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Healthy tips and advice
Cholesterol is a key risk factor of Heart Disease. If you want to manage your cholesterol, the first step is to find out your cholesterol levels. If your bad (LDL) cholesterol levels are too high, there are lots of things you can do to start lowering them. As well as eating Flora pro.activ, we have plenty of tips to help you lower your cholesterol. Remember you should always consult your GP if you have high cholesterol levels.
A combination of simple changes is the best way to lower your cholesterol levels along with your risk of heart disease*:
*Flora pro.activ contains plant sterols. Plant sterols have been shown to lower blood cholesterol. High cholesterol is a risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease. Consuming 1.5-2.4g of plant sterols per day can lower cholesterol by 7-10% in 2-3 weeks when consumed as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle with sufficient fruit and vegetables.
Eat plant sterols
In studies, plant sterols have been proven to significantly lower cholesterol. Flora pro.activ foods contain concentrated levels of plant sterols – in fact, just the right amount to help you lower your cholesterol levels by 7 to 10% in just two to three weeks, when consumed daily.**
Good fats and bad fats
Saturated fats can raise LDL levels; they’re found in foods like cheese, butter, cream, cakes, pastries, fatty cuts of meat, sausages and burgers.
Try to cut back on “bad” (trans and saturated) fats and replace them with “good” (unsaturated) fats. It’s easy: swap butter for an unsaturated spread e.g. sunflower, olive or Flora pro.activ spreads , lard for vegetable oil, fatty meat for lean meat, chicken (without skin) or fish, and full-fat milk for skimmed, 1% or semi skimmed milk.
If you’re buying processed foods, check the nutrition labels to help you make the healthiest choice.
Download our Fat Swap Table PDF or visit our Facebook page to explore our online fat swap wheel.
Find healthier protein sources
Remove skin and visible fat from meat and poultry and choose lean cuts to reduce the saturated fat content. Go for healthier cooking methods like baking, grilling, boiling or steaming rather than frying.
Opt for beans, legumes, lentils, fish, poultry, and lean meat instead of processed and fatty meats. These foods will provide you with protein but are lower in saturated fat. You can add pulses to casseroles and stews to replace or bulk out meat. And try to eat oily fish (like salmon, mackerel, trout or sardines at least once a week (or 2-3 times a week if you have had a heart attack) They contain omega-3 fats that are a type of polyunsaturated fat that can help to protect your heart health.
Get your 5 a day
Eating a variety of fruit and vegetables provides your body with the fibre, vitamins and minerals that it needs and swapping fatty snacks for fruit and vegetables you can help to lower your saturated fat intake.
Aim for at least five portions a day. One portion = 80g, or any of the following:
1 apple
1 slice of melon
2 satsumas
1 tablespoon of dried fruit
1 small glass of fruit juice
3 tablespoons of vegetables
1 dessert bowl of salad
Watch your salt
Eating too much salt is linked to high blood pressure, another risk factor for heart disease. Government recommendations advise adults to consume less than 6g of salt a day (about a teaspoon) but on average we are eating more than this. Always check food labels to help you to make the healthiest choices and avoid adding salt during cooking or at the table. Use herbs, spices, pepper, lemon and chilli to flavour your food instead of salt.
Have a balanced diet
Base your meals on starchy carbohydrates like bread, grains, pasta, rice or potatoes, These foods provide energy and dietary fibre along with vitamins and minerals. Choose wholegrain options – from wholewheat pasta and brown rice to wholemeal or granary bread. Combine them with some lean proteins or low fat dairy and a good helping of fruit and vegetables to balance things out.
Watch your alcohol intake
If you like a tipple, drink in moderation. The NHS recommends that men shouldn’t regularly drink more than 3–4 units of alcohol per day, and women no more than 2–3 units.
Keep your weight in check
Being overweight is bad for your heart and makes it harder to maintain healthy cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Read more about weight and bmi
Get active
Along with adopting a healthy diet, regular physical activity can contribute to lowering your cholesterol levels. It can also help you:
Achieve a healthy weight and shape
Maintain healthy blood pressure levels
Re-energise, de-stress and relax
Experts recommend a minimum of 30 minutes of moderateactivity on at least five days a week –whether it’s three ten-minute sessions or one half-hour burst. A brisk walk is ideal as it leaves you slightly breathless and increases your heart rate. Other ways to increase your activity include:
Taking the stairs
Parking the car further away from your destination
Getting off the bus a stop earlier
Using an exercise bike while watching TV
Getting stuck into some vigorous gardening
Using a pedometer and taking more steps each day
Dancing to your favourite tunes!
Swimming during your lunch hour
Check your blood pressure
Get your blood pressure checked regularly by a doctor, chemist or nurse. Find out more about blood pressure
Manage your stress
Too much stress isn’t good for heart health. Whether you’re feeling anxiety, panic or pressure from demands at work or at home, it’s important to create coping mechanisms.
*As heart disease has multiple risk factors, you may need to improve more than one to reduce your overall risk.
Working together
Working Together
Flora pro.activ & the British Heart Foundation are raising awareness of heart disease amongst women.
Join us
Join Us
Find out how you can join the conversation and help the women in your life.
What is cholesterol?
Plate and heart
Learn more about high cholesterol - and find out how it is linked to heart disease.
11 Foods that Lower Cholesterol
If your diet gave you high cholesterol, it can lower it, too.
It's easy to eat your way to an alarmingly high cholesterol level. The reverse is true, too — changing what you eat can lower your cholesterol and improve the armada of fats floating through your bloodstream.
Doing this requires a two-pronged strategy: Add foods that lower LDL, the harmful cholesterol-carrying particle that contributes to artery-clogging atherosclerosis. At the same time, cut back on foods that boost LDL. Without that step, you are engaging in a holding action instead of a steady — and tasty — victory.
In with the good
Different foods lower cholesterol in various ways. Some deliver soluble fiber, which binds cholesterol and its precursors in the digestive system and drags them out of the body before they get into circulation. Some give you polyunsaturated fats, which directly lower LDL. And some contain plant sterols and stanols, which block the body from absorbing cholesterol.
Oats. An easy first step to improving your cholesterol is having a bowl of oatmeal or cold oat-based cereal like Cheerios for breakfast. It gives you 1 to 2 grams of soluble fiber. Add a banana or some strawberries for another half-gram. Current nutrition guidelines recommend getting 20 to 35 grams of fiber a day, with at least 5 to 10 grams coming from soluble fiber. (The average American gets about half that amount.)
Barley and other whole grains. Like oats and oat bran, barley and other whole grains can help lower the risk of heart disease, mainly via the soluble fiber they deliver.
Beans. Beans are especially rich in soluble fiber. They also take awhile for the body to digest, meaning you feel full for longer after a meal. That's one reason beans are a useful food for folks trying to lose weight. With so many choices — from navy and kidney beans to lentils, garbanzos, black-eyed peas, and beyond — and so many ways to prepare them, beans are a very versatile food.
Eggplant and okra. These two low-calorie vegetables are good sources of soluble fiber.
Nuts. A bushel of studies shows that eating almonds, walnuts, peanuts, and other nuts is good for the heart. Eating 2 ounces of nuts a day can slightly lower LDL, on the order of 5%. Nuts have additional nutrients that protect the heart in other ways.
Vegetable oils. Using liquid vegetable oils such as canola, sunflower, safflower, and others in place of butter, lard, or shortening when cooking or at the table helps lower LDL.
Apples, grapes, strawberries, citrus fruits. These fruits are rich in pectin, a type of soluble fiber that lowers LDL.
Foods fortified with sterols and stanols. Sterols and stanols extracted from plants gum up the body's ability to absorb cholesterol from food. Companies are adding them to foods ranging from margarine and granola bars to orange juice and chocolate. They're also available as supplements. Getting 2 grams of plant sterols or stanols a day can lower LDL cholesterol by about 10%.
Soy. Eating soybeans and foods made from them, like tofu and soy milk, was once touted as a powerful way to lower cholesterol. Analyses show that the effect is more modest — consuming 25 grams of soy protein a day (10 ounces of tofu or 2 1/2 cups of soy milk) can lower LDL by 5% to 6%.
Fatty fish. Eating fish two or three times a week can lower LDL in two ways: by replacing meat, which has LDL-boosting saturated fats, and by delivering LDL-lowering omega-3 fats. Omega-3s reduce triglycerides in the bloodstream and also protect the heart by helping prevent the onset of abnormal heart rhythms.
Fiber supplements. Supplements offer the least appealing way to get soluble fiber. Two teaspoons a day of psyllium, which is found in Metamucil and other bulk-forming laxatives, provide about 4 grams of soluble fiber.
Out with the bad
Harmful LDL creeps upward and protective HDL drifts downward largely because of diet and other lifestyle choices. Genes play a role, too — some people are genetically programmed to respond more readily to what they eat — but genes aren't something you can change. Here are four things you can:
Saturated fats. The saturated fats found in red meat, milk and other dairy foods, and coconut and palm oils directly boost LDL. So one way to lower your LDL is to cut back on saturated fat. Try substituting extra-lean ground beef for regular; low-fat or skim milk for whole milk; olive oil or a vegetable-oil margarine for butter; baked fish or chicken for fried.
Trans fats. Trans fats are a byproduct of the chemical reaction that turns liquid vegetable oil into solid margarine or shortening and that prevents liquid vegetable oils from turning rancid. Trans fats boost LDL as much as saturated fats do. They also lower protective HDL, rev up inflammation, and increase the tendency for blood clots to form inside blood vessels. The Institute of Medicine recommends getting no more than two grams of trans fats a day; less is even better. Although trans fats were once ubiquitous in prepared foods, many companies now use trans-free alternatives. Some restaurants and fast-food chains have yet to make the switch.
Weight and exercise. Being overweight and not exercising affect fats circulating in the bloodstream. Excess weight boosts harmful LDL, while inactivity depresses protective HDL. Losing weight if needed and exercising more reverse these trends.
Putting it all together
When it comes to investing money, experts recommend creating a portfolio of diverse investments instead of putting all your eggs in one basket. The same holds true for eating your way to lower cholesterol. Adding several foods that fight high cholesterol in different ways should work better than focusing on one or two.
That approach has been tested by Dr. David Jenkins of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and his colleagues. In a series of studies, their largely vegetarian "dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods" substantially lowered LDL, triglycerides, and blood pressure. The portfolio included margarine enriched with plant sterols; oats, barley, psyllium, okra, and eggplant, all rich in soluble fiber; soy protein; and whole almonds. These were added to a diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains instead of highly refined ones, and protein mostly from plants.
Of course, shifting to a cholesterol-lowering diet takes more attention than popping a daily statin. It means expanding the variety of foods you usually put in your shopping cart and getting used to new textures and flavors. But it's a "natural" way to lower cholesterol, and it avoids the risk of muscle problems and other side effects that plague some people who take statins.
Just as important, a diet that is heavy on fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts is good for the body in ways beyond lowering cholesterol. It keeps blood pressure in check. It helps arteries stay flexible and responsive. It's good for bones and digestive health, for vision and mental health. That's a portfolio worth protecting.
| 11 years ago. Rating: 3 | |
