1. Too Much of a Good Thing
Our bodies need cholesterol to function. Cholesterol helps us digest fat and make hormones our body needs. However, too much cholesterol can kill you because when it's present in large quantities in your blood, it can lead to a build-up of plaque in the arteries. This makes it hard for blood to reach the heart and chest pain results. If cholesterol-laden plaque totally cuts off an artery, a heart attack will occur. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States.
2. Lower Bad Cholesterol and Increase the Good
High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is good cholesterol. You want to see your HDL number rise. Elevated triglyceride or low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is bad cholesterol, so you want to lower this number. Desirable total cholesterol numbers stay under 200, with LDL cholesterol under 130. If you have a history of heart disease, your doctor may want the numbers even lower since you're already at risk. There's nothing you can do about risk factors such as aging or inheriting bad cholesterol from your parents, but you can make lifestyle changes to overcome these increased risks. Stop smoking, start exercising and enroll in a stress management program to take control of your health.
3. Lose Weight, Fight Cholesterol
Controlling LDL cholesterol is often difficult for overweight people who tend to have higher levels of it. Losing weight can not only lower your LDL cholesterol, but also decrease your risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. If you're carrying around extra weight, try to lose it.
4. Diet Your Way to Good Health
One of the chief causes of high LDL numbers is a diet high in saturated fats and cholesterol from animal products. Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables with small amounts of lean proteins. Nutritionists encourage adding oat bran to the diet to lower bad cholesterol. The American Heart Association also offers diet recommendations for controlling bad cholesterol. The Step 1 Diet recommends you keep your total calories from fat at 30 percent or less with only 8 to 10 percent from saturated fat. Choose low-cholesterol foods for a daily total of less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol. If the Step 1 Diet doesn't work, doctors often recommend the more strict Step II Diet that limits saturated fat to seven percent and dietary cholesterol to less than 200 milligrams.
5. Combat Cholesterol With Medication
Most doctors first recommend lifestyle changes combined with diet and exercise for controlling moderate LDL levels. When that doesn't work, they go to the prescription pad. Most doctors recommend statin drugs such as Zocor or Lipitor, which help the liver remove bad cholesterol from the blood. All medications have side effects, so if one doesn't do the trick, another may. Other medications for high LDL cholesterol include niacin treatments and resins.
