Expert reveals some healthy lifestyle changes that one must adopt to avoid high cholesterol problems and prevent heart disease.
Most of the cholesterol in your body is made by your liver. The rest comes from the food you eat. To make hormones, vitamin D, and chemicals that aid in the digestion of food, your body requires cholesterol. Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs. It travels in the blood in packages called lipoproteins. High cholesterol increases the risk of heart disease and heart attacks. Although medicines can help improve your cholesterol, certain lifestyle changes can also help you lower bad cholesterol.
5 easy and healthy tips to reduce your cholesterol levels
1. Eat heart-healthy foods
- Reduce saturated fats: found mainly in red meat and full-fat dairy products
- Cut out trans fats: Trans fats, sometimes listed on food labels as “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil,” are often used in store-bought margarine and crackers
- Eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids: Foods with omega-3 fatty acids include A2 beef butter, salmon, walnuts, and flaxseeds.
- Increase soluble fiber: Soluble fibers can reduce the absorption of cholesterol into the bloodstream.
2. Exercise regularly
Exercise most days of the week and increase your physical activity, as it helps improve your cholesterol.
3. Quit smoking
Smoking lowers HDL cholesterol, as by quitting, smokers can lower their LDL cholesterol and increase their HDL cholesterol levels. It can also help protect your arteries.
4. Maintain a healthy body weight
Being overweight or obese tends to raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol. But a weight loss of just 5% to 10% can help improve cholesterol levels.
5. Drink alcohol only in moderation
If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For healthy adults, that means up to one drink a day for women of all ages and men 65 and older, and up to two drinks a day for men 65 and younger. Too much alcohol can lead to serious health problems.
(Entries: Nutritionist, Lovneet Batra)
$(document).ready(function(){
$(‘#commentbtn’).on(“click”,function(){
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=178196885542208”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
$(“.cmntbox”).toggle();
});
});
