High Cholesterol Diet
Paying close attention to your diet can help lower your chances of getting heart diseases and also high cholesterol. You want to follow a heart healthy diet. Changing your lifestyle may stop or even reverse the narrowing of your arteries. These changes are important for people who have a family history of heart disease, but it's even more important for those who have suffered a heart attack.
Eating right on the high cholesterol diet will supposedly reduce and eliminate some of the factors for getting heart disease, lower your LDL cholesterol or the bad cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and blood sugars, and lower your body weight.
What do you eat on the High Cholesterol Diet?
While doing the high cholesterol diet you want to consume more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes. Choose your fat calories wisely by limiting your total fat grams. Cut back on your saturated fats and trans fatty acids. You want to eat a variety of protein foods while balancing your portions.
Limit your intake of cholesterol by cutting back on soft drinks, sugar, and sweets. If you need energy eat some complex carbohydrates like whole-wheat pasta, brown and wild rice, and whole grain breads. You never want to skip meals; this may cause you to eat more. Everyone is different so you may eat 3 meals a day or just five to six mini meals. Reduce the amount of salt you use, check the sodium count on packaged foods.
Staying well hydrated will make you feel energized as well; you want to consume around one to two liters of water a day.
What do you avoid on the High Cholesterol Diet?
There are foods that are high in cholesterol that you want to avoid while on the high cholesterol diet are whole milk dairy products, butter, cream, ice cream, cream cheese, shrimp, organ meats, duck and goose. You want to limit your intake of the following saturated fats: beef, veal, poultry, hot dogs, sausage, salami, bologna, egg yolks, and baked goods.
Palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconuts, and coconut oil are also high in saturated fats. Limit your trans fats foods as well. Commercially baked goods, margarines, cookies, crackers, snack foods, processed foods, and fried foods are to be avoided. You don't want to buy foods that have the words hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated on the label.
What exercise do you do on the High Cholesterol Diet?
Exercise is a key component of the high cholesterol diet. Doing exercises on a daily basis will help improve the flow of your blood, reduce high blood pressure, strengthen your heart muscles, and raise your hdl (the good cholesterol). Exercising will also help manage the sugars in your blood and also maintain your heart healthy weight.
There are many types of exercises to choose from. You can do aerobic exercise like swimming, running, and jogging. Yoga and walking are also another way to exercise. Whatever exercise you choose, make sure to do about 30 minutes 5-6 days out of the week.
Who is the High Cholesterol Diet good for?
This diet is supposed to be for someone who has suffered a heart attack, has high blood pressure, or someone in his or her family suffers from heart disease.