It’s not bad enough that your cheeks are chubby and your waist is a tad wide. Now the doctor says that even your blood is fat! When cholesterol levels are high the excess fat related substance in your blood stream builds up/ clogs on artery walls, and restricts blood flow. This could lead to a heart attack, stroke, or angina pain. And you don’t need a medical degree to know that’s not good.
-Cholesterol is not all bad. Your body naturally produces it, and it performs some pretty vital jobs. It helps build new cells, produce hormones, and insulate nerves. Only when you’ve got too much do you have a problem.
-Dietary cholesterol is what’s contained in food (mostly of animal origin). For example, one egg has 275mgs of cholesterol but an apple has none.
-Serum cholesterol is what’s present in your blood stream and what is measured with a cholesterol test.
HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol is a subdivision of serum cholesterol that is considered good for its artery – scouring ability. The higher your levels of HDL, the better it is for health.
LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol is HDL’s artery-clogging evil twin. The lower your levels, the better it is for your health.
· Watch your weight. The more overweight you are, the more cholesterol your body produces. So if your weight is up bring it down in a healthy way. Strive for a diet that’s composed of two-thirds fruits, vegetables, whole grains and cereals. Only one-third of your calories should come from meat and high fat dairy products.
· Cut the fat. Saturated fats have the greatest impact on cholesterol levels. Therefore cut back on foods rich in saturated fats like meat, butter, cheese, hydrogenated oils and replace them with healthier options like lean meat, fish, poultry, low fat dairy products and polyunsaturated oils like rice bran, soy, corn and safflower.
· Switch to olive oil. Olive oil and other foods like nuts, avocados, canola oil, and peanut oil are high in monounsaturated fats. They are known to reduce cholesterol and LDL cholesterol and at the same time leave the good cholesterol (HDL) intake. So you must strive for a low-fat diet along with a fair intake of monounsaturated fats.
· Go easy on eggs. Limit yourself to 3 whole eggs a week and since the yolks contain cholesterol, you can use egg whites freely. You can substitute two egg whites for every whole egg and make scrambled eggs, omelets or a baked dish and in fact make use of three or even four egg whites. Some stores now sell lower-cholesterol eggs, which may contain from 15 – 50 percent less cholesterol than usual.
· Be full of beans. Beans and legumes are not only nutritious but also contain pectin which is a water-soluble fiber. Pectin surrounds cholesterol and chaperones it out of the body before it can get lodged onto your arteries. Add about a cup of cooked beans such as lima beans, pinto beans, navy beans, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, soya beans and lentils which will have a cholesterol lowering effect.
· Eat more fruit. Fruits also get the cholesterol- lowering punch from pectin. Therefore eat a lot of fruits such as half a grapefruit for breakfast, an apple for lunch and some orange sections for dinner.
· Feel your oats. Oat bran appears to lower serum cholesterol in a fashion similar to pectin rich fruits.
· Be a little corny. Corn bran is as effective as oat bran and beans in lowering cholesterol. It is recommended to have about a tablespoon of corn bran mixed maybe in soup or tomato juice.
· Call on carrots for help. Carrots also by way of pectin help to lower cholesterol levels. Also cabbage, broccoli and onions contain the ingredient calcium pectate which produces the similar results.
· Exercise. Exercise can decrease the buildup of cholesterol blockages inside the arteries. Also it is one of the best ways to raise your levels of protective HDL and lower the levels of undesirable LDL. Exercise also increases the body’s ability to clear fat from the blood which helps prevent its buildup in the arteries.
· Get a health kick from skim milk. Drink lots of skim milk. A compound in the non fat portion of skim milk does the trick by inhibiting the cholesterol production in the liver.
· Take garlic. Raw garlic can reduce harmful blood fats.
· Try this special seed. Flax seeds can be a good auxiliary treatment when diet alone does not bring blood cholesterol levels down.
· Cut back on coffee. Drinking more than 2 cups of strong coffee per day is linked to higher levels of blood pressure and cholesterol.
· Don’t smoke. Here is one more reason to quit smoking. Smokers tend to suffer from low levels of beneficial HDL cholesterol.
· Avoid stress and relax. Try to relax by listening to a relaxation tape along with a low cholesterol diet.
· Potential weapons against cholesterol are also green tea, lemon grass, barley and rice bran.
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