Treatment Options for High Blood Cholesterol

Lifestyle Modifications for High Blood Cholesterol

Lifestyle modifications represent the first-line approach for lowering high levels of cholesterol in many people. The focus of lifestyle modifications for people with high cholesterol include:

• Watching your diet
• Staying Active
• Losing weight
• Smoking cessation

Watch your Diet

General recommendations for a heart-healthy diet for people with high blood cholesterol include:

• Decrease your total fat intake, particularly saturated fats and cholesterol. In general, less than 7% of the day's total calories should be derived from saturated fats.
• If you are overweight, reduce your total calorie intake to achieve and maintain your proper weight and body mass index (BMI).
• Dietary intake of cholesterol should be limited to less than 200 mg/day.
• Avoid fried foods as much as possible and, instead, consider steam frying or using a vegetable oil high in polyunsaturates, such as sunflower oil or rapeseed oil.
• Reduce your total intake of fatty meat, cheese, and full-cream milk
• Eat more of the following foods:
  • fruits and vegetables
  • whole grains (e.g., whole-wheat flour; brown rice; oatmeal; oat bran)
  • use skimmed-milk or semi-skimmed milk instead of whole milk
  • fish such as cod, tuna, and halibut contain less total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol than meat
  • substitute poultry (chicken or turkey) for meat whenever possible
  • ready-made food products that contain substances called plant sterols and stanols (derived from wood pulp products; soya bean distillates; or rapeseed oil) can help reduce total cholesterol levels by up to 15%

Stay Active

If you are physically able, you should engage in some type of physical activity (e.g., walking, jogging, swimming, bicycling; dancing) for about 30 minutes at least 3 times per week. Benefits of regular exercise include:

• Loss of body fat
• Increase in HDL ("good") cholesterol
• Decrease in total cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• Lower blood pressure

Lose Weight

People who are overweight are about twice as likely to develop coronary artery disease (CAD) as those who maintain an optimal body weight. If you are overweight/obese, losing weight through a combination of diet and exercise can not only cut your risk for heart attack and stroke but provides other benefits, including:

• Lowering blood pressure
• Reducing the risk of diabetes
• Reducing total cholesterol levels
• Reducing levels of LDL "bad" cholesterol
• Reducing triglyceride levels
• Reducing risk of dying prematurely

Other Important Lifestyle Modifications

• Smoking cessation

  • reduces risk of heart attack, stroke, and some types of cancers
  • increases levels of HDL cholesterol

• Limit alcohol intake

  • the risks of long-term alcohol consumption (e.g., liver cirrhosis; irregular heart beat; addiction) far outweigh the potential benefits (slight increase in HDL cholesterol levels.
  • if you drink, do so only in moderation
    • women - no more than one alcoholic beverage per day
    • men - no more than two alcoholic beverages per day

• Reduce stress levels - prolonged periods of stress can increase your risk of developing cardiovascular disease by:

  • increasing blood pressure
  • increasing levels of adrenal hormones
  • adopting poor habits in order to cope with stress:
    • smoking
    • drinking (alcohol)
    • poor eating habits