Tips for Reducing High Cholesterol

High cholesterol can be incredibly dangerous to your health.  If you have been diagnosed with elevated cholesterol rates, please take this as a very dire warning, and take action immediately.  If you are to lower your cholesterol back to safe levels, making immediate changes in your diet and lifestyle is crucial.  Cholesterol lowering drugs are often prescribed, but taking additional ‘home remedy’ steps is certainly recommended.  These tips can help you get your numbers back into the normal range, before anything more serious happens.

Start Exercising
If you want to lower your LDL levels, physical activity is the way to go.  In addition to lowering high cholesterol levels, regular exercise provides tremendous benefit to the heart, brain, and body as a whole.  Exercising at least five days a week for thirty to forty five minutes can make a remarkable difference.  When you consider the fact that the average person spends four hours a day parked in front of the TV, just taking half an hour out of this time each day to save your life won’t seem so bad.

Put Away Fatty Foods
Sadly, some of our favorite foods are packed with saturated fat.  fat tastes good, which is why we like to eat it, even though we know we shouldn’t. eating fatty food on a regular basis is what causes high cholesterol, and so your habits must be changed.  Reducing your intake of red meat, butter, and eggs can help you do reduce high cholesterol easily and safely. Cutting down a little at a time is the best way to go. For instance if every day you have eggs for breakfast and meat for lunch, have your eggs and a non meat dinner one day, then have cereal the next day with a meat dinner. This will halve you consumption of both meat and eggs without making you feel seriously deprived. When you’ve adapted to this, then add an extra day, then 2 days in between with no meat or eggs at all. Also exercise portion control. The average person;s stomach is about the size of their clenched fist, so the piece of meat on your plate should be as small – or smaller – than your fist.

Add Fiber
Dietary fiber, such as that found in whole grains, is great for lowering high cholesterol.  Fiber acts as a sweeping brush in your body, absorbing fats and sweeping away cholesterol. You will find that taking in enough fiber can keep your cholesterol levels down while keeping your antioxidant levels high.  The result is not only a healthier digestive system, but a much healthier heart as well. Add a chopped banana to your morning cereal, and stick an apple in your pocket for a mid-morning snack at work, and there, you’ve just added two extra portions of fruit a day to your diet.

There are plenty of ways that you can reduce high cholesterol, and finding the ones that are right for you is important.  Always take any medication prescribed by your physician, and work to include a healthy diet and exercise regimen in your life.  These changes can be simple to implement, and they can literally help to save your life – so start following these tips today.