There are dozens of options, both major and minor, for lowering your cholesterol. To help you focus and prioritize your choices, try the following simple five-step approach.
1. Choose your fats wisely
Most people now get about 37 percent of total calories from fat, down from 42 percent in the 1960s. This is great news, since consuming too much fat, particularly saturated fat, has been linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease. But we still have a way to go: The American Heart Association recommends getting no more than 30 percent of calories from fat. Other experts suggest 25 percent or even less.
While cutting back on saturated fat is an excellent move, it’s actually a better idea to eat more monounsaturated fat—found in olive and canola oils, most nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts and peanut butter, and pecans), and avocados—than to eliminate all fat. In one study, a diet high in monounsaturated fat lowered triglycerides in overweight men.
2. Get serious about losing weight
People who follow low-fat, low-cholesterol diets and lose excess weight tend to have an easier time reducing their levels of total and LDL cholesterol than people who don’t drop the extra pounds. Being overweight seems to disrupt the normal metabolism of fats, which means that even if you eat less fat (a common first step in trying to clobber cholesterol), you won’t get the biggest heart benefits unless you lose weight as well.
3. Step up your efforts to exercise
Researchers at Stanford University found that people who teamed exercise with a low-fat diet doubled their LDL reduction. They participated in 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least three times a week. Accumulating 45 to 60 minutes of moderate-intensity activity at least 5 days a week also helps you lose weight.
4. If you smoke, quit once and for all
Smoking can lead to atherosclerosis and can reduce HDL by as much as 15 percent. Within 2 years after you quit, however, your risk of heart disease is about the same as that of someone who never smoked, says Lori Mosca, MD, PhD, director of preventive cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Columbia University in New York. So quitting can significantly improve your cholesterol profile.
5. Reduce your stress levels
Chronic stress may raise levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that’s been linked to increased heart disease risk in men and women. So, keeping cool may help keep the lid on your cholesterol.
