How to Reduce Cholesterol Using Home Remedies
There are two types of blood cholesterol: Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and High-density lipoproteins (HDL). LDLs are bad because they are the ones responsible for deposit of plaque on the arteries walls. Deposit of plaque reduces the diameter of the artery and thereby restricts flow of blood through it. Therefore it can increase the risk of heart disease. HDLs are good because they remove cholesterol from arteries walls and carry it back to the liver to be excreted. Therefore HDLs in the blood can decrease the risk of heart disease.
Avoid high cholesterol foods; it can cause increased levels of low density lipoproteins (LDL) that carry cholesterol to build up a mass plaque on the arterial walls. This is known as hypercholesterolemia, the cause of atherosclerosis that causes problems like heart attack or strokes.
Saturated fats, trans fats, fat red meats, chicken, dairy products (fat not removed) are high cholesterol foods and is should be avoided. Avoid alcohol consumption and high sodium food sources. You should plan your diet for lowering cholesterol.
A list of low cholesterol foods that can be combined to create low cholesterol menus is given below:
The best low cholesterol foods are fruits and green vegetables. They are low in cholesterol and contain so many vitamins and minerals too. Green vegetables will help you to control your cholesterol, high blood pressure and reduce your risks for other heart diseases.
Lean protein is good in this condition. The excellent source of lean protein is fish. Try to eat 3 to 4 meals of fish each week.
Whole grains such as oatmeal are the best option for lowering cholesterol. They also provide you lots of energy because they have high-energy content and dietary fiber content. Grains are effective foods to lower cholesterol level. They are also effective in controlling weight. Wheat bread, beans, potatoes, pasta, and cereals can also help lower cholesterol levels.
Exercise and yoga plays an important role for healthy living. Exercise and yoga stimulate your metabolism and help you to lower cholesterol naturally. This is safe and effective too. With the help of exercise and yoga, you can increase your immunity, which will help you to fight with any disease. You will look, feel younger and fit. Stress contributes to the development of every disease in existence. Yoga will help you to manage your stress level and strengthen your immunity.
Disclaimer: This article is not meant to provide health advice and is for general information only. Always seek the insights of a qualified health professional before embarking on any health program.
Copyright © Ryan Mutt, All Rights Reserved. If you want to use this article on your website or in your ezine, make all the urls (links) active.
How to Reduce Cholesterol the Natural Way
Having a high cholesterol level has become a very serious problem for many people today. This has been credited to a majority of the population getting accustomed to a diet rich in fats, bad habits such as smoking and leading a sedentary lifestyle. And because of high cholesterol levels, more and more people are finding themselves at an increased risk of developing coronary heart disease as well as stroke and heart attack.
Heart disease is the number one cause of death for most people in the developed countries around the world. Having a high level of blood cholesterol has been linked to the increase of the incidence of heart disease and has become a grave cause of concern.
The only good news to this fact is that developing heart disease is highly preventable. All it takes is for one to be able to follow a healthier lifestyle. The path to such a lifestyle is trying to lower one’s cholesterol level. Although there are already several drugs available that will help an individual reduce body cholesterol levels, this is usually reserved for more high risk patients in need of drastic decreases in their cholesterol levels. There are also natural ways readily available for anyone looking forward to lowering their own cholesterol to normal and healthy levels.
One of the natural ways of lowering cholesterol levels is through diet. Following a low cholesterol diet day in and day out can be very effective in trying to control and maintain a normal cholesterol level. This would mean eating low cholesterol foods such as soy products, vegetables and fruits.
High fiber foods are also known to help in the fight to lower cholesterol. Regular exercise is also a good habit to develop if you are really intent in trying to lower your cholesterol levels. Exercise helps in increasing HDL or “good” cholesterol in the body as well as strengthens your heart muscle, helps keep your blood pressure at normal and even helps you in shedding of those excess pounds.
There are also several natural supplements that will be able to help you lower your cholesterol levels. Taking B-complex vitamins, specifically Niacin, has been known to help lower blood cholesterol in the body. supplements fortified with Lecithin can also help in lowering your cholesterol as it enables excess fat and cholesterol to be dispersed in the water instead of building up in the arteries.
There are other natural ways of lowering cholesterol levels available today. All it will take is some research and talking to your doctor about how to effectively follow a lifestyle that will enable you to lower cholesterol the natural way.
Learn about what is cholesterol and how to reduce cholesterol at the Cholesterol Guidelines site.
Having a Diet to Lower Cholesterol
If you want to lower your cholesterol levels, following an ideal diet may be able to help you a lot. It has been known for a long time now that the food a person eats or is accustomed to eating daily can have a direct relation in the body’s cholesterol levels.
And it is important for people to lower their cholesterol levels because cholesterol has been associated with the development of coronary heart disease. The higher the level of blood cholesterol levels in an individual, the more likely it is that he will be developing heart disease later on. Aside from that high cholesterol levels can also put a person at risk of suffering from a stroke or a heart attack.
Aside from using drugs to lower cholesterol levels, following a low cholesterol diet is the next best thing to keep your cholesterol levels down. Eating more vegetables, soy products and other low cholesterol foods can be just as effective at reducing blood cholesterol as medication. A study has been able to show that a vegetarian diet can lower cholesterol by as much as one-third in just a month.
The best cholesterol-lowering diet that you can follow usually includes a hearty serving of vegetables such as broccoli and red peppers. Soymilk and soy sausages, oat bran cereal and bread as well as plenty of fruits and nuts make up a complete low cholesterol diet. Soy protein, nuts, and fiber rich food such as oats and barley can effectively cut cholesterol levels by up to seven percent.
A low cholesterol diet also requires you to minimize your intake of saturated fat by seven percent and other fat substances by 25-35 percent. It has been discovered that the best diet for avoiding coronary heart disease includes consuming non-hydrogenated (unprocessed) fats rather than the hydrogenated variety. Increased consumption of omega-3 fats from fish, fish oil or plant sources such as flaxseeds is the suggested fat intake in a low cholesterol diet. With a low cholesterol diet, one should also limit daily sodium intake somewhere in the level of 2400 milligrams daily.
A typical day on the low cholesterol diet would include a hearty breakfast of soymilk, oat bran cereal with chopped fruit and almonds, oatmeal bread, vegetable-based margarine and jam. A typical low cholesterol lunch would comprise of soy cold cuts, oat bran bread, bean soup and a dessert of fruit. For dinner, stir-fry vegetables, tofu, fruit and almonds would be the usual low cholesterol diet fare. Following this type of low cholesterol diet religiously for long periods, it is possible for one’s cholesterol level to drop by as much as 29 percent in just a month.
Visit Cholesterol Guidelines to learn about normal cholesterol levels and high cholesterol foods.
6 Natural Ways to Lower Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in all animal tissue, including humans, and is found in all foods that come from animal sources. The highest sources of dietary cholesterol come from egg yolks and organ meats such as the liver or kidneys.
There are two primary forms of cholesterol; low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) and high-density lipoproteins (HDLs). LDL cholesterol is considered the bad cholesterol because its primary purpose is to provide cholesterol to the cells. It is transported through the blood stream and tends to drop off along the way, clogging arteries and blood vessels, and contributing to plaque formation. HDL cholesterol on the other hand removes LDL cholesterol from the circulatory system and returns it to the liver which removes it from the body.
For people who have high LDL cholesterol levels the first thing their doctor will recommend is a cholesterol lowering diet. This can include eating low cholesterol foods and cutting saturated fats from the diet. But there are also other ways to help lower LDL cholesterol levels and those include:
1. Exercise – In the sedentary lifestyle most people live today it only makes sense that our susceptibility to disease is much greater. Just 30 minutes of exercise 3 or 4 times a week can significantly lower the risk for many major life threatening disease. So why does exercise lower LDL cholesterol levels?
The energy the body needs to exercise comes from sugars, fats, and proteins. After the sugars and proteins are burned the body turns to its fat stores which must be converted to a usable form of energy. To do this the liver increases its output of HDL cholesterol which circulates through the blood stream picking up LDL cholesterol which is converted into energy for use during exercise. Just like that going for a walk decreases the amount of LDL cholesterol in the body.
2. Eat a low fat diet – One of the interesting things about cholesterol is that eating foods high in cholesterol is not necessarily bad. While they should be eaten in moderation the big culprit in raising cholesterol is a diet high in saturated fat, from both animal and plant sources.
3. Eat more soluble fiber – Actually it is important to get plenty of both types of fiber, soluble and insoluble, but in the case of cholesterol fiber from fruits and vegetables is the most important. Soluble fiber removes cholesterol from the body by binding to it.
4. Red yeast rice – Many of the Statin drugs made to control cholesterol are made from red yeast rice. It only makes sense that taking it in its natural state would work to help lower cholesterol levels by its ability to limit the production of cholesterol.
5. De-stress your life – Being chronically stressed affects the levels of cholesterol in the body. In fact people who eat a cholesterol lowering diet but have a high stress level may not see any significant reduction in their LDL levels.
6. Smoking – If you smoke you better stop. Smoking increases the build up of plaque in the arteries, exacerbating the affects of high levels of LDL cholesterol.
Reducing high LDL cholesterol levels is vitally important in the prevention of coronary artery and heart disease. It is also important to work closely with your doctor to help insure that the steps you are taking to lower cholesterol are working.
To learn more about a Lowering Cholesterol please visit the website Lowering Cholesterol by clicking here.
The Importance of Low Cholesterol Food
Increasingly larger numbers of people suffer from heart disease as a consequence of high blood cholesterol levels. There are many factors that enable the accumulation of cholesterol inside the organism, but the major cause is considered to be unhealthy diet. Unhealthy diet and bad eating habits can considerably increase blood cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol is produced by the liver and it is required inside the body for fulfilling several roles: cellular protection, hormonal synthesis (testosterone and estrogen), vitamin synthesis and fat digestion. The organism needs very small quantities of cholesterol to sustain its normal activity and inappropriate diet can quickly enable cholesterol to accumulate in excess. The problem with cholesterol is that it can’t be dissolved by the body fluids and it is also difficult to eliminate. When in excess, cholesterol enters the bloodstream and deposits in different places inside the body. Cholesterol can form plaque inside arteries by adhering to the inner arterial walls, causing blockage. If cholesterol deposits inside the coronary arteries (heart arteries), there is a very high risk of heart disease.
A healthy diet and appropriate exercise are vital in reducing blood cholesterol levels. It is very important to eat properly, as high cholesterol food can quickly increase blood cholesterol levels. You should consume only low cholesterol foods and products that contain unsaturated fat. Many foods contain high levels of cholesterol: meats, eggs, dairy products, sweets. Also, foods that are rich in saturated fat can also facilitate the accumulation of cholesterol inside the body: organ meats, pork, poultry.
Low cholesterol foods should replace foods that contain high quantities of cholesterol and saturated fat. Sweets contain simple carbohydrates which increase body fat deposits and facilitate the accumulation of body cholesterol. It is advised to consume at most 300 mg of cholesterol a day. Considering the fact that a single egg contains around 300 mg of cholesterol, eating properly can be quite tricky. Not at all! You should note that only foods of animal origin contain cholesterol, while vegetal foods are cholesterol free. Although vegetables and fruits contain fat, they actually don’t have any cholesterol. Low cholesterol foods also contain less saturated fat and therefore they are a lot healthier for the organism.
It is very difficult to follow a diet based only on fruits and vegetables. To diversify your diet, you can consume low cholesterol foods such as: egg whites, lean meat, fish, chicken. Other low cholesterol foods are skim milk and low-fat yogurt. You should avoid eating fried foods, as they are very unhealthy. Bake or boil low cholesterol foods and eat plenty of vegetable soups. Home-cooked meals should be preferred over supermarket foods. However, if you don’t have time to cook for yourself every day, there are various low cholesterol food products available in supermarkets. It is important to understand that processed, low cholesterol foods available in convenience-stores can actually contain high quantities of saturated fat and they aren’t a very healthy option. Although you can consume such food products once in a while, your diet should be based mainly on healthy, cholesterol free or low cholesterol foods.
Author: Groshan Fabiola
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger
How A Low Cholesterol Diet Can Help You
If you have found out from your doctor or from doing home cholesterol test that you have a high total cholesterol level, one of the first things you need to do is to change your diet to a low cholesterol diet to help you lower your cholesterol. This is because a high cholesterol level is very dangerous for you and might cause you serious heart diseases or even a heart attack.
A low cholesterol diet does not have to be hard to stick to, as you can still enjoy some of the foods you always like. However, you really need to stay away from foods that contain saturated or trans fats, as they are among the major leading causes to having a high cholesterol level.
To have a low cholesterol diet means that you should replace the saturated fat in your diet with unsaturated fat besides eating less high-cholesterol food and choosing foods that are high in complex carbohydrates. You should also make sure that you get more physical activity and try reducing your weight if you are overweight.
Determining What is Low Cholesterol Food and What Isn’t
Before starting on a low cholesterol level, you should first know what low cholesterol food is and what isn’t. This will help you create a diet which is low in cholesterol to help you lower your total cholesterol levels. There are many different types of food that can be classified as low cholesterol foods, so that you do not need to give all the food you love to have a low cholesterol diet.
Cholesterol is most usually found in foods of animal origin, such as meat, poultry, and eggs, including milk and cheese. In animals, cholesterol is part of the cell membrane structure of all cells. That is why removing the skin from a chicken will remove most of the fat, but will not remove all the cholesterol.
However, in dairy foods the amount of cholesterol involved depends on the amount of fat as milk is secreted from animal cells and not made up of cells like meat. Although it has no cholesterol-containing cell membranes, but because cholesterol is fat soluble, it can b found in fats in milk and milk-based foods. That is why if a dairy product contains more fat, it will also contain more cholesterol, so always choose low fat dairy products when sticking to a low cholesterol diet.
Converting To A Low Cholesterol Recipe
If you found out that you have high cholesterol, you must start converting some of foods you love to a low cholesterol version. You must also learn to live without some of the foods that have been causing you to get a high cholesterol level in the first place. Learning how to make your foods using a low cholesterol recipe is one way to lower your cholesterol levels
Converting your food to a low cholesterol recipe is not a very difficult thing to do. All you need is a little bit of willpower and you can start enjoying cholesterol free or lower cholesterol version of your favorite foods. The taste will not differ much as long as you know how to add flavor into your cooking without using saturated fats and other harmful foods that contribute to more cholesterol problems.
The easiest way to get started on low cholesterol recipe is to start with one day’s menu. You can include a safe amount of food fats into your diet at first so that you can ease the transition period from your normal food to the low cholesterol diet, and make this change easier on you.
A good way to start a low cholesterol diet with a low cholesterol recipe is trying a serving of oatmeal, honey, and an apple for breakfast. Mixing oats, fat free milk, and a little honey and chopped apple will make a great delicious cholesterol free breakfast. For lunch, you can follow up with a salmon and tomato sandwich with a side salad. For tasty salad dressing, you can try using lemon juice and black pepper as a low cholesterol option. For dinner, you can have stir-fried chicken breast, veggies, and some rice will make you enjoy your low cholesterol diet. You can also try using brown rice instead of white rice for a lower cholesterol diet.
Make changes one step at a time, and in no time you will start enjoying a healthier life with lower cholesterol level. These changes will prevent you from having heart diseases caused by your diet. You will soon find that you enjoy the low cholesterol food as much as or more than your previous high cholesterol food.
Author: Cindy Heller
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Excise Tax
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