How to lower cholesterol: Proven ways that work | Zyla Health
When you think of the word cholesterol, it is quite common to immediately think of how bad it is for the body and how to lower cholesterol levels. A lot of health sources also recommend foods that lower cholesterol for better health but how reliable are they?
The term ‘cholesterol’ has had a negative association for a long time. People often associate cholesterol with dangerous diseases and most commonly heart attacks.
While it is true that high levels of certain types of cholesterol and triglycerides are a risk for many diseases, at normal levels — cholesterol and triglyceride are necessary for our body’s day to day functioning!
It is clear that there is a lot more to cholesterol than we are aware of! So let’s take a closer look at what cholesterol is. We are also going to look at what reduces cholesterol quickly — Foods that lower cholesterol as well as other lifestyle measures.
What is cholesterol?
Scientifically, Cholesterol is an organic fat-like compound in our body that is produced by the liver. At normal levels, cholesterol is required for the day-to-day functioning of the cells of our body:
- It is used by the cells in making the outer cell membranes and keeps these membranes flexible and functional. The cell membrane made up of cholesterol — allows our cells to change shape, remain stable and durable.
- It is used by cells in the cell signalling process which allows the exchange of substances between the cells.
- It is also utilised by the body in making several hormones like oestrogen and testosterone.
- It is utilised by the body to make Vitamin D and bile acids.
The liver makes as much cholesterol as the body needs but the diet that we consume brings in the additional cholesterol in our body.
Animal products like egg yolks, meat and cheese also contain cholesterol. For most people consuming products containing dietary cholesterol has little effect on the blood cholesterol levels. So what leads to high cholesterol levels? Let’s read some more and find out!
“Good” and “bad” cholesterol
The cholesterol produced by the liver uses a vehicle called lipoproteins to travel through the body. These are compounds made of fat and protein and are produced by the liver to carry the cholesterol to and from the cells of the body.
- LDL cholesterol or Low-Density Lipoprotein carries the cholesterol throughout the body. It is also known as ‘Bad Cholesterol’ as it sticks to the walls of arteries (blood vessels) which can lead to narrowing of the blood vessels over time, leading to heart attacks and strokes.
- HDL cholesterol or High-Density Lipoprotein carries the unused cholesterol back to the liver so that it can be removed from the body. This process is called Reverse Cholesterol Transport and it protects the arteries from being clogged by fat deposition. HDL is known as the “good” cholesterol.
The good news is that even if you have high LDL levels you can control them with slight lifestyle modifications and dietary management.
Looking for complete nutritional support and 24/7 personalised care? Zyla.in can provide you with the right guidance. Feel free to reach out to us on the Zyla app or visit our website-Zyla.in.
Are you interested in finding out about the 5 causes of high cholesterol? Read our blog to find out more!
Have you wondered how weight can affect your cholesterol levels? This is a very important part of understanding how to improve your cholesterol levels! Let’s take a look at how these two factors affect each other…
How to lower cholesterol levels by losing weight?
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), it is possible for people to have high cholesterol levels irrespective of their weight. But being overweight or obese can increase the risk of having high cholesterol levels as it increases the LDL levels in the body and reduces the HDL.
How does this work?
- As learnt before, we know the liver produces LDL in the body. However, when we consume excess fats in the diet, the liver increases the production of LDL to maintain a balance of fats.
- When a person is obese or overweight, this process of adjustment of LDL production does not work and it leads to high LDL and other cholesterol levels.
- Obesity often leads to inflammation which decreases the body’s normal response to the fat consumed in the diet.
Thus it is advised to reduce weight if you are obese or overweight.
So how to improve your cholesterol levels?
Reducing even 5–10% of your body weight can help lower levels of LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol levels.
Are you also worried about your high triglyceride levels? Read our blog on 5 home remedies for high triglycerides for some tips on managing your high levels!
Now that we know what cholesterol is, and how increased weight affects it, let us read further to find out about how exercise affects cholesterol levels…
How to lower cholesterol levels with exercise?
Do you know that even when you are climbing stairs or doing household chores, you are actually exercising?
Exercise is a great way to take care of your cardiovascular health- increase those much-needed HDL levels and decrease LDL levels in the body. It helps you tackle obesity and keeps your body weight balanced.
Exercising even for 30 minutes, 5–6 days in a week helps get your lipid levels in range.
It doesn’t matter what kind of exercise you opt for, you can start by going for a short walk and gradually increase your intensity and duration. Even activities like gardening, dancing etc qualify as exercises.
So make sure you start somewhere and opt for any one of the outdoor hobbies you like and make it a part of your routine. What’s better than exercising and enjoying it at the same time, Win-Win!
Are you wondering how to incorporate exercise and dietary lifestyle changes into your routine? Reach out to us at Zyla.in. We have an excellent team of nutrition experts and physiotherapists who work with our medical team to provide holistic care. Feel free to reach out to us on the Zyla app or visit our website- Zyla.in.
Your diet can affect your body in both positive and negative ways. Let’s learn about some of the foods which can help us to lower the cholesterol levels.
How to lower cholesterol using fiber?
Did you know that all you might need is a simple bowl of oatmeal to keep your cholesterol in check?
There are definitely foods that lower cholesterol! Foods that are rich in fibre, particularly soluble fibre, are beneficial for keeping your lipid levels and even your blood glucose levels in check. Soluble fiber is a type of naturally occurring fiber that can dissolve in water in the gut.
The bacteria that lives in the gut, which helps in good digestion, needs this soluble fiber for nourishment. These good bacterias, also known as probiotics, helps lower cholesterol levels like LDL, VLDL and triglycerides.
Not only that, soluble fibre makes you feel full and thus reduces the chances of midday snacking which increases cholesterol levels. Soluble fibre is found in foods like — beans, sprouts, peas, lentils, fruit, psyllium husk and whole grains including oats.
If you take 5–10 grams of soluble fiber in a day, you can lower your LDL cholesterol. To summarise — One of the foods that lower cholesterol is soluble fiber!
For more information on how fiber can lower cholesterol, help diabetics etc- Read our blog on Fiber can fix your Diabetes, Cholesterol and Constipation!
You might already know that even oils have an effect on our cholesterol levels, let’s learn about some healthy oil substitutes that is one of the foods that lowers cholesterol!
How to lower cholesterol using healthy oil substitutes?
People often tend to cut back on every source of fat when diagnosed with high cholesterol levels. But fats are needed by our body for energy and to transport the much needed vitamins A, D, E and K.
While it is true that every oil and butter contains fat, some of these oils are healthy for your heart. So rather than giving up oil completely, you can switch to heart-healthy oils!
Now, you must be thinking which are the heart-healthy oils? Well, let me explain you in detail. There are 3 different types of fats and oils: unsaturated fats, saturated fats and trans fat.
1. Unsaturated fats
- These fats are always liquid at room temperature.
- Including them in your diet will help in increasing HDL and reducing LDL.
- They have anti-inflammatory properties, vitamin E and can manage diabetes and blood pressure levels and benefit in improving skin and slowing the ageing process.
- Unsaturated fats consist of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) like sunflower oil, soybean oil, fish oil and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) like olive oil, canola oil and mustard oil.
- PUFA is further divided into omega-3 fatty acids like fish, flax seeds, walnuts and omega-6 fatty acids like soybean oil, walnuts, sunflower oil, almonds, cashews.
2. Saturated fats
- These are thick or solid at room temperature.
- They reduce the risk of multiple heart diseases, cataracts, arthritis and cancer, aid weight loss, weak immunity, poor vision, wound healing, joint pains and diabetes.
- They have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and contain a good amount of vitamin A and E.
- Examples of saturated fats are ghee, coconut oil and homemade butter which you can easily add to your diet in moderation. But make sure to completely avoid processed and salted butter.
3. Trans fats
- These are vegetable oils (unsaturated fats) that undergo a process called hydrogenation in which hydrogen gas is added to them, converting them into a more solid form.
- These cause an increase in triglycerides, other bad cholesterol levels, weight gain and a decrease in liver health. These can also lead to the development of cancers. Thus you need to completely avoid them.
- Examples of trans fats are processed, fried and packaged food.
Opting for unsaturated and saturated oils can reduce LDL cholesterol by at least 15% which is equivalent to the effect of low dose lipid-lowering medicine. But it is important to know — you should not consume even those oils in excess and think that it is what reduces cholesterol quickly!
Looking for more tips to improve your diet and health? We have you covered! Read our blog on how a simple balanced diet can help you conquer your health!
Looking for personalised 24*7 care for your chronic conditions? Reach out to us at Zyla.in. We have an excellent team of nutrition experts and physiotherapists who work with our medical team to provide holistic care. Feel free to reach out to us on the Zyla app or visit our website-Zyla.in.
Let us now take a look at trans fats in detail and how it affects the cholesterol levels in our blood!
Role of trans fats
As you already know, trans fats are unhealthy and be avoided as much as possible.
This oil is used commercially as it does not get spoiled easily and gives a taste and flavour to the commercial foods. Even restaurants use such oils in their deep fryers so that they do not have to change their oils repeatedly.
The manufactured form of trans fat is found in many food products like — cakes, cookies and pies, microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, refrigerated dough, such as biscuits and rolls, fried foods like french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken etc.
It is considered so deadly to ingest that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has prohibited the manufacturers and companies from using artificial trans fat in any edible products. But some companies still continue to use these in their food products.
An easy way to be safe from eating such fats is by reading the ingredients of any food product you buy. If a food’s ingredient reads “hydrogenated vegetable oil”, it means it has some trans fats in it.
Even if a food item contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat, it can be dangerous as these trans fats add up quickly.
Still unsure about how to lower cholesterol levels? There are some magic ingredients in your kitchen that are part of the foods that lower cholesterol! Read on to find out more!
How to lower cholesterol levels through herbs and spices?
If you do not already add cinnamon to your coffee or add garlic to flavour your dishes, then start doing it. These little spices have huge benefits. They are not only good for aroma and taste but also are foods that lower cholesterol.
Let’s take a look at some of these beneficial foods that lower cholesterol:
- Cinnamon (dalchini): A spice that is beneficial in lowering cholesterol and triglycerides. It is also a great spice to be used by diabetics as it can add sweetness to your food without leading to any sugar level spikes and can aid weight loss.
- Garlic (lehsun): Garlic prevents abnormal changes of arteries that lead to a heart attack and keeps them flexible. Research shows that if you eat half to 1 clove of garlic daily then you can reduce your cholesterol by 9%.
- Turmeric (haldi): Turmeric contains curcumin and is known for its anti-inflammatory properties. It is also loaded with antioxidants which reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in the body.
- Ginger (adrak): Ginger provides a similar benefit and also reduces the risk factor associated with any cardiovascular disease.
To read more about healthy spices and herbs to include in your diet, read our blog on 10 healthy spices and herbs to look out for!
A summary of what to eat or what not to manage cholesterol levels is just what is needed after reading this blog, well here it is!
General tips on how to lower cholesterol levels
Here are certain lifestyle and health tips:
- Include vegetables, salad bowls, fruit chaats in your diet, it is important that you take 2–3 servings of fruits and 2 servings of salads daily.
- Include nuts and seeds in your diet like 6–8 almonds (badam), 2–3 walnuts (akhrot), handful peanuts (moongphalee), 5–6 cashews (kaju), 5–6 pistachios (pista), 1 tsp flax seeds (alsi), 1 tbsp each of sunflower seeds (surajmukhi ke beej) , pumpkin seeds (kaddu ke beej) and chia seeds. as these increase the good cholesterol (HDL) in your body.
- Use healthy cooking oils like — sunflower, olive, avocado, canola oils etc up to 1 tsp in a meal.
- Add ghee and coconut oil up to 5 ml in a meal and up to 1 tbsp homemade butter in a day.
- Include legumes like chickpeas, lentils, peas and beans like kidney beans in your meals.
- Limit your intake of takeaway and fast foods like pizzas, pastries, chips and fries etc.
- Limit salty foods, processed and salted butter and sweet foods too like cookies, cakes, chips, biscuits.
- Avoid processed meats like salami and sausages.
Zyla provides excellent care and guidance through a 24/7 Zyla app regarding your elevated cholesterol blood tests. Feel free to reach out to us on the Zyla app or visit our website-Zyla.in.
If these ways do not work in bringing down your cholesterol levels then do not stress, there are medications that your doctor may prescribe to help you with your cholesterol. Let’s understand some of them.
How to lower cholesterol levels using medications?
There are many drugs belonging to different classes that might be prescribed by your healthcare provider for high cholesterol. Some of these commonly prescribed drugs are:
1. Statins
They are usually the first type of drug that your doctor may prescribe to lower LDL levels. Statins also lower triglycerides and raise the HDL levels. Some examples of statins are: Atorvastatin, Rosuvastatin, Simvastatin, Pravastatin, Pitavastatin etc.
2. Fibrates
Fibrates can be used in combination with statins or can be prescribed alone too. They cut down the production of triglycerides in the body and boost up the HDL levels. Examples of fibrates are: Fenofibrate, Gemfibrozil.
3. Bile acid sequestrants
These drugs work in the intestines and have an effect on the bile acids produced by the liver. Bile acids are rich in cholesterol and produced by the liver for digestion.
These drugs do not allow the absorption of bile back in the blood and thus the level of cholesterol lowers in the blood. Some of these drugs are: Cholestyramine, Colestipol, Colesevelam.
Some rarely prescribed drugs to manage cholesterol levels are:
4. PCSK9 inhibitors
These drugs are given to people who cannot manage their cholesterol with lifestyle and statins. These drugs lower your cholesterol levels. Some of these drugs are: Allirocumab, Evolocumab.
5. Niacin
It is basically a type of vitamin B, also known as nicotinic acid. Adding it with statins lowers your risk of heart disease. It can be obtained through food too like fish, eggs, legumes, dry fruits etc.
6. Omega 3-fatty acids
These are dietary supplements which can be obtained by taking a fish oil capsule or even by including nuts and seeds in diet. Omega 3 fatty acids reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and increase HDL levels.
As we have learnt, managing cholesterol levels helps improve our long term health outcomes.
The answer to “how to lower cholesterol levels?” requires a holistic approach which includes lifestyle modifications and medicines. As sometimes levels are so high that medicine is required and sometimes diet is required even with medicines so that medicinal effects is not affected by a disturbed lifestyle.
Thus, it is important that you adhere to a good diet, exercise and take your medicines on time and regularly. Do not start a medicine on your own and always consult your doctor before starting or stopping a medicine.
If you’re seeking help to improve your health and want to better manage your heart health, you can download the Zyla app or visit our website Zyla.in and check out the Healthy Heart Program which is suitable for you.
Zyla has a team of 50+ medical experts who can provide personalised treatment through a holistic approach. Start your health journey today!
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