How to Reduce your Cholesterol Naturally

Today we are going to be going over some simple things that you can start doing right now to lower your cholesterol. Before we do that though, let's review briefly why we even care about cholesterol. You see cholesterol is made in your liver and has a lot of important functions throughout the body but like anything, too much of a good thing and too much in the wrong places can cause some problems. Cholesterol is somewhat like a fat in that it doesn't dissolve in water. Because of that it needs to be transported throughout the body on molecules called lipoproteins. These carry cholesterol, among other things, around the blood. There are different lipoproteins that travel around the blood. One of them is called LDL-that's a Low density lipoprotein, it brings cholesterol to the different parts of the body and is responsible for the cholesterol deposits that contribute to heart disease. This is what we refer to as the "Bad Cholesterol". IN contrast we have what we call HDL or High density Lipoprotein. These are responsible for taking cholesterol away from the different parts of the body. We often refer to these as the "Good cholesterol". It has a protective effect on the heart. So our goal in treating cholesterol is finding ways to decrease the LDL or the bad cholesterol and increase the HDL or the good cholesterol. So let's talk about some ways that you can do that.

1- I'm going to recommend is focus on what we call Monounsaturated Fats. We've all heard about how you need to avoid Saturated fats and that is true, but to help lower your LDL, and improve your HDL start adding monounsaturated fats to your diet. You are going to find these among other things in Olives, olive oil, Canola oil, Tree nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecans and cashews. These kinds of fats do great in decreasing your bad and increasing your good, as well as working on preventing something called oxidation of the cholesterol that contributes to it clogging arteries.

2- I'm going to recommend is adding a different kind of fat into your diet. These are polyunsaturated fats. These are principally your Omega-3 fatty acids. You find these in things such as your more oily fish like Salmon, mackerel, herring, deep sea tuna like bluefin and albacore and somewhat with shellfish like shrimp. You can also find them in tree nuts and seeds like Flax seed. Diets higher in these foods have been found to help decrease your LDL cholesterol as well as have been found to decrease your risk of heart disease as well as type 2 diabetes. So those are two things that you should add to your diet .

3- thought is something that you need to eliminate. That's your Trans-fatty acids. These are a fat that is processed by adding hydrogen to it. IT's done to help keep them more stable. You will find these in things like commercially available margarine and butter spreads, pastries and cookies. The problem with TransFats is that they increase your total cholesterol including your LDL and decrease your good cholesterol or HDL by up to 20%. In more and more countries food companies are required to list how much trans fats on the nutrition labels but it's important you read them. These labels can be tricky though. IN the United States, companies can label their product as zero grams of trans fat per serving if they contain less than 0.5 grams per serving. It doesn't mean that they don't have any. Since most of us eat more than a serving you can still get a lot of trans fats in your diet. Read the nutritional label and if it contains things listed as hydrogenated oils or partially hydrogenated oils they contain trans fats and you need to stay away from them.

4- is something good that you need to be adding into your diet. This is Soluble fiber. This is a type of fiber that comes from plants and can be dissolved in water but us humans do not digest. The benefit from soluble fiber comes from the effect that it has on the bacteria in your gut. The digestion of the fiber by the bacteria help lower your bad cholesterol. Great sources of soluble fiber include beans, peas, lentils, fruit and whole grain oats. You can also find it in fiber supplements like Metamucil.

5- that you need to do is Exercise. Exercise has been shown to both decrease your harmful LDL but also increases your good HDL. Larger studies have shown that 30 minutes of activity, five days a week can improve your cholesterol and decrease your risk of heart disease. One study showed that setting your goal of getting your heart rate to 85% of its maximum can increase your good cholesterol. So, exercise overall is good, but as you increase your intensity and length of exercise added benefit is found.

6- is an obvious one and if you are doing it the most important one you can do. That is Stop Smoking! Smoking is the worst thing that you can do for your heart and has a significant impact on how your body handles cholesterol. In smokers, the immune cells are unable to return cholesterol from vessel walls to the blood where it should be and contributes to plaque formation that leads to clogged arteries. It also ,in a large study showed, that it can decrease your HDL and increase your total cholesterol. So do your body a favor and quit now.

7- is focus on losing weight. All of the things that we have been talking about today can help with this, but studies have shown that just by losing weight you can have a positive impact on your cholesterol. Several studies have shown that no matter the weight loss plan helped increase the good HDL and decrease the bad LDL. So pick a good healthy eating plan and stick with it.

8- is related to the saturated fats that we discussed earlier. The closer you get to a vegetarian diet the better you will do with helping your cholesterol. But for many of us, we aren't willing to go that direction yet, so pick meats that are more lean. We've already talked about fish, but Chicken and Turkey are good options to reach for. If you are going to go for red meats, if possible, try and get grass fed. Beef and Pork that are raised in feed lots with lots of corn tend to have higher concentrations of the harmful fats. Go for lean cuts of hamburger and cut off extra fats before cooking. All of these things are going to help cut down on the amount of saturated fats in your diet.

9- is consider adding plant sterols and stanols. These are plant based versions of cholesterol but they don't contribute to elevating your cholesterol. They compete with the bad forms of cholesterol and prevent them from being absorbed as much. They have been shown to decrease your LDL however the only problem with these is that we haven't seen it translate into decreasing actual risk of heart disease. Hopefully we can get some better studies in the future looking into this.

10- you can do is look at different supplements. There are several things out there most of them work on increasing the amount of Omega-3 fatty acids. Things like Fish Oil and Flaxseed oil have been found to be helpful in increasing your HDL and although the evidence still isn't clear, it is felt to help reduce the risk of heart disease. Red Yeast rice is another that can be helpful in lowering your cholesterol. It has properties that are somewhat similar to the Statin medications and can play a role in improving your cholesterol. Keeping an eye on your cholesterol is an important part of helping manage your risk of heart disease. There are medications that can be very effective and in some an important part of your treatment plan, however, there is much that you can do to control this without having to rely on medications. For most people, focusing on changing your lifestyle, exercising on a regular basis, avoiding smoking, trans fats and saturated fats and increasing the amount of unsaturated fats, soluble fiber and plant sterols and stanols can be a great start in living a healthier life and preventing that heart attack or stroke. Well, I hope you found this to be helpful .