Some "new" information about lowering cholesterol
In previous posts I forgot to mention exercise as a way to help lower cholesterol. I have noticed that you won't always find everything in one book. I had to look through a couple different books to come up with that.
So the 3 main things are diet, exercise and stress control. And exercise, like walking, can be a form of stress control too.
When people think about diet they usually think about eating less fat and cholesterol. However, it's everything about your diet, including fiber. Fiber plays a big role in helping to keep cholesterol low. The average American only consumes about 12 grams of fiber per day, whereas we need at least 25 grams. And 35 grams would be ideal.
Today, while reviewing one of my books, I got reminded of something very important. It's not just saturated fat and cholesterol that can raise your blood cholesterol. It's animal protein itself! So, if you're eating a lot of non-fat cottage cheese, non-fat ricotta, egg whites, boiled chicken breast, fish and non-fat milk, you are contributing to a higher level of blood cholesterol.
Just to show how animal protein can make a difference, I'll use myself as an example: Up until the beginning of 2006, I was eating a normal amount of low fat animal protein in my diet. I believe my total blood cholesterol was up around 200 at that time (without cholesterol medication). Around May of 2006, I changed to a vegan diet. My next blood test showed my total blood cholesterol to be 184. I was disapointed because I thought that was as good as it was going to get. However, a year later my blood test showed a total cholesterol reading of 164. And it hasn't stopped going down. My latest blood test, on 7-12-2011, showed my total blood cholesterol to be 157. (My triglyceride reading of 73 basically stayed the same.)
Today was the first time I went back through my medical records and compared year by year. And it's amazing that it confirms the information I read about in "The China Study", by T Colin Campbell, PHD.
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