Seven things you can do to reduce your cholesterol
You might have been told you have high cholesterol or maybe you want to maintain a healthy level. If you have looked at the advice on how to improve your cholesterol level you will know this can be quite varied and, often, out of date. So here is my simple guide to a healthy cholesterol diet. As always, backed up by the latest scientific research on the subject.
1. Cut out trans fats
Trans fats occur in two forms, naturally in some animals or artificially. It is the artificial trans fats (otherwise known as industrial trans fats or partially hydrogenated fats) you need to cut out because they are hazardous to your health. Some countries and several US states have banned the use of artificial trans fats in food but this is not the case in the UK. They are typically found in processed foods, including cakes, biscuits and processed meats and are also produced when vegetable oils are heated to a high temperature for example in fried foods.
Action: Reduce the number of processed foods in your diet and keep fried foods from fast food outlets and take aways to a minimum.
2. Cut down on saturated fats
Fats form an essential part of any healthy diet because they enable us to absorb certain vitamins, contain fatty acids and make hormones. But there are health benefits to focusing the majority of your fat intake from unsaturated fats such as those found in nuts, seeds and oily fish. Unsaturated fats can positively affect the ratio of good cholesterol (HDL – think of the H as standing for healthy!) to bad cholesterol (LDL). This is a good thing because HDL can travel around the body mopping up LDL and returning it to your liver so that it can be repurposed or flushed away. Effectively, increasing your HDL level will help to reduce your LDL levels.
Action: Focus on consuming unsaturated fats instead of saturated fats.
3. Eat more fibre
Eating foods that are high in soluble fibre will help to lower your total and LDL (so bad) cholesterol levels. Soluble fibre is not absorbed in your intestine so it binds to the cholesterol and helps to prevent it from being absorbed into your blood stream. Soluble fibre is commonly found in many fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and beans.
Plant foods also provide valuable pre-biotics to your gut ensuring a healthy range of bacteria can reside there. Scientists have recently discovered that certain types of bacteria can ensure higher levels of healthy HDL cholesterol.
Action: Add more plants to your diet, specifically fruit and vegetables to increase your fibre consumption and gut health.
4. Reduce your reliance on sugar and starchy carbohydrates
Controversially it may not be saturated fat which provides the greatest danger when it comes to cholesterol levels. Scientists have also found a strong correlation between a diet high in sugars and starches and unhealthy cholesterol levels. This may be because the liver makes more LDL (bad cholesterol) and lowers the amount of HDL (heathy cholesterol) to metabolise the sugars. It may also be because of the increased amounts of inflammation found in individuals consuming an unhealthy amount of sugar.
This subject is discussed at length in Dr Andrew Jenkins’ book “Why we eat (too much)” where he strongly rebuts the original research on heart disease and its links with saturated fat because they were sponsored by the sugar industry. He believes it was therefore in the interests of the sugar industry to lay the blame elsewhere.
Action: Cut down on the amount of starchy carbohydrates and limit sugar consumption to occasional treats.
5. The role of exercise
Exercise helps to move the LDL (bad cholesterol) to your intestines so that it can be reused or flushed out. There is also research that shows exercise can increase your HDL (good cholesterol) levels. Often athletes have a higher overall cholesterol level but this is because they have higher levels of the healthy HDL cholesterol.
Action: Move more! Rather than focusing on the type of exercise argued to be most effective at reducing cholesterol levels, choose something you enjoy and can participate in regularly. Anything, even simply walking, will have a benefit.
6. Reduce your stress levels
Feeling stressed may lead you to adopt unhealthy habits but stress is believed to contribute to higher cholesterol levels in another way. Your body reacts to a stressful situation by releasing hormones to provide a “fight or flight” response. As part of this response, the hormone cortisol is released to ensure glucose and fatty acids are distributed to your muscles and blood for use as energy. It is thought to be this response that lowers HDL (good cholesterol) and the increased inflammation seen in stressed individuals that together increase cholesterol levels. Whilst an increase in cortisol is a natural response to stress, problems arise when stress levels remain high requiring cortisol levels to stay elevated.
Action: Find healthy ways to lower your stress levels to enable your hormones to return to their base levels.
7. Give up smoking
Smoking makes your LDL cholesterol ‘stickier’ so that it adheres to your artery walls causing furring. Smoking also lowers your levels of HDL cholesterol which, as we know, helps to remove LDL.
Action: For smokers, arguably the hardest thing you will have to do but the thing that will give you the most benefit. Find a way to successfully give up smoking.
For further information about cholesterol please refer to: https://www.heartuk.org.uk/cholesterol
