10 Easy Tips to Lower Cholesterol

Has your doctor told you that you have high cholesterol levels and need to lower it?

That is no surprise considering how many people have high cholesterol these days. To help lower your cholesterol, here are 10 tips you can get started with today.

As with anything health related, diet and exercise are the two crucial components. What you eat is critical to lowering your cholesterol levels, so that is what is included here.

One thing you should know is the difference between LDL and HDL cholesterol. Simply think of HDL as “healthy” and LDL as “lousy.” HDL can actually help carry cholesterol out of your blood vessels while LDL allows it to deposit inside your artery walls.

The good news is that you can change your cholesterol for the better. Here is how to do just that:

1. Have a nice sandwich on whole wheat bread or a pita with some lean turkey and lots of fresh veggies. Skip the hot dogs, bologna, and salami, and hold the Mayo. All of those are highly processed and filled with fat and cholesterol.

2. Fish, like salmon, is good. Look for wild red salmon varieties, which are very high in Omega-3 fatty acids (good fat.) Also, flax seed is a good source of Omega-3s.

3. Avoid Trans fats! Not only do they raise the lousy LDL cholesterol, they can also lower your HDL levels! Stay away from foods like margarine, shortening, and processed foods containing partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

4. Go ahead, go nuts! Look for walnuts mainly but also try almonds, macadamia nuts, cashews, and pecans. Nuts are high in fat, but it’s the good kind. (Also, use natural peanut butter instead of the normal kind which contains unhealthy Trans fats.)

5. Limit desserts and try to eat only the healthier ones like angel food cake, graham crackers, Jell-O, and fat-free frozen yogurt.

6. Eat foods that are high in fiber. Examples include whole wheat bread, oatmeal, fruits, vegetables, beans, and some cereals. (Look for the boxes that say “may help lower cholesterol.”)

7. Use the grill. If you’re going to have steak or burgers, grill them at home and use lean meat. This practice avoids the grease, is fun, and the meat tastes great.

8. Find a new salad dressing. Most of them are full of Trans fats and cholesterol. Olive oil is good, and maybe add vinegar or lemon juice. Also, skip the bacon bits, croutons, and egg yolks.

9. Go overboard on fruits and vegetables. They contain no cholesterol and they have lots of nutrients like antioxidants.

Here are some examples: green peas, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, oranges, mangos, papaya, pineapple, tomato, garlic, onions, spinach, water chestnuts, bananas, apricots, blueberries, and kiwi.

10. Avoid fast food like french fries and anything else from the deep fryer. Those foods will raise your cholesterol like crazy, so stay away from the burger joints if you can.

11. Bonus tip: Use spices like pepper and oregano to add flavor to your dishes. They are a healthy alternative to other toppings like Mayo.

That was easy, wasn’t it? Just make some of these changes and get plenty of exercise like walking, jogging, swimming, or playing basketball. You will have lower cholesterol in no time!

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Recent research studies have found a link from high cholesterol levels to a higher incidence of panic attacks.

They are not really sure what the connection is or why it may occur.

It appears that many who have panic attacks also have high cholesterol levels and often after someone has had a high fat meal their chances of having a panic attack may go up.

Of coarse, more testing needs to take place but it does give us one more reason to watch our cholesterol levels and the amount of fat that is in our meals.

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Let’s face it, cardiovascular disease, or heart disease, is the number 1 killer in America. Men have a greater tendency to develop heart-related diseases, but each year, more and more women are experiencing this condition.

For the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, several natural substances have been studied and found to be effective. Before you start on any natural form of treatment, though, make sure you first consult with your physician and obtain approval and constant supervision.

Natural Ways to prevent heart disease

• Vitamin C improves the dilation of blood vessels in atherosclerotic patients and those affected by congestive heart failure and high blood pressure.
• Vitamin B Complex breaks down homocysteine for improved heart performance.
• CoQ10, when taken in combination with Vitamin E, has been found to help treat heart disease.
• Fish oils have been found to reduce the risk of arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, and heart palpitations.

Why Omega-3 fatty acids are so popular?

Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oils and mussels have earned the nod of hundreds of health professionals in recent years because of their role in the management and prevention of heart diseases.

Since the 1970s, there has been significant interest in the role of Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) due to the convincing results of several lab studies. One such study was made by Dyerberg and Bang on Greenland Eskimos. They found that these people had a lower incidence of death resulting from coronary heart disease, as compared to the Danes who lived on a “western” diet.

This, despite the fact that their diet was rich in fat (seal fat, mainly). After studying the results, they concluded that it was mainly the Eskimos’ diet, which was rich in Omega-3 PUFAs, that caused reduced thrombosis tendencies and increased vessel dilation.

Lyprinol, an extract of green-lipped mussel, is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. Discover how it can help you maintain cardiovascular well-being, Click Here Now.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/how-to-prevent-heart-disease-try-these-4-natural-substances-and-enjoy-a-healthy-heart-821334.html

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Cholesterol and Saturated Fats: Will the Real Problem Please Stand Up?

It just figures, doesn’t it? The really good-tasting foods also seem to be the ones with the highest cholesterol content. But before you cry over that observation too much, did you know high cholesterol content doesn’t necessarily mean you have to avoid the foods you love?

No really, it’s true. It turns out the real problem isn’t a particular food’s cholesterol content as much as the amount of saturated fats a food choice contains. Saturated fats actually cause our liver to go into production mode, generating the harmful type of cholesterol you’ve probably heard so much about.

Saturated fats are primarily found in animal products and are recognized by experts as agents in the elevation of your LDL cholesterol (the “bad” kind). The saturated fats are responsible for the triggering of LDL cholesterol production by your liver.

You don’t have to worry, however, about having enough saturated fats to fuel cholesterol production (and your body does need some cholesterol for cell repair and other things). If you were to totally eliminate saturated fats from your diet, experts claim there would be absolutely no negative effect on your body; your body is able to produce all the cholesterol you will ever need without the aid of saturated fats.

In fact, the liver pumps into our blood four times the amount of cholesterol it receives from our food. Therefore, since saturated fats are responsible for stimulating cholesterol production in the liver, they are much more dangerous culprits than our poor dietary cholesterol.

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