A variety of factors can affect your cholesterol levels. They include:
· Diet. Saturated fat and cholesterol in the food you eat increase cholesterol levels. Try to reduce the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in your diet.
· Weight. In addition to being a risk factor for heart disease, being overweight can also increase your cholesterol. Losing weight can help lower your LDL and total cholesterol levels, as well as increase HDL cholesterol.
· Exercise. Regular exercise can lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol. You should try to be physically active for 30 minutes on most days.
· Age and Gender. As we get older, cholesterol levels rise. Before menopause, women tend to have lower total cholesterol levels than men of the same age. After menopause, however, women's LDL levels tend to rise.
· Diabetes. Poorly controlled diabetes increases cholesterol levels.
· Heredity. Your genes partly determine how much cholesterol your body makes. High blood cholesterol can run in families. -WebMD
What can you do about it?
Can a bowl of oatmeal help lower your cholesterol? How about a handful of walnuts ? A few simple
tweaks to your diet may be enough to lower your cholesterol to a healthy level and help you stay off
medications. Learn more in this week's flyer.
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