Dangers Of High Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a naturally occurring substance made by the liver and required by the body for the proper function of cells, nerves and hormones.
Although your body needs cholesterol, excess cholesterol can build up and form a fatty plaque on the walls of the arteries, decreasing the flow of blood to vital areas of the body. If plaque continues to build long-term, it can significantly increase the risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
So what causes high cholesterol? Believe it or not, the answer goes way beyond a high cholesterol diet.
While cholesterol is normally kept in balance, an unhealthy diet high in hydrogenated fats and refined carbohydrates can disrupt this delicate balance, leading to increased cholesterol levels. This imbalance is manifested in elevated LDL and low HDL , which increases the risk of heart attack or stroke. Other causes can include physical inactivity, diabetes, stress and hypothyroidism.
But keep in mind that not all cholesterol is created equally. LDL cholesterol, also known as bad cholesterol, is the form that can build up on the artery walls and increase your risk of heart disease. HDL cholesterol, on the other hand, is often dubbed good cholesterol because it travels through the bloodstream, removing harmful cholesterol from the arteries to help enhance heart health.
What To Add In Your Dogs Oatmeal
For many people, adding things like brown sugar or maple syrup to their oatmeal makes an extraordinary breakfast, however, sugar should be the last thing given to your dog.
There are plenty of other additives that can be added in your dogs oatmeal to have a more enjoyable snack.
Peanut butter. Many dogs enjoy the taste of peanut butter and a small portion of no sugar added, all-natural peanut butter makes a great choice.
Pumpkin Puree. Many dog owners have been advised to feed their dog pumpkin puree to their dogs daily to help with digestion problems. This can therefore be added to their oatmeal snacks.
Fruit. Some dogs love fruit like bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and apples, all of which are potential additives.
Plain yogurt. Standard, unsweetened and unflavored yogurt is also a delicious additive to your dogs oatmeal.
Yogurt is packed with nutrients such as calcium and vitamins, thus adding more health benefits to your dogs snacks.
Friday: Enjoy A Blueberry Yogurt Parfait Dessert
I consider blueberries one of my superfoods, says Crandall, who eats them any chance he gets. All berries contain antioxidants, but certain berries contain more fiber. One serving size of blueberries contains 5 g another reason they’re a good choice to help lower cholesterol fast.
You can eat blueberries dried, and you can cook with them, too. If theyre not in season, you can buy packs of frozen blueberries just be careful to use them as soon as they thaw out, so they’re still firm. An excellent way to enjoy blueberries is to layer them with fat-free or low-fat yogurt for a tasty parfait as a desert.
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Thursday: Savor Some Salmon For Dinner
Get into the habit of choosing salmon over steak and youll be doing your heart a favor. Adding fish to your diet is beneficial in two ways, according to the American Heart Association. First, youre replacing meat, which is often high in LDL-raising saturated fat, with fish, which is low in saturated fats. Youre also getting beneficial omega-3 fats from fish, which lower triglyceride levels . Thats a double win, Kramer says.
How Quickly Can You Reduce Your Cholesterol Levels
How quickly can you reduce your cholesterol levels?30 days is quickly enough?
It can be achievable helping your body to fight bad LDL cholesterol level from inside out. There is one specific concentrated plant formula that will bring you real and quickly results. Have you heard about CholesLo?
We will speak about it in a minute. But first
Do you know that the main cause of high cholesterol is related to genetics and some hormonal changes due to aging? Seems like, as time passes, everybody can build up bad LDL cholesterol by neglecting healthy dieting habits and lack of exercise.
In the US alone, more than 70 million people are suffering from high cholesterol. It is known that this can lead to serious health problems like cardiovascular diseases, cloaked arteries and even strokes.
Better safe, than sorry! It is essential to keep cholesterol levels in the healthy range.
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Stress Substance Abuse And Cholesterol
Stress is a well-known factor for substance abuse that can lead to all sorts of unhealthy behaviors, including smoking, drinking, using drugs, or overeating in an attempt to self-medicate the physical and mental discomfort stress causes.
While these vices may provide short-term relief, they can do serious damage to your physical and mental health over timeincluding increasing your blood pressure and cholesterol and contributing to anxiety, depression, or addiction.
Smoking
Smoking cigarettes, cigars, and pipes is a major cause of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Thousands of harmful chemicals in cigarettes change your blood chemistry, which increases the amount of plaque that builds up in your arteries. Smoking thickens the blood and hardens the plaque, making your heart work extra hard to get the oxygen-rich blood where it needs to go. Blood clots form more easily and can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Excessive alcohol consumption
While alcohol doesnt contain cholesterol, it adds extra calories andin some casescarbs to your diet. The excess calories and carbs turn into triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. While moderate alcohol usedefined as no more than one drink per day for women or two per day for menis linked to higher good HDL cholesterol levels, heavy use is associated with numerous health problems, including high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.
Treatment For High Cholesterol
Making lifestyle changes, especially changing some of the foods you eat, and regular physical activity, are very important to help reduce high LDL cholesterol.
You may also need to take cholesterol-lowering medicines to help manage your cholesterol and reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Talk to your doctor about finding the most appropriate treatment for you.
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What Lifestyle Changes Can I Make To Help Improve My Cholesterol Levels
Exercise regularly.
Exercise can raise HDL cholesterol levels. It can also reduce levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides . Try to work out for 30 minutes, 4 to 6 times a week. Your workout should be moderate to vigorous. Make sure you talk to your doctor before starting an exercise plan.
Lose weight if youre overweight.
Being overweight can raise your cholesterol levels. Losing weight, even just 5 or 10 pounds, can lower your total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.
If you smoke, quit.
Smoking lowers your HDL cholesterol. Even exposure to second-hand smoke can affect your HDL level. Talk to your doctor about developing a plan to help you stop smoking.
Eat a heart-healthy diet.
- Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.Fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat. They add flavor and variety to your diet. They are also the best source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals for your body. Aim for 5 cups of fruits and vegetables every day. This should not include potatoes, corn, or rice. These count as carbohydrates.
- Pick good fats over bad fats. Fat is part of a healthy diet, but there are bad fats and good fats. Bad fats include saturated and trans fats. They are found in foods such as:
- Butter.
- Fats in whole milk dairy products.
Limit the amount of saturated fat in your diet. Avoid trans fat completely.
In addition to fiber, whole grains supply B vitamins and important nutrients not found in foods made with white flour.
How Can I Lower My Cholesterol In 30 Days
A few changes in your diet can reduce cholesterol and improve your heart health:
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Dietary And Lifestyle Changes
Dietary and lifestyle changes are key to making lasting changes in cholesterol levels.
Although they do not produce results as quickly as medications do, a person may notice their cholesterol levels drop in just a few weeks or months if they stick to a healthful diet and lifestyle plan.
Increase intake of plant foods
Plant foods are rich in vitamins and nutrients, and they lack cholesterol.
Most plant foods also lack saturated fats, which may increase cholesterol in the body.
A review published in noted that people who ate vegetarian diets had significantly lower cholesterol levels compared with omnivores.
The authors also noted that some targeted diets using plant foods might cause stronger effects.
For example, a diet rich in soluble fiber, plant sterols, and vegetable protein sources, such as soy and nuts, reduced LDL cholesterol by an average of 28.6% in just 4 weeks.
These effects continue over the long term. A review in Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases estimated that this type of diet reduces the 10-year risk of coronary heart disease by about 13%.
People who need to reduce their cholesterol quickly can work with a dietitian to create a targeted diet plan.
Increase fiber intake
While adding plant foods to the diet increases fiber intake naturally, it may also be helpful to take a fiber supplement or over-the-counter fiber drink to support the body.
Fiber keeps the digestive system healthy and may help prevent the body from absorbing cholesterol.
Avoid trans fats
Why Are We Even Trying To Lower Our Cholesterol So Quickly
The crux of this entire article rests on this answer.
- Maybe you wish to show your health or life insurance company a certificate of health. It certainly involves a blood test.
- Is it ethical? That is not for us to decide. However, lowering your cholesterol in a week or less can actually end up inspiring you to pursue fitness and healthy eating afterwards.
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Instant Oatmeal Also Lowers Cholesterol
If you are looking for the cholesterol-lowering effects, instant oatmeal or quick-cooking oats do the job as well as steel-cut oats or rolled oats. They are still considered to be a whole grain. However, because these forms are made into very thin flakes that are quicker to digest, they have more of an effect on raising your blood glucose level. To prevent a rapid rise in your blood glucose, its wise to have some lean protein or healthy fat with your instant oatmeal, such as low-fat milk or chopped nuts.
You must also be careful when buying packaged flavored instant oatmeal to note the ingredients. These forms often include sugar and flavorings which you may not want.
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Eat Fibre To Lower Cholesterol
Eating high-fibre food can also help to lower your cholesterol. Fibre helps reduce the amount of cholesterol that is absorbed into the blood stream from your intestine.
- Make sure you get at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day as these contain fibre along with other nutrients
- Eat plenty of other high fibre foods like pulses oats and seeds.
- Choose more wholegrain foods when you can, such as brown or granary bread over white.
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How Quickly Can You Lower Cholesterol
Reviewed byDr. Victor Marchione, MD.Written byDevon AndrePublished onOctober 11, 2020
Lowering cholesterol takes effort. It requires a multi-faceted approach centered around diet, lifestyle, and, if needed, medication.
But how long does it take to lower cholesterol?
Longer than you might hope.
Even though it can take months to achieve a noticeable improvement in cholesterol with hard work, there is a massive payoff: routines you develop in your quest to reduce cholesterol can translate into long-lasting effects.
In essence, the proper adaptations have the potential to leave your struggle with high cholesterol in the past.
Following a heart-healthy diet like the Mediterranean or DASH diets, in conjunction with regular activity, should lead to noticeable results in about three months. Of course, there will be variations between individuals, but that timeline can offer good guidance.
To achieve results, of course, you have to stick to the routine.
Getting at least 30 minutes of exercise per day, reducing saturated fat, and increasing dietary fiber can all help. For most, this involves eating far more plant-based foods and limiting refined and processed foods.
Some general dietary guidelines to follow that may help lower cholesterol include cutting saturated fat to less than 10 grams per day, eating 30 grams of fiber per day, and making sure at least 10g of fiber intake comes from insoluble fiber.
What Is The Difference Between Hdl And Ldl Cholesterol
Cholesterol doesnt dissolve in blood. To be transported in the bloodstream, cholesterol is packed into two types of carriers: low-density lipoproteins or high-density lipoproteins . LDL cholesterol, which is sometimes known as bad cholesterol, is necessary in limited quantities , but high LDL cholesterol levels can dramatically increase your risk of a heart attack. Thats because LDL particles can contribute to atherosclerosisor clogged arteries. HDL cholesterolsometimes called good cholesterolhelps clear LDL cholesterol from the arteries.
When doctors measure cholesterol levels, they first look at total cholesterol as a quick way to assess a persons risk. For a more exact guide, they divide the total level by the HDL level. Heart attack risk is minimized by having a lower total cholesterol and a higher proportion of HDL cholesterol. The ratio of total cholesterol to HDL should be less than 4 to 1.
Unfortunately, the average American man has a ratio of 5 to 1. Vegetarians, on the other hand, average about 3 to 1. Smoking and obesity lower HDL vigorous exercise and foods rich in vitamin C may increase it.
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Misconception: You Should Wait For Your Doctor To Mention Cholesterol
You need to take charge of your health. Starting at age 20, ask your doctor to test your cholesterol, assess your factors and estimate your risk for a heart attack or stroke.
If youre between 20 and 39, your doctor can assess your lifetime risk. If youre between 40 and 75, they will assess your 10-year risk.
Once you know your risk, you can take action to lower it. Your doctor may recommend diet and lifestyle changes and possibly medication. Follow all of your doctors instructions and have your cholesterol and other risk factors checked every four to six years as long as your risk remains low.
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Eat Heart Healthy Foods And Exercise
We have all heard the saying eat right and exercise. Eat heart-healthy foods, such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. I know it is tempting to walk out the door in the morning with a bagel or doughnut, but consuming simple carbs on a regular basis is not the healthiest way to start the day.
In comparison, a fiber- and protein- rich breakfast may fend off hunger pangs for longer and provide you with more energy.
Exercise may also help to improve cholesterol. I usually go to the gym three days a week, but we should all try to exercise 30 minutes a day, five times a week.
Learn more about how to make heart-healthy choices at TakeCholesteroltoHeart.com/MuyBueno
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Things To Do To Reduce Cholesterol Before The Blood Test
There are a handful of natural everyday modifications that you can implement into your daily routine to drop your cholesterol levels.
Diet
From full-fat dairy and sugary beverages to processed madness, you simply must avoid this range of food-types if you want to take cholesterol-lowering seriously.
- You can still consume meat. As long as you pair your meals with fresh fruits, whole grains, and veggies.
- Plants rich in fibre are excellent choices, particularly soluble fibre.
- Recommendations: berries, barley, beans , oats, yams.
Plant Protein
In close connection to the previous point, consuming plant-based protein is a step in the best direction.
- Beans, beans, and more beans.
- Recommendations: Pinto, soy, lentils, red.
- Unlike animal protein, which raises blood pressure, beans are renowned for bringing it down.
- They also reduce blood sugar and insulin levels that have led scientists to believe beans play a significant role in cancer prevention and treatment.
Good Fat
If youve heard the name omega-3 fatty acids, then you can be sure the Diet-Universe has spoken to you.
- This is not just good fat, but great fat, owing in large part to how well it fights heart disease.
- Food sources: sardines, herring, salmon, trout, mackerel, halibut.
Below are some bad fats you absolutely need to avoid if you have any plans of getting your cholesterol under control.
White Foods
Exercise
You knew this point was going to land at your door sooner or later.
When To See A Doctor
High cholesterol has no symptoms it can only be detected with a simple blood test.
Thats why its important to see a healthcare provider and have your cholesterol checked every five years if you are 20 or older, or more frequently if you have other risk factors.
If youre diagnosed with high cholesterol, your doctor will work with you to create a treatment plan, including how often you should come in for checkups.
However, if anything in your lifestyle or medical history changes, or if you feel the plan is no longer working, see them as soon as possible so they can help you make adjustments.
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How Do I Lower My Cholesterol Your 5 Top Questions Answered
High cholesterol could be caused by things we can control like lifestyle habits, or things we cant like age and family history. Keeping on top of the things you can control with simple changes can help to lower your risk of heart and circulatory disease. We answer your questions with simple tips to help you start making changes today.