how do i improve hdl cholesterol by diet?
601742
Stay away from food high in saturated fats. Here is a healthy eating plan that you can follow: \n\nIf you want to do this it is for life so you need to totally change your way of eating and exercising. This is not a diet rather than a healthy eating plan for life. So no more talking diet cause it means time limit. \n\nHere are the golden rules: \nInitially cut down to 1200 calories. \nExercise 6 times per week for 1 hours a day. Do three weight sessions and three cardio sessions. \nDon't eat carbs after 4pm, never eat carbs within 2 hours of exercise or within 1 hour of exercise. \nDrink 3 litres of water per day. You can have a green tea at the end of the day. \nLimit your fruit in take to 2 pieces per day. \nNever eat dinner after 6pm.\nAdopt of low GI eating plan this is sustainable for life!\nMake low fat dairy choices \n\nFollow this menu plan as a suggestion: \nBreakfast 7am - 1 cup hot water w lemon\n20 minutes later have a bowel of oats w water (no honey) OR\nfruit salad w low GI soy yogurt\nSnack 10am - pear or apple (both low GI)\nLunch 12.30pm - muligrain sandwich w 50g tuna & salad (no butter)\nSnack 3pm - low GI yogurt OR skim berry smoothie (no honey or banana) plenty of ice, 1/2 cup skim milk & 1/4 cup yogurt\nDinner 5.30pm - 120g grilled lean meat/fish/prawns/tofu patties (not fried) w spinach salad & mixed vegies (no whites, carbs) OR 3 egg white/soy omlette with ham, cheese and tomato\nSnack - 1 scoop of low cal low fat ice cream (if hungry)\n\nExercise is must be intense. Refer to www.bodybuilding.com for your weights routine. You can do a circuit class but this counts as one weights session. Never do weights two consecutive days have a cardio day in between. \n\nCardio needs to include running, boxing and spin. If your classes are less than 1 hour top it up with cardio before and after classes. You get the most benefits from exercise when your body is totally fatigued and this is when you see changes. \n\nTo maintain you can increase calories to 1500 and reduce exercise sessions to 3-4 times per week. If weight creeps up again due to holiday period etc.. go back to 1200 cal and 6 sessions again. \n\nGood luck it worked for me it can work for anyone.
731432
Stop taking saturated fats, sweet food and drinks, ice creams, chocolates, and junk food. Take a lot of preparations of wheat with sea food and vegetables. Salads and fruits would be added support for reducing fat and increasing energy.
1046982
Exercise every day, even if it's just a walk. Go on a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. Eat fish, eggs, chicken, occasional lean beef or pork, low fat cottage cheese. Stay away from regular cheese, no bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, peas, beans (except green beans). No more than one piece of fruit a day and no fruit juice (it's sugar water, my dr says). Cut down on carrots and tomatoes (included ketchup). Use mustard instead of mayonnaise in recipes. Eat lots of salads, green vegetables. Salads only have one tablespoon of dressing for the whole salad. No ice cream, or other desserts.
707413
Eat whole grains and avoid fat and when you do have fat make it a good oil like canola oil or olive oil.  Eat more fish but not fried.  Eat skinless chicken.  Use fat free salad dressing.  Eat more dryed beans with whole grain for protein.  Avoid cheese and use low fat alternative if possible.  Avoid chips unless they are baked.  \nMy friend did weight watchers for 3 months and brought her cholesterol down over a hundred points and her ratio was better so if you have a few pounds to loose that would be a great place to learn about healthy eating.  They have books to help you shop and eat out too.\nExercise helps cholesterol especially your ratio.\nOrganic skim milk tastes soooo much better than regular skim.  You should also avoid ground beef and if you do eat it by the kind that is 95% fat free.
1164602
You can continue to eat chocolate if you're prepared to make other sacrifices - cut down on other dairy products, switch to skimmed milk, use spreads instead of butter, cut out anything too fatty like sausages, bacon etc, don't eat anything fried, and no pastries/cakes etc.\n\nYou could add in things like porridge to your diet which help to bring down cholesterol, you can also drink those benechol drinks (expensive but effective), and you should increase your exercise which increases the levels of HDL, the "good" cholesterol and will thus decrease your good:bad cholesterol ratio.
1056753
Cholesterol is a waxy fat like substance that is important for normal body functioning. Cholesterol is used for cellular functions and the production of hormones. Your body, in most cases, will produce enough cholesterol to maintain normal body needs. The liver is the major production factory for cholesterol (about 70%). Diets high in saturated fats, significantly increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood stream. Recommended daily intake of fat should not exceed 30% of calories, with a maximum of 10% being from saturated fat. Research indicates that diets high in saturated and total fat, play a significant role in the process of atherosclerosis (plaque build-up on the artery wall ).\n\nHigh cholesterol levels are strong indicators of those individuals that are prone to coronary heart disease. Elevated total cholesterol is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. The build-up of plaque in the artery may lead to narrowing (high blood pressure) or complete blockage (heart attack) of the vessel. As levels rise above 180 mg/dl, the risk for developing coronary heart disease increases. A cholesterol value of 220 mg/dl correlates to nearly a two-fold elevation in incidence of coronary heart disease as compared to 180 mg/dl. A reduction of 1% is shown to reduce the risk for coronary artery disease by 2% for levels over 200 mg/dl.\n\nTotal cholesterol is the sum of all the cholesterol in your blood. The higher your total cholesterol, the greater your risk for heart disease. Here are the total values that matter to you. \n\n\n\nTotal Cholesterol Levels:\n \nLess than 200 mg/dL "Desirable" level that puts you at lower risk for heart disease. A cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL or greater increases your risk. \n\n200 to 239 mg/dL  "Borderline-high."  \n\n240 mg/dL and above "High" blood cholesterol. A person with this level has more than twice the risk of heart disease compared to someone whose cholesterol is below 200 mg/dL.  \n\n\nLDL or Low density LipoProtein(Bad cholesterol) - distibute fatty deposite on vessel wall thus promotes the formation of atherosclorotic plaque.\nHDL or High Density LipoProtein(Good Cholesterol) -collects fatty deposites on vessel wall and transport to liver for bile synthesis or other metabolic activity. On this process it prevents or retards the formation of atherosclorosis. \n\nNormal Levels:\nDesirable total cholesterol: below 200 mg/dL (5.17 mmol/L) \nOptimal LDL ('bad') cholesterol: below 100 mg/dL (2.6 mmol/L) \nOptimal HDL ('good') cholesterol: over 60 mg/dL (1.56 mmol/L) \n\n\nConclusion: \nYou  have a LOW  TOTAL CHOLESTEROL level of 120 mg/dl\nImplication:\nYou are less prone to develop Coronary Artery Diseases. Good for you and keep up the healthy living.
33398
Soluble fiber is very good at lowering cholesterol as it binds the bile (a digestive agent) & causes you to excrete it. The body makes more bile (to replace that which was lost - if it wasn't lost, the body tends to recycle bile) from cholesterol. You'll find soluble fiber in foods such as apples, oranges & oatmeal. \n\nInsoluble fiber is also good for your heart, so eat high fiber foods like beans & veggies. Sodium does not affect your cholesterol level, but it can affect heart health so it's best to keep it to a minimum. \n\nA little exercize, such as walking for 30 minutes 3 times a week, will also work wonders. If you eat a Whte bread, try to switch to something like Nature's Own White Wheat, which has lots of fibre. Try & drink fat-free or 1% milk instead of whole milk. A lot of little life-style changes will go a long way.
981401
Oatmeal and fresh fruit.  Can't beat it.  Complex carbs for long term energy (oatmeal), and simple carbs (fruit) for short term energy spikes.  Plus it can help reduce your cholesterol
675093
Cholesterol comoes from ALL ANIMAL PROTIENS so reduce your meat, eggs and dairy intake (including cooking in animal fat eg., butter). Eat more veggies, nuts, legumes and high fibre foods. You can also eat fish (omega 3 is good fat). Also red wine has been said to help loweing cholesterol.\n\nGarlic is another remedy to lower cholesterol, but since it does give a bad breath, take garlic pills. Apart from that plenty of fluids and exercise in moderation.
605015
"For Cholesterol"?\nDo you mean to lower it?  \n\nJust basically eat the Mediterannian Diet:\n"- high consumption of fruits, vegetables, bread and other cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds \n\n- olive oil is an important monounsaturated fat source \n\n- dairy products, fish and poultry are consumed in low to \nmoderate amounts, and little red meat is eaten \n\n- eggs are consumed zero to four times a week \n\n- wine is consumed in low to moderate amounts "\n\nYou should also try using "Smart Balance" instead of butter all around.  It even tastes better, IMHO.  My mom has really bad high cholesterol, and she has to be on this diet to not have to take medication for it.
1052073
Foods rich in saturated fats such as butter, cheese, coconut oil, and cream. Use oils such as olive, corn, safflower, and Soya. Green vegetables, fruits, cereals, skimmed milk, skim milk yoghurt should be the main items of your diet. Eating oat bran, Soya beans and grapefruit in diet reduces high blood cholesterol. Fish and chicken with out skin is not harmful. Chocolates should be avoided.  Having only salad for lunch is not good. It is good to include fresh salad of tomato, cucumber, carrot, radish, and cabbage along with your both meals. In addition cooked vegetables also should be included. Among fruits try to avoid avocado, pear, banana, mango, chickoo, and custard apple. To get the idea of 1800kcal refer my article on sample menu for diabetic diet. Avoid organ meats, prawns, lobsters, whole milk, ghee, butter and egg yolk. Use only 20 ml of vegetable oils like olive or safflower, sunflower oil per day for cooking. \nOnion, garlic, fenugreek seeds are some of the food items which help to reduce the cholesterol level. High fat content foods, organ meats, prawns, oysters, saturated fat etc will increase the cholesterol.
116242
1)  Don't smoke or take tobacco products.  2)  Keep your blood pressure down to normal.  3)  If you are diabetic, control it extremely well.  A deficiency of chromium has been proven to cause some type II diabetes.  A supplement of 200 micrograms a day of chromium picolinate will remedy this.  4)  check your cholesterol, your good cholesterol (HDL) and the bad cholesterol (LDL).  You want to maximize the HDL and minimize the LDL.  Also, check the triglycerides, and minimize them.  If fat, you want to get the weight down and keep it down.  Regular exercise, even just walking a mile nonstop 3 times a week will help your cholesterol.  GET OFF ALL trans fats.  Trans fats are partially hydrogenated oils, contained in shortening, margarine, and many processed foods. Keep the total amount of fat in your diet fairly low.  Keep off all trans fats.  Next most important is to keep the saturated fats low.  Then the total fats low.  Don't eat junk food, which is food high in sugar, refined flour, and fat.  Eat lots of whole grain cereals and breads and pastas.  Eat lots of vegetables and fruits, and some lean meats and fish.  5) check your homocysteine level.  If high, take 2 mg of folic acid per day (3 of the big 800 microgram tablets).  6)  If you can't drink alcohol without drinking heavy, then abstain totally from alcohol.  Otherwise, take one or two glasses of dry red wine each evening.  7)  consider taking one adult aspirin per day to reduce blood clots, esp. if over 50 years old or strong family history.  8)  Get plenty of the essential (required in diet) omega 3 oil.  You can do this by eating 3 servings of cold water ocean fish per week, such as salmon, sardines, or white albacore tuna, etc.  or you can take 1-2 tablespoons of cold pressed flax seed oil daily, either added to cold cereal or salad or fruit or mixed into low fat cottage cheese (this is rec. by Dr. Johanna Budwig, the doc who has done extensive research on it.  the cottage cheese provides sulfur containing amino acids which complement the omega 3)  9)  Get plenty of all your vitamins and minerals.  If you eat well, this shouldn't be a problem.  It's hard to get too much vitamin C.  Dr. Linus Pauling, the Nobel winner, recommended 10-15 grams of vit C per day.  1 gm = 1000 mg.  Other important antioxidant vitamins are vit A and its precursor caratenoids, and vit E.  Coral calcium is a good natural source of calcium, as well as all the other minerals.  The bioflavenoids, such as those found in grape seed extract and in elderberry concentrate or wine seem to be important antioxidant vitamins.  10)  Don't get real stressed out!  The old expression about "something breaking your heart" has some truth in it.  11)  Keep your teeth and gums clean.  When you develop rotten teeth and gums, it may somehow spread inflammation to cholesterol placques.  We don't really know, but we do know that inflammation is part of the heart attack condition, of thrombosis of placques.  12) The monounsaturated oils, either olive oil, or canola oil, are considered to be your best oils for cooking, from an arterial standpoint.  I think real butter is better for you than margarine, since it doesn't have any trans fats, but go easy on it.
151625
you need to get healthy buy eating healthier foods and cutting out fats and salt intake etc. Make sure you excercise regularly, about 3 times a week, and try to be generally more active like walking to the corner shop instead of driving. Try this for a few weeks and you should notice an improvement.
553716
Here are some sites with some examples of menus and other dietary info when trying to lower cholesterol.  There are also a lot of helpful books out there, and you can also see if your doctor can recommend a dietician who can make up some menus for you.\nhttp://www.gicare.com/pated/edtot24.htm\nhttp://www.loweringcholesterol.net/show/low-cholesterol-diet
10185
I lowered mine by eating oatmeal everyday and adding more grains and fiber to my meals. \nAlso eating foods high in good cholesterol like olive oil, avocadoes, and flaxseed.\nI went from 235 to 167 in a month.
616046
I'd say diet is probably key.  Watch your fat intake - especially trans fat.  Eat less red meat. Exercise. Drink red wine.  Check with your Doctor or nutritionist.  It's good to get a baseline bloodwork check and then make some diet changes and get the bloodwork done again to see if you lowered your cholestrol.  Some people still need cholestrol lowering meds to help.  HTH's
375495
The healthy way is with diet. Stay away from fatty foods (like fried and baked goods). Eat food rich in fiber. A bowl of cheerios is really good. To do it fast, drugs may be the best option. Lipitor and Zocor are reletively safe and can lower your cholesterol big time! My dad's went from 230 to 160 with Lipitor. Ask your doc about it.