Ways To Reduce Cholesterol
It was previously believed that avoiding eggs and cutting back on fatty foods would be enough to manage your cholesterol, but now it has been discovered that this is not the way that things work. It takes much more to reduce your cholesterol levels, but luckily, you can still effectively manage your cholesterol levels if you know how.
Of course, you should still minimize the amount of fatty foods that you eat, especially where saturated fats are concerned. Avoiding too much of an intake of these will keep them from being able to build up along the walls of your blood vessels.
Saturated fat is the type of fat that is known as bad fats. Foods containing what are called trans-fatty acids are another type of fatty foods that should be avoided. These are foods containing unsaturated fats that have been chemically processed.
These are even worse for you than saturated fats because they also lower HDLs, reducing the body’s ability to combat bad cholesterol intake. These are found in foods such as shortening and a lot of deep fried foods.
Green tea is another great way to combat cholesterol levels. Green tea has been linked to lowering levels of cholesterol significantly. In addition to all of the great health and weight loss benefits of green tea, it is a very heart healthy drink as well, so it is a great idea to drink a few glasses of green tea every single day.
Eating a diet that is low fat actually is not completely explaining the diet how it should be. Fatty foods that can help lower your bad cholesterol levels are actually recommended. For example, olive oil and nuts contain good, unsaturated fats. You can replace butter with olive oil in cooking to reduce your cholesterol levels.
It was originally thought that eggs should be avoided, but this factor has actually been discovered to be false. Eggs are actually fairly low in saturated fats for an animal product.
Eggs will not lower your cholesterol, but they will not significantly raise it, and the health benefits of them far outweigh the cholesterol content if they are eaten in moderation. If your cholesterol levels are bad, though, eggs should be avoided.
Exercising, and specifically losing weight if this is needed, can also help your body combat cholesterol problems as well. People that are overweight tend to experience much more problems with their cholesterol levels, so losing a small amount of weight may help your body’s ability to combat high cholesterol levels.
Hypothyroidism is a common cause of people being overweight. In this case, the cause of the weight gain will need to be taken care of before the weight problem can be solved and the cholesterol problem therefore be solved. You should make sure that you get your thyroid tested if you have problems losing weight. Medication can help you repair the problems with your thyroid gland.
There is a more specific note about exercise that should be made, though. Even if you are not overweight, exercise is something that can help your cholesterol levels by making your heart much healthier and improving your circulation. A small amount of exercise on a regular basis can help your cholesterol levels greatly.
Red wine is a great thing that can help manage your cholesterol levels. Red wine not only has antioxidants, it also helps prevent the clogging of arteries. Red wine contains materials that will help prevent LDL from building up on the walls of the blood vessels.
Remember, though, to always drink in moderation to receive the positive benefits. A glass of red wine a day will do good things, but drinking too much can have negative effects.
If you want to reduce your cholesterol, one of the most heart-healthy decisions that you can possibly make is to stop smoking. Smoking is very bad for your health in general, and it is very bad for the health of your heart. If you are unable to stop smoking, it is a good idea to cut back as much as you can.
Stress is something that most people don’t consider when they are thinking about the health of their heart, but stress can have a negative physical effect on the health of your heart and can actually elevate the level of bad cholesterol in your body. If you want to make a healthy decision, cut down on the stress in your life.
The ideas about cholesterol and heart problems that come from it have changed greatly. Things are not as simple as they used to be, but there are a lot of things that you can do to improve your cholesterol levels greatly.