One of the best things about holidays is trying new foods, so I generally don’t worry too much about sticking to a low cholesterol diet when I’m away. You only live once after-all! But there are still lots of simple ways to fit cholesterol-friendly foods into your holiday eating, without missing out on all the good stuff:-
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Just to warn you, this blog post is pretty dull, but I wanted to share this information as it wasn’t that easy to find on the internet.
I used to avoid salads at all costs because I always thought they were boring, and they never left me feeling satisfied. But now that I’m trying to keep my cholesterol low, I’ve realised that salads are a great way to fit lots of cholesterol-reducing foods into one meal.
Doctors often prescribe statins for people with high cholesterol to lower their total cholesterol and reduce their risk of a heart attack or stroke. In fact it feels as if they are handed out like sweets these days, because so many of my parent’s generation take them. I guess we’re very lucky to have access to medication that will help to lower our cholesterol, but I’m wondering if we should be resorting to statins so readily.
A lot of cholesterol diet advice focuses on reducing bad cholesterol (LDL), however it’s also hugely beneficial to raise your levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol – the “good” cholesterol. Experts believe HDL acts as a scavenger, carrying bad cholesterol away from the arteries and back to the liver, where it is broken down and passed from the body.
It has now been three months since I found out I had high cholesterol. After making some fairly easy changes to my diet, I reduced my cholesterol to an acceptable level, but I couldn’t end it there. Unlike a lot of diets, this is one I can’t ever give up! I have to maintain this for the rest of my life, otherwise I could risk developing heart disease.
After following the 8 steps to lower cholesterol for 6 weeks, I couldn’t wait to find out if my cholesterol had gone down. I had booked in another health check with Lloyds pharmacy straight after my first health check in February, so that I had something to work towards. I was really hoping I’d at least have got my cholesterol below 6.1, so that I’d be in the ‘Borderline-high’ instead of ‘High’ category.