What can you do to improve your cholesterol levels? Here’s a
quick list to get you started.
* Reduce fat in your diet Buy the leanest cuts of meat you can
find. Regularly substitute poultry (without the skin) and fish
for red meat. Both are lower in saturated fat. Switch to low fat
cottage cheese and yogurt, reduced fat hard cheeses and skim or
1 percent milk.
* Eat no more than four egg yolks a week An average egg yolk
contains 213 milligrams of cholesterol!
* Eliminate fried foods Don’t fry foods. Roast, bake, broil,
grill or poach them instead. Use fat free marinades or basting
with liquids like wine, tomato or lemon juice. Use olive or
canola oils for sautéing or baking. Both are very low in
saturated fat. Use diet, tub or squeeze margarines instead of
regular. Watch for the term “hydrogenated,” which means some of
the fat is saturated.
* Eat vegetables and complex carbohydrates Lowest fat foods of
all are vegetables, fruits, grains (rice, barley and pasta),
beans and legumes. Try substituting some of these for meat and
high fat dairy products. Don’t douse your pasta with butter or
your potato with sour cream. Use tomato base sauces instead of
cream base. Use lemon juice, low sodium soy sauce or herbs to
season vegetables. Make chili with extra beans and seasonings
while leaving out the meat.
* Lose weight If you are overweight, the chances are almost 100%
that you have a problem with high cholesterol. You can lower
your LDL and elevate your HDL just by dropping some pounds.
* Nuts to you! Do you like nuts? If you do, sprinkle a few on
your cereal, bake them into muffins or pancakes or add them to
casseroles or stir-fries. Walnuts and almonds are especially
good. Eating about three ounces of walnuts a day is shown to
decrease blood cholesterol levels by 10% more than an already
low fat, low cholesterol diet.
* Eat chocolate Aha! All you chocoholics rejoice! Studies
indicate that the fat in chocolate is stearic acid and has no
effect on cholesterol levels. The chocolate does not increase
LDL and could raise HDL a wee bit. But chocolate is still high
in fat and calories so don’t go overboard.
* Drink fruit juices Apparently some of the non-alcoholic
ingredients in red wine raises HDL and suppresses the body from
producing LDL. Purple grape juice works the same way. The LDL
lowering effect of red wine and grape juice comes from a
compound that grapes produce normally to resist mold. The darker
the grape juice, the better. Grapefruit juice does the same
thing and it may also help your body get rid of nasty plaque.
* Eat garlic Cholesterol lowering effects of garlic have been
demonstrated repeatedly in people with normal and high
cholesterol. Eat all the garlic you can. It also seems to raise
the HDL levels as well. If you are worried about the odor, take
the tablets instead.
* Take niacin - carefully It is proven effective for lowering
LDL and raising HDL. It is also one of the cheapest drugs
available for lowering cholesterol. But, without medical
supervision it may not be totally safe. A dose high enough to
lower cholesterol can cause extremely high blood sugar or liver
damage.
* Take vitamin E Studies indicate that vitamin E may have a
positive impact on lowering cholesterol when taken in fairly
large quantities - up to 800 IU per day. This is more than you
can get from your diet alone. Larger amounts do not seem to
cause any harm. Further studies showed that even amounts of just
25 IU per day helps in preventing LDL from sticking to blood
vessel walls. That amount is only slightly higher than the
recommended daily amount (RDA) of 12 to 15 IU. It’s interesting
to note that even that small amount has an impact on preventing
that hardening of the arteries.
* Take Calcium One study indicates that when 56 people took a
calcium carbonate supplement, their total cholesterol went down
4 percent and their HDL increased 4 percent. That was taking a
dosage of 400 milligrams of calcium three times a day with no
harmful effects reported. That does refer to calcium carbonate.
* Take Vitamin C It is the number one immune system booster and
also drives up HDL. A study of people who took more than 60
milligrams of vitamin C per day (60 milligrams is the RDA) had
highest HDL levels.
* Fill up on fiber As little as three grams per day of fiber
from oat bran or oatmeal can be effective. There are other
sources of fiber as well such as barley, beans, peas and many
other vegetables. Pectin, which is found in fruits like apples
and prunes, reduces cholesterol even better than oat bran, as
does psyllium which is the fiber you find in many breakfast
cereals and bulk laxatives.
* Quit smoking Smoking promotes the development of
atherosclerosis. Tobacco smoke is actually more damaging to the
heart than the lungs. Smokers have a higher chance of having a
heart attack (three times greater than nonsmokers) and a greater
risk of dying of the attack (twenty one times greater than
nonsmokers.) Even if you have smoked for years, stopping now can
still immediately help combat the development of atherosclerosis.
* Reduce sugar intake Many people don’t realize that sugar
affects cholesterol and definitely affects triglycerides. Sugar
stimulates insulin production, which in turn increases
triglycerides. Men in particular, seem to be sensitive to this
effect from sugar. The mineral chromium which helps to stabilize
blood sugar, can also raise the level of HDL. 100 mcg of
chromium three times daily can help to improve your cholesterol
levels.
* Exercise regularly There is positive evidence that exercise
can lower LDL cholesterol and boost HDL cholesterol. Both
aerobic exercise such as walking, jogging, swimming, bicycling
and cross country skiing and strength training like lifting
weights or using weight machines all promote the improvement of
cholesterol levels.
* Eliminate caffeine We Americans definitely have a love affair
with our coffee! People who drink large amounts of caffeine
(more than 6 cups a day) are far more prone to elevated
cholesterol. That connection does not hold for tea drinkers.
Limit your coffee intake to no more than one cup a day and
eliminate caffeinated sodas entirely.
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