how to reduce cholesterol without statins

Fitness trainer Nicola Ayres says regular exercise boosts good cholesterol and lowers bad cholesterol by as much as 5%. Soluble fiber helps to lower blood cholesterol levels. Your doctor may be able to recommend resources in your area. Common products with trans fats include margarine and store-bought cookies, cakes, and crackers. Get a wikiHow-style meme custom made just for you! Pectin-rich fruits such as apples, grapes, citrus fruit, and strawberries can help lower LDL. Being physically active is another way to maintain healthy cholesterol levels, particularly for strength training, aerobics, and high-intensity exercise such as HIIT (high-intensity interval training). If you work hard at it, you may not need to take medications such as statins. 2. This includes white breads and many store-bought crackers, cakes, and muffins. Your doctor may be able to recommend someone who specializes in helping people quit smoking. Exercise can also help to lower LDL cholesterol when combined with dietary changes and weight loss. If you eat fatty meats, trim the fat away. This way of eating focuses on adding specific plant-based foods daily including soy, plant sterols, soluble fibers, nuts, as well as dried beans, peas and legumes. Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. There are 18 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. Cholesterol is in the fats that are in your blood. If you have transitioned to a whole food, plant-based diet and still have high LDL, you may want to take a closer look at your family history, diet, and lifestyle. For more tips from our Medical co-author, including how to quit smoking to help your cholesterol levels, scroll down! We are not referring to soy products containing isolated soy protein, which is a plant fragment and not a whole soy food. So will many fish oils. Artificial trans fats can be found in some fried fast foods, processed bakery products, microwave popcorn, pizza dough, and non-dairy coffee creamer. X For more details, review our Privacy Policy. Studies have linked consumption of trans fats to higher LDL cholesterol and lower HDL cholesterol levels. This article was co-authored by Find BC Dietitians. The Mayo Clinic recommends that people eat 300 milligrams or less of cholesterol per day. Coffee intake is associated with an increase of 8 mg/dL in total cholesterol and a 5.4 mg/dL increase in LDL, and unfiltered coffee is responsible for these effects to a greater extent than filtered coffee. However, even low-intensity exercise has been shown to increase HDL’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capabilities. There is evidence that the Portfolio diet can lower LDL cholesterol by about 11% in adults who have mild to moderately high LDL cholesterol levels. So it has no fiber to mitigate how quickly it gets into the blood. If you really can’t stand to see another ad again, then please consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. Copyright 2020 Center for Nutrition Studies. One way to keep cholesterol levels in check is by incorporating healthy fats into your diet. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/2\/22\/Control-Cholesterol-Without-Statins-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Control-Cholesterol-Without-Statins-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/2\/22\/Control-Cholesterol-Without-Statins-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/aid1294911-v4-728px-Control-Cholesterol-Without-Statins-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"