How to Lower High Cholesterol in Ten-comparatively Easy Steps

• Exercise, exercise, exercise! Consistently performing weight-bearing exercise–such as walking, ballroom dancing, stair-climbing, jogging, or even making brisk laps at a nearby shopping mall after an evening meal–five days a week for at least thirty minutes daily lowers cholesterol more than attention to diet does.  Take the long way at every opportunity:  
  • At work, use the stairs instead of taking the elevator. 
  • Mow the lawn and weed the garden, rake leaves, or shovel snow from the driveway (which should take about thirty minutes).
  •  Park the car down the block when shopping; take the subway or public transportation to work, so you can walk that extra block or two. 
  • Buy a medium-sized dog and cancel that never-used gym membership across town.  A pent-up puppy almost guarantees its owner will walk around the block twice a day.

Exercise increases High Density Lipoprotein (HDL or “good cholesterol”) while decreasing LDL (or “bad cholesterol”).  The intensity of the exercise doesn’t matter, but its consistency does.  Accordingly, while you may not have time to go to the gym, you can squeeze the time out of a busy day to exercise if you take the long way!

• Ease into a vegetarian or flexitarian diet (a diet that is primarily vegetarian, but does include some occasional fish or chicken).  Steering clear of pork and beef, and cutting down on tne chicken, over several weeks, switch to vegetarian proteins from animal proteins.  To begin with, for example, limit beef to once a week and/or chicken once a week.  Then gradually, cut out all animal protein except for fish. (I admit that I’m still working on this resolution!)
• Broil or bake rather than fry.  Don’t eat the chicken skin.
• Eat broiled or baked fish high in fatty acid twice a week, choosing water-packed tuna and salmon, and/or take a fish oil (Omega 3 oil) or krill oil supplement.  However, remember that fish oil also acts as a blood thinner.
• Send in the subs: Choose low-fat or non-fat dairy products and fat-free cheeses, substituting skim-milk, sherbet, and ice-milk for their high-fat counterparts.  Even so, don’t worry about having enough calcium in your diet since dark green vegetables like spinach and broccoli also contain a lot of calcium.  Indeed, calcium is better retained if it comes from vegetables rather than dairy products.  If using oil, try canola and olive oil instead of vegetable oil; but, of course, if possible, use very little of these saturated fats.  
• Include a lot of fiber in your diet:  Try whole wheat bread and oatmeal, beans, cabbage, carrots, spinach, apples, oranges, and blueberries, starting with orange juice fortified with calcium for breakfast and a high-fiber cereal.  Adding fruit and walnuts to some sugar-free gelatin also makes for a delicious low-fat dessert. If you’re still worried about having enough fiber in your diet, take a soluble fiber supplement.  Ask a pharmacist to recommend an over-the-counter brand.
• Take a multiple-vitamin that includes Niacin B3, but be careful since too much Niacin has some side effects, notably flushing, head aches, cramps and nausea.  
• Supplement your diet with natural vitamin E and C as well as calcium.  Again, consult a pharmacist about the recommended dosage for your age and gender.
• Switch from brown to green tea while eliminating that dollop of milk in your hot tea or coffee.  Milk, incidentally, takes away from some of the health benefits of drinking tea.  Pregnant women, of course, should avoid coffee and tea as well as carbonated sodas.
• Drink one glass of red wine daily if a non-pregnant or lactating woman while men may drink up to two glasses of red wine.  Those who abstain from alcohol will find that grape juice similarly lowers cholesterol.

Now, a warning for families: The fight against cholesterol shouldn’t start at middle age, but in childhood.  That means that the family that takes walks and eats healthy meals together is a healthier family both physically and mentally. 

Also, check to see exactly what your children are doing in their Physical Education classes (if your local school district hasn’t already cut out PE classes)–sitting on the bleachers without suiting out doesn’t qualify as sufficient daily exercise.  If your children aren’t exercising enough, make sure that they join in family outings(skiing, hiking, and sailing) and/or, depending on each child’s temperament and physical aptitudes, either schedule individual and/or team sports and exercise activities for them, such as dancing, tennis, swimming, and basketball.  Meanwhile, encourage neighborhood pick up games of basketball, softball, and football as well as  traditional childhood activities (bike riding, jumping rope, and roller-skating), although for safety sake, a mom or dad might need to be on hand.

Moreover, consider packing their lunches with healthy foods rather than depending on the school to supply their lunches.  Many school cafeterias supply what most children and teenagers like to eat (pizza, hamburgers, and sodas) rather than what they need to ensure that they have a balanced diet.

Finally, while you may not want to wage a full-scale battle against cholesterol at this time, consider making at least a few of these changes for a healthier life style.