How to Manage Your Blood Cholesterol

High blood cholesterol clogs arteries and increases your risk for a stroke. It can also lead to heart disease. Making a few simple and healthy lifestyle changes--such as diet, regular physical activity and weight loss--will not only reduce your cholesterol levels but also greatly increase your chances of living a longer, healthier and more vigorous life.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Low-cholesterol diet book
• Physician
• Medication

Manage Your Blood Cholesterol

1. Eat a diet that is well-balanced and low in saturated fat. The primary cause of high cholesterol comes from the unhealthy foods you eat. Foods that are high in saturated fat--such as butter, cheese and whole milk--are the worst offenders for causing high cholesterol. Generally, all foods that are of animal origin have the highest amount of cholesterol.
2. Drink a moderate amount of alcohol. One or two glasses of wine or beer a day has been shown to lower bad and raise good cholesterol levels.
3. Know why you are taking all prescribed medications. If your doctor has prescribed a medication to lower and manage your cholesterol levels, take it as prescribed. Ask your doctor about any side effects.
4. Quit smoking. Cigarette smoking lowers HDL cholesterol levels and is directly responsible for approximately 20 percent of all deaths from heart disease.
5. Control your weight. Not only does being overweight raise your total blood cholesterol levels, it also throws your cholesterol levels out of whack by boosting levels of LDL cholesterol and lowering levels of HDL cholesterol. It also increases your risk for heart disease by raising blood pressure and straining the heart.
6. Consider meditation, yoga, Pilates or other forms of stress reduction to manage your cholesterol levels. Fatigue, anger and distress can raise your body's adrenaline levels, causing cholesterol to rise.

Tips & Warnings

• Foods that may reduce your stroke risk include oatmeal and oat bran, walnuts and almonds, fish and omega-3 fatty acids, foods fortified with plant phytosterols or stanols like margarines, orange juice and soy.
• If your total blood cholesterol level is 240 or more, you are in the high-risk category. You have twice the risk of heart attack as a person with a cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL or less. About one in five Americans are in this high-risk category. Your doctor will probably order tests to determine what kind of lipids are in your body—low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and triglycerides. Low-density lipoproteins are bad because they deliver cholesterol to the body. High-density lipoproteins are good because they remove cholesterol from the bloodstream.

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