›› Cholesterol Diet
Having high
cholesterol can eventually lead to a lot of serious conditions, and
greatly increases your chances of having heart disease, a heart attack,
or a stroke. High cholesterol is therefore a serious problem
for a lot of people. If you are suffering from high
cholesterol you should consider a low cholesterol diet.
Of course, the first thing you should do is talk to your
doctor. Depending on your age, family history, and how high
your cholesterol really is, you may need to be on medication and take
more serious steps toward reducing your cholesterol. Even if
your doctor determines that you should be on medication, he or she will
probably also recommend both frequent exercise and a low cholesterol
diet.
For a long time it
was thought that high cholesterol was caused primarily by eating too
many fatty and high cholesterol foods. We now know that this
is not really true. Cholesterol has more to do with genetics
and your level of activity (or inactivity) that your diet.
However, diet still is an important aspect of your cholesterol, and a
low cholesterol diet is an effective compliment to exercise and
today’s medications.
A cholesterol diet should be focused on a few things. The
most obvious being avoiding too much cholesterol in what you
eat. This is a bit more complicated than it sounds, however,
because you want to avoid ‘bad’ cholesterol or LDLs
(which stands for low density lipoproteins). HDLs (high
density lipoproteins) are a ‘good’ form of
cholesterol that you actually want to eat plenty of.
It’s not as complicated as it sounds, however. Most
foods that are high in saturated fat are also high in LDLs.
Fatty meats, butter, lard, heavy pastries, greasy sauces, these kinds
of things all are high in LDLs and should be avoided or eaten in small
quantities if you are on a cholesterol diet.
Ask your doctor or a
nutritionist about foods high in HDLs, as there are lots of
them. Some nuts, avocado, and dark chocolate are some
examples. Even more important than eating lots of HDLs is
getting plenty of fiber in your food if you are on a cholesterol
diet. Fiber is a proven way to lower cholesterol, so you
should round out any cholesterol diet you try with plenty of roughage
(ie; salads and stringy green stuff minus the ranch
dressing). Also, oatmeal or anything with oats or whole wheat
is great for fiber. If all else fails, there’s
always fiber supplements, but its better to get it from food.
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A Healthy Dose of Good Advice
