Fighting High Cholesterol

Cholesterol can be highly perilous. Not in small quantities and not even all cholesterol, because there are two sorts. One is healthy for you, because it helps mop up the other one which is bad for you in large quantities. HDL cholesterol is termed the good cholesterol and LDL the bad cholesterol, although we need some LDL in order to regulate some of our bodily functions

Too much LDL in our blood streams can result in congestion which in turn would lead to higher blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. So what can you do about it? There are three prongs you can use to attack cholesterol: diet, exercise and medication. Some people do not want to be on tablets each day for life, but some do not object.

So, the first thing to do is get into the habit of exercising every day. The minimum exercise you need to be doing is walking for thirty minutes each morning and every evening. You might think that you do not have an hour a day to spare, but you almost certainly do.

If you have a lunch break, what do you do in it? Eat? Read the paper? Have a talk? OK, why not select a greengrocer’s that is fifteen minutes walk away and go and purchase an apple each day? In the evening, you could go for a walk with your spouse or your dog. In that way, you have merely thirty minutes to find in order to remain healthy.

How can food reduce your cholesterol? Well, there is cholesterol in practically everything we eat, so it is a question of remembering which sort of cholesterol is in which food and being discriminating. In general, this requires avoiding food that is high in saturated fats and trans or hydrogenated fats and eating more foodstuff that has mono- or poly-unsaturated fats.

This is not as bad as it sounds anything you buy in a tin or a tub will or should have the sorts of fat written in the contents list. You will only have to learn which fresh food is healthy for you. Basically, red meat and dairy products are not particularly healthy for you. Try swapping skinless chicken and fish for beef and pork. Drink skimmed milk, if you have to drink milk and give up butter.

In fact, some margarines have been specially prepared to lower cholesterol and, yes, they do work, it is not a scam. It is frequently said that liver and eggs are high in cholesterol, but according to the British Heart Foundation, our bodies cannot access this cholesterol, so it is OK to include them in a low cholesterol diet.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are the real allies in the battle against high cholesterol. Bananas are particularly good and so are citrus fruits. Nuts are also healthy for you and in particular almonds and walnuts. Tofu and other soya bean foodstuffs are useful and will even lower cholesterol.

Roughage and fibre are very useful for reducing cholesterol and one of the best meals you can have is a bowl of porridge in the morning for breakfast.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several topics, but is now concerned with lowering cholesterol without medication. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at What Foods Lower Cholesterol?