How To Reduce My Cholesterol?
Are you aware that the cholesterol is created in the liver and it has a variety of significant functions? Yes! It helps in ensuring that the cell’s walls are flexible and is often used for creating various hormones but having too much of cholesterol is not a good thing. If it gets accumulated, it can create serious problems.
Keep in mind that similar to body fat, cholesterol won’t dissolve in water. It is transported throughout the body with the help of the molecules, lipoproteins. This molecule is commonly used for carrying fat, cholesterol and various fat-soluble vitamins in our blood. Frankly, various kinds of lipoproteins have a unique effect on an individual’s health.
There are studies which show that high levels of LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) can lead to deposition of cholesterol into the walls of the blood vessels and this can lead to various situations like strokes, clogging of the heart, kidney failure, and heart attacks. However, an HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) assist in moving the cholesterol from the walls of the vessel and assisting in avoiding any kind of heart-related diseases.
Foodstuffs Which Reduce Cholesterol
Are you planning to reduce your cholesterol? If so, then you might be surprised to know that diet is the major key. The below-given nutrients and food help in reducing cholesterol naturally –
- Herbs – By adding various spices like rosemary, basil, turmeric, etc to your food, you are adding a huge amount of antioxidants which are not only cardio-protective but also helps to reduce cholesterol in a natural way.
- Omega-3 Fat – Foodstuffs containing a good amount of Omega-3 fat will easily increase the HDL cholesterol and even has the chance to lower the risk involved in having cardiovascular diseases.
- Olive Oil – Many studies have shown that olive oil can easily help in raising the HDL cholesterol.
- Onions And Garlic – Both these are the best cholesterol reducing food items which easily reduces the LDL cholesterol. This is because garlic and onion contain sulfur compounds which cleanse your arteries.
- High Soluble Fiber Foodstuffs – Not many people know that the soluble fiber can easily bind cholesterol in the digestive system. So, this will easily cause it to be thrown out of the body. So, it is better if you can add plenty of vegetables, fruits, seeds and sprouted nuts and other various kinds of rich fiber food.
Foodstuffs Which Elevate Your Cholesterol
There are certain food items which can increase your cholesterol and these needs to be avoided at all cost. Following are some of them –
- Alcohol – This is a natural stimulator which ensures that liver produces more cholesterol and thereby increasing the inflammation and cholesterol level. It is good to have a glass of red wine each day to keep your heart healthy but anything more than that,will increase your cholesterol.
- Refined Carbohydrates And Sugar – Both of these are commonly known to stimulate the liver to create more cholesterol. This naturally leads to increasing the inflammation of your body.
- Caffeine – No doubt having an excess of caffeine will increase your cholesterol level. So, it is better if you can limit the consumption of coffee or tea to about one to two cups each day.
- Trans Fat – Trans fats are often known to increase the LDL cholesterol, the risk of getting cardiovascular diseases, and inflammation.
Lifestyle Changes
There are certain lifestyle changes you need to make in order to avoid and get relieved from cholesterol. The following are the major ones you can try –
Dietary Fibre
As per various nutrition experts, dietary fiber is one of the best methods to tackle the cholesterol issue. This fiber which is common in fruits, beans, and other foodstuffs gets bound to the cholesterol, thereby reducing the LDL level to about 5%.
Dietary food items will easily fill you up and there are any empty calories in it. No doubt, it is the best addition to the therapeutic regimen and even is one of the easiest and cheap.
Even though dietary fiber is available in abundance, still most of the Americans have a hard time in consuming the required fiber. Experts recommend on an average an adult must consume about 26 to 36 each day, but the majority of them only get about 14 grams each day.
Niacin
Do you know niacin is a vitamin B which can reduce both triglycerides and LDL cholesterol? These are fats which are quite harmful if present in high amounts. In addition, this vitamin medication increases the good cholesterol or the HDL. No doubt this is a powerful drug and comes in tablet form which has to be taken 2 to 3 times in a day.
It is important to keep in mind that you need to administer the Niacin only under the instruction of the physician as higher dosage can drastically affect your cholesterol and even increases the chances of getting liver problems and gout.
Exercising
There is no doubt that exercising is one of the best methods of increasing the HDL. Individuals suffering from heart attack and heart-related diseases can easily reduce the chances of dying by exercising in comparison to general care. Most doctors and physicians believe that physical activity is one of the most important behaviors for a good health. Unlike popping the bill, you need to take extra effort to engage and continue exercising.
Bile Juice Sequestrants
Consuming medications like Welchol, Questran, Colestid can simply trick your body to produce extra bile. Now this will reduce the level of the LDL cholesterol from 20%-22%. However consuming these drugs in large number will lead to various side effects like stomach pain, constipation, nausea, etc.
Red Yeast Rice
This is one of the major dietary supplements which is obtained from the fungus that grows in rice. Also, it has small quantities of Mevacor (lovastatin) and this foodstuff is quite effective for individuals who can’t consume statins.
Now unlike dietary supplements which are not often regulated in the US just like how normal drugs are, there can be a bit confusion with regard to the proper dosages and concentrations.
Low-Fat Diet
Going for a low-fat diet filled with veggies and fish is one of the best ways to reduce your cholesterol. Rather than going for French fries and red meat, a diet which is filled with low-fat can make you healthy as well as active and even studies have shown that it can reduce the cholesterol to about 20 to 30 percent for certain individuals.
Do you know that countries which have low-fat diet like parts of Caribbean and even Japan have lower rates of strokes and heart attacks. Similar to exercising, for certain people it might be tough to go for a continuous healthy diet. Also,you need to keep in mind that changing one’s diet will not provide the necessary results and if you aren’t able to get one, then change your strategies.
Oats
The key element for reducing your cholesterol level is changing your morning meals. Yes, by making a switch to the most important meal of the day, you can not only be healthy but even control your cholesterol. Two servings of oats can easily reduce the LDL (i.e. the bad cholesterol) by 6% and that too in 7 weeks.
Fatty Fish & Salmon
Being one of the natural health wonders in the world, Omega-3 fat can even ward off diseases related to the heart, dementia and other life-threatening diseases. Besides these advantages, they even provide another benefit which is reducing the amount of cholesterol.
As per various scientific research replacing saturated fat with omega-3 which are commonly present in sardines, salmon, herring, etc can easily increase the amount of good cholesterol.
Red Wine
Scientific research has provided another reason for consuming red wine for better health. The presences of high fiber tempranillo red grapes which is commonly used for making red wine reduces a huge amount of cholesterol. Various medical research have shown that individuals who were suffering from cholesterol were able to drastically reduce it by consuming red wine occasionally.
Avoid Smoking
As most people, smoking increases the chances of getting heart ailments. And one of the major health destruction it does is by changing how the human body takes care of cholesterol.
The cells of a smoker are immune and this prevents the cholesterol from returning to walls of the blood vessel so that it can be transported to the liver. This extensively damage most commonly happens due to tobacco tar then compared to nicotine. Due to these damaged and immune cells, it will lead to quicker development of clogged arteries especially in heavy smokers.
Reducing The Intake Of Alcohol
When consumed in moderate level, the ethanol present in alcoholic drinks will easily increase the HDL and even lowers the chances of getting heart ailments. Recently a study was conducted when showed that alcohol improves the reverse cholesterol transport. So, it means that cholesterol gets removed from the vessel walls and blood and goes back to the liver. Now this will easily lower the chances of getting clogged arteries and other kinds of heart diseases.
Nuts
If you want to try for a snack food which can easily reduce your cholesterol level, then try nuts. There are various research which showed that people who have consumed about 1.5oz of whole walnut for six days in a month were able to drastically reduce their cholesterol level by 9 %.
Even you can try with cashews and almonds. Though nuts are quite healthy, still they are quite high in calories. So, it is important that you keep a track on the quantity and it should never go more than 1.5oz.
Beans
Do you know that beans are nutritious and good for your heart? Various research have stated that by adding half a cup of beans to a normal soup can easily reduce the cholesterol level to about 10%, even the LDL.
Frankly, the major factor for keeping the heart active and healthy is by having abundance of fiber. This gradually reduces the amount and rate of absorption of cholesterol among certain food items. You can try pinto or black beans which provide the required one-third of the fiber needed for each day.
Tea
There are various studies which show that tea is one of the best cancer-fighting antioxidants, it even provides better defense against all kind of high LDL cholesterol level. Various research have shown that black tea can easily lower the blood lipids by 10% in two to three weeks.
Chocolate
Another powerful antioxidant which creates good (HDL) cholesterol level is chocolate. Multiple research have shown that people who consumed chocolate over a period of 12 weeks were able to increase their HDL levels. It is better if you go for bittersweet or dark chocolate.
When compared to milk chocolate, dark ones have three times more antioxidants, thereby preventing the blood platelets to stick with one another and also keeps the arteries of the heart unclogged.
Garlic
Besides providing the required zing to most of the dishes that you consume, garlic is one of the major food items that can easily reduce your cholesterol. There have been various research which show that consuming garlic can lower one’s blood pressure, prevent the blood clot, and protect an individual from any kind of infection.
Also, there are various research which clearly indicate that consuming garlic regularly can prevent the clogging of the plaque of the artery at the earlier stages and thus avoiding the cholesterol particles from getting stuck to the arteries of the wall.
Conclusion
Now sometimes you might feel that these lifestyle changes might not be good enough for lowering your cholesterol. Frankly, you need to keep in mind that the changes that you do are something that you should continue to do and not one which will disappoint you, especially when you don’t see the results. Also, if your physician recommends taking any kind of medication for lowering the level of your cholesterol, follow it as per the prescription. However, along with that, you need to make a drastic change to your lifestyle habits too. A change in lifestyle can easily lower the dosage of the medication.
