The Healthiest Way to Lower Cholesterol Naturally | Cholesterol helps your body in many ways, including helping it to make hormones, cell membranes, and make vitamin D.
Your liver makes all the cholesterol that you need, but you also get cholesterol from the foot that you eat.
Too much cholesterol can lead to developing fatty deposits in your blood vessels. Over time, blood may have trouble flowing through the vessels. These clogged vessels can lead to massive health problems, such as stroke or heart attack.
You can lower your cholesterol by making healthy lifestyle choices such as eating healthy food and exercising, as well as including omega-3 fatty acids in your diet.
How to lower cholesterol naturally:
If you have been diagnosed with high cholesterol, your doctor will likely encourage you to seek natural options to lower it before putting you on medication.
Medication is great and can be lifesaving, but many people prefer to try to lower their cholesterol by making lifestyle modifications rather than going straight to medication.
#1: Eating Heart-Healthy Foods
With a few modifications to your diet, you will be on the path to lowering your cholesterol naturally.
These approaches are your first steps:
- Eliminate trans fats from your diet. Trans fats can be sneaky, you might not even know you are eating them. Look for “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” on food labels and try to avoid them as much as possible. These fats raise overall cholesterol oils, so cutting them out entirely is a great first step.
- Increase soluble fibre. Soluble fibre can help to reduce the amount of cholesterol absorbed from food into your bloodstream. Many fruits and veggies, as well as oatmeal, are sources of soluble fibre.
- Reduce your intake of saturated fats. Saturated fats are found mostly in full fat dairy products or red meat and can raise your total cholesterol. Decreasing your intake of these foods can help to lower your “bad” cholesterol – LDL cholesterol.
#2: Incorporating Exercise into Your Routine
Exercising can help to raise your “good” cholesterol (the HDL cholesterol).
Doing 30 minutes of physical activity 5 days a week can really help improve your cholesterol. Not only is exercise beneficial for your cholesterol levels, but it also can help to improve your cardiovascular strength and your mental health.
You don’t need to do anything fancy to exercise, you can simply take a brisk walk, ride your bike or play a group sport.
#3: Including Omega-3s in Your Routine
Omega-3s can decrease the growth of plaque in blood vessels, which may be caused by high cholesterol. Omega-3s can also have a blood thinning effect, which may be beneficial if you have high cholesterol. As mentioned previously, high cholesterol can lead to blocked vessels, so using omega-3s to help thin your blood can reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke caused by blockages.
Many foods are great sources of Omega-3s, including salmon, herring, tuna and sardines. For plant-based Omega-3 options, try to include walnuts or flax seeds a few times a week.
Another great way to add Omega-3s to your diet is to include a supplement. These can be made from fish oil or if you prefer to keep it vegan, flax oil. This is a super easy way to include Omega-3s in your routine, especially if you are not a fan of fish.
If you plan to start taking an Omega-3 supplement, make sure to discuss it first with your health care provider, especially if you are on other medications like blood thinners.
Those are three simple ways to start lowering your cholesterol. With a combination of exercise, healthy foods and omega-3s, you will surely start to lower your cholesterol naturally!
