Lower Your Cholesterol Levels

The leading cause of serious heart problems?

Narrowing, or blockage of coronary arteries. The primary culprit?

?Plaque caused by unchecked build-up of cholesterol.

Cholesterol is made in your liver and has many important functions. For example, it helps keep the walls of your cells flexible and is needed to make several hormones.

However, like anything in the body, too much cholesterol (or cholesterol in the wrong places) creates concerns.

Like fat, cholesterol does not dissolve in water. Instead, to move around the body, it depends on molecules called lipoproteins. These carry cholesterol, fat, and fat-soluble vitamins in your blood.

Different kinds of lipoproteins have different effects on health. For example, high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) results in cholesterol deposits in blood vessel walls, which can lead to clogged arteries ,Stroke, Heart attack, Kidney failure .

In contrast, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) helps carry cholesterol away from vessel walls and helps prevent these conditions .There are many natural ways to increase HDL (good) cholesterol and lower LDL (bad) cholesterol.

The liver produces as much cholesterol as your body needs. It packages cholesterol with fat in what’s called very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL).

As VLDL delivers fat to cells throughout the body, it changes into the denser LDL, which carries cholesterol wherever it is needed.

The liver also releases HDL, which then carries unused cholesterol back to the liver. This process is called reverse cholesterol transport, and it protects against clogged arteries and other types of heart disease.

Some lipoproteins, especially LDL and VLDL, are prone to damage by free radicals in a process called oxidation. Oxidized LDL (oxLDL) and VLDL (oxVLDL) are even more harmful to heart health.

Although food companies often advertise products as being low in cholesterol, recent research has shown that dietary cholesterol actually has only a small influence on the amount of cholesterol in the body.

This is because the liver changes the amount of cholesterol it makes depending on how much you eat. When your body absorbs more cholesterol from your diet, it makes less in the liver.

While dietary cholesterol may have little influence on your body’s cholesterol levels, other factors in your life may, such as:

Family history

Smoking

A sedentary lifestyle

Heavy alcohol consumption

Healthy lifestyle choices can help turn the tide by increasing the beneficial HDL and decreasing the harmful LDL. Learn about natural ways to improve your cholesterol levels.

Disclaimer:?The information on this POST is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional advice. The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this article is for general information purposes / educational purposes only, and to ensure discussion or debate.

Thank you?...Improve your cholesterol levels.

Focus on monounsaturated fats

As opposed to saturated fats, unsaturated fats have at least one double chemical bond that changes the way your body uses them. Monounsaturated fats have only one double bond.

Some recommend a low fat diet for weight loss, but research is mixed on its effectiveness in controlling blood cholesterol.

Use polyunsaturated fats, especially omega-3s

Polyunsaturated fats have multiple double bonds that make them behave differently in the body than saturated fats. Research shows that polyunsaturated fats reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and decrease the risk of heart disease.

For example, one study replaced saturated fats in 115 adults’ diets with polyunsaturated fats for 8 weeks. By the end of the study, total and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels were reduced by about 10%.

Polyunsaturated fats also may reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

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Avoid Trans fats

Trans fats are unsaturated fats that have been modified by a process called hydrogenation. This is done to make the unsaturated fats in vegetable oils more stable.

The resulting trans fats are not fully saturated and are called partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs).

They are solid at room temperature, which gives more texture than unsaturated liquid oils to products like spreads, pastries, and cookies. Their increased texture, as well as shelf stability, is what makes trans fats so attractive to food companies.

But partially hydrogenated trans fats are handled differently in the body than other fats, and not in a good way. Tran’s fats increase total cholesterol and LDL but decrease beneficial HDL.

To avoid being misled, be sure to read the ingredients list in addition to the nutrition label. If a product contains “partially hydrogenated” oil, it contains trans fats and should be avoided.

Foods with “partially hydrogenated” oil in the ingredients contain trans fats and are harmful, even if the label claims the product has “0 grams of trans fat per serving.”

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Eat soluble fiber

Soluble fibre is a group of different compounds in plants that dissolve in water and that humans can’t digest.

However, the beneficial bacteria that live in your intestines can digest soluble fiber. In fact, they require it for their own nutrition. Research has shown that these good bacteria, also called probiotics, can help reduce LDL levels.

Whole grains, which contain substantial amounts of fiber, decrease both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels compared with control groups.

The good news is that the whole grains were not shown to decrease levels of the good HDL cholesterol.

Soluble fiber can also help increase the cholesterol benefits of taking a statin medication.

Exercise

Exercise is a win-win for heart health. Not only does it improve physical fitness and help combat obesity, but it also reduces harmful LDL and increases beneficial HDL.

The AHA advises that 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week is enough to lower cholesterol levels.

While even low intensity exercise like walking increases HDL, making your exercise longer and more intense increases the benefit.

Ideally, aerobic activity should raise the heart rate to about 75% of its maximum. Resistance training should be 50% of maximum effort.

Activity that elevates the heart rate to 85% of its maximum increases HDL and also decreases LDL. The longer the duration, the greater the effects.

Resistance exercise can decrease LDL even at moderate intensity. At maximum effort it also increases HDL. Increasing the number of sets or repetitions increases the benefit.

Maintain a healthy weight

Having excess weight or obesity can increase your risk of developing high cholesterol levels. Every 10 pounds of excess fat produces roughly 10 mg of cholesterol per day.

The good news is that losing weight, if you have excess weight, can decrease your cholesterol levels.

People who lost between 5–10% of their weight significantly reduced their total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels, as well as triglycerides.

Those who lost more than 10% of their weight reduced cholesterol and triglyceride levels significantly more.

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