How to lower cholesterol levels

It is very tempting to think of cholesterol as being something bad and unhealthy because it gets such bad press. However, it is important to realise that cholesterol plays a vital role in maintaining a healthy body. Cholesterol is produced by the liver and in fact your body is very good at producing the exact amount that it needs. The problem is our western diet which is very reliant on processed foods. These tend to have extra fats added to them to improve flavour, but the side effect is that we end up with an excess of cholesterol floating around our body.


Our diet is the one thing that we can directly control. After all, the body makes all the cholesterol we need so it does not need any extra. The biggest contributor to increasing our cholesterol level is saturated fat and there is plenty of that in our western diet. Believe me, despite any recent hype you may have seen on the television, junk food such as hamburgers, sausages and pies are loaded with all the things we most definitely do not need to eat in order to survive. Watch out for those dairy products as well, cheese and cream plays a big part in increasing that extra cholesterol in our blood stream.



So, what can we eat without increasing our risk of heart disease? First of all, watch out for saturated fats which are present in junk foods. Look for lean cuts of meat and also consider using the low fat milks that are available. Increase the amount of fish that you eat as this will boost your omega 3 levels which are another vital ally in your fight against cholesterol. Finally, increase your fibre intake by eating more fruit and vegetables.

Cooking methods are also important. Avoid frying food where possible, especially deep fat frying. Boil, roast or grill your food as this will reduce your fat intake and food also tastes better.

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Low cholesterol diet plans: the main points to consider

I have suffered from angina for several years and recently had a heart attack. My doctor has told me that, amongst other things, I must lower my cholesterol levels. I’ve looked at various low cholesterol diet plans and have found that some are good and some are terrible. I’ve put together the main points to look for when considering low cholesterol diet plans, and here are some of them.

I’ve tried many times to lose weight, sometimes I have had success but the weight creeps back up. Having had a heart attack has really concentrated my efforts, and I started looking for reasons for my past failures. I have looked at many low cholesterol diet plans and I believe that I have discovered the main mistakes that I made in trying to lose weight. It seems that these mistakes were

1. Giving up because I was on medication to lower my cholesterol. What I failed to realise was that the medication only reduces the amount of cholesterol made by the liver. They didn’t have any effect on my weight because I was still eating too much.
2. Reducing my intake of one type of fat but still taking too much of the others. Sure, I recognised that I should avoid sausages, meat pies and the like but I was still using butter and eating cheese.
3. I didn’t look for help from those qualified to teach me about diets. I thought I could do this on my own, now I know to look for help from professionals.
4. The biggest mistake however is this one. I gave up on my diet far too easily.

Now I am steadily losing weight, and keeping my cholesterol under control, by following low cholesterol diet plans that have been prepared by experts on the subject.
I have discovered excellent low cholesterol diet plans that have been really easy to follow. The meals are tasty and I never need to snack between meals. Not only does this plan tell me about healthy eating in easy to understand language, it comes complete with the most amazing software tool. It allows me to select my favourite ingredients and then it produces a list of enough meals to last me for 14 days. You will find all the information you need by following this link Strip that fat

Low cholesterol menus: Good for your health and good for your heart

Do you suffer from coronary heart disease? Perhaps your doctor has told you that your cholesterol levels are too high. If you need to take action to lower your cholesterol, this is where you will find information about what makes low cholesterol menus.

Nearly everyone today has heard about the health effects of having a high cholesterol level. We all know that to lower cholesterol levels, we must follow a healthy diet plan that has low cholesterol menus within it. That’s where the problems start for most of us; we just don’t know what makes a healthy meal in terms of low cholesterol menus within our diet. What we need is information about food types, what a high cholesterol food is and what a low cholesterol food is. That’s where I will start; here are some typical high cholesterol foods which I am sure you will recognise.
• Fatty meats and sausages
• Dairy products such as cheese, butter and cream
• Cakes and biscuits
These are all a source of saturated fats and should be eliminated from your low cholesterol menus as much as possible.
Now, let’s list some of the friends in our quest for low cholesterol menus. Introducing the unsaturated fats,
• Vegetable oils, olive oil, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil
• Nuts (unsalted) and seeds
• Oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, trout and tuna
To produce low cholesterol menus, make sure that you include unsaturated fats and avoid saturated fats. This is a healthy diet at its most basic; however there are other factors to consider. Think about the cooking method, don’t deep fry food try grilling it instead. It’s much healthier to oven bake or microwave foods as you are not adding saturated fat during the cooking process. Also, add plenty of fresh vegetables to your plate as they will help to achieve a balanced diet.

I’ve just touched on some of the basic ideas behind producing low cholesterol menus. Knowing what foods to include and also knowing how to combine them into a variety of healthy meals is a key factor in producing a healthy diet plan. As I suffer from coronary heart disease, I have been researching various products that will help me to lower my cholesterol through following a healthy diet. I have discovered an excellent product that does all the hard work for me. It provides valuable information on what makes for a good diet plan, and discusses the pitfalls of some of today’s fad diets. It tells me what foods to eat and also contains a clever software tool that allows me to select my favourite ingredients and then it produces a list of enough meals to last me for 14 days.
Click this link to Strip that fat and get your copy of this excellent diet plan.

Are your cholesterol levels too high? Then make sure you avoid these mistakes

Being overweight or worse still being clinically obese, is bad news for your heart. We know that we need to get slimmer, but how is it done? It seems that all the big stars can just follow some extreme diet successfully, but for us these diets are an expensive waste of our hard earned cash. The secret is to eat sensibly, and here are 3 things you need to avoid doing if you want to lose weight.

Let’s look at three common misconceptions about losing weight.
Is missing out breakfast a good way?
Definitely not, this will leave you feeling tired and hungry by mid morning. That’s when temptation will take over and you will end up reaching for a snack. It is a medical fact that those who eat a breakfast are more likely to lose weight. Make sure that you have a healthy breakfast to start your day. I have a wheat cereal with semi skimmed milk, wholemeal bread toasted and a black coffee without sugar.
A diet needs to be strict if it is to be successful
I’ve tried this one and I’m sure you have too. Eating nothing but lettuce for a week will certainly get your weight down, but how long can you carry on with that? This type of diet, one that drastically reduces the amount of calories you consume, soon becomes boring and you will return to your usual eating habits. What you should be aiming to do is make small changes to your diet that you feel comfortable with. Find a sensible eating plan and stick to that.
I’ll have to give up my favourite foods
No you won’t have to give them up entirely. There’s no harm in treating yourself occasionally to something you really enjoy. It’s when we completely deny ourselves from enjoying a treat that we tend to slip back into our old habits. So have a slice of cake now and then, just don’t do it every day. Use it as a reward for staying with your eating plan for the previous week.

I have discovered an excellent diet plan that has been really easy to follow. The meals are tasty and I never need to snack between meals. Not only does this plan tell me about healthy eating in easy to understand language, it comes complete with the most amazing software tool. It allows me to select my favourite ingredients and then it produces a list of enough meals to last me for 14 days. You will find all the information you need by following this link How To Lose Weight Naturally and Permanently

how to lose weight naturally and permanently

how to lose weight naturally and permanently

The side effects of simvastatin

The side effects of simvastatin

What is Cholesterol?

By making use of the saturated fats found in foods such as eggs, liver, kidneys and prawns the liver produces the waxy substance known as cholesterol. Cholesterol does play an important part in the operation of every cell in the body, and it is also used to produce other important chemicals. The problems start when too much cholesterol appears in the blood stream and is deposited on the walls of the heart’s arteries.

Proteins carry the cholesterol around the body, when the proteins and cholesterol are combined they are known as lipoproteins, and there are two types known as Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL) and High Density Lipoproteins (HDL). LDL is the so called bad cholesterol, which is deposited in the arteries. HDL is the good cholesterol because it returns the LDL back to the liver instead of allowing it to clog up arteries. It goes without saying that we want to have plenty of HDL available as this reduces the risk of coronary disease. When the LDL gains the upper hand, we are at an increased risk of coronary disease.

There is one more fatty substance that can be found in the blood. It is known as Triglyceride, and must also be taken into account when considering a person’s total cholesterol level. Triglycerides are found in dairy products, meats and some cooking oils. The liver can also produce Triglycerides and it can also enter the blood stream from fat already stored in the body. Just as with LDL, high levels of Triglycerides place people at an increased risk of coronary disease.

It is important to follow a healthy diet if you wish to keep your cholesterol levels well managed. Strip that fat is an excellent diet product that will prove to be immensely helpful to those looking to lower their cholesterol levels. This book covers what to eat and when to eat it, looks at proper portion control and how to train your mind for long term weight loss. I strongly recommend this book to you as an important ally in your goal in controlling your cholesterol.

My progress so far

I am still attending my cardiac rehabilitation class. The exercise levels have been increased this week, but I found I could cope fairly easily. No doubt this is because I have been building myself up to this level over the last few weeks. The main difference has been an increase in my confidence levels. Knowing that I can achieve this level of exertion without suffering an angina attack has been a significant boost. I feel much happier knowing that I am winning the battle to get back to a normal level of activity. The days following my recent heart attack were pretty stressful as I quickly got breathless following minor exertions; things like climbing the stairs in the house were becoming quite a chore. However, the nurses at the class told me that this was because I was out of shape and that gentle exercise was required to start building up the heart muscle. As the heart becomes fitter, it becomes more efficient at its job and puts a lesser strain on the body’s systems. Seems that this is very true as I now manage to do activities that I had not carried out for a number of months.
My diet is also progressing well, eating healthily is enjoyable and I have found that the recipes from the “Diet Generator” found in Strip that fat have been producing very tasty meals. The big advantage in eating these healthy meals is that they help to lower my cholesterol levels and this will be of tremendous benefit to my general heart health.

Protect against Swine Flu

As I suffer from coronary heart problems, I am concerned about the latest pandemic known as Swine Flu. There is a lot of advice being given at the moment by doctors and government agencies about precautions we should take as well as the actions they will be taking to protect the general public.
It was while I was researching the effects of swine flu with regards to coronary heart disease that I found out about a device that is available now and can offer some degree of protection against this virus. It works using ultraviolet light and can be conveniently carried in your pocket or handbag. The virus can apparently exist for several hours on any surface after leaving the human host and can therefore infect others who pick it up from the surface. I am sure that using this device will help to reduce the likelihood of people catching this flu, and so I thought I would post some details about it here. The link to purchase the Nano UV Disinfection Light Scanner is at the bottom of the page.

Progress with my recovery – Tuesday, 21 July 2009

Well it seems to be going well so far. I’ve been seen by lots of doctors and nurses who have all given me good advice. The advice centres around four main areas for me.
1. Lose weight
2. Keep my blood sugars under control (I am a diabetic)
3. Take plenty of exercise.
4. Keep my cholesterol below 4 (apparently mine is at 3.9)

My blood sugars have always been well controlled, but being a diabetic has meant that my arteries are clogged along their entire length with plaque. This makes a bypass or fitting stents out of the question for me, so any future events will be controlled by medication. At least that’s what the doctor tells me, I just hope he gets it right.

I am concentrating on keeping my cholesterol level down by following a healthy diet and getting plenty of exercise. The exercise regime I have started involves lots of walking. I aim to do at least three miles per day, which takes me an hour. This means that I am exercising within my “zone” according to the physiotherapist who runs the class I attend twice a week. The class is for those recovering from a heart attack and gives me some extra exercise above my daily walks and also provides me with a lot of motivation as well as good practical advice about maintaining a healthy life style.

Between my regular exercise and following a healthy diet, I intend to lose weight. My target is to lose weight at a steady rate as this is reckoned to be the way to lose it and to keep it off. Ideally two pounds per week is ideal so that’s my target. I’ll be posting my weekly weight loss figures here, so that makes sure that I stick to the diet.

Well that’s all for this week. Please join my group by clicking on the link with the title “add me to this sites community” It’s just under “Most Recent Visitors.”

5 ways to reduce your cholesterol levels

A high cholesterol level is a threat to your heart. If you have high cholesterol then here are 5 ways to reduce your cholesterol levels that do not rely on medication to have an effect. They each help to reduce the "bad cholesterol" known as LDL as well as helping to boost your "good" cholesterol known as HDL. By following these 5 ways to reduce your cholesterol level, you will enhance the effectiveness of any medications you are taking and you may even avoid having to take medication in the first instance if you act before the levels get too high.

The first way to reduce your cholesterol levels
Lose weight
If you are overweight, loosing as little as two or three pounds will help reduce your cholesterol level. The more you lose, the greater the benefit. To achieve a steady weight loss, you will need to be honest with yourself. Keep a diary detailing everything you eat and at what times you eat. This will help you to identify those weight gaining snacks and will allow you to develop a strategy for avoiding them or substituting something healthy instead. For instance, eat carrot sticks instead of potato chips.

The second way to reduce your cholesterol levels
Stick to heart healthy food
Perhaps you have been eating unhealthy foods up until now, but it is never too late to change. Reduce your intake of red meats, aiming for no more than two portions per week. Try to take more chicken and fish as these foods are better for your heart. Fish is particularly good for you as it contains omega 3 fats. You will need to have some carbohydrates to keep the meals balanced, but do not overload your plate with them. Some potatoes, rice or pasta are ideal carbohydrates to have. You can always bulk up your plate with vegetables and salad.

The third way to reduce your cholesterol levels
Take some exercise each day
Exercise of any kind can help to lower you cholesterol. However, there is even better news about regular exercise. It can increase your HDL, “the good cholesterol” and this makes it all the more worthwhile. HDL will actively collect cholesterol from around the body and assist the liver in disposing of it. To get the benefit of exercising to lower you cholesterol, you will need to carry out a minimum of 30 minutes of brisk activity each day. Activities such as walking, cycling and swimming are excellent ways to reduce cholesterol.

The fourth way to reduce your cholesterol levels
Give up cigarettes
I can’t stress this enough, if you smoke Stop Now. The benefits to be gained from not smoking are well known. However, as well as these benefits, stopping will help to raise your HDL levels. As far as your heart health goes, stop for just 20 minutes and your blood pressure will decrease. In as little as 24 hours without smoking your chances of suffering a heart attack will have gone down. As time goes by, the effects of not smoking multiply upward until after one year your risk of having a heart attack will be halved. Keep it up for fifteen years and your chances of having a heart attack will be the same as someone who has never smoked in their life.


The fifth way to reduce your cholesterol levels
Reduce your alcohol intake
It is true that taking alcohol in moderation can boost your HDL levels. This does not mean that a non drinker should start drinking however. Limit your intake of alcohol to the recommended limits of one unit per day for a woman and two units per day for a man. It is said that red wine is particularly good for the heart, but remember the daily limits.

5 super foods that lower cholesterol

I have came across some very interesting information about foods that can lower cholesterol levels. By utilising these foods in my diet, I hope to reduce my cholesterol levels and reduce my reliance on medications. Visit my site at 5 super foods that lower cholesterol to find out more.

The side effects of statins

Statins are commonly prescribed by doctors as part of a management strategy for Angina. The reason is that statins, of which simvastatin is one type, are used to reduce the production of cholesterol by the liver. Cholesterol is a sticky substance which can accumulate within the arteries of the heart and cause the narrowing associated with Angina and Heart Attacks.
Unfortunately, these drugs have side effects. These include,
· Rhabdomyolysis (muscle-destroying condition)
· Muscle Weakness And Pain
· Memory Loss
· Difficulty Sleeping
· Dizziness
· Headache
· Heartburn
Not everyone will experience these side effects, but my experience has been that doctors do not give enough information about side effects when prescribing these drugs. As a consequence, it is not until the patient mentions to their doctor that something is up that the doctor may recognise that the symptoms described are a side effect of statins. If you experience any of these side effects, talk to your doctor.

It is also well worth your while looking into alternative treatments that can be used instead of statins. If you are interested in finding out more about these natural remedies, then the information you need, along with many more amazing facts about lowering cholesterol, can be found at The 60 day prescription free cholesterol cure