Natural Ways to Lower Cholesterol

A report from The National Center for Health Statistics states that over 80 million adults in the U.S. have unhealthy cholesterol levels. That’s 1/3 of the American population. Many kids also have unhealthy cholesterol numbers.

If your cholesterol numbers are not in the healthy range you may be on medication to lower your bad cholesterol and improve your good cholesterol. If you aren't taking meds yet, you may be looking for natural ways to lower your LDL cholesterol and raise your HDL.

Scientific research, including 80 studies over the past ten years, on plant sterols and stanols show that they can help people achieve healthy cholesterol numbers naturally.

We have known for a long time that cholesterol is a big risk factor in developing heart disease. It is important that you know ‘your numbers’ because there’s a lot you can do to impact having healthy total cholesterol.

Cholesterol is a waxy fat-like substance that occurs naturally in your body. It is an essential part of your cell membranes and used to both create and repair cells. Your body makes cholesterol and you get it from the foods you eat as well. You can control the cholesterol you eat if you stay away from foods that have unhealthy cholesterol.

In August, 2010, the Annals of Internal Medicine stated that people who have high cholesterol in their 20’s are more likely to have signs of heart disease by the time they reach their 40’s.

High cholesterol numbers are associated with high blood pressure, vision loss, Alzheimers disease and dementia. People with high cholesterol levels in their 40’s may have a higher risk of developing dementia.

These may be scary statistics but science, research and clinical studies have given us lifestyle choices that can help us build better health.

Diet is one area where you have control over healthy choices: cut down on high cholesterol foods like trans fats and saturated fats and increase lean meat, eat fish more often and consume foods with high fiber content (or at least eat more fiber overall each day. These actions will help your cholesterol levels.

Everyone should be getting some form of daily exercise. It is good for your overall health and even 30 minutes per day can help lower your bad cholesterol and raise your good cholesterol numbers.

Plant sterols and stanols work in the body by preventing absorption of cholesterol that leads to heart disease. It would be hard to consume the amount of sterols and stanols by eating them in fruits, vegetables and grains in your daily diet. You need to take the 2000 mg daily that has been proven to positively impact your cholesterol levels in supplement form. It is a way to reduce cholesterol naturally, and without all of the calories you would be adding to your diet if you tried to get them from food.

2000 mg of sterols and stanols each day is available in a gluten-free supplement form. Results should be expected in 4 ot 6 weeks and you should have your doctor check your cholesterol levels after that time.

There are no significant side effects of supplement sterols and stanols. They are highly effective even if you are already on a heart healthy diet, and safe to use with statin drugs. Your doctor should monitor your blood levels of cholesterol since the dose of meds you take may need adjusted when natural cholesterol reducing sterols and stanols are also lowering your overall cholesterol numbers.

Lowering your cholesterol by 10% reduces your risk for heart disease. Clinical studies show that taking plant sterols as a natural way to lower cholesterol can help lower your overall cholesterol number 5 to 15%.

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