For those of us who need to find a way to lower our cholesterol levels it's heartening to know that it's perfectly feasible to succeed even if you don't resort to using prescription medications, for example the statin class of drugs.
Natural cholesterol reduction naturally is possible, if you address the relevant areas:
A naturally effective cholesterol lowering diet places extra importance on heart healthy foods so it gives you a double benefit.
Of course you already know how important it is to take some exercise as part of your regular routines.
Not only do you enhance your fitness level, but you lower your cholesterol levels too, by burning more of your food for energy.
The weight loss that usually accompanies regular exercise doesn't hurt, either! Of course, you already know that exercise on its own is simply not sufficient to effect a reduction in your cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol has to be dealt with on a systemic basis, in other words from within the body as a system.
The whole purpose of a "cholesterol lowering diet" menu is to lower your cholesterol in a natural, or organic and, as you'd probably expect, you'll be looking to reduce things like saturated fats and the simple carbohydrates that taste so good - you'll also want to look at your sugar intake and for most people reduce it fairly significantly.
There's probably enough of that stuff in most of the food you eat (unless you eat practically all raw food), so avoiding adding any to your foods is a good idea.
You won't starve if you don't go adding all this stuff to your diet.
Rather neatly that brings us to the vexed question of processed foods, for example tinned foodstuffs, or ready meals.
Actually, almost anything in a packet falls into this category because such a large percentage of them have had additives,trans-fats and fats, sugars and syrups added during manufacture, or processing in order to enhance shelf-life, appearance, or flavor.
It's probably obvious, but the more natural food you can eat, the better it's likely to be when you're trying to reduce your cholesterol.
That doesn't mean you can wolf down huge quantities of food - you still have to be sensible with your intake level.
Flesh products, so meats, are best if you go for lean cuts.
In fact if you can substitute more fish and chicken, rather than red meat, ham, bacon and the like, you'll find it even more effective.
At the very least, trim visible fat as much as possible when preparing meat and try to cook with as little oil as possible.
If you get the right kind of cooking pan you might be able to cut out 90% or more of the oil you used to use for cooking.
Foods you should add to your diet, or increase the percentage of, include anything that is high in soluble fiber.
That's such things as oats, sprouts and so on.
Does all that so far seem a bit bland and uninspiring? It doesn't have to be - you can add a ton of flavor if you find your food a little bland to your taste, but you just have to be a bit creative about the source of the flavor you add.
There are plenty of herbs, spices and peppers that you can add in your cooking that will wake up your taste buds.
Something else happens when you start treating excess sugars and fats as the potential enemies they might be.
You're likely to see some weight loss and that in turn can have a big positive impact on the chance of you going on to develop diabetes.
You may also want to think about some simple changes that can all add up.
Little changes, a few times a day, can add up to big changes over the course of a month.
For example, how much butter do you use on bread, vegetables, in cooking? If you reduce it, rather than cut it out completely, you may find it easier to cope, but the difference in a month could be more than you realize.
Can you cut down the amount of sugar you use in cooking? You'll soon get used to the difference in taste and over 365 days your heart will thank you for the change.
What about doing more cooking in the oven instead of frying your foods? That can product delicious flavors - just look at how much grease and oil the average person cooks in over a year and you'd feel sick.
Cutting down by baking/broiling instead of frying is a simple way to make the change.
Do you drink sodas? Try having more water, instead, especially if you chill it well and add a little lemon juice.
By the way, just by cutting down on how much you eat you should see a reduction in your cholesterol levels! We're not advocating that you cut out fat completely, by the way, because your body does need a certain amount of fat every day, but remember there's already a lot of fat in the food you buy so not adding extra fat, or at the very least being aware of how much you're eating, is a good idea.
Fruit and vegetables are amazing.
They have no cholesterol and are low in saturated fat and total fat so every portion of fruit and vegetables that you eat is one step closer to improving your cholesterol level.
They can also lead to a lower blood pressure, which in itself is very likely to be beneficial for you - most people with high cholesterol could probably stand to see their blood pressure drop a few points.
We're talking about diets a lot, but in some ways it's not really a diet at all.
Rather than diet and restrict yourself too much, you can change the emphasis of what you eat so that you have less red meat, or dairy, and instead focus on fruit and vegetables, fish, chicken and so on.
A diet can be hard to live with for a lot of us, but choosing delicious, healthy alternative foods may be psychologically easier to cope with.
That way you're not denying yourself anything, you're choosing better food alternatives.
Of course with anything health related you should always consult your doctor before taking any action.
Natural cholesterol reduction naturally is possible, if you address the relevant areas:
- diet
- weight
- exercise
- lifestyle
A naturally effective cholesterol lowering diet places extra importance on heart healthy foods so it gives you a double benefit.
Of course you already know how important it is to take some exercise as part of your regular routines.
Not only do you enhance your fitness level, but you lower your cholesterol levels too, by burning more of your food for energy.
The weight loss that usually accompanies regular exercise doesn't hurt, either! Of course, you already know that exercise on its own is simply not sufficient to effect a reduction in your cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol has to be dealt with on a systemic basis, in other words from within the body as a system.
The whole purpose of a "cholesterol lowering diet" menu is to lower your cholesterol in a natural, or organic and, as you'd probably expect, you'll be looking to reduce things like saturated fats and the simple carbohydrates that taste so good - you'll also want to look at your sugar intake and for most people reduce it fairly significantly.
There's probably enough of that stuff in most of the food you eat (unless you eat practically all raw food), so avoiding adding any to your foods is a good idea.
You won't starve if you don't go adding all this stuff to your diet.
Rather neatly that brings us to the vexed question of processed foods, for example tinned foodstuffs, or ready meals.
Actually, almost anything in a packet falls into this category because such a large percentage of them have had additives,trans-fats and fats, sugars and syrups added during manufacture, or processing in order to enhance shelf-life, appearance, or flavor.
It's probably obvious, but the more natural food you can eat, the better it's likely to be when you're trying to reduce your cholesterol.
That doesn't mean you can wolf down huge quantities of food - you still have to be sensible with your intake level.
Flesh products, so meats, are best if you go for lean cuts.
In fact if you can substitute more fish and chicken, rather than red meat, ham, bacon and the like, you'll find it even more effective.
At the very least, trim visible fat as much as possible when preparing meat and try to cook with as little oil as possible.
If you get the right kind of cooking pan you might be able to cut out 90% or more of the oil you used to use for cooking.
Foods you should add to your diet, or increase the percentage of, include anything that is high in soluble fiber.
That's such things as oats, sprouts and so on.
Does all that so far seem a bit bland and uninspiring? It doesn't have to be - you can add a ton of flavor if you find your food a little bland to your taste, but you just have to be a bit creative about the source of the flavor you add.
There are plenty of herbs, spices and peppers that you can add in your cooking that will wake up your taste buds.
Something else happens when you start treating excess sugars and fats as the potential enemies they might be.
You're likely to see some weight loss and that in turn can have a big positive impact on the chance of you going on to develop diabetes.
You may also want to think about some simple changes that can all add up.
Little changes, a few times a day, can add up to big changes over the course of a month.
For example, how much butter do you use on bread, vegetables, in cooking? If you reduce it, rather than cut it out completely, you may find it easier to cope, but the difference in a month could be more than you realize.
Can you cut down the amount of sugar you use in cooking? You'll soon get used to the difference in taste and over 365 days your heart will thank you for the change.
What about doing more cooking in the oven instead of frying your foods? That can product delicious flavors - just look at how much grease and oil the average person cooks in over a year and you'd feel sick.
Cutting down by baking/broiling instead of frying is a simple way to make the change.
Do you drink sodas? Try having more water, instead, especially if you chill it well and add a little lemon juice.
By the way, just by cutting down on how much you eat you should see a reduction in your cholesterol levels! We're not advocating that you cut out fat completely, by the way, because your body does need a certain amount of fat every day, but remember there's already a lot of fat in the food you buy so not adding extra fat, or at the very least being aware of how much you're eating, is a good idea.
Fruit and vegetables are amazing.
They have no cholesterol and are low in saturated fat and total fat so every portion of fruit and vegetables that you eat is one step closer to improving your cholesterol level.
They can also lead to a lower blood pressure, which in itself is very likely to be beneficial for you - most people with high cholesterol could probably stand to see their blood pressure drop a few points.
We're talking about diets a lot, but in some ways it's not really a diet at all.
Rather than diet and restrict yourself too much, you can change the emphasis of what you eat so that you have less red meat, or dairy, and instead focus on fruit and vegetables, fish, chicken and so on.
A diet can be hard to live with for a lot of us, but choosing delicious, healthy alternative foods may be psychologically easier to cope with.
That way you're not denying yourself anything, you're choosing better food alternatives.
Of course with anything health related you should always consult your doctor before taking any action.
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