How To Reduce Bad Cholesterol

A1c Or Hemoglobin A1c

This is a more complex way to gauge your blood sugar than with a blood glucose test. Your A1c gives you a longer-term view of your average blood sugar over 2-3 months. That matters because your glucose level can swing a lot throughout the day if you have diabetes. A1c calculates the percentage of red blood cells coated in sugar. A healthy level is usually below 5.7%. If you have diabetes, your doctor will recommend keeping it under 7%.

How To Raise Good Cholesterol And Lower Bad Cholesterol

This article was medically reviewed by Victor Catania, MD. Dr. Catania is a board certified Family Medicine Physician in Pennsylvania. He received his MD from the Medical University of the Americas in 2012 and completed his residency in Family Medicine at the Robert Packer Hospital. He is a member of the American Board of Family Medicine.There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 94% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 405,460 times.

Research suggests that making an effort to improve your cholesterol reduces your risk of heart disease and stroke.XTrustworthy SourceAmerican Heart AssociationLeading nonprofit that funds medical research and public educationGo to source Improving your cholesterol numbers means not only lowering LDLs, but raising your HDLs as well. Studies show that by making lifestyle changes and eating a balanced diet, you can take steps to raise your good HDL cholesterol and lower bad LDL cholesterol to take control of your health.XTrustworthy SourceCenters for Disease Control and PreventionMain public health institute for the US, run by the Dept. of Health and Human ServicesGo to source

Healthy Eating Tips To Lower Cholesterol

As well as sticking to a varied and healthy diet, try these tips to help you manage your cholesterol:

• Limit takeaway foods to once a week .
• Limit salty, fatty and sugary snack foods to once a week .
• Eat plenty of vegetables aim for 5 serves of vegetables every day. .
• Choose wholegrain breads, cereal, pasta, rice and noodles.
• Snack on plain, unsalted nuts and fresh fruit .
• Include legumes such as chickpeas, lentils, split peas), beans into at least two meals a week. Check food labels and choose the lowest sodium products.
• Use spreads and margarines made from healthy unsaturated fats instead of those made with saturated fat .
• Use healthy oils for cooking some include canola, sunflower, soybean, olive , sesame and peanut oils.
• Use salad dressings and mayonnaise made from oils such as canola, sunflower, soybean, olive , sesame and peanut oils.
• Include 2 or 3 serves of plant-sterol-enriched foods every day .
• Have 2 to 3 portions of oily fish every week. Fish may be fresh, frozen or canned.
• Include up to 7 eggs every week.
• Select lean meat and limit unprocessed red meat to less than 350g per week.
• Choose reduced fat, no added sugar milk, yoghurt, or calcium-added non-dairy food and drinks.
• Limit or avoid processed meats including sausages and deli meats .

If you are having trouble with your cholesterol levels, a dietitian can help you to eat healthily for your specific needs.

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Try The Mediterranean Diet

One of the best ways to decrease levels of LDL cholesterol is through your diet! A common diet that is recommended when trying to lower LDL cholesterol is the Mediterranean diet.

The Mediterranean diet is a diet that is high in fat due to the lower consumption of sugar and meat.

Foods like nuts, olive oil, fruits, and vegetables are at their highest levels when eating a Mediterranean diet which means youre less likely to have an increased cholesterol level.

People who eat this way also tend to lose weight over time because they are not consuming as many calories from sugars or fats since they get most of those essential nutrients through foods rich in protein and fiber.

Eating more healthy fats by including avocados with every meal will lower your risk for heart disease along with lowering LDL cholesterol levels! Avocado lovers can rejoice knowing that guacamole isnt just tasty, but its good for them too!

Mediterranean diets are commonly consumed in some of the healthiest places in the world called the Blue Zones.

Here is the typical Mediterranean diet pyramid:

Check Ldl And If Necessary Add Medications

Third visit to the doctor: recheck the LDL and, if necessary, add drug therapy, do not give up your habits, these are the most important thing to achieve long-term healthy values.

• Continue with your new healthy habits and monitoring every 6 months
• Initiate LDL-lowering drug therapy, if needed.
• Focus on treating metabolic syndrome

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Risks And Side Effects

While adding these foods to your diet can definitely help keep your cholesterol in check, its important to combine them with a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle to really optimize heart health. Even on the best cholesterol-lowering diet, adding a few superfoods here and there is unlikely to make much of a difference if youre not making changes in other parts of your daily regimen.

Minimizing stress levels, exercising regularly, increasing your intake of whole foods, cutting out heavily processed, high cholesterol foods and giving up unhealthy habits like smoking or drinking are just a few other natural ways to keep cholesterol levels under control and support better health.

Curb Cholesterol Not Flavor

Itâs no secret that certain foods can help you lower your LDL cholesterol, which causes a buildup of plaque in the arteries that leads to heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke. But what may surprise you is that many of these foods are delicious and easy to incorporate into your everyday meals without sacrificing flavor or fun.

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Focus On Fruits Vegetables Whole Grains And Beans

Our typical American diet is now abbreviated as SAD by scientists nationwide because its full of foods that do sad things to both hearts and waistlines. Hyperprocessed foods like potato chips and French fries. Sugar-saturated drinks. And fatty, artery-clogging meats and full-fat dairy foods like cheese.

We dont have to become complete vegetarians to get our cholesterol levels into healthy ranges, studies on the Pritikin Program have found, but clearly, the more vegetables, fruits, potatoes, and other naturally-fiber-rich plant foods we eat, the healthier well be.

Plant foods high in soluble fiber are especially beneficial in lowering total and LDL bad cholesterol levels. Good sources include beans , yams, oats , barley, and berries.

For simple tips on bringing more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans into your life, here is a 5-day sample healthy meal plan from the doctors and dietitians at Pritikin Longevity Center.

Apple For Bad Cholesterol

Can apples help lower cholesterol? Full of flavonoids, apple is one of the best simple home remedies for high cholesterol levels. You can keep enjoying this fruit and keep your lungs healthy. This fruit is rich in pectin and contains natural antioxidants known as flavonoids. Also, The skin of an apple is full of fiber.

I suggest eating fruits with their skin. Other fruits like grapes, pomegranate oranges also decrease cholesterol levels in our body as they are enriched with fibers.

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Consider Plant Sterols And Stanols

Multiple types of supplements show promise for managing cholesterol.

Plant stanols and sterols are plant versions of cholesterol. Because they resemble cholesterol, they are absorbed from the diet like cholesterol.

However, because parts of their chemistry are different from human cholesterol, they do not contribute to clogged arteries.

Instead, they reduce cholesterol levels by competing with human cholesterol. When plant sterols are absorbed from the diet, this replaces the absorption of cholesterol.

Small amounts of plant stanols and sterols are naturally found in vegetable oils, and are also added to certain oils and butter substitutes.

One study of 60 men and women found consuming yogurt with one gram of plant stanols reduced LDL by about 15%, compared to a placebo. Another study showed they decreased LDL by 20% .

In spite of these benefits to cholesterol, available studies have not proven that stanols or sterols decrease the risk of heart disease. The higher doses in supplements are not as well tested as the small doses in vegetable oils .

summary

Plant stanols and sterols in vegetable oil or margarines compete with cholesterol absorption and reduce LDL by up to 20%. They are not proven to reduce heart disease.

There is strong evidence that fish oil and soluble fiber improve cholesterol and promote heart health. Another supplement, coenzyme Q10, is showing promise in improving cholesterol, although its long-term benefits are not yet known.

Triglycerides In Your Blood

In addition to cholesterol, your blood also contains a type of fat called triglycerides, which are stored in your bodys fat deposits. Hormones release triglycerides to make energy between meals.

When you eat, your body converts any extra energy it doesnt need right away into triglycerides.

Like cholesterol, your body needs triglycerides to work properly. However, there is evidence to suggest that some people with high triglycerides are at increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

If you regularly eat more energy than you need, you may have high triglycerides .

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Good And Bad Cholesterol

We have two major types of lipoproteins:

Low-density lipoproteins that carry cholesterol from the liver to the cells.

High-density lipoproteins that return excess cholesterol to the liver.

You may have heard the term blood lipids. This is the name given to all the fatty substances in the blood including HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides.

LDL cholesterol levels can rise as a result of genetic disorders, poor diet, and an inactive lifestyle.

All of this can cause vascular cholesterol to build up and lead to arteriosclerosis, which is one of the leading causes of heart attacks and strokes.

On the other hand, good cholesterol aims to consume body fat and protect blood vessels and the heart.

In todays article you will find out which foods are best for reducing harmful LDL cholesterol, and its prevention.

You will learn what to avoid in order not to raise the bad LDL cholesterol in our body. The best way to handle and regulate a relationship is through nutritional fight.

Specifically by applying for expertly designed nutrition programs and including healthy products and foods.

Many people, especially middle-aged people, experience high blood fats.

Measuring Blood Cholesterol Levels

When measuring cholesterol levels, doctors will assess four markers in a persons blood:

• Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol: The bad cholesterol. A lower LDL number may be a good indicator of health and lower risk of disease.
• High-density lipoprotein cholesterol: The beneficial cholesterol. Low HDL cholesterol may be a risk factor for other issues, and a higher HDL number may indicate health.
• Blood triglycerides: A common type of fat in the blood. Higher levels may mean that a person has an increased risk of some issues, especially when they also have other risk factors, such as low HDL cholesterol.
• Total cholesterol: This number takes into account the levels of blood triglycerides and LDL and HDL cholesterol.

Doctors will use all of these numbers within the context of a persons overall health and other risk factors to determine their risk of heart disease and stroke.

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Eating A Combination Of Cholesterol

People who ate a combination of recognised cholesterol-lowering foods for 6 months more effectively lowered their LDL cholesterol than those who consumed a therapeutic low-saturated fat diet. These are the findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association by a team of Canadian researchers.

Conventional dietary advice seeking to lower circulating fats and risk of coronary heart disease has been relatively ineffective in comparison to medicinal treatment with statins. However, particular dietary components have known LDL cholesterol-lowering properties, and controlled, short-term studies have indicated the heart health potential of eating a combination of these foods .

In this randomised, real-world study, a team of researchers recruited a total of 345 people with high blood cholesterol across 4 locations in Canada. Participants were randomised to one of three dietary regimes for six months: 1) a therapeutic low fat diet , 2) a diet including a portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods combined with 2 visits , or 3) a diet including a portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods combined with 7 visits . Effects on blood lipids were compared between baseline and 6 months.

• 0.94 g plant sterol ester-enriched margarine per 1000 kcal of diet

• 9.8 g viscous fibre per 1000kcal of diet from oats, barley and psyllium

• 22.5 g soy protein per 1000kcal of diet as soy milk, tofu and soy meat analogues

• 22.5 g nuts per 1000 kcal of diet

Increase Movement In Your Daily Tasks

Every doctors first two advice when addressing lowering cholesterol levels is to improve their diet and exercise more.

Increasing your daily activity and exercising more can lower your LDL cholesterol levels by increasing the rate at which cells break down bad fats and releasing blood sugar into the bloodstream.

If you are looking for a new way to get more exercise, try out some of these options that will make it easier on your joints:

Walking or running in place while watching T.V.

Doing yoga poses during commercials when watching television

Perform wall pushups against our office walls whenever we need a breather from working hard! This also helps with improving posture and strengthening muscles around the chest area.

Walking is one of my favorite ways to lower LDL cholesterol because its an easy activity that can be done all day long! One hour of walking burns about 100 calories which means youre on the right track.

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Orange Juice For Bad Cholesterol

Orange Juce naturally reduce bad cholesterol. Orange juice is rich in vitamin c and flavonoids. Drinking two glasses of plant sterol-fortified orange juice per day can lower the cholesterol level by up to 11% of the total.

You do not need to make plans to lower your cholesterol levels drink two glasses of sterol-fortified orange juice per day, and you will see a gradual increase of good cholesterol and a decrease in bad cholesterol levels.

So load up your kitchen with orange juice and make it a habit to drink at least 750 ML of orange juice in a day if your medical reports are showing your cholesterol level higher than the normal range.

Red Grapefruit: As Much As A 20 Percent Difference

Eating just one red grapefruit daily for a month can help to lower LDL cholesterol by as much as 20 percent, one study in the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry in March 2006 showed. This cardioprotective effect is most likely due to compounds called liminoids and lycopene found in the pulp. Grapefruit also contains the soluble fiber pectin, which contributes to LDL lowering.

But be aware that grapefruit can enhance the effect of certain heart medications, such as statins and calcium channel blockers. If you’re on one of these drugs, check with your doctor before eating grapefruit or drinking the juice.

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Nuts And Seeds: Full Of Protein Plus Good Fat

Walnuts, almonds, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and flaxseeds are all excellent , heart-healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. When substituted for saturated fat in the diet, nuts and seeds help lower LDL cholesterol without affecting levels of good high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. It’s good to know that by eating nuts you cut your heart disease risk. Since nuts and seeds are calorie-dense, you’ll need to limit your daily intake to about 1 ounce and also make sure the nuts aren’t salted or coated with sugar.

Symptoms Of High Cholesterol

Often, there are no specific symptoms of high cholesterol. You could have high cholesterol and not know it.

If you have high cholesterol, your body may store the extra cholesterol in your arteries. These are blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body. A buildup of cholesterol in your arteries is known as plaque. Over time, plaque can become hard and make your arteries narrow. Large deposits of plaque can completely block an artery. Cholesterol plaques can also break apart, leading to formation of a blood clot that blocks the flow of blood.

A blocked artery to the heart can cause a heart attack. A blocked artery to your brain can cause a stroke.

Many people dont discover that they have high cholesterol until they suffer one of these life-threatening events. Some people find out through routine check-ups that include blood tests.

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The Ones Under Your Control

Diet. Three nutrients in your diet increase LDL levels: Saturated fat , a type of fat found primarily in foods that come from animals Trans fats , found mainly in foods made with hydrogenated oils, Cholesterol , which comes only from animal products. These nutrients will be discussed later, but it is important to know that saturated animal fats increase your LDL cholesterol level more than anything else in your diet.

Overweight. Being overweight tends to increase your LDL level. Also, it normally increases triglycerides , a fatty substance in the blood, and lowers HDL. Losing a few extra pounds can help lower your LDL and triglycerides, while raising your HDL.

Physical inactivity. Being physically inactive contributes to being overweight and can raise LDL and lower HDL. Regular physical. Activity can increase HDL and lower triglycerides, thereby helping to lower your LDL.

Stress several studies ensure a connection between stress levels and bad cholesterol. In particular, it has been seen that the higher the level of cortisol , the higher the LDL levels.

Bad habits For example, smoking, drinking alcohol are habits that promote the process of deposition of bad cholesterol and cause waxy plaque to accumulate in the arteries

That is, a person could have high bad cholesterol levels due to various causes, and understanding what their contribution is and reducing most of the factors is key to solving the problem from the root.