Archive for the 'LOWER CHOLESTEROL' Category

Cholesterol is one of the common reasons of stress in today’s world. Many people are suffering from high levels of cholesterol in their body.

And the advertisements shown in different media channels scare us all the more about having this dreaded disease.

But its not that scary, neither is it that tough to get out of this problem as it seems to be.

Whatever the reason be for your increased levels of plasma cholesterol –hereditary or diet the first line of treatment that doctors prescribe is diet.

Only if a diet that is low in fat and calories does not lower your cholesterol, medications are supplemented with your diet for ideal results.

Your plasma levels are checked for different types of cholesterol. Total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides.HDL is also known as good cholesterol as some amount of cholesterol is always needed by our body to carry out certain important functions and those are HDL.

Hence care should be taken always to increase HDL levels and LDL, triglycerides and total cholesterol should be low. A high HDL level automatically lowers LDL which is also known as bad cholesterol.

Maintaining high HDL cholesterol levels is as important as reducing LDL cholesterol.

Here are a few natural methods to boost HDL levels:

Increase fiber intake: Eat two servings of fiber every day.

Foods rich in fiber include: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, oats and oat bran. These foods effectively raise your HDL levels while decreasing LDL levels.

Continue healthy weight: Obesity decreases HDL levels and increases LDL levels, which puts you at a greater risk of heart disease.

Include soy in your diet: Eat three servings of soy protein a day to increase HDL levels. Soy greatly reduces the risk of heart disease.

Include right fats in your diet: Monounsaturated fats help to raise HDL cholesterol levels. They can be found in foods like avocados, nuts and olive oil. Avoid trans fats and saturated fats, which not only reduce HDL levels, but also increase LDL.

Exercise regularly: Doing exercises, particularly aerobic workouts for 30 minutes a day, can greatly increase HDL cholesterol levels. Fast walking early in the morning can also show positive effects on HDL levels and maintain good heart health.

About one in two American adults has borderline or high cholesterol levels, which increase one’s risk of heart attack and cardiovascular disease.

Statins, medications that lower levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, are now among the most prescribed drugs in the country (and the world).

But medication is only part of the solution: To keep cholesterol under control, maintaining a healthy weight and diet is just as important as taking a daily pill.

The guidelines for treating high cholesterol from the National Cholesterol Education Program recommend that patients try to lower their cholesterol through Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC), which include exercise and a healthy diet, before starting a statin.

Lowering your cholesterol through eating habits and exercise means you can avoid the risk of side effects from medication entirely. Indeed, the only side effects of TLC you’ll encounter are more energy, weight loss, and better overall health.

Reduce saturated fat to no more than 7 percent of total calories, and cholesterol to no more than 200 milligrams per day.

Saturated fat is likely to raise blood cholesterol more than any other food in your diet (except for, perhaps, trans fats, which are slowly being phased out of many foods).

Childhood obesity is on the rise and so are children’s cholesterol levels.

Children between the ages of 2 and 19 should have a total cholesterol level of 170 or below, according to the American Heart Association.

But poor eating and lifestyle habits are sending some children’s cholesterol levels above that threshold.

“Kids are eating way too many fast foods and processed foods,” said Tanya Zuckerbrot, a nutritionist and author of “The F-Factor Diet.”

“It’s not even the drive-thrus, it’s the refined foods, the Pop Tarts, and the white breads and the crackers and the chips that kids are snacking on. And kids are not moving as much,” Zuckerbrot said.

But Zuckerbrot said all that’s needed is for kids to move a little more and to include more fiber into their diets. Fiber, according to the American Heart Association is an important dietary source for improving digestion and lowering cholesterol.

There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble has been shown to modestly reduce cholesterol levels, while insoluble fiber has been associated with decreased cardiovascular risk and slower progression of cardiovascular disease in high-risk individuals.

You’ve heard it a thousand times over: Kids today are too fat; they don’t exercise; they play too many video games.

Earlier this week the American Academy of Pediatrics released new guidelines stating that children as young as 2 may need a cholesterol test, and it sparked quite a controversy by saying that even in elementary school, some kids need a statin prescription.

But it’s important for families to know that most kids with high cholesterol can avoid medications. Only if a child has very high lipid levels because of an inherited disease, like familial hyperlipidemia, will a drug probably be in order; just 1 percent of kids probably qualify.

“Those children can exercise and diet all they want, and it’s really not going to change all that much,” says Jennifer Li, pediatric cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center.

Assuming a child does not have a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol, the answer rests in that familiar doctor’s order: lifestyle modification.

So parents be warned; you’ll need to dig deep on this one—and you might just shed pounds and improve your own cholesterol readings in the process. Li’s prescription for helping families bring down a child’s high cholesterol.

Normal cholesterol level should be maintained as it helps in maintaining healthy body.

If you want to know your normal cholesterol level, then first you have to know about cholesterol.

A fat that does not dissolve readily in the blood is cholesterol.

Cholesterol performs lot of essential functions that are mentioned here:

• Cholesterol helps you in building protective membrane for every cell, to protect cell from various substances.
• Cholesterol helps in keeping water from leaving your body too quickly.
• The basic important hormones produced in your adrenal glands, ovaries and testis are provided by normal cholesterol level.
• Your body can make vitamin D by maintaining normal cholesterol level.

So, you should not eliminate cholesterol from your body; maintain normal cholesterol level that helps you in getting right balance of cholesterol in your blood. By maintaining normal cholesterol level, you can achieve healthier arteries and as a result healthier organs.

Best way for keeping your arteries healthy:

Cholesterol travels through your body, but it does not dissolve in your blood. Cholesterol is therefore attached to the fatty proteins such as high density lipoproteins (HDL cholesterol) and low density lipoproteins (LDL cholesterol).

The main source of your cholesterol level is your careless diet.

So, you have to take care of your diet without fatty foods by following low cholesterol diet plan.

The major contributor to heart disease and stroke is high cholesterol [Safe cholesterol level for heart disease].

For avoiding high cholesterol foods, avoid oil content foods.

So, independent of the age and group, you should follow heart healthy diet i.e. low cholesterol diet plan to be physically active.

Low cholesterol diet plan:

The combination of saturated fats and unsaturated fats are found in all the fat content foods. Blood cholesterol level rises due to the saturated fat in your food.

The saturated fats are mostly found in the foods of animals such as meat, poultry which has skin, dairy products and also found in some vegetable oils like palm kernel, palm oils and coconut.

So, if you want to reduce the blood cholesterol level, then choose foods which are low in saturated fat. The foods which have low saturated fats, high starch and high fiber are fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods.

HDL cholesterol is the high density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Lipoproteins are the combination of lipids (fats) and proteins.

High lipoproteins carry about 30% of the cholesterol from tissues of the body to liver.

HDL will remove cholesterol from the atheroma in the arteries.

Then this cholesterol is transported to the liver for reutilization or for excretion.

This is the reason HDL is called as good cholesterol. If you have high level of HDL cholesterol, (HDL-c) then you will have less risk of cardiovascular diseases.

How much raise in HDL cholesterol level help in avoiding the risk of heart diseases?

If your body has even small increase of HDL cholesterol then also you can reduce the risk of heart attack.

You can reduce from 2 to 4% of the risk of coronary heart disease, if your HDL cholesterol (HDL-c) level is increased by 1mg/dl. The test for HDL cholesterol is done along with the other lipid tests. These tests are used for estimating the risks of heart problems.

From this test, if you have high level of cholesterol then it is better than low level cholesterol. If you have less than 40mg/dl of HDL level, then you will have risk of heart disease.

The diet for high cholesterol helps in increasing good cholesterol levels. The diet for high cholesterol is TLC diet (therapeutic lifestyle changes diet) that is recommended if you have high risk of cardiovascular disease.

Some of the causes of the cholesterol are high stress, alcoholism and food.

High cholesterol can also cause due to the physical inactivity, being overweight, drinking alcohol excessively and smoking.

You can reduce the risk of high cholesterol by doing regular exercises which enhances good cholesterol and reduces the bad cholesterol. You can use diet for high cholesterol as it provides your body good cholesterol [Cholesterol Reduction].

Follow the below sample menu for following diet for high cholesterol:

The below menu contains 2200 total calories, in that 25% of the calories are from total fat.

Diet for high cholesterol breakfast menu:

• In this menu, prefer taking half cup of oatmeal along with non fat milk mixed with brown sugar and sliced bananas.
• You can also prefer coffee latte with one cup of non fat milk.

Diet for high cholesterol lunch menu:

• Diet for high cholesterol lunch menu includes sandwich, which is made from two slices whole wheat bread, lean turkey of two ounces, mayonnaise of one tablespoon, lettuce and tomato.

Home cholesterol test is the test which will help you in measuring cholesterol levels at home itself.

This test can be performed quickly and conveniently at your home. You can find home cholesterol tests at the local pharmacies.

These home cholesterol tests are approved by the food and drug administration.

Home access instant cholesterol test:

You have to control cholesterol levels because when cholesterol levels are high, it can cause heart diseases. The home access instant cholesterol test is as accurate as the test preferred by the doctors and medical labs.

With home cholesterol test kit, you can measure cholesterol levels only with fraction of the cost. You can measure your cholesterol level accurately within 15 minutes with this kit.

• This home cholesterol test is fast, accurate and easy to use.
• This test provides you professional health line.
• While performing this test, no need of doing fasting.
• This provides you 100% satisfaction and guarantee.

Need of performing home cholesterol test:

You have to perform this test because if your cholesterol level is high, then you have to face major risk factors such as developing heart disease and heart attack.