
Blocked arteries can lead to low blood flow in the heart and chest pain. In addition, hardened arteries may allow a coating called plaque to build up and partially block your arteries.
This condition could lead to coronary artery disease. This is because high cholesterol could cause your heart arteries to harden, which is called atherosclerosis. If you have a high amount of cholesterol in your blood, your health care provider may recommend following a cholesterol-lowering diet.
This includes your cholesterol and triglyceride levels. However, what you eat and drink affects your health. This is because some foods are only served during the holidays, and we don't want to miss out on the tastes and memories that are associated with the holiday favorites. The holidays encourage us to overindulge in holiday goodies that often are high in calories and fat. Want to learn more about your heart health? Take our free, online heart risk assessment today.Our calendars are filled with annual celebrations this time of the year, and many of our traditions include delicious foods. Talk to your primary care provider to see if medicine is right for you. These medicines can lower fats and LDL cholesterol in your blood. In addition to making lifestyle changes, you can help manage your levels with cholesterol-lowering medication. Losing weight by cutting out sugary and processed items that contribute to high cholesterol.Cutting down on sugary alcohol drinks to increase your HDL levels.Stopping smoking to increase your HDL levels.
Other lifestyle changes you can make include: Even a brisk walk every day for a half an hour can do the job. It doesn’t matter what you do, just as long as you’re motivated to keep it up. Moderate exercise for 30 minutes around five times a week can change your cholesterol levels. While certain foods help lower “bad” LDL cholesterol levels, exercise can help raise your “good” HDL cholesterol levels.
Whey protein, such as the powdered types you can add into smoothies.Īlong with eating right, you’ll want to get active. Fish with omega-3 fatty acids, such as tuna, salmon, trout, mackerel and herring. Oatmeal, kidney beans, brussels sprouts, apples and pears - their fiber keeps your body from absorbing extra cholesterol into your blood. The more colorful the produce is, the more cholesterol-blocking substances your body will get. Fruits and vegetables such as leafy greens yellow, orange and red tomatoes strawberries plums and berries. To reduce your LDL levels specifically, you’ll want to eat the following: These tend to raise your total cholesterol levels. To start, stop eating processed food that include trans fats and saturated fats. Sometimes, you need both medication and dietary changes. You might not have to go on a medication to change your levels. There are food choices you can make that help improve your cholesterol levels. But there are plenty of ways to naturally lower your cholesterol levels and improve your hearth health. High cholesterol levels may run in your family, for example. This can be tricky to do for some people. Therefore, you want to keep your LDL cholesterol numbers low and your good HDL cholesterol numbers high. This can then cause health problems later on. Too much cholesterol can build up slowly in the arteries that go to your heart and your brain. This keeps extra cholesterol from impacting your health. It’s healthy because it grabs on to excess cholesterol from your arteries and eliminates it. “Good” cholesterol is called high-density lipoprotein (HDL). It’s unhealthy because if you have too much LDL in your body, it can build up in your arteries as fatty deposits. “Bad” cholesterol is called low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Your body makes two types of cholesterol.
Making hormones like testosterone, estrogen and cortisol. You need enough cholesterol for your body and your brain to work their best. It travels throughout your body in your blood. The rest of the cholesterol you need comes from foods you eat. Your liver makes about 75% of the cholesterol you need. What is cholesterol?Ĭholesterol is a substance your body produces. And if the numbers are getting higher, your doctor might have mentioned ways to lower it.īut what exactly is cholesterol? And why do you need to keep an eye on it? It helps to know the types and when you may need to lower one of them. Your doctor may have already taken blood tests for your cholesterol levels. Managing your cholesterol is important for living a healthy life.