Diet To Lower Triglyceride And Cholesterol

When someone undergoes a cholesterol blood test, there will normally be four numbers returned which refer to the levels for LDL (bad cholesterol), HDL (good cholesterol), triglycerides and absolute cholesterol. The physician will be looking to see if any of these statistics is significantly above the norm for your age and sex.

If they are too high, then the medical doctor will give one of two recommendations. First of all, the GP should recommend lifestyle alterations but if these do not succeed then it is a lifetime of medication. Some individuals have cholesterol problems for genetic reasons and for these people, medication may be the only answer.

The most common lifestyle alterations that are normally recommended are dietary changes and exercise. If your readings are especially high, you might have to take extreme measures to lower your cholesterol levels quickly.

Unfortunately, once people start taking anti-cholesterol tablets, they hardly ever come off them, so it is better to try other methods first of all. The predominant ways are reducing dietary saturated fat and raising the degree of exercise dramatically.

Most people have an concept what cholesterol is and that it has two facets, yet not a lot of individuals know what triglycerides are. Triglyceride is also a type of fat and if it is in profusion, it is a frequent indication that cholesterol is high as well, which means that it is an indicator of possible future heart disease.

The quickest manner of reducing the levels of these fats in your blood is to give up eating saturated fats and trans fats. Red meats and full-fat dairy products are our main source of saturated fat. This means that if you would like to engage the emergency brake, give up eating junk food, steak, pork, cheese and cream and give up drinking milk. You ought to also cut out trans fats which are hydrogenated vegetable oils as used in some margarines, pastry and crisps.

Putting an abrupt block on these foods will have an immediate and spectacular effect on your cholesterol and triglyceride levels. If you have to have a spread on your bread, use one of those that actually reduce cholesterol levels rather than raise them.

The best thing is to start with breakfast. Forget anything fried; porridge is very good for you as is wholemeal bread. You can eat an occasional boiled, poached or scrambled egg, because it is a myth that eggs are dangerous to the sufferer from high cholesterol.

Steak and pork have to be limited to very occasional treats, yet chicken without skin is not too bad for you and fish is positively good. Try to boil, grill or steam food rather than fry it yet if you need to use oil, use olive oil.

Fresh fruit, vegetables and grains are great allies in the fight against high cholesterol, but so is exercise. Exercise does not have to be energetic, a half-hour's walk in the morning and the evening will help a great deal. If you cannot find the motivation, get a dog.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of topics, and is now involved with low fat low cholesterol diet. If you would like to know more, please visit our site at What Foods Lower Cholesterol?