What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a blood fat which plays a vital role in how all our cells work. It’s also needed for digestion, to make Vitamin D, and to make hormones which keep your bones strong, but high levels of cholesterol can increase your risk of heart disease.
With high cholesterol, you can develop fatty deposits in your blood vessels. Eventually, these deposits grow, making it difficult for enough blood to flow through your arteries. Sometimes, those deposits can break suddenly and form a clot that causes a heart attack or stroke.
High cholesterol can be inherited, but it’s often the result of unhealthy lifestyle choices, which make it preventable and treatable. A healthy diet, regular exercise and sometimes medication can help reduce high cholesterol.
High cholesterol has no symptoms. A blood test is the only way to detect if you have it.
A few changes in your diet can reduce cholesterol and improve your heart health.
- REDUCE SATURATED FATS. Saturated fats, found primarily in red meat and full-fat dairy products, raise your total cholesterol.
- ELIMINATE TRANS FATS.
Trans fats raise overall cholesterol levels - INCREASE SOLUBLE FIBRE.
Soluble fibre can reduce the absorption of cholesterol into your blood stream. - ADD WHEY PROTEIN.
Whey protein lowers both LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol as well as blood pressure.
Exercise to help your heart.
Exercise can improve cholesterol. Moderate physical activity can help raise the “good” cholesterol.
Adding in exercise can help you lose weight. Why not consider:-
1. Take a walk in your lunch break
2. Ride your bike to walk
3. Play your favourite sport
4. Swimming
5. Yoga
Sometimes lifestyle changes are not enough.
Like with any illness sometimes changing your lifestyle isn’t enough and a doctor may recommend medication to help you with lowering your cholesterol.
If you take your medication as well as making lifestyle changes it will help you lower your cholesterol as well as helping you keep your medication dosage low.
HOWEVER just like with any medication there is no shame in taking it to help you get healthy and live your best life.
Weekly Wellbeing Tip
Not smoking and only drinking alcohol in moderation will lower your chances of high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks.
