Ask Carol: Improve Your Cholesterol Health
Ask Carol
Carol Hahn is a Registered Nurse with over 30 years of experience in various areas. She is also a yoga instructor, certified personal trainer and certified in Alzheimer's disease management. Carol will be answering your questions regarding all issues of health and wellness every week here at Ask Carol.
Q:
Now that the holidays are over, I want to focus more on my health. My doctor says I should lower my cholesterol. How can I do that?
A:
Good for you for wanting to improve your health! Some cholesterol is needed in your body, but too much can increase your heart disease risk. This means you are at a higher risk for a heart attack or a stroke. There are 2 different types of cholesterol:
- LDL (“bad” cholesterol) delivers cholesterol to your body.
- HDL (“good” cholesterol) helps remove bad cholesterol from your bloodstream.
Your total cholesterol should be under 200 and your doctor probably wants you to lower your bad cholesterol and increase your good cholesterol. The American Diabetes Association makes these suggestions to improve your numbers:
- Stop smoking.
- Lose excess weight. Even loosing 5 – 10 pounds may help improve your cholesterol.
- Exercise most days of the week.
- Eat a low-cholesterol, low-fat diet that includes fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
- Include healthy monounsaturated fats, like avocado oil, olive oil or canola oil in your diet.
- Take cholesterol-lowering medication if prescribed by your doctor.
Please check with your doctor or healthcare provider if you have any questions.
