Lowering Bad Cholesterol And Triglycerides

Choose Foods That Help Improve Your Ldl And Hdl Levels

Following a healthy eating plan can play a big role in your overall health, including your blood sugar and blood lipid control. What you eat and your cholesterol levels go hand in hand.

Foods that can help lower cholesterol:

Fiber , healthy fats , and plant stanols or sterols have all been shown to help lower cholesterol.

Other ways to improve cholesterol:

— Reduce sugar intake: Cut the amount of added sugars you eat. This is especially important for people with high triglycerides. The grams of sugars on the Nutrition Facts label of a food package, however, doesn’t tell you if sugars have been added . Instead, look at the ingredients list for items such as sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, molasses, maple syrup, or agave to see if there are added sugars in the product. Natural sugars, such as those found in fruit and dairy products, are also counted as sugars on the Nutrition Facts label. Limit how much sugar you use to sweeten drinks or in recipes.

— Limit high-cholesterol foods: People with diabetes should consume no more than 200 milligrams of cholesterol per day, according to the ADA.

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.

• Move more. Regular physical activity is one of the best things you can do for your heart health. Increasing your physical activity from as little as 10 minutes a day to the Australian governments recommended 30 to 45 minutes a day, five or more days of the week, can help manage your cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of heart disease.
• Quitting smoking reduces the risk of heart disease and can help reduce cholesterol levels. The most effective way to stop smoking is with a combination of stop-smoking medicines and support from a service like Quitline . Speaking to your GP is also a great first step.
• Drinking alcohol doesnt have any health benefits. Alcohol contributes unnecessary kilojoules and is of low nutritional value. Alcohol is not a necessary or recommended part of a heart-healthy eating pattern. If you do drink, to reduce your risk of alcohol-related harm, healthy women and men should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than four standard drinks on any one day.
• 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.

Increased Risk Of Heart Disease

Medical science consistently demonstrates that people with higher triglycerides have a higher risk of heart disease. That is not surprising since high triglycerides are also correlated with other cardiac risk factors such as insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and more atherogenic small LDL particles.49

Observational studies demonstrate the risk of a heart attack triples for those with triglycerides above 265 mg/dL compared to those with lower levels.50

Another study reports an increased risk for statin-treated patients when their triglycerides were above 175 mg/dL .51

Studies comparing the impact of elevated triglycerides on cardiovascular risk suggest it may be equally or more important than high LDL cholesterol.

One study shows genetic mutations that lower triglycerides have an equal benefit for reducing heart disease risk as those that lower LDL.52

Other studies report elevated triglycerides and triglyceride-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio are associated with smaller LDL particles and a more advanced coronary disease, whereas elevated LDL cholesterol show no significant correlation.53

Most recently, an evaluation of the PREDIMED trial demonstrates that triglycerides above 150 mg/dL and remnant cholesterol ) have greater predictive power for heart disease risk than does LDL.54

In fact, many trials show no improvement in the risk of heart disease or death.

Could triglyceride-lowering lifestyles have a greater impact than medications?

Read Also: How To Remove Cholesterol Deposits Around Eyes Naturally

Foods That Lower Your Cholesterol

Some foods can actively help to lower your cholesterol and they all work in different ways. Try to include these foods in your meals whenever you can:

1. Oats and barley

Eating whole grain foods reduces your risk of heart disease. Oats and barley are extra special because they are high in a type of soluble fibre called âbeta glucanâ. Beta glucan helps to lower âbadâ LDL cholesterol in your blood2,3.

Tip: Flavoured oat products like âQuick Oatsâ often contain added salt and/or sugar. Choose products that contain 100% oats as theyâre closest to how theyre found in nature.

2. Vegetables and fruit

Eating a variety of colourful vegetables and fruit everyday can help protect you against heart disease, stroke and some cancers4,5. Many vegetables and fruit are high in soluble fibre which helps to reduce the absorption of cholesterol and lower âbadâ LDL cholesterol in your blood.

Tip: Leave the skins on vegetables like pumpkin, kmara and carrot to maximise your intake of fibre. Use orange and lemon peel in dressings and sauces.

3. Foods rich in heart-healthy fats

Eating plenty of foods that contain heart-healthy mono and poly-unsaturated fats increases the levels of âgoodâ HDL cholesterol in your blood.

These foods contain heart-healthy fats.

• Vegetable oils and spreads

Eating these foods instead of foods high in saturated fat improves your cholesterol. Itll reduce your risk of heart disease too6.

4. Legumes and beans

Add These Foods To Lower Ldl Cholesterol

Different foods lower cholesterol in various ways. Some deliver soluble fiber, which binds cholesterol and its precursors in the digestive system and drags them out of the body before they get into circulation. Some give you polyunsaturated fats, which directly lower LDL. And some contain plant sterols and stanols, which block the body from absorbing cholesterol.

1. Oats. An easy first step to lowering your cholesterol is having a bowl of oatmeal or cold oat-based cereal like Cheerios for breakfast. It gives you 1 to 2 grams of soluble fiber. Add a banana or some strawberries for another half-gram. Current nutrition guidelines recommend getting 20 to 35 grams of fiber a day, with at least 5 to 10 grams coming from soluble fiber.

2. Barley and other whole grains. Like oats and oat bran, barley and other whole grains can help lower the risk of heart disease, mainly via the soluble fiber they deliver.

3. Beans. Beans are especially rich in soluble fiber. They also take a while for the body to digest, meaning you feel full for longer after a meal. That’s one reason beans are a useful food for folks trying to lose weight. With so many choices from navy and kidney beans to lentils, garbanzos, black-eyed peas, and beyond and so many ways to prepare them, beans are a very versatile food.

4. Eggplant and okra. These two low-calorie vegetables are good sources of soluble fiber.

Don’t Miss: What Is Your Ldl Cholesterol

How Can I Lower My Triglycerides Quickly

Dietary and lifestyle changes may help you lower your triglycerides within a few months. The first step, though, involves finding out why your triglycerides are high. Hypertriglyceridemia has many causes. These include:

• Dietary factors.
• Medical conditions.
• Some medications.

If you just learned your triglycerides are high, the first thing you should do is talk with your healthcare provider. Your provider will ask you some questions and review your medical history to see what might be causing the spike in your triglyceride level.

Your provider will then help you come up with a plan for getting your triglycerides back to a healthy level. This plan may involve medication to lower your triglycerides, especially if your numbers are very high. Or, you may need treatment for an underlying condition.

Your provider will also help you with dietary and lifestyle changes. Its always best to follow the individual plan your provider gives you. But here are some general guidelines that research shows can help you lower your triglycerides.

Dietary changes to help lower your triglycerides

There are four main dietary culprits that raise your triglycerides:

Product labels or packaging will also tell you if an item is fat-free. Its important to reduce your fat intake. But be aware that desserts labeled fat-free usually contain more sugar than full-fat versions and just as many calories. Limit these desserts or find healthier options like fresh fruit or sugar-free popsicles.

Eat A Mediterranean Diet

If youre looking for an overall diet plan that will lower triglycerides, the Mediterranean style may be the way to go it is, after all, one of the best diets for heart health. It encompasses all of the TG-lowering foods weve talked about. A diet that promotes eating more fatty fish, healthy plant-based oils, and nuts and seeds like the Mediterranean diet may be beneficial to reducing TG levels and improving heart health, Palinski-Wade says.

Read Also: Is High Hdl Cholesterol Bad

Ways To Reduce Elevated Triglycerides

: Simple sugars are the primary ingredient of triglycerides and hence excess intake of sweets or drinks can raise triglycerides. Eliminate intake of food items loaded with sugars like cookies, pastries, sweet desserts, and fruit juices.

: Drinking alcohol raises triglyceride levels. For people who are sensitive, a small amount of alcohol can trigger it.

Reduce intake of refined carbohydrate-containing foods: Intake of refined cereals like white rice, bread, pasta made from white flour, or cornflakes can significantly raise triglycerides in sensitive individuals. Instead choose whole grains such as multigrain chapatti, and other grains such as quinoa, barley and millet.

Choose foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids, the good fats! Omega 3 fatty acids have been shown to significantly reduce the elevated triglycerides level. Hence include foods high in omega-3 fatty acids such fatty fish , flax seeds, flaxseed oil, Almonds and legumes. Checkout 25 foods and 7 days diet to lower triglycerides.

Maintain a healthy weight: You may be surprised to discover that a modest weight loss of 5-6 kg can reduce your triglycerides, cholesterol level, and decrease your risk of heart disease. Eat a healthy diet to lose weight and prevent lifestyle diseases like diabetes, CVD, etc.

Eat more plant foods! Vegetable proteins such as beans, peas, nuts and lentils are excellent ways to improve your health and will have a direct effect on lowering your triglycerides and cholesterol.

Natural Ways To Lower Your Cholesterol Levels

We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Heres our process.

Cholesterol is made in your liver and has many important functions. For example, it helps keep the walls of your cells flexible and is needed to make several hormones.

However, like anything in the body, too much cholesterol creates concerns.

Like fat, cholesterol does not dissolve in water. Instead, to move around the body, it depends on molecules called lipoproteins. These carry cholesterol, fat, and fat-soluble vitamins in your blood.

Different kinds of lipoproteins have different effects on health. For example, high levels of low-density lipoprotein results in cholesterol deposits in blood vessel walls, which can lead to (

Also Check: How Much Cholesterol In Scallops

Replace Saturated Fats With Healthier Fats

Replacing foods that contain mainly saturated fats with foods that contain unsaturated fats such as polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats will help reduce your cholesterol level.

For example, instead of butter and cream in cooking, use olive oil, nut butters or avocado.

Healthy unsaturated fats are found in:

• fruits and vegetables

Hyperlipidemia High Cholesterol High Triglycerides How To Treat

The treatment of hyperlipidemia, high cholesterol, and high triglyceride is mainly divided into two parts: drug treatment and adjustment of daily eating habits.

If the necessity of medication is not reached, most doctors will generally recommend starting with non-medication.

Improve by adjusting the patients life and eating habits. If the blood lipids do not return to normal after 3-6 months, medical treatment should be performed.

The general treatment drugs are Statins, cholic acid-binding resin, nicotinic acid, and fibrate derivatives four kinds, to achieve control to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease caused by arteriosclerosis.

The treatment of drugs still needs to be discussed with the doctor, so in the next paragraph, I will mainly focus on the second focus of treatment, which is also the root of the daily diet and life maintenance.

Note. Taking the relevant therapeutic drugs requires taking the medicine according to the instructions of the doctor. All kinds of drugs have side effects.

You should discuss with the doctor and design a prescription label according to your own situation. Do not judge the consumption by yourself.

Recommended Reading: What Foods Can Raise Cholesterol

What Is A Good Tg: Hdl Ratio

A lower TG/HDL is better. In the discussion of science, studies, and treatment, there has been a tendency to go with higher ratios to show the largest impact on CV disease risk and death.

Here are the typical cut points for risk :

• In US less than 2 is ideal above 4 is too high
• In Europe less than 0.87 is ideal above 1.74 is too high

Use Liquid Vegetable Oils In Place Of Solid Fats

Liquid vegetable oils such as canola, safflower, sunflower, soybean and olive oil can often be used instead of solid fats, such as butter, lard or shortening. If you must use margarine, try the soft or liquid kind.

Use a little liquid oil to:

• Pan-fry fish and poultry.
• Make cream sauces and soups using low-fat or fat-free milk.
• Add to whipped or scalloped potatoes using low-fat or fat-free milk.
• Brown rice for Spanish, curried or stir-fried rice.
• Cook dehydrated potatoes and other prepared foods that call for fat to be added.
• Make pancakes or waffles.

Read Also: What Is Hdl Cholesterol In Blood Test

How Are Triglycerides Measured

Your doctor may give you a common test called a lipid panel. It checks for different types of cholesterol, including the levels of the good kind and the bad kind. The American Heart Association recommends that everyone 21 and older get a lipid panel at least every 5 years.

The levels are checked after an overnight fast. Fat from a recent meal can muddy the picture.

These tests are important because you rarely have any symptoms when your triglycerides are high, unlike with many other conditions.

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.

Don’t Miss: What Does It Mean If You Have High Cholesterol

Health Conditions Related To Triglycerides And Cholesterol

High blood lipid levels may increase your risk for plaques to develop in your arteries or thicken the walls of your arteries .

Other health conditions related to high triglycerides or cholesterol include:

• High blood sugar levels or diabetes
• Metabolic syndromea cluster of conditions that increase your risk for heart disease
• Genetic conditions

Thoughtful Talks With My Health Care Professional: My Cholesterol Treatment Plan

Your health care professional can help you reach your health goals, including keeping your cholesterol at healthy levels.

Making decisions with your health care team is the best way to create a treatment plan youll be more likely to stick to. If you dont understand something, ask for further clarification.

Heres a helpful checklist that you and your health care professional can go through to determine your risk and the best treatment options for you.

Recommended Reading: Is Pork Bad For Your Cholesterol

Busy Lifestyles Are The Most Common Reasons For High Cholesterol And Triglyceride Levels

If you are like me and like to pack your day full of activities or if you are simply trying to balance a work and home life, watching your diet is often the last thing on your mind.

Therefore, making a healthy meal for yourself and even the family is often impossible. Processed and other fast foods are often high in the fats associated with increasing cholesterol and triglycerides.

To try and tackle this problem, I have started doing a simple menu plan. That is deciding for the week what foods will best suit my cholesterol and triglyceride lowering diet and ensuring I have the ingredients ready to go.

The idea of creating a menu plan is, the days you know you are going to be pressed for time you and organise a simple meal that is still healthy. The meals that require more preparation or cooking time, I save for the days I know I can commit the time.

• Day one Poached salmon, new potatoes and carrots
• Day two Pasta with tomato and basil sauce
• Day three Vegetable curry with rice
• Day four Chicken salad
• Day five Mackerel, rice and poached eggs

The weekend I would leave to chance, although I do treat myself to a small Chinese takeaway and a half-a-glass of red wine on a Saturday evening.

Read Also: Tuna High In Cholesterol