How can you lower your cholesterol levels?

Cholesterol is one of the important elements made in your body that has important functions. But high levels of cholesterol are life-threatening and can lead to health-related issues. You need to reduce cholesterol levels through lifestyle habits and changes to the way you work and live. 

Southern Nevada Family medicine provides the information you need to reduce cholesterol levels. 

Do exercise

Doing exercise raises HDL and improves LDL and triglycerides. 

Exercise is helpful at decreasing cholesterol, but it can increase HDL cholesterol and target LDL cholesterol. 

You might be wondering what type of exercise is good for cholesterol. A study analyzing several other studies revealed that “aerobic exercise can decrease LDL cholesterol and the total while raising or keeping stable the HDL cholesterol while working out 40 and 150 minutes per week”. 

The study also found out that strength training can:

• Decrease total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol
• Increase HDL
• Lower body fat
• Decrease dangerous triglycerides

Physical activity that gets your heart rate up and lifting weights moderately a few times a week can help you to control cholesterol levels. 

Keep your weight balanced 

Obesity leads to high cholesterol, and studies have proved it. It raises the triglycerides level and raises the chance as:

• Increase fat tissue, which means your liver is receiving higher free fatty acids. It is the case if you have the extra weight around your middle. 
• Become insulin resistant, the amount of free fatty acids in your liver will be increased. 
• Suffer from inflammation; it influences the way your body manages the good cholesterol HDL. 

Losing weight decreases the amount of fat in your body and makes it less likely to have inflammation. Consequently, it reduces the cholesterol level. 

Physical activity and weight loss result in reverse insulin resistance. It means your body is better capable of regulating or managing hormones and lipoproteins.

The way you manage your weight and try to lose more pounds is up to you and your conditions. For your health, you would better do it. 

Skip or reduce smoking 

Smoking does affect the way your body handles cholesterol. It has a devasting effect on your blood vessels and arteries. It can make them more prone to clogging by excess cholesterol. 

Quitting smoking improves your HDL cholesterol level. Smoking also makes the effects that LDL naturally has on the body worse. 

According to Wei Song and his team’s research, smokers’ immune system is unable to move back the cholesterol from vessel walls to the blood so as to be transported to the liver. The damage is due to tobacco rather than nicotine. 

“Acrolein Can Cause Cardiovascular Disease” research by Robert J. Henning, and his team indicates that “Cigarettes contain acrolein which is a toxic compound and the lungs can absorb it to the bloodstream. Researchers believe that acrolein can impair how HDL in the body transports cholesterol. The result is the development of heart disease.

Quitting smoking can prevent all these devastating effects. 

Decrease alcohol consumption 

You may have heard about the heart-protective benefit of alcohol usage. However, CDC and AHA disagree with it. The two sources indicate that there is no verified research that drinking alcohol can improve your heart health. 

AHA indicates that there could be a small increase with the good HDL with alcohol consumption, but if you want to reach that result, exercise is a better option and provides many more benefits. 

The AHA indicates that 

You would better drink alcohol only in a moderate way. CDC recommended that men drink two drinks while women one drink per day. 

Make a few changes in your diet 

Changing your diet to a good way is a practical way to improve your health and decrease your cholesterol. The following are some of the things you can do:

Have more whey protein 

You can find whey protein in dairy products. The studies indicate that they contribute to decreasing LDL cholesterol, blood sugar, and total cholesterol. 

Raise the taken soluble fiber

soluble fiber has the feature to reduce the amount of absorbed cholesterol in your bloodstream. The following food items are a rich source of soluble fiber:

• Oatmeal
• Kidney beans
• Brussels sprouts
• Apples 
• Pears
• Barley
• Quinoa
• Lentils
• Chickpeas

Omega-3 fatty acids rich food 

Food items that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids do not affect LDL cholesterol. They also help to decrease the blood pressure, and you can find them in:

• Salmon
• Mackerel
• Herring
• Walnuts
• Flaxseeds

Remove trans fats 

You can find trans fats in margarine, store-bought cookies, crackers, and cakes which raise overall cholesterol. You would better read the label of foods for “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” and avoid them as far as possible if you wish to reduce your cholesterol level. According to Mayoclinic, the FDA has banned the usage of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils by industries from Jan 1, 2021. 

Decrease the amount of taken saturated fat 

The one thing that raises your cholesterol level is the saturated fat found in red meat and full-fat dairy products. If you reduce the saturated fat, your LDC cholesterol or bad cholesterol will also decrease. 

Are lifestyle changes enough?

The answer depends on the person and how his/her health condition is. In case the changes are not enough and you have warning symptoms, the doctor or health experts might prescribe medication to help decrease the cholesterol. The prescription might be for a short period of time or continue for a few years.

Reduce cholesterol alcohol 

The provided tips in this article are all applicable at home, work, and wherever you are. You can implement them and change your lifestyle and diet and reduce the risk of cholesterol. 

Remember baht if the level of your cholesterol is high, the provided tips might not be enough, and you should visit a doctor or health expert. You might need medication to tackle the issue as soon as possible as there could be other health-related issues. 

The final word 

High-level cholesterol is bad for your health, and you should better have it under control. Lifestyle changes can help to avoid high cholesterol or decrease it. 

The article explained tips on how to reduce cholesterol in easy ways that everyone can do it. 

Southern Nevada Family Medicine provides health and safety tips for you and your family. We cover a wide range of services and tests so you can stay healthy.

We can also provide tips and recommendations to avoid health issues. Give us a call at 702-843-6629 and go through our website for further information.