How to Lower Cholesterol With Diet and Exercise

To avoid the common conditions of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and cancer, it is imperative that you maintain a healthy diet and adequate exercise

Cholesterol, which is produced in the liver, enables your body to function the right way. Sometimes various factors cause the body to malfunction and produce more bad cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein), which triggers plaque to build up in the arteries inducing heart disease and stroke. If you are healthy, your body will produce more good cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein), which enables excess cholesterol to be broken down in the liver and eliminated from your body. To help the bad cholesterol to be removed, you should eat more foods that lower LDL, and increase the level of HDL in your blood.

Healthy diet and exercise to lower cholesterol

How to Lower LDL Cholesterol

It is extremely important for the sake of your heart health to lower your bad cholesterol level. Some foods that can accomplish this according to cholesterollevels.net are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes which are all high in fiber. Foods which are high in unsaturated fats, such as nuts are also important. Exercise will help to decrease your risk of heart disease by lowering your triglyceride level.

How to Increase HDL Cholesterol

It is even more important to increase your level of HDL than it is to lower your level of LDL. By eating tuna and salmon which are high in omega-3 fatty acids, or by taking fish oil supplements you will gain an increase in HDL levels (source). Adequate aerobic exercise is also an efficient way to increase your HDL.

Replacing Saturated Fats

To cut down on the saturated fats in your diet, you should replace them with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Try to skip fatty meats, baked goods, high-fat dairy products and palm kernel. The best monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats to include in your low cholesterol diet as stated on CholesterolMenu are found in various oils such as flax seed, sunflower, corn, primrose, olive and soybean. Unrefined cold-pressed or expeller-pressed oils are the best.

Losing Weight and Exercising Regularly Will Be Greatly Beneficial

Unfortunately, if you have an obesity problem, you will have a high chance of having high cholesterol. You can lose weight by starting a regular exercise program and reducing your intake of saturated fats. A minimum of 60 minutes of medium-intensity aerobic exercise per week will show some benefits. Of course, if you do more than this, you will lose more weight and improve your cholesterol levels even more. Be careful to start your exercise program slowly, especially if you have not been exercising regularly, and build up to a higher intensity.

Updated: 11/21/2015, healthtalk

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