Monitor your  dietary Cholesterol

Monitor your dietary cholesterol is the key to stay healthy. Many people ignore it . They never bother to know how much cholesterol their body is producing. Doctors usually recommend to reduce 10 %  saturated fats intake  in our daily meals. We will try to explain in details all about dietary cholesterol in our article. To understand better about cholesterol, please read our article ” Let us know our Cholesterol-Part 1“.

Contents:

• What is Cholesterol ?
• Types of cholesterol
• What are Triglycerides ?
• Saturated  and unsaturated fats.
• Trans fats.
•  Dietary Cholesterol .
• Dietary cholesterol guidelines.
• Cholesterol in foods.
• Cholesterol free foods.
• Foods with fats.
• Avoid the foods containing unhealthy trans fats.
• Foods with healthy unsaturated fats.
• Cholesterol & fats in  foods.
• High/Low cholesterol levels.
• How to lower cholesterol levels,
• Cholesterol -lowering medications.
• What to eat.
• Exercise.

What is Cholesterol ?

Cholesterol is  a waxy, fat-like substance made in the liver, and found in the blood and in all cells of the body. Cholesterol is important for good health and is needed for making cell walls, tissues, hormones, vitamin D, and bile acid.  I do hope this article will help to Monitor your dietary cholesterol .

Types of cholesterol.

When ever you get your lipid profile examined, you will find your cholesterol in three groups . The details of those groups is as under :

• Total cholesterol ==== Total cholesterol is the total amount of HDL Cholesterol + total amount of LDL cholesterol in your body.
• High Density Lipoprotein or HDL known as ” Good cholesterol  ” .  It helps remove other forms of cholesterol from the bloodstream. A higher level of HDL cholesterol is linked to a lower risk of heart disease. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is one of the five major groups of lipoproteins. Lipoproteins are complex particles composed of multiple proteins which transport all fat molecules (lipids) around the body within the water outside cells. They are typically composed of 80–100 proteins per particle (organized by one, two or three ApoA).
• Low Density Lipoprotein or LDL is known as ” Bad cholesterol “.. High levels of LDL cholesterol raise the risk for heart disease and stroke. Too much LDL cholesterol in the body will deposit the excess along the walls of our blood vessels.
• Keeping in view the above affects, it is necessary to monitor your dietary cholesterol after certain periods.

What are Triglycerides ?

Triglycerides are a type of fat in our blood that our body uses for energy. When Doctors examine the cholesterol, they include triglycerides too. We are including them in our article for information of our readers , to help them to monitor their dietary cholesterol .  Triglycerides with low HDL and/or high LDL cholesterol levels can increase the risk for health problems, such as heart attack. Monitor your dietary cholesterol to keep triglycerides at low levels.

Saturated  and Unsaturated fats.

In this article, you  will read Saturated and Unsaturated fats. We are explaining them, what they are, so you can understand better.

Saturated Fats;

 Dietary Cholesterol

Dietary cholesterol guidelines:

Cholesterol in foods;

• Meat.
• Eggs yolks.
• Butter.
• Dairy products.
• Sea foods.

Shrimp is high in cholesterol, but very low in saturated fats.

Cholesterol free foods;

Cholesterol is not found in the following foods;

• Fruits.
• Grains.
• Nuts.
• Vegetables.

Foods with fats;

• Baked goods like cakes, and cookies.
• Cheese.
• Ice cream.
• Fried foods.
• Pizza.
• Red meat and pork.
• Processed meat ( sausage).

Avoid the foods containing unhealthy trans fats;

• Baked goods.(cakes, pies and cookies.)
• Fried foods.
• Margarine.
• Packed foods with “hydrogenated oil ” in the ingrain’s list.
• Microwave popcorn.
• Frosting.

Foods with healthy unsaturated fats.

• Avocados.
• Most nuts, especially walnuts.
• Most seeds, such as chia, hemp seeds and sunflower.
• Olive, Canola, peanut and sunflower oils.

Monitor your dietary cholesterol and stay healthy.

Cholesterol & fats in  foods.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture offer a “National food nutrient database ” which is a handy guideline explaining nutritional quantity found in different foods, drinks and ingredients. Monitor your dietary cholesterol with the  help of following chart.

Following are some foods showing approximately quantity of cholesterol and fats , they provide.

High/Low cholesterol levels.

The Centers for disease Control and prevention recommend the cholesterol levels as under. Measurements are in milligram per deciliter (mg/dl),

=========== Good ======Border line ==== Harmful

———————————————————–

Total cholesterol  199or lower        200-329          240 or higher

HDL                      60 or higher            –                 40 or lower in                                                                                         men,

50 or lower  in women.

LDL                     100 or lower        130-159           160 or higher

Triglycerides      149 or higher         150-199        200 or higher

It is quite possible that you may have high cholesterol levels and you are not aware of it. we recommend to have your cholesterol check after a fixed period regularly.  Doctors recommend all adults  to check their cholesterol every  4 to 6 years starting at 20 years old. It will help you to estimate yourself where  you are  standing at your health levels. People who are 40 or above, need regular cholesterol checkups earlier than adults. Monitor your dietary cholesterol as recommended above.

How to  lower cholesterol levels.

Lowering cholesterol is a difficult task. Any how, nothing is impossible except escaping from death. Try the following to reduce your cholesterol:

• first of all, go through your blood test known as ” Lipid Panel ” . This test will show your Cholesterol and Triglyceride levels.
• If test shows high cholesterol, it means . you have high level of LDL, non -HDL cholesterol or both. These levels + high triglyceride level will indicate to risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
• To lower your cholesterol levels , there is no much clear guidelines and time frame . In 2024 annual guides on lowering cholesterol levels, the National Health, Lung and Blood Institute explained that it may take around 6 weeks ,if the patient adopt certain life style or treatment changes.
• Exercise and a balanced diet are the basic instruments to lower the high  cholesterol levels.

People having a family  history of high cholesterol level could find  difficulty to manage lowering high levels of cholesterol with exercise and diet only. A medical doctor , after full examination of the patient,  may recommend to take cholesterol-lowering medicines, and not rely on exercise and diet only. The doctor will recommend cholesterol-lowering medicines if :

1 === Your LDL level is greater than 70 mg/dl , and  have history of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease such as heart attack, angina and coronary artery stenosis.

2 === You have diabetes.

Cholesterol-lowering medications.

If your cholesterol level is very high, a medical doctor, keeping in view your health condition, may suggest one of the following medicines;

Statins.

Statin is the first choice of medical doctors to lower LDL cholesterol level. Statin lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. It prevents heart attack too. Be aware of its side effects.

Muscle cramps/aches are common side effects of statins.

Some patients can develop liver injury. Let your doctor check your liver damage by testing liver enzymes with a blood test.

If someone’s LDL cholesterol levels do not lower with Statins alone, a medical doctor can prescribe a PCSK9 inhibitor too.

PCSK9 Inhibitors :

PCSK9 inhibitor is a new cholesterol – lowering medicine. PCSK9  is a protein in the liver. It  binds to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors leading to their degradation in the liver. PCSK9 inhibitors leads to an increase in LDL receptors and as a result to a reduction of LDL cholesterol levels.

Some patients can manage to lower their high cholesterol levels. with diet, exercise and weight reduction and say good bye to cholesterol lowering medication.

Bear in your mind that even you are taking cholesterol – lowering medicine, lifestyle changes are still very important. You must:

• Increase fiber in your diet.
• Avoid smoking.
• Avoid drinking.
• Exercise 150 minutes in a week.
• Lower saturated fat in your diet.

What to eat:

What you eat daily, effects on your cholesterol levels. While taking cholesterol-lowering medications, try  the following :

• Reduce saturated fat in your diet. Saturated fats will increase your body’s production of LDL cholesterol.
• Increase dietary fiber.
• Experts advise to limit saturated fats and sodium.
• They suggest to eat whole grain foods, fruits, nuts and vegetables daily.
• Some food experts advise the DASH diet and Mediterranean eating. Both have high fiber levels and healthy fats.

DASH diet:

DASH diet include:

• Healthy fats ( nuts, seeds, vegetable oils ).
• Lean proteins (fish, beans, poultry, soy).
• Limited salt, sugar, processed foods, red meats.
• Nonfat or low fat dairy.
• Plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Mediterranean eating include:

• Healthy fats like nuts and olive oil instead of unhealthy fats like butter, palm oil and canola oil.
• Limited salt ( substituting herbs and spices instead.)
• Mainly fish and poultry for protein, with red meat ( very little) few times in a month.
• Plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

I do hope , after reading above informations, you will definitely monitor your dietary cholesterol  levels after a certain period , calculated by your medical doctor.

Exercise;

Daily exercise save us from high levels of LDL. Daily exercise is also good for our general health. 2023 research found that aerobic exercise can help our body to raise HDL cholesterol levels.

Activities like brisk walking, bicycling, dancing, gardening, jogging, swimming and aerobics will be health beneficial.

source: healthline.com

/