Diet and lifestyle play important and interactive roles in your cholesterol levels. The typical 20th-century American diet that favored bacon and eggs for breakfast, bologna and other processed meat for lunch, and burgers, ribs and fried chicken for dinner pushed many people's cholesterol to dangerous levels. Today, about 1 in 6 Americans suffer from high cholesterol, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Risk Factors
Some factors affecting your cholesterol levels remain beyond your control. A family history of high cholesterol and your age, for instance, increase your risk of developing unhealthy levels of fat in your bloodstream. But you can control what you eat and do. Your choice of foods and activity level affect your cholesterol levels. Unhealthy levels put you at risk for heart attacks and strokes. Your doctor can perform a simple blood test to measure your cholesterol and triglyceride levels and prescribe changes to your diet and exercise routine along with, if necessary, medication.
Mediterranean Diet
A Mediterranean diet doesn't require you to lower your fat intake but helps you reduce cholesterol by changing the type of fat in your meals. You eat little red meat -- a source of saturated fat -- on a Mediterranean diet, but you can eat fatty fish, including salmon and tuna. You use olive oil in place of most other fats -- butter, margarine, shortening -- in salads, baking and grilling. You eat more vegetables and fewer animal products on a Mediterranean diet. You can still eat meat, but only a few times a month. You consume dairy productions, mostly low-fat, in moderation. Exercise is also an important part of a Mediterranean diet. In addition to helping you lower your cholesterol, a Mediterranean diet may reduce your risk for Alzheimer's disease.
Vegan Diet
A vegan diet may help you reduce your cholesterol, lower your blood sugar and lose weight. And you can eat as much as you want, according to a study of diet and type 2 diabetes published in the "Journal of the American Dietetic Association" in February 2009. Researchers from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the George Washington University and the University of Toronto studied the differences between following a low-fat vegan diet and a more conventional diabetes diet that controls calories, fats and carbohydrates. Participants who followed a low-fat vegan diet that included no animal products or saturated fats but unlimited amounts of vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains lost more weight and more successfully lowered cholesterol and blood sugar than people whose diets involved portion control and limited carbohydrates. People following a vegan diet also proved better able to stick with the diet, saying they didn't feel hungry or deprived.
Simple Changes
You can also lower your bad cholesterol and improve your good cholesterol without following a prescribed diet. You can lower your LDL by eating more foods that contain soluble fiber such as oatmeal, apples and kidney beans. You can switch from using margarine or butter to a bread spread made with plant sterols. You can reduce your consumption of red meat and add more lean protein such as skinless chicken and legumes to your diet. You can boost your good HDL by eating more fish or taking fish oil supplements. Exercising more will also improve your HDL. And to lower your triglycerides, eat more whole grains, fewer sugar-filled treats and get more exercise. If you drink alcohol, cut back.
References
- Mediterranean Diet: Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet
- MayoClinic.com: The New Mediterranean Diet Pyramid
- "The Globe and Mail"; Feed Your Brain the Bounty of the Mediterranean; Leslie Beck; August 2009
- "Journal of the American Medical Association"; Physical Activity, Diet, and Risk of Alzheimer Disease; Nikolaos Scarmeas, et al.; August 2009
- "The Globe and Mail'; Vegan Diet Has Surprising Stick-to-it-iveness; Leslie Beck; Februar"Journal of the American Medical Association"; Exercise and Mediterranean-type Diet Combined Associated with Lower Risk for Alzheimer's; Nikos Scarmeas, et al.; August 2009y 2009
- MayoClinic.org: Cholesterol Levels: A Telling Indicator of Diet and Exercise
