Your Checklist to Lower Cholesterol
Here’s a checklist of the top 8 things you must do if you want to successfully lower your cholesterol and keep it low.
Know your numbers
Have you had a lipid profile? Do you understand the numbers? If you are going to successfully lower cholesterol you need to know your numbers and what they mean. The most effective way to raise HDL is not necessarily the best way to lower LDL.
Evaluate your lifestyle
There are risk factors for high cholesterol that you can not control, such as age, gender, and family history, but there are factors you can control. For example, you can reduce risk by not smoking, increasing your activity, and losing extra weight.
Balance your fats
Reduce unhealthy saturated fats in your diet and replace them with heart healthy unsaturated fats. Total fat intake should be 30% or less of your total daily calories. Out of this 30%, saturated fat should be limited to 7%.
Be active
Physical activity lowers triglycerides and raises HDL (good) cholesterol. Shoot for 30 minutes 5 or more days a week. If you are not currently active, check with your MD before beginning an activity program.
Eliminate trans fats
You need to be food label savvy and watch out for trans fats. Trans fats raise LDL (bad) cholesterol, lower HDL (good) cholesterol, and raise triglycerides. Limit trans fats to 1% or less of your daily caloric intake.
Understand triglycerides
Triglycerides are impacted the most by your simple sugar and alcohol intake. If you are struggling with high triglycerides, you need to use a different strategy to get your cholesterol under control.
Increase dietary fiber
A high fiber diet is necessary for heart health. You need 25-35 grams of dietary fiber daily, especially soluble fiber. For every 1-2 grams of daily soluble fiber intake, LDL (bad) cholesterol is lowered 1%.
Add omega 3 fatty acids
For heart health and lower cholesterol, you want to improve the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids are involved in the regulation of heart rate, blood pressure, and blood clotting.
Receive a step by step plan to promote heart health with a Mini Diet Makeover. As a special New Year’s bonus you’ll recieve a complimentary copy of the Calorie Counter for Dummies. Learn more here – https://www.lisanelsonrd.com/minidietmakeover.html
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
How to Lower Cholesterol in 8 Simple Steps
Omega 3’s and Walnuts
Sometimes people wonder about the health benefits of the black walnut versus the more common English walnut, so I’m going to provide you some quick info.
The English walnut contains more omega 3 fatty acids per ounce than the black walnut (2.6 grams versus .57 grams). To promote heart health, increasing your omega 3 fatty intake is a good step to take, so opt for the English walnut (which is easier to find anyway).
Another component to keep in mind:
The type of omega 3 fatty acid contained in walnuts is ALA (alpha linolenic acid). The conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA (the two types of omega 3 fatty acids linked to health benefits) is inefficient.
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Do I need to take omega 3 and omega 6 together?
A reader from The Heart of Health, Jessica, sent in a question about omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. If you are struggling with weight loss, you should visit Jessica’s blog allabouthabits.com, for some weight loss motivation. She openly shares her weight loss struggles.
The question:
About omega 3’s and 6’s, I heard that they should be taken together, and not just having one omega 3 or omega 6 alone. It has something to do with digestion and breakdown process. Is that right?
The answer:
There are two types of fatty acids – essential and non-essential. The body can synthesize non-essential fatty acids, while the only way we get essential fatty acids is from what we eat. Omega 3 and Omega 6 are both essential fatty acids – we must get them from foods and/or supplements.
Omega 3 – ALA, EPA, and DHA are all acronyms that represent omega 3 fatty acids. If we consume ALA, our body will convert it to EPA and DHA.
Omega 6 – Omega 6 is also known as linoleic acid. Linoleic acid is converted to GLA, another omega 6 fatty acid, in the body. GLA and EPA (an omega 3 fatty acid) work together to promote bone and heart health.
So, yes, omega 3 and omega 6 work together and both are needed for bodily functions.
But, omega 6 does not require supplementation. The typical American diet is very high is omega 6 fatty acids. A main source of omega 6 fatty acids is corn oil, which is very prevalent in our society. Other sources include sunflower oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, pistachio nuts, and pumpkin seeds.
The ideal ratio between omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids should be 1:1 or 4:1. A typical diet in the U.S. is 11:1 to 30:1. This poor ratio is linked with heart disease, among several other health issues.
Certain conditions can interfere with the conversion of linoleic acid to GLA, such as advanced age, excess alcohol consumption, viral infections, and various other factors. In these situations a GLA deficiency would be present and supplementing the GLA omega 6 fatty acid would be beneficial. However, this is not the case for the majority.
To reduce heart disease risk you want to increase the amount of omega 3 fatty acids in your diet and decrease omega 6’s. Omega 3 is a common deficiency in the U.S.
Omega 3 and omega 6 are both essential fatty acids and work together to promote health. However, if you follow a typical U.S. diet, you want to increase your omega 3 intake and decrease your omega 6 intake. Therefore, supplementing omega 3 AND omega 6 is not beneficial.
I hope my answer has not confused you more! I will be publishing at least two more articles this summer related to fatty acids.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Be Heart Healthy and Lose Weight
Flaxseed – Whole Seed vs. Ground
Let’s start with what you should know about flaxseed to make sure you are getting the most from this supplement.
Flaxseed is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to decreased risk of developing heart disease. Most American’s consume a diet high in omega 6 fatty acids (corn oil, beef, and chicken). The goal is not to switch completely to omega 3’s only, but to improve the ratio by increasing your intake of omega-3 fatty acids. One option to do so is by adding flaxseeds to your diet.
You can buy flaxseed two different ways – whole seed or ground. In order for the body to utilize the omega-3 fatty acids, flaxseed must be ground. If the flaxseed is not ground it passes straight through the body without being absorbed. Flaxseed is high in fiber, so by ingesting whole flaxseed you have increased your fiber intake, which is beneficial, but if you grind your flaxseed you will have the added benefit of increasing your omega-3 fatty acid intake. Using a coffee grinder is a simple way to grind your flaxseeds. Another option is to purchase flaxseed already ground. Flaxseed has a tendency to go rancid, for this reason keep ground seeds refrigerated. You can increase your intake by adding flaxseed to foods during preparation, such as spaghetti sauce, meatloaf, chili, hot cereal, muffins, pancakes, and yogurt.
