The Secrets of a Cholesterol Lowering Diet

It's a scientific finding that people who lived about a hundred years back were much fitter than the ones who are alive now. On the other hand, we proudly proclaim that it's only in the last century that science has made such breakthrough in unravelling the mysteries of nature that we are only inches from delving into the mindscape of the Creator. If we definitely had such a control over the mechanisms of nature then why is it that every year over 10 million US citizens die because of obesity related disorders of health and doctor's report that over 26 million US citizens run the risk of dying because of obesity?

Cholesterol has become the number one enemy and it is getting ever more important to find a Cholesterol lowering diet. It is evident that we have discovered more scientific methods of growing crops, even though our food supply is increasing as well as the population, still the food crisis in US is not as glaring as in other parts of the world. Our medical facilities are one of the best in the world with our health insurance securing the lives of common US citizens. Still with such advancements in medicine and such clarity in discerning biological processes, 99% of US citizens are unable to control their body functions.

Who is the chief culprit? Unfortunately, like real life criminals, health disorders are of such varied origins that we can't single out any one. Instead, we may observe a common pattern of behaviour on the part of the patients. As you might have already guessed, it is obesity arising out of intake of an improper diet. A generation hooked onto Zinger burgers, McDonald Meals, cheap liquor and crates of beer will not stop until they slammed into the gates of hell. You lifestyle determines your death style. If you think that running on a high fat or carb diet like surplus servings of eggs, butter, milk, bacon, cheese, ham, beef steaks, chocolate, French fries, cold drinks, you will live past 60 years of age, well you are mistaken.

If you get time enough to gorge on such food throughout the day, evidently you won't be able to squeeze in the exercise needed to burn off the calories consumed. At the end of the day, when you get your blood cholesterol check you would find to your surprise and petrifaction that high-density lipid levels and low-density lipid levels have skyrocketed. Needless to say, your cholesterol levels will be some 300 times more than the permissible level.

Under such circumstances if you really want to take control of your life and find a cholesterol lowering diet and set things right, then switch over to the Mediterranean diet and supplement it with some exercise and some good habits. If you are aware of the fact that your health condition is slowly deteriorating, if your obese figure is not just being reflected as stretch marks on your skin but also has become the talk of the neighborhood, then you should instantly contact your local physician and take his advice regarding health matters. Nine out of ten times, will he go for a Mediterranean diet? You might be getting impatient to know what exactly the Mediterranean diet comprises. It is a common notion that the Great bard of yore talked about the tall, dark, handsome lad charming you off your feet and most of the times these tall dark handsome men turned out to be the Moors.

Well, the Moors are just like most other physically active wandering tribes of the Mediterranean region. According to the census, very few Mediterranean people die annually out of diabetes, heart attack or morbid obesity related disorders. This is not because their diet consists of some wonderful weight-reducing pill. It comprises of mostly green vegetables, cereals, nuts, whole grain breads, legumes, beans, and pasta. As a beverage, they consume water or red wine. The cooking oil used is the medicinal effective olive oil. They even consume yogurts, milk and cheese but in moderation. As desserts, they mostly have fruits. Their consumption of poultry and eggs is restricted to once a week; red meat is introduced into their diet a few times a month with sweet and dessert intake being limited to a bare minimum.

Apart from consuming such a nutrient rich diet, yet one low on fats and carbohydrates, the Mediterranean people found enough time to escape from their backbreaking work to gather and enjoy their meals together. Love makes the world go round; it also results in a proper body metabolism. Don't be afraid to experiment with this diet. At first, it won't satisfy your fast-food accustomed palate but if followed religiously for a month, you will notice the changes. Life will seem more beautiful.

To grab more free information on the Cholesterol lowering diet

Do Not Take This Statin Cholesterol Lowering Drug Until You Read This

598 out of every 600 People will needlessly take and pay for a newly approved drug that will do nothing for them except potentially introduce side-effects they did not have before.

The FDA recently approved the use of the statin cholesterol lowering drug Crestor, in healthy people whose cholesterol was not elevated. The alleged benefit of taking the drug is to reduce heart attacks and strokes in healthy people who had 2 risk factors - High C-Reactive Protein (which is a measure of inflammation) and high blood pressure or smoking.

The FDA based it's approval to use Crestor preventively to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke because a large study showed about a 50+% risk reduction in this group of patients. WHAT COULD BE BAD ABOUT THAT?

It is very hard to understand why the FDA allows this 50% number to be used, without significant explanation to patients of the real meaning, benefits and risks of this statistic.

HERE IS THE EXPLANATION AS TO WHY ALLOWING THIS STATISTIC TO BE QUOTED IS SO MISLEADING.

The group of patients who were studied and to whom the medicine will be recommended, are basically healthy people who have no history of heart disease or stroke. If they smoke or have high blood pressure + show high C-Reactive protein, they qualify for the drug. The absolute risk of this group of patients for having a heart attack or stroke is 1/3 of 1 percent if they do nothing and don't take the drug. In other words for every 600 patients in this group who do nothing, only 2 will ever have a heart attack or stroke. (and because they are healthy even those 2 heart attacks or strokes will probably not be life threatening).

Fast forward -A pharmaceutical giant conducts a study and gives thousands of these patients Crestor which costs $3.50 per pill per day and the study found that instead of 2 heart attacks or strokes occurring in every 600 patients, only 1 heart attack or stroke will occur in every 600 patients. Yes this is a reduction of 50% but 50% of a number that was so tiny, that it was an insignificant risk of occurring in these patients had they done nothing.

Another way to look at this is that the pharmaceutical company convinced the FDA to approve a drug (with potential serious side-effects) that needlessly put 598 people on a medicine they didn't ever need and expose them to side-effects like liver toxicity and muscle problems, and increased risk of diabetes, to eliminate 1 (ONE) heart attack or stroke in 600 people. 598 people out of 600 pay for a drug that they not only didn't need but could introduce serious health issues they didn't have before.

To complicate the picture even more, the physician who receives a royalty on every C-reactive protein lab test run in the country, was the physician who convinced the drug company to do the study.

Many well known and respected physicians are concerned at the prospect of giving statin drugs to healthy people for such a ridiculously small benefit and other potential problems.

While he continues his research and development of safer, more effective medications and supplements, Curt is dedicated to helping others achieve and maintain optimal health.

What Are Some Home Remedies For Lowering Cholesterol?

Nowadays, so many people are overweight that it is clear that the majority of the country is not particularly health-conscious. Fast food places abound and with the advance of technology, the general population is more sedentary than ever before. All of these factors lead to much higher cholesterol than is healthy, so if you are looking to lower your own, than here are some home remedies for lowering cholesterol that should help you.

Although there are many prescription medicines out there that can do the trick, it is a good idea to start with simple home solutions that you can do yourself. This will have two benefits for you.

First of all, medications can be very expensive. If you do not try to correct the problem in natural, healthy ways, but simply rely on a pill or bottle to do the trick for you, then you are resigning yourself to a lifetime of paying a lot of money. The higher your cholesterol rises, the less likely the insurance companies are to be friendly and you might find yourself paying quite a large sum out-of-pocket.

Secondly, a fix that you can do yourself at home will not only work to control the problem, but over time and with great effort, it can even correct the problem. Whereas a medicine will simply treat the existing condition, a healthy lifestyle can work to eliminate the problem completely, which is obviously a much more ideal situation.

The first thing that you can try to lower your numbers is onion juice. Powerful and potent, this stuff might seem a little bit smelly, but its acidic nature can work to battle your problem. It will work to clean out your blood and digestive tracts and can even regulate the heart action.

Soy products, oat bran, and sunflower seeds are three great foods that can lower your cholesterol. Do not overindulge in them, but make them part of your normal, balanced healthy diet and you will see a difference within weeks.

Another choice of home remedies for lowering cholesterol seems very simple, but is often hard for people to do: work to eat less of foods high in this harmful substance. Stay away from red meats, eggs, fatty cheeses, and butter, and you will definitely improve your health and the way you look and feel. Switching instead to a diet high in fiber and low-fat foods will make a huge difference in your numbers and a very happy doctor the next time you stop in for a check up.

High cholesterol is dangerous and it is crucial to control it at the earliest. To learn about supplements that can help lower cholesterol more naturally, Rajagopalan helps you to understand how this natural remedy can help control cholesterol.

Take Action Against Cholesterol With These Foods

High cholesterol is a major problem for a lot of people today. It can lead to serious life threatening complications if left untreated; that it why it is important to eat a healthy diet and maintain a healthy lifestyle. An important part of a healthy lifestyle is exercise. As for healthy eating habits, here are a few foods which are proven to lower bad cholesterol (also known as LDL).

Oatmeal is one of the most well known cholesterol lowering foods. It contains soluble fiber which reduces low-density lipoprotein (or LDL). Kidney beans, apples, pears, barley, and prunes are some of the other foods which contain soluble fiber. Another cholesterol lowering food is the walnut. The walnut is made up of polyunsaturated fatty acids which are proven to not only reduce bad cholesterol but also keep blood vessels healthy and elastic. However, it is important to note that this particular nut is fattening, that's why a simple 2 ounce serving per day is enough.

Another food which is responsible for lowering LDL is fish. All fatty fish are rich in omega 3 fats which are known to reduce the risk of blood clots, reduce blood pressure, and lower cholesterol. Lake trout, herring, mackerel, sardines, and salmon are some of the best fish to consume. It is best to bake or grill the fish in order to gain the most health benefits. Another way that people lower their cholesterol is through the consumption of whey protein shakes. These particular shakes can replace one of your daily meals. With zero cholesterol, zero sodium, and zero saturated fats, it is easy to see why a lot of people consume protein shakes. They are also great for those of us who want to lose weight in ways other than with diet pills. These are just a few steps to help you lower bad cholesterol.

Statin Drugs for Cholesterol Lowering Won't Necessarily Save Your Life

In January of 2008 there was some unsettling news that came from the FDA about the risks of the cholesterol lowering medication Vytorin (a combination of Zetia (Ezetimibe) and the statin drug Zocor (simvastatin)). Data from the Enhance trial that was not previously revealed by the manufacturer, Merck/Schering-Plough, showed that the combination drug did not reduce atherosclerotic plaque any better than the generic statin drug, simvastatin, when given alone.

In fact, if anything Vytorin seemed to make atherosclerotic plaque worse, although it had a greater effect on lowering cholesterol. Vytorin has also been associated with an alarming increase in risk of liver damage. In addition, the Zetia that is in Vytorin has never been shown to reduce the risk of heart attacks or strokes. And Vytorin, at $2.84 a pop, as well as Zetia ($2.63) costs a heck-of-a-lot more than simvastatin, which is less than a dollar per pill.

Doctors use cholesterol lowering drugs to get cholesterol down to normal levels. However just because a drug lowers cholesterol levels doesn't mean it will do what patients care about most, that is save your life, or even reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The most commonly prescribed drugs to lower cholesterol, the statins, include Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor, Mevacor, and Pravachol. Statins lower LDL cholesterol by blocking an enzyme that churns out LDL cholesterol in the liver, called HMG CoEnzymeA reductase. Thirteen million prescriptions are written for statins every year. Ezetimibe (Zetia) is a drug that blocks absorption of LDL cholesterol by the small intestine, thus lowering LDL cholesterol levels in the blood. Zetia acts on cells lining the small intestine to interfere with their uptake of cholesterol. If we followed the recommendations of the experts, cholesterol lowering drugs would be given to every American with an LDL of greater than 130 mg/dL over age 45.

Since half of Americans over age 35 have an LDL greater than 130 that would mean that almost half of all Americans or 100 million people should, theoretically, be taking statins. Since a year of statins costs up to $3000, that would cost $300 billion a year. Comparing national guidelines for who should take a statin across different countries, the guidelines which called for the most liberal use of statins (you guessed it, the U.S.) which called for 25% of the population to be on statins, saved no more lives than the guidelines for one of the most restrictive countries, New Zealand, which would treat 13% of the population.

For healthy males without a history of heart disease and without risk factors for heart disease (smoking, hypertension, family history of heart disease, familial hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, obesity and diabetes), there isn't any evidence that cholesterol lowering drugs are helpful in terms of preventing heart attacks and strokes. For men with risk factors, the majority of the studies show that they may prevent heart attacks but don't decrease your risk of dying. Cholesterol lowering does not prevent heart attacks in women without heart disease or in men without heart disease who are over the age of 70.

And taking a statin won't prevent you from having a heart attack or dying if you have heart disease. It only slightly lowers your risk, by about 0.2% per year. The only study to show that statins reduce risk of death in patients without heart disease showed that although after 15 years men taking Pravachol had fewer deaths (106 versus 135 on placebo), there was a 51% increase in prostate cancer. Other studies have shown a slight increase in the risk of cancer, especially with the use of high dose statins to bring cholesterol down to very low levels. Statins can also cause liver damage, depression, memory problems, and joint pain. They can also cause damage to the muscle tissue which results in muscle pain. In rare cases this can lead to a breakdown of the muscle tissue which results in kidney failure. Zetia can headache, dizziness, diarrhea, muscle and joint pain, and more rarely jaundice, gall stones or inflammation of the pancreas.

Bottom line? The drugs you are taking to prevent heart disease may not be as useful as you think, and in some cases may be doing more harm than good. Let the buyer beware.

Natural Cholesterol Lowering Techniques That Really Work

If you were recently in for a doctor's visit and he told you those words that no one wants to hear, "Your cholesterol levels are too high", then it is time to think about what you can do to solve the problem. Rather than looking for a pill to pop once a day, you should work on natural cholesterol lowering techniques to ensure that not only is the problem suppressed, but it disappears completely and leaves you totally healthy.

One natural supplement that can help is anything that contains soy in it. This great and healthy food is often overlooked by the majority of the population, but it can have so many positive benefits and can really improve your overall health.

Although this may not be something that you are used to snacking on, there are many delicious recipes that include soy where you can find many creative ways to incorporate it into your meals. Try sauteing it in soy sauce and adding it to a salad or snack on crunchy soy nuts that are tasty and can replace fattening junk food.

Another healthy solution is the incorporation of oat bran into your diet. Many cereals are fortified with this beneficial and healthy supplement and you can easily get your daily fix in this way or you can look to bake tasty foods with this important ingredient. You can create hearty breakfast muffins or crunchy cookies that include oat bran for an interesting twist on old tastes that will lower your cholesterol as you enjoy.

Of course, there is more to this method than just snacking, so at the same time that you try out these new foods, try to remove certain damaging things from your diet. Red meat and butter are poisonous for someone with high cholesterol, as are egg yolks, fatty cheeses, and whole milk. When indulging in dairy products, stick to low-fat choices such as reduced fat cheese and one percent or skim milk.

Vegetable oil is another thing that you should look to eliminate or use as sparingly as possible, so try to dress your salads with olive oil, which is much better for you. When you saute on the stove top, use a cooking spray instead of the two tablespoons of oil that a lot of recipes call for and you can easily reduce your intake in a way that no one will notice.

Natural cholesterol lowering is the best way to get yourself back on track and erase your problem because it not only lowers your dangerous cholesterol levels, but it also improves your overall health. If you learn to make these healthy habits a way of life, you will find that the benefits are endless and that you will be full of energy and feel great.

High cholesterol is dangerous and it is crucial to control it at the earliest. To learn about supplements that can help lower cholesterol more naturally,

Three Ways to Reduce Your Cholesterol and Make Healthy Lifestyle Choices

Take some steps to lower your cholesterol by cutting down on the things that could ruin your health.
Here are three suggestions that you have heard millions times but hardly take any action.

1. Stop Smoking

If you are a smoker, you should consider quitting or at least cut down on the number of cigarettes you take.

Wonders can happen when you quit smoking!

You can improve your cholesterol level over time, but that is not the only thing - after you quit smoking, your blood pressure decreases which will also reduce those high cholesterol related diseases. Your risk of a heart attack decreases significantly as well.

But quitting is easier said than done.

Of course, trying to quit isn't so easy. That is why there are many methods on trying to quit smoking. They may now consider Varenicline, otherwise known as Chantix.

Just like a nicotine patch, Chantix isn't a magic pill, but it may make it easier to stop smoking. To quit smoking fully, you must still practice a lot of persistence and have the commitment to stick with your goal; have a strong mindset.

Alternatively, you can try using gum. When you are busy chewing gum, the tendency for the mind to trigger a nicotine fix is weakened.

2. Stop Drinking

How about drinking? Do you drink too much?

Although many consider the consumption of alcohol to be dangerous, medical studies have shown that those who consume alcohol compared to those don't, have a slightly higher level of good cholesterol in their body.

However, this doesn't give people (who enjoy drinking) a license to drink all the way.

Don't abuse this point.

3. Stop Eating Junk Food

Do the same with junk food as well. Especially deep fried stuff like potato chips. Can you imagine the amount of calories there are? Try and do things in moderation. Leading a balanced life is the key.

By lowering your cholesterol level you are preventing yourself from many diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.

Your decision to choose a better and healthier lifestyle needs some sacrifice from your part. If you are wise and appreciate that health is the number one assett in this life, I believe you should be able to follow those tips.

For more free tips, advice and information on how you could reduce your cholesterol and maintain a healthy lifestyle, please visit my blog