How Can I Lower My Cholesterol With Medicines
As well as making lifestyle changes, some people will need to take cholesterol-lowering medicines to reduce their risk of heart and blood vessel disease, known as cardiovascular disease. The medicines most commonly used are called statins.
Your doctor will consider all your risk factors for cardiovascular disease before suggesting medication not just your cholesterol and lipid results. If youve already had a heart attack or stroke, taking statins can substantially lower your risk of having another one.
Statins work by slowing the amount of cholesterol made in your liver. In response, your liver uses the cholesterol already in your blood to make up for the deficit. This lowers the level of LDL cholesterol in your blood.
If statins alone do not lower your cholesterol enough, you may need additional medicines.
Contact your doctor if your medicines are causing any side effects.
What Is The Ideal Cholesterol Level
The ideal blood cholesterol level is below 150 milligrams per deciliter , based on the results of the Framingham Heart Study and other research. At that level, heart disease is very unlikely. Unfortunately, nearly 107 million Americans have cholesterol levels that are greater than 200 mg/dL, which is dangerously close to 225 mg/dLthe average cholesterol level of coronary artery disease victims.
Increase Your Physical Activity
Physical activity increases levels of HDL cholesterol the good cholesterol that removes LDL cholesterol from the blood. Vigorous aerobic exercise is best.
If you havent been exercising much lately, gradually build up to the recommended amount of physical activity:
- People aged 18-64 years should do 30 to 60 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week.
- People aged 65 years and over should aim for a total of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days .
Moderate-intensity exercise is a level that increases your heart rate and breathing but allows you to keep talking. Vigorous intensity exercise makes your heart rate higher and makes you breathe more heavily.
Resistance training and muscle-toning exercises can increase HDL cholesterol. Aim to do this twice a week.
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Puree Fruits And Veggies For Baking
Pureed fruits or vegetables can be used in place of oil in muffin, cookie, cake and snack bar recipes to give your treats an extra healthy boost. For many recipes, use the specified amount of puree instead of oil. Check the mixs package or your cookbooks substitutions page for other conversions. You can:
- Use applesauce in spice muffins or oatmeal cookies.
- Include bananas in breads and muffins.
- Try zucchini in brownies.
Fruits That Lower Cholesterol: Kiwi
If you’re trying to hold off your cholesterol, kiwis are a fruit that should be present in your daily diet. By containing pectin they help lower and regulate blood cholesterol levels and prevent it from being absorbed into the intestine. They are also recommended for improving intestinal transit, promoting digestion and preventing oxidation of cells as they are a potent antioxidant.
This article is merely informative, oneHOWTO does not have the authority to prescribe any medical treatments or create a diagnosis. We invite you to visit your doctor if you have any type of condition or pain.
If you want to read similar articles to List Of Fruits That Lower Cholesterol, we recommend you visit our Family health category.
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Foods To Avoid If You Have High Cholesterol
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Here’s a list of the 15 worst foods to eat if you have high cholesterol.
Most of us love to eat. It can be one of our favorite pastimes, munching on an assortment of delicious, delectable delights.
When we’re younger we usually never think about the harm certain foods can cause us. Try telling a teenager who comes home from school starving that eating an entire McDonald’s – Get McDonald’s Corporation Report Big Mac, then topping it off with an ice cream sundae, isn’t the healthiest of choices.
As we get older, however, we have to start monitoring the things we eat, as some foods can aggravate existing health conditions or bring on new ones.
High cholesterol and heart disease are serious concerns for many people, and as much as we’d love to continue our teenage habits of eating anything and everything in sight, when diagnosed with these conditions, monitoring what we eat becomes a top priority.
Cholesterol is “a waxy, fat-like substance that’s found in all cells of the body,” the National Heart Long and Blood Institute says. The body needs cholesterol to produce hormones, Vitamin D, and substances that help you digest food. Your body will make enough of the cholesterol it needs to perform these functions, but some of the foods you eat can add to your cholesterol levels, and too much can lead to health issues, the National Heart Long and Blood Institute added.
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15. Liver
2. Butter
What Your Numbers Mean
Looking at your blood test results, you’ve probably noticed that there are two types of cholesterol, LDL and HDL. You may have also heard that there’s “good” cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol, both of which are important in evaluating your cardiovascular health. Confused yet?
A quick refresher: LDL, or low-density lipoprotein, is the “bad” kind of cholesterol. It transports tiny droplets of fat throughout the body, depositing them in your arteries, where they block blood flow. HDL, or high-density lipoprotein, on the other hand, is the “good” kind of cholesterol that helps cleanse your blood vessels of the gnarly gunk that can clog them. .
You can take different measures to change your LDL and HDL through a diet, but in general, dietary tips for raising one and lowering the other don’t conflict. If both your numbers need adjusting, there’s no need for two separate diet plans.
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Saturated Fat And Cholesterol
Diets high in saturated fat and cholesterol can contribute to high total cholesterol and a high low-density lipoprotein level in the body, increasing your risk for coronary artery disease caused by atherosclerosis, which is plaque build-up in the arteries.
Here’s a list of foods that are high in cholesterol or saturated fat that you need to limit or avoid:
What Not To Eat: Foods That Raise Cholesterol
Whether you have high cholesterol that needs to be lowered or you simply want to maintain an already-healthy cholesterol level, avoiding certain foods can help.
Any food that contains saturated fat is a no-no for a cholesterol-lowering diet. Trans fats are equally as bad, if not worse. Trans fats are a double whammy they raise LDL cholesterol and lower HDL cholesterol, Featherstun says.
Here are some specific types of food to avoid:
Anything fried Youd be hard-pressed to walk into a restaurant in the United States and not find a deep fryer. But if youre on a cholesterol-lowering diet, take a pass on the greasy stuff. Not only does deep frying cause foods to lose water and suck up fat, making them more calorie dense, but the oils that foods are fried in are often high in trans fats, the worst offenders.
If you cant bear the thought of never eating another crunchy onion ring, consider using olive or sunflower oil when frying. In a study published in January 2012 in The BMJ, researchers in Spain, where olive and sunflower oils are used for frying, found that eating fried foods was not associated with increased rates of heart disease like it is in countries where saturated fats, like lard and butter, are used. Just be sure not to heat these oils past their smoke point the temperature at which an oil starts to burn.
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What Is High Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance thats found in all cells of the body. Our bodies need cholesterol to make hormones that protect the body, vitamin D and bile salts that are necessary for the breakdown of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Plus, the brain and nervous system depend on cholesterol for the creation of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.
Our bodies make the cholesterol that we need, but we get cholesterol from our food too. If you have too much cholesterol, it starts to build up in your arteries and may lead to atherosclerosis, or the hardening of the arteries.
Eventually, high cholesterol levels may cause heart and blood flow problems, leading to dangerous blood clots and inflammation that can cause heart attacks and strokes. High cholesterol levels alone do not determine if you are at risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
Other factors include your blood pressure, whether or not you smoke, whether or not you have diabetes, and your age, sex and race.
According to the American Heart Association, many people dont know their cholesterols are too high because there are usually no symptoms. High cholesterol can cause a dangerous accumulation of cholesterol and other deposits on the walls of your arteries, reducing blood flow through the arteries. This can lead to coronary heart disease and complications, such as chest pain , heart attack and stroke.
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Cakes Cookies And Many Other Baked Goods
While it seems counter-intuitive at first that baked goods should raise cholesterol, its obvious when you think about the ingredients typically used to make cookies and cakes. Theyre primarily made of animal-derived products eggs, cheese, milk, cream and so on.
There are, however, certain cookies on the market which are made with ingredients specifically designed for high cholesterol sufferers, which wont have a negative impact on your cholesterol levels and may even contribute to raising your good cholesterol.
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What Is A Healthy Cholesterol Level
According to the NHLBI, your risk for heart disease and other health problems, such as diabetes, increases if you have an HDL cholesterol level of 40 milligrams per deciliter or less for men and 50 mg/dL or less for women. The institute recommends that total daily cholesterol intake be less than 200 mg/dL, and that LDL cholesterol be less than 100 mg/dL.
Limit Your Alcohol Intake
Alcohol can increase your levels of triglycerides. Along with LDL cholesterol, high levels of triglycerides raise your risk of heart disease.
Excess alcohol consumption also increases blood pressure and can lead to obesity both additional risk factors for heart disease.
To reduce the risk of heart disease and other risks from alcohol, limit your intake to no more than 10 standard drinks per week and no more than 4 drinks per day.
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What Exactly Is Cholesterol
Despite its association with health problems, cholesterol is something the body needs. Cholesterol is necessary to make certain hormones. Its involved in making vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium. Cholesterol also plays a role in making some of the substances required to digest food.
Cholesterol travels in the blood in the form of lipoproteins, which are tiny molecules of fat wrapped in protein. There are two major types of cholesterol: low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein .
LDL is sometimes referred to as bad cholesterol. This is because its the kind of cholesterol that can clog your arteries. HDL, or the good cholesterol, helps bring LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream to the liver. From the liver, the excess LDL cholesterol is removed from the body.
The liver plays another key role in cholesterol. Most of your cholesterol is made in your liver. The rest comes from the food you eat. Dietary cholesterol is found only in animal food sources, such as eggs, meat, and poultry. Its not found in plants.
Foods To Lower Cholesterol
The foods a person consumes can affect their cholesterol levels over time.
Some foods can help reduce cholesterol. For example, soluble fiber can bind with cholesterol in the digestive system and from the body. Additionally, polyunsaturated fats can help lower LDL levels.
According to Harvard Health, a person should aim to include the following in their diet:
- barley
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How Much Saturated Fat Is Too Much
No more than a third of your energy should come from fat, which means a maximum of 70g per day for a woman and 90g for a man. Saturated fats should make up no more than a third of this, so a maximun of 20g for a woman and 30g for a man.
Saturated fats are found in animal products, such as red meat and dairy, and foods that are made with them, such as pastries, cakes, chocolate and biscuits. They’re also found in some plant foods, including coconut oil and palm oil.
To cut back on saturated fat, replace foods that are high in them with foods containing more unsaturated fat, such as nuts, seeds, olive oil and rapeseed oil. If you’re not following the vegan Portfolio Diet, oily fish such as salmon and mackerel is a good alternative to red meat.
Foods High In Saturated Fats
Studies have noted that consuming foods high in saturated fat can increase your LDL cholesterol. However, some studies have noted that although foods high in saturated fat may increase your LDL levels, the type of LDL increased is large and buoyant a type of LDL that does not appear to increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Nonetheless, these foods are also higher in calories which can cause you to gain weight if you consume these foods regularly. The American Heart Association recommends that saturated fat should consist of less than 7% of your daily caloric intake. These foods are usually high in saturated fat:
- Processed meats
- Certain cooking oils
- Animal meat
There are many pre-packaged foods such as snacks and meals that may also be high in saturated fat. In some cases, a low-fat version of your favorite foods may also be available. In these cases, you should check the nutrition labels to verify the amount of saturated fat per serving.
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Other Tips On High Cholesterol Foods
You may eliminate a bunch of high cholesterol foods and get onto a low cholesterol diet and stick with it religiously, only to sabotage yourself through things that you dont typically think of as food.
Drinking alcohol is a classic example of this. Many people tend to leave their alcohol consumption out of their diet tracking.
This is a mistake, especially if youre trying to restrict your cholesterol intake.
Once again moderation is key with things like alcohol.
Many studies have showed moderate alcohol consumption has a positive effect on cholesterol levels, but binge drinking and excessive consumption has the opposite effect and puts you at greater risk of a vast number of health problems.
Moderate consumption according to many experts is around one glass of wine per day, maximum.
With careful planning its relatively easy to significantly reduce the amount of cholesterol you take in, while still being able to enjoy your favorite high cholesterol foods in moderation.
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Cholesterol Diet: What Foods Should You Eat To Reduce Cholesterol Levels
It is important to tweak your food habits in order to stay fit and healthy. There are some foods that can actually help in lowering bad cholesterol levels and improving good cholesterol levels in the body. Certain foods also help in detoxing your Body and flushing out unwanted fats floating in your bloodstream that may contribute to the plaque build-up. Here are some healthy foods that you can include in your cholesterol diet as suggested by Delhi based Nutritionist Mehar Rajput:
- Fenugreek seeds Fenugreek or methi seeds have a high fiber content and offer multiple health benefits. These seeds inhibit the accumulation of triglycerides and cholesterol levels.
Fenugreek or methi seeds have a high fiber content and offer multiple health benefits
- Nuts Nuts, especially almonds and walnuts are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E that help in reducing the level of bad cholesterol and maintain heart health.
Nuts, especially almonds and walnuts are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E
- Oats Oats have high amounts of soluble fiber that prevents plaque formation, further helping with smooth blood circulation.
Oats have high amounts of soluble fiber
- Garlic Garlic contains a bioactive component known as Allicin that helps reduce blood lipids and prevents the formation of plaque. One clove every day in the morning can help reduce the levels of bad cholesterol.
Garlic contains a bioactive component known as Allicin
Cholesterol Diet plan by Nutritionist Mehar Rajput
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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.
Things To Add To Your Diet For Lower Cholesterol
Nearly one in eight American adults have high levels of total cholesterol, reports the CDC. We tend to see it a lot more in the young-adult population than youd expect, Gina Curry MD, of Group Health, says.
While you may be tempted to ask your doctor for a cholesterol-lowering prescription, she suggests making a few dietary changes, first.
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How Can I Lower My Cholesterol By Making Lifestyle Changes
You can lower your cholesterol levels by making lifestyle changes, and through taking medicines if that’s what your doctor advises. Some people will only need to improve their lifestyle and diet to get their cholesterol to a safe level. Others may need to take cholesterol-lowering medicines, as well.