Lowering cholesterol?
April 16th, 2010
Posted in Lowering Cholesterol Tips | 
Tags: Cholesterol, diet, exercise, natural ways to lower cholesterol, ways to lower cholesterol
Lowering Cholesterol Tips
Learn To Lower Your Cholesterol
April 16th, 2010
Posted in Lowering Cholesterol Tips |
Tags: Cholesterol, diet, exercise, natural ways to lower cholesterol, ways to lower cholesterol
Both my husband and I are borderline on cholesterol. Our family doctor has us taking flax seed oil (fish oil is also good, but can be more irritating to your digestive system). She also recommends eating oats – any kind, oatmeal, cheerios, oat bread, etc.. Also, drink grape juice and increase the amount of good cholesterol you consume. That means eating fish and reducing red meats. Go for whole grains and lots of fresh veggies. Use olive and canola oils to cook. There are tons of web sites on this stuff. Check out the American Heart Association. Good luck!!!!
sterols
Plant sterols are also known to block cholesterol absorption sites in the human intestine thus helping to reduce cholesterol in humans.
Plant sterols are present naturally in small quantities in many fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, cereals, legumes, vegetable oils, and other plant sources. Plant stanols occur in even smaller quantities in many of the same sources. Both stanols and sterols are essential components of plant cell membranes and structurally resemble cholesterol
Stanols and sterols have been well tolerated in numerous clinical trials on over 1800 people, with doses up to 25 g per day. Studies have established that at least 1 gram of stanol and sterol in ester form can result in a statistically significant reduction in cholesterol.
Weight loss and cardio can lower cholesterol, I’m told. Plus, avoid all the crappy foods, like McDonalds and whatnot.
Porridge
Quaker oatmeal!
You are supposed to eat unsaturated and nonhydrogenated oils like fom fish oil, flax seed and nuts. I use smart balance light which is high in unsaturated fats, very low in saturated fat and contains flax seed oil. I also try and eat a handful of almonds a day and I take a fish oil supplement twice a day.
For Whole Grain’s I love the products by Bob’s Red Mill, especially the meusli and the fivr grain cereal, and the bulgur.
Avoid saturated fats and exercise!
Eat Cheerios!!!!
May lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease.
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I talked to someone who said he takes only Flaxseed oil and it controls his cholesterol. DON’T let the doctor give you Lipitor. My husband has taken it for about 3 years and now lab tests are showing liver damage.
trans fats as found in margarine stimulate the liver to produce more cholesterol, saturated fats – animal fats also stimulate the liver but not to the same extent, unsaturated fats decrease cholesterol levels. replace margarine and butter with olive oil or sunflower or something with higher unsaturated to saturated ratio. these are the main culprits aside from cholesterol itself.
smoking and caffeine increase cholesterol.
cholesterol production is most influenced by genetic factors 70% vs 30% diet – check with your ma and pa about family history – cholesterol and history of heart disease, heart attack, stroke etc.
First, have a good reason to lower your cholesterol. Considering all the negative media about cholesterol, the average American believes that cholesterol is bad. You need cholesterol for many reasons so don’t be in a hurry to lower it until you know factually that it is too high. Make sure that your ratios are bad before you decide that your cholesterol needs to be lowered.
How to figure your cholesterol ratios ( USA ) ?
Take your total cholesterol number and divide it by your HDL number. This should be below 4.
Then divide your LDL by your HDL. This should be below 3.
Consider this, after learning ratio figures. If your total cholesterol is 240 mg/dl ( Although not long ago, this total cholesterol was considered well within normal range now anything above 200 is alarming ) and your HDL is 60 mg/dl, this makes your ratios low?! Your ratio would be 240/6 or 4 – which is fine. Now say if you were to raise your HDL cholesterol. to,say, 70 mg/dl and your total remains the same, this will put you in very good shape, with a ratio less than 4. Just for more information, HDL generally helps to lower LDL.
Contrast this with a cholesterol total of 180 mg/dl. Before you start bragging about this achivement, what is your HDL. If it is 30 mg/dl, this gives you a ratio of 6. Now look at your LDL cholesterol if it is 120 mg/dl ( and HDL is 30 ) your ratio is 4, above the desired 3 for LDL/HDL. If you want to raise your HDL to help lower your LDL diet is the ideal way to go. We want our HDL cholesterol to be high and our LDL cholesterol to be low. What if a doctor prescribed a diet that did the reverse but lowered your total cholesterol. Wuould you be happy? You shouldn’t be. You have not improved your cholesterol, just moved some number around.
If I needed to improve my cholesterol ratios, which I don’t because these levels are already good, I would remove insulin embalancing foods from my diet. Yes, carbohydrates would be greatly reduced although I would still eat low glycemic fruits and vegetables. I would fearlessly eat red meat, eggs, cheese, cream, butter, coconut oil, avocados,bell peppers, poultry, greens, seafood, brocoli, asparagus, cauliflower, strawberries, blueberries,cantalope, tomaotes. Yes, these foods that we have been mistakenly taught to suspend from a healthy diet are not the culprit at all.
What I would get rid of is processed sugars, processed flour, high carb cereals, rice,potatoes, Oreo cookies, snicker bars etc. I would have a very natural diet and I will experience a balanced cholesterol ratio. By having high insulin levels, glucagon, a natural statin-like hormone produced in the pancreas, cannot do its job. Part of this job is to make sure that cholesterol does its job. If the ratios are off, chances are glucagon is too low. It is glucagon that balalnces cholesterol levels. If insulin is too high, glucagon will be too low. Therefore you must stablize your insulin levels by ridding your body of those crazy carbohydrates that we have learned to praise.
There is so much information about this. I would be on the computer all day but I hope this begins a cycle of learning.