterol diet raises a person's chances of coronary artery disease, and increases the likelihood of heart attack or stroke. The underlying cause of coronary artery disease is atherosclerosis, which can be defined as narrowing of the arteries by deposits called plaques. Plaques are composed of, you guessed it, cholesterol, along with smooth muscle cells, fibrous proteins, and calcium.
Not so good right! After all who would eat a high cholesterol diet knowing that it greatly increases their chances of coronary artery disease. Sadly, the answer is likely over eight out ten people including those who believe they are eating healthy but really not. If you have a few minutes I would like to drive this point home by telling you about my friend Mike, who is continually having health problems despite being only about 20 percent overweight.
Mike thinks he eats very healthy and is a model in nutritional prowess. He talks the talk but doesn't quite walk the walk. So one day after his little speech on eating healthy I asked him what he had for lunch. After a slight pause, he admitted that his wife normally packs him a lunch filled with healthy food options. So I asked him again, and he went on to say a sandwich on white bread with some extra mayo to spice things up. My next question was what kind of meat, was it turkey or some other low fat cold cut? Mike said he thought it was either bologna or a luncheon loaf of something like that. He then pointed out that there was a banana for desert, along with a couple store bough pastries as an afternoon snack. He then sternly told me that of all people I should know bananas are a low fat food! End
You see my friend believes that because a low fat banana is included in his lunch it must be healthy. This is indeed the case with most people who eat what is considered a high cholesterol diet. Not everything they eat is unhealthy but enough of it is to keep cholesterol and triglyceride levels elevated. An example would be going to a restaurant and ordering fish and vegetables from the hearth healthy menu only to add a large brownie and two scoops of high saturated fat ice cream for dessert.
Experts recommend limiting calories from fat to no more than 25 to 35 percent of the total calories with saturated fat providing no more than 10 percent of calories consumed each day. So as you can see it doesn't take much to eat what is considered to be a high cholesterol diet. Nevertheless, as one expert put it if a person would watch their portions, reduce their intake of saturated fat, and include soluble fiber alternative such as oat bran and/or apples they just might be pleasantly surprised with the cholesterol lowering outcome.
What Next? Lowering cholesterol, in most cases, is about changing old habits, adopting new healthier habits, consuming smaller portions, 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 decreasing LDL (bad cholesterol levels). For years we have heard that moderation is the key to a healthy diet and perhaps there is a morsel of wisdom to be found in this enduring statement.
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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