Lower Your Cholesterol

Why a High Cholesterol Diet can be Life Threatening

Many people are living their lives right now with a high cholesterol diet, and this can be more than simply dangerous, it can be downright life-threatening. This is why it is so truly important to determine whether or not your diet is a high cholesterol diet, and thus what you can do to change it if need be.

How to Tell if your Diet is a High Cholesterol one

There are many ways to tell if you have a high cholesterol diet. For example, if you are consuming a lot of foods that are high in saturated fats, then you have a high cholesterol diet and are much more prone to having a heart attack or a stroke. As well, there may even be other health problems at bay, such as obesity or other types of coronary problems, for instance.

It is also important to know that there are both good and bad types of cholesterol. LDL is the bad type of cholesterol, and HDL is the good type of cholesterol. Basically our body does need cholesterol in order to make bile salts, hormones, vitamin D, and so on, and this is mainly produced by the liver.

However, in the case of LDL cholesterol, what happens is that it builds up on the arteries, which thus decreases the flow of blood to the heart, therefore posing a serious risk on the person for a heart attack, stroke, or even death.

However HDL cholesterol on the other hand actually takes excess cholesterol away and then carries it back to the liver to be excreted; in fact, it can even remove some of the cholesterol that is already attached to the artery walls, thus creating a better health situation overall.

If you are looking to lower your cholesterol, you should know that there are many ways that you can do this. For instance, incorporating something such as soy into your diet can be incredibly helpful. What has most interested scientists in recent years is that of the discovery of phytochemicals and the profound benefits of soy on the human health overall.

Basically the cholesterol lowering effect of soy milk and its role of heart disease was widely recognized in the mid 90s when the results of a meta-analysis of 38 clinical studies were published, and the results demonstrated strongly that a diet with significant soy protein greatly reduces total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides.

What Is A Food High in Cholesterol?

Keeping your cholesterol levels low is vital for keeping your heart healthy. If you are a normally healthy person, your body makes all of the cholesterol that it needs. Adding too much more cholesterol on a regular basis can lead to heart disease or a heart attack. By recognizing food high in cholesterol, you can limit your ingestion of it. Combined with regular exercise, this is the most effective way to fight high cholesterol.

Read The Labels

A diet low in cholesterol shouldn’t have too many labels. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables are the key to a low cholesterol diet. When your food does come with a label, you should be looking at the most important items to spot food high in cholesterol. First, remember that all the numbers are based on the serving.

Some foods seem to deliberately make their bad numbers seem small by defining a serving size as something less than the average person would eat. For instance, when a 16 ounce beverage bottle claims to contain two servings, you may wonder what they are thinking. Just remember that no matter how small the package is, if it claims to contain two servings, double all of the numbers.

Look at the calories and calories from fat. This will tell you the percentage of fat it contains. You should have fewer than 30% of your daily calories from fat. That’s easier to accomplish if each serving you have sticks to that figure. The listing of total fat shows the number of grams of fat per serving. The percentage is not the percentage of the serving is fat but the percentage of your daily fat allowance is contained in one serving. Look at the amount of saturated fat and trans fat is in the food.

This is where you will find whether this is food high in cholesterol. Both types of fat increase bad cholesterol. Your daily allowance for these is zero. The nutrients are good for you. Look for high percentages of these. Fiber is good for controlling cholesterol. If your food should have fat, salad dressing for instance, look for fat-free, low fat, reduced fat, and cholesterol free and so forth.

Pay Closer Attention To Menus

Eating out may mean a break from cooking but it doesn’t mean a break from healthy eating. Study the menu to avoid food high in cholesterol. Stick to low-fat choices. Clear soup instead of creamy, steamed or broiled instead of fried, dressing on the side are all good ideas. Choose lean meat, fish or chicken. Chicken should be skinless. Vegetables should have no butter or cheese. Be careful at the salad bar. Food high in cholesterol is bad even on a salad. If you stick to your guns, you can keep your heart healthy for a long time to come.

How to Eat a Healthy Cholesterol Diet

If you're total cholesterol level is high or you're just determined to eat more healthily, it is a good idea is take a look at your diet and switch to one which includes healthy food and decent physical activity.

What Makes A Healthy Cholesterol Diet Routine?

Basically, a healthy cholesterol diet routine is a diet which includes good foods, regular exercise and regular trips to your doctor for checkups. All 3 are important important in any healthy cholesterol diet.

You can create a low cholesterol diet that suits you personally as there are many different ones to choose from. The most important thing is to reduce or remove any foods that are high in saturated fats because saturated fat is the leading cause of high total cholesterol levels.

Try to eat according to the following guidelines:

- take less than 7% of the day’s total calories from saturated fat
- eat 25-35% or less of the day’s total calories from fat
- less than 200 milligrams of dietary cholesterol a day
- limit sodium intake to 2400 milligrams a day
- eat just enough calories to achieve or maintain a healthy weight

Remember that going to your doctor is also important because everyone is different and need to find out what the best way is for you to lower your total cholesterol level. Make regular appointments so your doctor can ensure that you maintain a healthy cholesterol level.

There are plenty of resources available, so take as full advantage of them. You can start by reading some more articles on this site and maybe take a look at the recommended products such as the. Ask your friends and family for help as well so if you go through a difficult time you will be able to lean on them through the process. Perhaps one of them has already switched to a healthy cholesterol diet and can even give you advice along the way.

Normal Cholesterol Levels Are Linked To a Healthy DietThere is a lot of information about cholesterol levels and the foods that increase it if eaten in unhealthy amounts. However, not all foods are guilty of this. Fresh fruits and vegetables, for example, don’t increase cholesterol. But did you know that there are a few foods that actually lower your cholesterol? If your cholesterol level is a bit high you can try and lower it by eating more of these foods.

Oatmeal

It is pretty common knowledge that oatmeal and oat bran can help to lower cholesterol. Bad cholesterol levels are lowered by soluble fiber. Experts think it’s because fiber can stop the absorption of cholesterol. A good amount of soluble fiber is five to ten grams a day. A cup and a half of oatmeal contains three grams.

Besides breakfast, oatmeal can be eaten at other meals by adding it to baked goods. Ireland offers many traditional recipes containing oatmeal for any time of the day. Other types of soluble fiber will also help maintain normal cholesterol when oatmeal becomes a bit boring.

Omega-3 fatty acids Found in Nuts and Fish

Omega-3 has been found to lower levels of triglycerides. Some nuts are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and are tasty additions to a diet for maintaining normal cholesterol. Only about one to one and a half ounces a day is necessary. They are high in protein and fiber, making them filling. Walnuts and almonds are good for lowering cholesterol. The FDA also recommends peanuts, hazelnuts, pecans and pistachios.

Nuts with higher amounts of fat are not recommended for a normal cholesterol diet. They include Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, cashews and some pine nuts. Of course, Omega-3 fatty acids are also found in fatty fish. They make a testy addition to the quest for normal cholesterol. Fatty fish include salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, herring and trout. Most fatty fish are cold-water fish.

Four ounces of salmon contains 83% of the daily requirement of omega-3. The same amount of halibut has 25% and cod has 15%. Two four ounce servings of fatty fish a week are enough to bring you close to normal cholesterol. Flaxseed, canola oil and omega-3 enriched eggs help too.

Plant sterols and stanols

Plant sterols and stanols can lower cholesterol, possibly because their similarity to cholesterol confuse the digestive tract and keep it from being absorbed. They are found in many vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds. They can also be found in some types of oil, salad dressing, milk, yogurt, juices and in additives to some foods like snack bars. Two grams of stanols or sterols daily can help make bring your cholesterol level back to normal.

Following a diet designed to reduce cholesterol or eating one rich in the above foods will help to achieve and maintain a normal cholesterol level for life.

Why Improving Your Cholesterol HDL Ratio Is RecommendedThere are quite a few studies pointing to the fact that HDL cholesterol (which is the good cholesterol), when maintained high levels, protects us from heart disease. The same effect is possible from lowering the LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) but to a much lesser measure. So we need to keep an eye on our LDL to HDL cholesterol ratio.

A rather disturbing and recently found result from recent studies is that low HDL cholesterol levels would be indicative of a high risk of heart disease. In other words even if the total cholesterol and the LDL levels are normal, if the HDL cholesterol is low, then the risk of heart attack stays high. This indicates that somehow the HDL cholesterol is able to protect the heart from disease. So it's the HDL Cholesterol ratio to LDL that is most important. Studies are now being carried out to find learn what the main ingredients are in HDL cholesterol that protect the heart from harm.

Properties Of HDL Cholesterol

Some preliminary studies have been conducted which show that HDL cholesterol contains a very complex molecule made of protein, lipids, and cholesterol. This molecule’s role seems to be to “clean” the walls of the arteries, thus removing the bad cholesterol from it and depositing it within the liver for cleansing. The HDL cholesterol here is performing the role as the ‘cleaner’.

Nowadays doctors whose patients have low HDL cholesterol are recommending that they try to increase it immediately and the treatment prescribed will be aimed at this goal. This means that even if the person has been found to have normal levels of cholesterol in the blood, but reduced good cholesterol, efforts are made to increase it and to get it to above the normal levels, thus changing the cholesterol's HDL ratio.

Methods to Increase Good Cholesterol

Lose Weight – it is now well known that obesity is one of the leading causes of heart attack. Loosing weight not only results in increased HDL cholesterol and decreased LDL cholesterol (i.e. a change in the ratio between them) but also in good overall health.

Exercise Regularly – it has been proved time and again that aerobic exercise can increase the levels of the good cholesterol in the body.

Cut out Smoking and Reduce Consumption of Alcohol – smoking and drinking can aggravate heart disease and cause heart attacks.

Improve Your Diet - add plenty of fiber to your diet such as that found in oats, legumes, fruits, etc which should be consumed on a daily basis for increasing the good HDL cholesterol ratio.

Choelsterol HDL ratio to LDL is very important to your overall health and both should be looked at in conjunction with each other. Attending to one without the other won't be as effective to your health as working to improve the levels of both.

How to Reduce Bad Cholesterol

If you want to reduce bad cholesterol in your body, then there are several things that you will need to take into consideration. There is much you can do by simply changing your diet. For instance, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is key as they are low in calories and fat and also contain a number of vitamins and other antioxidants that help to prevent cellular damage and also aid in a number of cellular processes.

The most important aspect of diet however, is probably to remove foods that are posing a risk. For example, any foods that are high in saturated fat should be removed in order for to reduce the cholesterol in your overall diet as they are one of the most major causes of high cholesterol levels. If you can't completely avoid eating saturated fats then you should as least be eat less of them. They are usually found in fried foods and in animal meats.It is important to realize that lean meats such as chicken, turkey, and fish contain less saturated fat than red meat.

You should also realize that carbohydrates are an important and quick energy source and so you need to keep these as a part of your diet. Since these are converted into sugar once they are in the body, however, consumption of too many carbohydrates will result in weight gain, as well as in elevated glucose levels in diabetics. There has also been further research done which has indicated that consuming too many carbohydrates can lower HDL which is the good cholesterol.

Another method you can try is to increase the amount of physical activity in your life. Exercise is an incredibly important factor to anyone’s life especially if that person is looking to lower cholesterol levels. Remember you want to reduce bad cholesterol not good.

No matter what it is also important to make regular visits to your doctor because everyone is different. What works well for one person may not work for another. Consulting with your doctor will help you to decide which method to reduce bad cholesterol would work best for you as well as what the next step should be.