High cholesterol can lead to heart disease, the top cause of death in the United States, according to the American Heart Association. The most effective way to lower your cholesterol and improve your chances of living a long and healthy life is to listen to your doctor's medical advice and combine it with a series of lifestyle changes.
Diet
Keep your total fat intake to less than 25 to 35 percent of your daily calories, your saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent of daily calories and your trans fat intake to less than 1 percent of your daily calories, recommends the American Heart Association. Additionally, eat less than 300 mg of cholesterol every day or less than 200 mg per day if you already have heart disease or if your LDL, or artery-clogging bad cholesterol, is at least 100 mg/dL. The majority of your calories should come from whole grains, fruits and vegetables, which contain cholesterol-lowering dietary fiber and omega-3 fatty acids--found in foods such as fish, nuts and seeds--which can also help reduce your cholesterol.
Physical Activity
Regardless of your weight, getting 30 to 60 minutes of daily exercise can help reduce your cholesterol and boost your HDL, or good cholesterol, which also helps lower LDL cholesterol, according to the Mayo Clinic. Even 10-minute-long bursts of activity throughout the day, such as a bike ride to work and an after-lunch walk, can help you stay in shape and lower your cholesterol.
Weight Loss
Even being slightly overweight can cause you to have higher cholesterol levels, but losing 5 to 10 lbs. can help lower your numbers, says the Mayo Clinic. Getting at least 30 minutes of activity per day and eating a mostly plant-based diet will help you achieve that goal. Aim to lose 1 to 2 lbs. per week by burning off 500 to 1,000 calories per day, reducing that many calories in your diet or through a combination of the two.
Vices
If you're a smoker, quit smoking now. On the list of the many benefits of quitting smoking is higher HDL cholesterol and, therefore, lower LDL cholesterol, according to the Mayo Clinic. If you already drink, moderate drinking--one drink per day if you're a woman and one to two drinks per day if you're a man--may actually help reduce your risk of heart disease, according to Harvard Health Publications. Keep in mind, however, that heavy drinking can negate the potential benefits of moderate drinking and the potential advantages of drinking aren't potent enough to recommend that you start drinking if you don't already.
Medications
Your cholesterol may be so high that lifestyle changes alone won't be enough to help keep you healthy. However, if your doctor recommends that you take cholesterol-lowering medications, that doesn't mean you should give up on a healthier lifestyle. Cholesterol medications include: statins, which help prevent the liver from forming cholesterol; resins, which increase the amount of cholesterol your body disposes of; fibrates, which reduce the production of triglycerides, or fats within the blood; and niacin, which also affects the production of triglycerides.
