Ten best tips to reduce high cholesterol levels 27^th December 2021

Increased cholesterol levels are a cause of concern as it brings multiple health issues, including the risk of a stroke and other heart diseases. Irrespective of age, maintaining cholesterol levels is the first step towards living a healthy lifestyle.

Supposing you are looking for ways to lower your cholesterol without medication, read this post to learn how to keep those numbers down naturally.

1. Add monounsaturated fats to your diet:
Monounsaturated fats can be found in food substances like olive oil, canola oil, tree nuts such as almonds, pecans, and cashews. These fats do a great job decreasing LDL (bad cholesterol) and increasing HDL (good cholesterol). They even work to stop the oxidation of the cholesterol that contributes to clogging the arteries.

2. Add polyunsaturated fatty acids:
Consider including polyunsaturated fatty acids as they have shown tremendous results in decreasing LDL cholesterol and reducing the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. These are principally your omega-3 fatty acids. You see these in oily fish like salmon, mackerel, and shellfish like shrimps. You may also find them in tree nuts and flax seeds.

3. Avoid trans fats:
This is the next thing you should eliminate from your diet. You will find these in pastries, butter spreads, cookies, etc. The major con with trans fats is increasing your total cholesterol, including your LDL, and decreasing your HDL by 20%.

4. Add more soluble fibre:
Soluble fibre is derived from plants, and it works on the bacteria present in your guts. The digestion of the fibre by the bacteria helps lower your cholesterol. Beans, lentils, fruits, and whole-grain oats are a few fibre rich foods.

5. Workout:
Working out not only decreases your harmful LDL but also increases your good HDL. More extensive studies have shown that 30-45 minutes of activity five days a week can enhance your cholesterol and decrease the risk of heart disease.

6. Stop smoking:
In smokers, the immune cells cannot return cholesterol from the vessel walls to the blood where it should be and contribute to plaque formation that leads to clogged arteries. So, do your body a favour and quit smoking.

7. Focus on shedding some weight:
Plenty of studies have shown that you can positively impact your cholesterol by losing weight. Pick a good eating plan, stick to it, and be healthier to shed some pounds.

8. Add more vegetables and lean meat to your diet:
The closer you get to your vegetables, the easier it becomes to reduce cholesterol levels. Non-vegetarians can choose leaner meats like fish and skinless chicken to cut off the extra fats.

9. Plants, sterols, and stanols:
These are plant-based versions of cholesterols, but they do not elevate your body’s cholesterol level. Instead, these versions compete with its destructive forms, avert absorption, and reduce LDL.

10. Supplements:
The last thing you can do is look at different supplements required to control cholesterol. There are several supplements out there, but most work on improving the amount of Omega-3 fatty acids in our diet. Things like fish oil and flaxseed oil help improve your HDL.

Cholesterol diseases are linked directly to the heart, and the treatment for most of them is taxing for your pockets. Aged parents and people with irregular eating and sleeping habits commonly face this issue. Follow these healthy tips and check out some of the best health insurance in India for parents to add an extra layer of protection.

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