Lower Cholesterol Naturally

Reduce Cholesterol Naturally Through Diet, Stress Reduction, and Nutritional Supplements

To lower cholesterol naturally, the generally accepted diet that is often recommended is the low fat, calorie counting type of diet. Often this type of diet is also used along with medication such as statin drugs.

The low fat, low cholesterol diet has been the standard approach for the last twenty years and as recent research clearly shows, it is not effective. In fact, for as long as this has been the standard procedure, heart disease has steadily increased. It is possible to reduce cholesterol levels by diet, but eliminating saturated fat and cholesterol will not do it!

During the last 100 years in America, animal (saturated) fat intake has remained at the same level, while consumption of processed unsaturated vegetable oil products has increased four-fold – along with an equal increase in the major degenerative diseases like heart disease, obesity, cancer and diabetes.

Low Cholesterol Food – Choose Your Fats Wisely

If you’re feeling a little confused about fats – which are good and which are bad – you’re not alone, even the “experts” seem to be confused on this issue!

Here’s a simple outline of dietary fats…

Saturated fat

- Saturated fat is found in meat, poultry, fish dairy products and the vegetable oils, coconut oil and palm oil. Despite being “demonized” by the mainstreatm media, a certain amount of saturated fat is an essential part of a healthy low cholesterol diet.

Saturated fats have been used by humans for thousands of years. Traditional cultures that still exist have been studied and found to consume large amounts of saturated animal fats (not recommended!), but without the results of high cholesterol and heart disease commonly found in modern Western societies.

Unsaturated fat

- The two types of unsaturated fats are poly-unsaturated and mono-unsaturated. Many people believe that all unsaturated fats are good, but they aren’t.

Poly-unsaturated fats are damaging to your health and are usually consumed in excessive amounts since they’re found in so much processed food and especially snack foods. Poly-unsaturated oils are used so frequently in the food industry because they’re cheap and have a long shelf life before excessive rancidity.

mono-unsaturated fats

are the healthiest unsaturated fats. They’re found in olive oil, avocados and many nuts and seeds like almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, etc..

An effective low cholesterol diet would use only mono-unsaturated oils for cooking, especially extra virgin olive oil, which has been proven to help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, and raise HDL (good) cholesterol.

More “bad” Fats…

Some of the most health-damaging fats and oils that help to raise LDL (bad) cholesterol are unnatural, man made fats called “hydrogenated oils” or “trans-fats. It’s challenging to avoid “trans-fats” because they’re used in almost all processed foods (even so-called “health food”!).

Trans-fats can do major damage to your body because the molecular structure is altered to the point that your body can’t digest it. Anything your body can’t process, use and release becomes a toxin that can cause all sorts of problems like high cholesterol and heart disease.

If you want to reduce cholesterol and avoid ailments like heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity, steer clear of hydrogenated trans-fats!

Omega 3 Essential fatty acids

Omega 3 essential fatty acids are truly “essential” for good health. Omega oils can be added to your diet by eating oily fish like salmon, flax seeds or by supplementation with fish, flax or borage oil.

Health benefits of Omega 3 fish oils

Now, let’s discuss some of the benefits that studies are now suggesting for the intake of Omega 3 (DHA and EPA).

Many researchers say that intake of Omega 3 can: improve the health of your heart, ease joint pain (due to the anti-inflammatory properties) and boost cognitive function (improve brain health….with studies showing benefits to memory and alleviating depression).

Other experts believe that the health benefits of fish oil capsules also extend to: improving the health of the skin, helping with diabetes, helping to prevent stroke, and improving the immune system.

Of course, more studies need to be conducted on Omega 3 fish oils on all of these health conditions, but the evidence is promising so far.

Low Cholesterol Diet and Anti-nutrients

The worlds oldest natural healing systems, Traditional Chinese and Indian medicine (Ayurveda), place the highest importance on digestion in order to maintain good health. Poor food digestion creates the situation where undigested food builds up in the body, congesting the liver and large intestine, which in turn can cause health problems like allergies, skin disorders and a number of other issues such as high LDL cholesterol.

Poor digestion can result from physical problems (malabsorption) and from consuming low quality, over-processed food (and fats) that your body is unable to process.

Anti-nutrients are substances like sugar, food coloring, processed fats and most of the 3,000 or so food additives currently allowed in the United States.

These substances antagonize nutrients needed by the body by binding to them and rendering them useless. Other anti-nutrients tie up enzymes needed in digestion, and interfere with normal bodily functions in countless ways.

Since we’re all exposed to anti-nutrients daily this represents an important factor in developing high cholesterol and risk of heart disease. By eating a low cholesterol diet and using high-quality nutritional supplements we can reduce the impact that anti-nutrients have on our health.

Stress Reduction

It’s now known that a big factor in high cholesterol issues is excess stress. Learning stress and anxiety management skills can help you understand how to release excess stress before it can become a problem. Biofeedback, meditation and other forms of relaxation training are some options to learn necessary skills. Also, remember that some form of regular exercise on an consistent basis is very good at lessening the negative effects of anxiety and stress.

Supplements to Lower Cholesterol Naturally

Some supplements have been extensively studied and proven to lower high cholesterol. Although one should not use nutritional supplements to replace a healthy diet and lifestyle, they can be a powerful component of an overall heart healthy regimen. Here are the most promising (the ones with the most scientific evidence of efficacy):

1. Policosanol: an extract from sugar cane, proven in numerous clinical trials to lower LDL (by up to 20%) and raise HDL (by up to 10%)

2. Guggulipid: an ancient herb used traditionally in India’s Ayurveda medicine for thousands of years to treat high cholesterol. Its effectiveness is now being recognized by Western medicine.

3. B Vitamin Complex, especially, as mentioned above: B6, B12, and Folic Acid to counter elevated homocysteine.

4. Vitamin C and E, powerful antioxidants that act to neutralize free radical damage.

5. Coenzyme Q10: a crucial nutrient that is found in high concentrations in the heart muscle, and is often depleted in those with cardiovascular disease.

Featured Resource for High Cholesterol

After extensively surveying the market for products that contain all of the crucial aforementioned nutrients, we finally settled on a product produced from Xtend-Life Natural Products.

First, as long time consumers and researchers of Nutritional Supplements ourselves, we know that a product has to be produced at a pharmaceutical GMP compliant facility and its ingredients verified with a certificate of analysis to confirm its potency. Xtend-Life is one of the few companies that meets these requirements.

Xtend-Life’s product contain every nutrient listed above. Their Cholesterol Formula contains Policosanol, Guggulipid, Coenzyme Q10, and vitamins B6, B12, and Folic Acid to lower homocysteine, along with many other important heart healthy nutrients that have been indicated to help with high cholesterol.

Wishing You Good Health!
The Editors i-health-info.net