Posts Tagged ‘ Lower ’

Diet to Lower Triglycerides

January 14, 2011
By

An increased level of triglycerides increases the risks of heart disease and pancreatic diseases. It is very important to maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly to keep the level of triglycerides and cholesterol in the body. The American Association for Clinical Chemistry clearly states that a diet that is high in carbohydrates, especially sugar leads to an increased level of triglycerides in the body. This is because the excess calories present in the body are turned into fat, especially triglycerides.

Diet to Lower Triglycerides

Here are some suggestions that you can use to reduce the level of triglycerides in your body:

In all the beverages that you consume, ensure that the sugar is substituted appropriately. If you want to drink milk, ensure that it is skimmed or you can even use non fat dried milk. Avoid cream in coffee and teas can be herbal or plain. But at the end of the day, the best beverage that you can take is water which will not only avoid elevating the triglycerides level but has other benefits as well. Other dairy products like low fat cheese, un-creamed diet cottage cheese and low fat yogurts should be a regular part of your diet.
When it comes to picking up meat, choose fish it is the least contaminated of all types of meats. Pacific salmon, sardines, and haddock are the best bets. Shellfish though high in cholesterol is low in saturated fat and should be used sparingly. Next, you can opt for lean meats like chicken, turkey, veal and the non-fatty cuts of beef with the excess fat trimmed away. But ensure that you do not consume more than one servings of meat per week. Also, all meats and fish should be either broiled in a pan or oven or can be baked before being consumed. You can also consume two egg yolks per week. However, there is no limitation on the amount of egg white that you can include in your diet.
Fortunately, the amount of vegetable that can be consumed is not limited. String beans, cauliflower, broccoli and celery are recommended daily. Further, it is always advisable to steam the vegetables, but they can be boiled or fried slightly with unsaturated vegetable oil.
Ensuring that you include three servings of fruit in your diet daily will go a long way in lowering the level of triglycerides in your body. Include a minimum of one citrus fruit daily and if you are consuming canned or frozen fruits, then ensure that it without any syrup or added sweeteners.
Oil plays a major role in increasing the triglyceride levels in your body. Vegetable oils like sunflower, olive, soybean, corn and cottonseed can be used as these are high in unsaturated fats.
It is vital to understand and remember that alcohol is a high source of sugar as alcohol chemically is nothing but fermented sugar. When alcohol is present in the body, the liver prioritizes removing the alcohol over processing glucose. As a result, when the liver is removing alcohol from the body, the sugar is further processed into triglycerides.
Make omega-3 rich food a part of your regular diet as they too help control the level of triglycerides in the body. If you are unable to include these foods in your diet, then you can use flaxseed oil or fish oil that is rich in omega-3 fat.
At the end of the day, remember that the key word is moderation. Exercising daily too will help reduce the level of triglycerides. Use a Body Mass Index calculator to find out if your body weight is the healthy zone. If not, then you may have to further increase the daily routine of exercise and reduce the intake of fats and carbohydrates further. Further, even if you have managed to get your triglycerides level under control, you will have to stick to a plan and regulate your diet for the rest your life. Quitting smoking will also go a long way in reducing the levels of triglycerides in your body.

If you do have a high level of triglycerides, then it is highly recommended that you consult a registered dietitian who will help you with the required diet changes and meal plans. Dietitians are available for consultations at a doctor’s medical clinic and local hospitals.

Foods to Lower Blood Sugar Levels – What to Eat and What Not To?

January 12, 2011
By

A diabetic’s body does not produce enough insulin to manage the sugar levels within the body. Therefore, it is important that the diabetics strictly follow a charted plan of foods to lower blood sugar strict diet. A diet high in fiber, but low in fat is most often recommended for diabetics. Foods that are high in fiber can help in lowering the level of glucose in the body. Eating smaller meals and eating more frequently throughout the day will help maintain the delicate level of glucose.

Insulin is responsible for changing starches, sugars, and other food into energy inside the body. Decreasing one’s intake of alcohol, fats, and sweets will help regulate this. A diabetic diet should include 2-4 servings of fruit each day. However, since many fruits are high in sugar some of the fruits to add to your diet are banana, apple, mango, orange, raisins and grapes as good food for diabetes.

Fatty foods often contain a lot of butter, cheese, oil or mayonnaise. They are the ones on the menu that are preceded with “fried” or “creamed”. These should be avoided to be free from high blood sugar. Choose instead grilled, baked, roasted, or steamed food. If you must use oil at all in your cooking, replace cooking oil with olive oil or peanut oil, as these contain less fat. Sauces such as barbeque and teriyaki contain high amounts of sugar and therefore are not ideal for the diabetic diet. Try some of the fruits listed above if you’re craving something sweet. Be generous with seasonings (except for salt) to keep food from tasting too bland.

Diabetic diets need to include foods that have little saturated fats and cholesterol, such as fresh fruit, vegetables, and skinless poultry. Only 10-20% of your daily calories should be derived from proteins in foods, such as low-fat dairy products , lean meat, and fish. The remainder of a diabetic diet should be carbohydrates from beans, whole grains, beans, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables. A diabetic should have 3-5 servings of vegetables a day to lower blood sugar. However, some vegetables such as potatoes, corn and carrots are rich in carbohydrates, so partake of these sparingly. Eat fruit and vegetables gradually throughout the day so your blood sugar level won’t suddenly rise. Red meats, eggs, and whole milk dairy products should be avoided.

Since often an unhealthy, unbalanced diet is what caused the diabetes in the first place, these changes can be hard to implement. However, maintaining proper nutrition will help for healthy glucose levels with the prevention of heart and blood vessels disease, which in some cases has led to very serious consequences like blinding and even amputation of severely affected limbs. Keep in mind that it is not harmful long-term to treat yourself once in a great while. Just be sure to do so in moderation with an intake of foods to lower blood sugar. Eat well, to live well and be well.

Foods That Lower Blood Pressure: Spell Tomatoe, Love Apple

January 12, 2011
By

Eating vegetables is really part of my system. My siblings even annoy me that I am one of those farm animals that love grass. They would even pick up some strands of grass to fool me around. My siblings still tease me up to now whenever my husband and I pay a visit to my family. It does not knock me off from eating my favorite grass. I mean vegetables. Next to Bitter Gourd (ampalaya in Tagalog), my other favorite is Tomato.

Tomato is my family’s favorite vegetable. If you will try to open our fridge, you will see a bunch of tomatoes. We love tomatoes. We love eating them raw with fish sauce, soy sauce, and mangoes. We love combining them to salad, cooking them, and use them as garnishing or toppings. For us it is a whole-year round food. This is the only food that connects me to my siblings and the other way around. One of the benefits that my family got from eating tomato is our healthy skin. When I was younger, it was evident on my skin.

Tomato is a savory, edible plant. Tomato comes in many colors, yellow, green, red, orange, pink, black, brown, ivory, white, and purple; commercially it is red and yellow. Tomato is actually a fruit botanically speaking. It is a vegetable to culinary experts for cooking purposes. Tomato is rich in Lycopene. Lycopene is present in tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables like carrots, watermelon, and papayas. It is not an essential nutrient in our body; but it is the most powerful antioxidant.

Antioxidant serves as ingredients in dietary supplements in maintaining health and preventing diseases such as cancer, coronary heart disease, and altitude sickness. Antioxidants intensively treat Stroke and Neurodegenerative diseases. It prevents oxidative damage of cellular components such as DNA, proteins and lipids through metabolism and enzyme processes. It is significantly an anti-oxidant protector and promotes optimal health.

Furthermore, tomatoes are very good sources of fiber that lower blood cholesterol level that we can also see on other foods that lower blood pressure like carrots and papayas. It keeps blood sugar on its normal level. It has Vitamin K that prevents hemorrhages. Statistics below prove it.

- A cup of fresh tomato = 57.3% daily value of Vitamin C
-22.4% of the DV for Vitamin A
-7.9% of the DV for fiber
-11.4% of the daily value of potassium
-5.6% of the DV for niacin
-7.0% of the DV for B6
-6.8% of the DV for folate

Tomatoes are available in all countries of the world. It is widely used for culinary purposes. Take advantage the benefits of it. Store some pieces of tomatoes in the kitchen and the fridge. Adding it appropriately in our meals supports the body. We are actually hitting two birds in a stone. We feed ourselves and keep ourselves fit. Love eating tomatoes. It is also a SPELT TOMATOE OR LOVE APPLE in English. Now, how do we spell it, t-o-m-a-t-o.

Time-Strapped People Struggle to Lower Cholesterol Naturally

October 29, 2010
By

One of the main reasons people struggle to eat and live in a heart-healthy manner is lack of time. Many of us are running from one activity to the next and don’t even have enough time to get in the recommended amount of sleep per night. When it comes to food, we grab whatever is convenient. This often means buying already prepared store-bought food or eating in restaurants. The likelihood this type of food will be detrimental to your efforts to lower your cholesterol and improve your heart health is high. In addition, other heart-healthy activities like exercise, sleep, and downtime go by the wayside when we are super busy.

If you want to lower your cholesterol naturally and improve your heart health, you are going to have to make time to eat and live in a healthy way. There is no way around it. Yes, there are tricks and short cuts to make it easier to eat and live in a way that will lower your cholesterol and improve your heart health, but the bottom line is you have to make room in your life for heart-healthy activities by freeing up time in your currently busy schedule.

A great way to start freeing up time is by writing down every single activity that takes up your time each day. Track your daily activities for a week. Next, think about each of these activities to determine which ones can be delayed, delegated, diminished or made to disappear.

An activity that is delayed is one that doesn’t have to happen right away. It can wait. An example might be putting off a visit from a friend during a time that you know will be particularly busy. Some activities can be delegated to other family members or hired help. For instance, if each person in a family of four cooked one meal a week and made enough for another day, that’s 8 meals, but each person is only cooking once. And what about the yard work? Do you love to do it? If you do, you may want to keep this activity on your schedule, but if you don’t, hire a yard service. If you decide to diminish a task, it means you do not plan to do the task as often or as thoroughly as you have in the past. Consider dusting the house every two weeks instead of every week. Buy a few extra clothes so that laundry doesn’t need to be done as often. Tasks that aren’t essential can literally be “made to disappear”. One such task may be writing and mailing checks by hand. There is no need to take the time to do this when there is on-line banking. Another possibility is to stop watching a TV show that you don’t really love, but you are simply in the habit of watching it.

Once you identify the activities during your day that can be delayed, delegated, diminished, or made to disappear, think about what heart-healthy activity you are going to fill the time with. Exercise? Extra Sleep? Connecting to friends? Taking up a yoga class? Cooking more often at home? Taking some much needed “me” time?

If you can free up just a little bit of time in your life to incorporate some type of healthy activity, you are going to be on your way to seeing improvement in your cholesterol levels and your overall heart-health. To get started, purchase a small notebook today and put it into your purse or briefcase. Tomorrow start recording your activities. In one week’s time, decide what you are going to do about each of the activities recorded with the goal of freeing up time in your life.

Sandra Hoedemaker is The Heart-Healthy Food Coach. She received her nutrition and coaching training from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition in NYC. For a FREE special report “Top 3 Secrets to Reduce Your Cholesterol Fast” and other heart-healthy information visit cutcholesterolnow.com.

Diet to Lower High Blood Pressure

October 29, 2010
By

High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure, also referred to as hypertension does not show any symptoms in the initial period. Blood pressure is the amount of pressure the blood applies on the arteries. Two blood pressure readings are taken, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. Systolic pressure is the blood pressure observed when heart beats and diastolic is the blood pressure when heart is at rest, between two heartbeats. Blood pressure is said to be high when, systolic pressure is greater than or equal to 140mmHg and diastolic pressure is greater than or equal to 90mmHg. High blood pressure increases health risks like heart attack and stroke. These are severe health problems and thus, high blood pressure needs to be lowered. Diet is an important factor that plays an important role in lowering the high blood pressure.

Diet to Lower High Blood Pressure
As discussed earlier, high blood pressure patients need to modify their lifestyle including their diet because the salt intake and weight are the two important factors that need to be controlled for high blood pressure patients. It is necessary to follow a diet that will help maintain proper weight and also control the required blood pressure. There are many natural blood pressure reducers that have helped reduce blood pressure that includes, regular exercise, yoga and diet. All these blood pressure reducers work in synergy to lower the blood pressure. DASH diet is a very renowned diet plan that has proved to be useful for many hypertension patients to lower the high blood pressure. Let us have a look at the DASH diet.

DASH Diet
Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, more commonly known as DASH diet, is a researched high blood pressure diet that lowers blood pressure within a few weeks. The DASH diet was researched and established by National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute NHLBI. The DASH diet concentrates more on the intake of food that is rich in nutrients, especially on 3 minerals that include calcium, magnesium and potassium, and limits salt and fatty food intake. It also emphasizes the intake of whole grain, vegetables, fruits and low fat meat and dairy products. The diet plan of the DASH diet has helped reduce high blood pressure in many people within a short span of period, i.e. 14 days. Let us discuss the DASH diet to lower high blood pressure. The diet works with servings of various food items and it is necessary to know the amount of serving for each one of them. The table given below will guide you with the type of food, number of servings and what should be included in one serving.

Food Item
Number of Servings
One Serving
Grain
6 to 8 per day
1 slice bread,1/2 English muffin or bun, 1/4 bagel, ½ cup cooked pasta, cereal, corn or rice
Vegetables
4 to 5 per day1/2 cup cooked or raw vegetables, 1 cup leafy raw vegetable, 6 fluid ounces vegetable juice
Fruits
4 to 5 per day
6 ounces weight of fruit, 6 ounces juice, 1 medium sized fruit, ½ cup canned, frozen fruit and ¼ cup dry fruit
Dairy
2 to 3 per day
1 cup milk or yogurt, 1 and ½ ounces of cheese, 2 cups of cottage cheese
Meat, Fish and Poultry
2 or less per day
2 and ½ to 3 and ½ ounces cooked, 2 egg whites, 1 fluid ounce egg-substitute, 1 egg
Fats and Oils
2 to 3 per day
1 tablespoon soft margarine, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon low-fat margarine, 2 tablespoon light salad dressing
Nuts, Beans
4 to 5 per week
1/4 cup or 1 ounce of nuts, 2 tablespoon or 1 ounce seed, 2 tablespoon peanut butter, 1/4 cup cooked lentils, beans or peas

The DASH diet comprises of important minerals like calcium, potassium and magnesium and a very low amount of sodium. Sodium in the cooking salt is a major factor that elevates the blood pressure and the high blood pressure patient should strictly lower sodium intake. It is recommended that you consult your physician before you start the diet to lower high blood pressure.

Weight Loss Tricks to Help Lower Cholesterol

October 25, 2010
By

One of the main ways to lower cholesterol is to lose weight, and this one action is sometimes enough to get your cholesterol levels back in line. The challenge, however, is that many of us have tried numerous times to get our weight under control but with little success. Maybe we followed a diet for a while and the weight came off temporarily, but in a few months or a couple of years we find ourselves even heavier than when we started the diet in the first place so we go back on some type of diet or another again. We may even add more exercise into the mix, but we are still not successful, and we become frustrated.

Why does our body hold onto its weight when we are eating less and exercising more? One reason may have to do with the fact that when calories are restricted too much, the body thinks it is starving. When the body thinks it is starving, the metabolism shuts down to conserve fat so that you can survive. Many people end up eating 1,500 calories or fewer on an average day when they are trying to lose weight. This level of calorie intake may be low enough to slow your metabolism and put your body into starvation mode. In addition, the added exercise means the body needs more calories to maintain proper function not fewer. The body’s response to the increase in exercise when you are eating too little is to hold on to its fat stores even more than before.

Another factor that may be at play in people’s struggles to lose weight is the type of calories they are ingesting. Not all calories are created equal. It is not necessarily true that all we have to do is count calories and make sure we don’t consume too many if we want to meet our weight loss goals. For instance, foods that quickly spike blood glucose levels like sugar, high fructose corn syrup, juice, refined flours, baked white potatoes, chips, and white rice will cause more insulin to be released at a faster rate than foods that do not quickly spike blood glucose levels like temperate fruits, vegetables, whole cooked grains, beans, fish, and meat. Insulin signals the body to store fat. To help with weight loss, you want your blood sugar levels to remain as stable as possible.

Finally, eating less fat does not necessarily correlate to losing weight even though fat contains a lot of calories. In fact, there is growing amounts of research that suggest just the opposite. Incorporating enough fat into the daily diet can actually helps a person feel satisfied which can lead to eating fewer calories later in the day. In addition, some research is indicating that low carbohydrate diets not low fat diets are more likely to result in weight loss. It is interesting to note that over the past several decades, fat consumption in the United States has decreased; however, obesity levels have increased. Fat is simply not to blame. What is important is to eat healthy fats. Unrefined, extra virgin olive oil is one such healthy fat. Omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish are also considered good fats.

In summary, if you want to lose weight, do not cut your average daily calorie intake too low, eat whole foods that don’t spike blood glucose levels too quickly, and eat healthy fats. Once you are eating enough calories to support your every day functions, get exercise on most days of the week.

6 Foods That Lower Cholesterol Naturally

October 8, 2010
By

If you are looking for a way to lower your cholesterol, but want to avoid a high-priced prescription with possible side effects, you have options. Nature has provided a variety of foods that scientists have found can effectively reduce cholesterol levels.

This article looks at 6 foods that lower cholesterol.

1. Blueberries – These tasty superfruits have been shown to reduce cholesterol even more effectively than drugs. In 2004, researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported results of an animal study in which the group that received blueberry skins had cholesterol levels 37 percent lower than the group that received no blueberries.

2. Carrots – Want to drop your cholesterol in 3 weeks? Try adding carrots to your diet. A study conducted in Scotland found that individuals who ate 2 raw carrots every morning for 3 weeks experienced an 11 percent drop in cholesterol. Carrots contain calcium pectate, a soluable fiber that lowers cholesterol by helping the digestive system flush cholesterol out of the body.

3. Avocados – Avocados are often avoided because they are a high-fat food, but they contain a component called sitosterol, which has been shown to lower cholesterol in more than a dozen human studies. Research conducted in Mexico found that after eating avocado daily for one week, participants’ total cholesterol dropped 17 percent and their HDL (good) cholesterol increased 11 percent.

4. Grapes – Grapes contain pterostilbene and resveratol, two compounds that have been shown to have a role in reducing cholesterol. In 2008, researchers at Madrid University developed a juice from the skin and seeds of red grapes and asked human volunteers to add the juice to their diet for 16 weeks. Study participants experienced a 14 percent drop in cholesterol levels and a five percent drop in blood pressure readings.

5. Almonds – Almonds not only taste good, they can lower your cholesterol, especially the harmful LDL or bad cholesterol. A 2002 research project asked adult participants with high cholesterol to eat almonds. Study volunteers who ate one handful of almonds a day lowered their bad cholesterol 4.4 percent and those who ate 2 handfuls of almonds saw bad cholesterol drop 9.4 percent.

6. Grapefruit – These citrus fruits have significant amounts of cholesterol-lowering pectin; 60 to 70 percent of the dietary fiber in citrus fruits is pectin. A 2006 study by Israeli researchers found that eating one grapefruit daily for 30 days reduced cholesterol approximately 15 percent. The study found that red grapefruit lowered cholesterol more effectively than white grapefruit.

Additional cholesterol-lowering tips

Start exercising – Becoming more active will help in two ways. Countless reports have proven that being overweight contributes to high cholesterol levels. Exercise can lead to weight loss, which in turn lowers the risk for high cholesterol and heart disease.

At the same time, aerobic exercise will raise your HDL or good cholesterol levels, which is just as important as keeping bad cholesterol numbers in check. Good cholesterol cleans out blood vessels, carrying away excess cholesterol to the liver for processing.

Limit cholesterol intake – The American Heart Association recommends that individuals who want to reduce their cholesterol through diet consume less that 300mg of cholesterol a day.

Adopt a diet low in saturated fat – A low-fat, low-cholesterol diet typically limits meat consumption and avoids red meat. High-fat, high-cholesterol meats to remove from your meal plans include: bacon, bologna, salami, sausage, hot dogs, liver, and kidneys. In general, chicken and turkey are low in saturated fat, especially when the skin is removed.

To see more natural methods for lowering cholesterol and a sample diet to lower cholesterol, visit http://www.foods-that-heal.com.

Foods to Lower Blood Sugar Levels – What to Eat and What Not To?

September 23, 2010
By

A diabetic’s body does not produce enough insulin to manage the sugar levels within the body. Therefore, it is important that the diabetics strictly follow a charted plan of foods to lower blood sugar strict diet. A diet high in fiber, but low in fat is most often recommended for diabetics. Foods that are high in fiber can help in lowering the level of glucose in the body. Eating smaller meals and eating more frequently throughout the day will help maintain the delicate level of glucose.

Insulin is responsible for changing starches, sugars, and other food into energy inside the body. Decreasing one’s intake of alcohol, fats, and sweets will help regulate this. A diabetic diet should include 2-4 servings of fruit each day. However, since many fruits are high in sugar some of the fruits to add to your diet are banana, apple, mango, orange, raisins and grapes as good food for diabetes.

Fatty foods often contain a lot of butter, cheese, oil or mayonnaise. They are the ones on the menu that are preceded with “fried” or “creamed”. These should be avoided to be free from high blood sugar. Choose instead grilled, baked, roasted, or steamed food. If you must use oil at all in your cooking, replace cooking oil with olive oil or peanut oil, as these contain less fat. Sauces such as barbeque and teriyaki contain high amounts of sugar and therefore are not ideal for the diabetic diet. Try some of the fruits listed above if you’re craving something sweet. Be generous with seasonings (except for salt) to keep food from tasting too bland.

Diabetic diets need to include foods that have little saturated fats and cholesterol, such as fresh fruit, vegetables, and skinless poultry. Only 10-20% of your daily calories should be derived from proteins in foods, such as low-fat dairy products , lean meat, and fish. The remainder of a diabetic diet should be carbohydrates from beans, whole grains, beans, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables. A diabetic should have 3-5 servings of vegetables a day to lower blood sugar. However, some vegetables such as potatoes, corn and carrots are rich in carbohydrates, so partake of these sparingly. Eat fruit and vegetables gradually throughout the day so your blood sugar level won’t suddenly rise. Red meats, eggs, and whole milk dairy products should be avoided.

Since often an unhealthy, unbalanced diet is what caused the diabetes in the first place, these changes can be hard to implement. However, maintaining proper nutrition will help for healthy glucose levels with the prevention of heart and blood vessels disease, which in some cases has led to very serious consequences like blinding and even amputation of severely affected limbs. Keep in mind that it is not harmful long-term to treat yourself once in a great while. Just be sure to do so in moderation with an intake of foods to lower blood sugar. Eat well, to live well and be well.

Nutrition – Discover 4 Foods To Help Lower Your Stress Levels

September 10, 2010
By

Many of us lead very stressful lives. We have so many commitments and responsibilities with limited time to meet them. Over time some people can find it very hard to cope and the long term affects of stress can turn into serious health issues.

To cope with stress the body increases its production of adrenal stress hormones. These increased levels of hormones result in hypertension and volatile mood swings.

To cope with stress many people become dependent on pills, drugs or alcohol that makes the problem even worse. If you feel you are over stressed then you need to take a hard look at your lifestyle and make the necessary changes.

One of those changes can begin with your diet. A healthy well balanced diet is essential to keep your stress levels under control. To cope with stress your body needs nutrient rich food and plenty of it. Below are 4 stress busting foods that you should consider eating as part of your diet.

Brown Rice: Unlike white rice brown rice is more effective at slowly releasing energy that can sustain you throughout the day. Because the carbs within brown rice are absorbed slowly they release the bodies natural feel good chemical serotonin. This magical chemical makes you feel happy, giving you a relaxed buzz.

Seeds: This natural food is a rich source of fatty acids and potassium. Sunflower seeds are particularly good for coping with stress. The sunflower seed has high levels of the complex B vitamins which support the health of the adrenal glands.

Nuts: Almonds have a rich source of nutrients that can help combat stress. They contain the mineral magnesium which can play a vital role in maintaining the healthy functioning of the adrenal gland. It has been found that people who are over stressed, bad tempered and constantly feeling tired and exhausted are deficient in magnesium.

Wild fruit: These include the berries particularly, the dark skinned berries such as blueberries and blackberries. These are highly nutritious providing a rich source of vitamins. Berries are high in vitamin C which plays a vital role in strengthening our immune system against disease and infection. When the body is under constant stress it can weaken the immune system therefore, it is important to boost your immune system by including berries in your diet.

If you have a food allergy or a medical condition consult your doctor for advice before changing your diet.

By: Seamus Deere

Seamus Deere has been writing articles for over 2 years on subjects he cares greatly about. Why not visit his new website which provides helpful tips on finding ab lounger products including a buying guide on choosing the best abs machines exercise machines.

Tips to Lower Cholesterol Effectively

September 8, 2010
By

The word CHOLESTEROL generally rings a warning bell among a lot of people since high cholesterol is normally associated with heart diseases. But a lot of people are unaware that cholesterol is an important component of the cells in our body. It plays an important role in body’s metabolism and helps in synthesizing certain hormones. However blood cholesterol in higher levels can lead to several complications. Cholesterol in blood comes from two sources – one that is naturally produced by the body and that which is added from the diet.

Liver synthesizes up to 2g of cholesterol per day. Cholesterol is carried through blood by a combination of cholesterol and protein called as lipoprotein. Usually identified by many as good cholesterol (HDL) and bad cholesterol (LDL). Low density lipoprotein or LDL carries cholesterol to different parts of the body. LDL gets deposited in the walls of the arteries leading to plaque formation. Whereas HDL removes cholesterol from the blood and helps to prevent blockages in the arteries. Thus it is ideal to have HDL levels more than 40mg/dl where as LDL levels should be less than 130mg/dl.

Increase in blood cholesterol can be due to a number of reasons such as genetics, gender, age, metabolic disorders like obesity and diabetes, lifestyle factors like stress or inactivity and dietary habits. Cholesterol levels can increase by following faulty dietary habits such as:

By consuming cholesterol rich food which is present only in animal products such as red meat, egg yolk, full fat dairy products, butter, lard, shrimp and so on.

Plant food like cereals, vegetables or fruits does not have cholesterol. However consuming food rich in fat such as hydrogenated vegetable oil like dalda or vanaspati and saturated fat such as coconut/palm oil used in the preparation of cookies, snacks like chips or certain bakery items can also increase the blood cholesterol especially the LDL levels.

Tips to reduce blood cholesterol:

Include more of whole grain cereals like whole wheat chapathis, brown bread, oats/ragi porridge, soya chunks/flakes as they are good source of soluble fiber.

Have more of vegetables and fresh fruits as they are good source of fiber and antioxidants which prevent oxidation of cell and protects from heart disease. Fresh seasonal fruits are best option for snacks rather than any fried food items.

Include more of unsaturated fat such as olive oil than coconut oil for cooking or in salad dressing.

Fish are good source of omega-3 fatty acids and can be included. However fish in the form of baked, grilled, steamed or shallow fried are much better than deep fried ones.

Nuts such as Walnuts have been known to reduce LDL levels but they need to be taken in moderation.

Choose more of skimmed milk and milk products and reduce the intake of sweets or other bakery items.

Be more active. Try to include at least 30min of exercise everyday either brisk walking or yoga or any other form of exercise or sports.

Try to get into the ideal body weight range, reduce weight if you are obese.

Stop smoking, as it hardens the arteries and increases the risk of heart attack.

Diet and exercise plays a very important role in reducing cholesterol. Apart from that it is also necessary to reduce stress. Try to strike a balance between work and home and have a positive outlook towards life.

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