Cholesterol is something that many individuals are frightened of, but most individuals do not understand. Individuals are scared of having ‘cholesterol’, but they do not understand that there are two sorts of cholesterol and that they have to have some of both sorts.
The problem comes if you have more cholesterol than you need. This is because cholesterol is a waxy, fatty substance that can stick to the walls of arteries, build up and cause obstruction.
This means that the heart has to pump more to get enough oxygen and nutrients to where they are needed. This in turn means that an increase in blood pressure, which frequently leads to heart disease, which in turn leads to heart attacks and strokes.
Luckily, there are three methods out of this problem: diet, exercise and medication. The medication would have to be taken daily and for life, so most individuals would rather strive to reduce their levels of cholesterol without taking drugs. However, this does require lifestyle alterations.
A great deal of individuals have tried dieting to lose weight and failed. Dieting to reduce cholesterol is not quite the same, but there are similarities and a weight loss diet could be linked with a low cholesterol diet fairly easily.
However, there is another method and that is exercise. You can either exercise a lot and eat more or less what you like or exercise a bit and be wary with what you eat as well. If you choose to exercise a great deal, the manner that it will work for you is by raising your rate of metabolism and strengthening your heart.
Before embarking on an exercise routine, you should talk to your physician, particularly if you have not carried out much exercise for a long time. Your physician will almost certainly advise you to do mild types of exercise such as rambling for an hour a day (two times thirty minutes) until you are within a stone or so of your target weight. Swimming in a swimming pool is another good alternative.
Exercise can have a pretty rapid impact on your cholesterol levels. In fact, it will have a faster impact than dieting, but the best manner to go is to eat less HDL (saturated fats, trans fats and hydrogenated fats) and exercise as well.
Whilst you are exercising a lot more, bear in mind to hydrate your body by drinking lots of water. Water, not soda or caffeinated drinks or beer. Just water and at least two litres a day, which is roughly eight tumblers full.
You can also imbibe water by eating watery fruits like watermelons and other fruits, which would kill two birds with one stone as eating fruit is seen as a way of staving off cancer.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on numerous subjects, but is now concerned with food that lowers cholesterol. If you want to know more, please visit our site at What Foods Lower Cholesterol?
