Best Secret to Lower Cholesterol

What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance within all cells of the body. Cholesterol is needed by the body to synthesize hormones, Vitamin D, and substances to help digest food. Your body naturally makes all the cholesterol it needs; however, we can get additional from our food.

There are two main categories of cholesterol. Dietary cholesterol, which is from the foods we eat and only present in animal products. And blood cholesterol which is what is measured by your doctor when you get your cholesterol checked.

You have probably heard of good cholesterol and bad cholesterol but what is the difference? They are both blood cholesterol types, ‘Bad Cholesterol’ is low-density lipoproteins (LDL) this is not good for the body as it deposits in the artery walls whereas ‘Good Cholesterol’ high-density lipoproteins (HDL) is when it gets transported to the liver to be broken down as bile, here it binds with fiber and is excreted from the body. [1].

Dangers of high cholesterol?

There is a misconception that cholesterol is only linked to heart disease, though this is true, cholesterol is also a strong precursor for other western diseases as well such as cancer. The lower your cholesterol the lower the chances of these diseases and cancers.

Heart disease is the build-up of plaque, which is a greasy layer of proteins, fats, cholesterol, and other cells that build up in the inner walls of your arteries. If you can imagine scraping your finger across a warm cheesecake that is what plaque is like (gross!) [2]. This plaque build happens over decades and slowly narrows the path within your arteries to where blood flows. When this happens blood clots can form blocking blood flow to the heart resulting in a heart attack.

Suggested Article

10 Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease

How to Lower Bad Cholesterol naturally?

One of the best ways to reduce bad cholesterol is through our diets. By simply eliminating or significantly reducing foods that contain cholesterol such as dairy, meat, fish, and poultry will reduce cholesterol levels. Replace these foods with plant-based whole foods such as oats, beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds.

Consuming plant-based wholefoods means you will be getting a lot of soluble fiber. Soluble fiber reduces the speed of which cholesterol is absorbed in the body, which means the liver will produce less of it.

Try to eliminate oils as much as possible, as all oils have saturated fats, which raise cholesterol. Instead of using 2 tablespoons of oil, try 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of water. Oil is also very heavy in calories, one tablespoon of olive oil has nearly 120 calories!

Another excellent way to reduce your cholesterol is Spirulina powder. A study from 1988 showed that supplementing with 4.2g of Spirulina daily decreased levels in cholesterol.

Another study has 30 patients with heart disease, which were supplemented with Spirulina for a period of three months. The results showed an overall reduction in cholesterol, improvement in the good cholesterol (HDL), and a reduction in the bad cholesterol (LDL).

Final Thoughts

Heart disease is a silent killer and high cholesterol plays a major part. It is usually older men and women that are affected however heart disease actually starts off from when you are young so watching what you eat and having an active lifestyle is vital.

Bibliography

Read more Health related stories in The Weekly Trends magazine.