How to Keep Your Cholestrol Low

Keeping Your Diet Healthy

Consume healthy fats. Healthy fats are better for your cholesterol than other types of fats, so picking healthy fats will help keep your bad cholesterol low. Unhealthy fats are mainly saturated and trans fats, like those found in red meat, and trans fats, like those found in processed foods such as cookies and crackers. Monounsaturated fats are much better for your health, and are found mostly in plant-based foods such as avocados, peanut butter, seeds, nuts, olive oil, sesame oil, canola oil, and peanut oil. Also, look for foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as certain fish (think salmon, herring, and mackerel) and nuts. That doesn't mean that you need to cut out saturated fat altogether, but less than 7% of your caloric intake should be from saturated fats. However, you should cut out trans fats altogether if possible.

Avoid some dietary cholesterol. Some foods contain cholesterol already. While they don't affect your cholesterol as much as trans fats or saturated fats, they can still affect it somewhat. Some foods that contain cholesterol include egg yolks, full-fat dairy products, shrimp, and organ meats. Try to keep cholesterol to 200 milligrams a day.

Get enough fiber in your diet. Both soluble and insoluble fiber are good for you, but soluble fiber, in particular, helps keep your cholesterol low. Make sure you eat whole grains, oats, fruits, vegetables, beans, and lentils on a regular basis to increase the soluble fiber in your diet. In the same vein, choose whole grains over refined grains, and try to avoid refined sugar as much as possible.

Up your intake of whey protein. You probably know that dairy products can help you get the calcium you need; however, you may not know that the whey protein in dairy products can help with your cholesterol. When choosing dairy, pick low-fat or no-fat varieties. You can also buy whey protein powder at places like health food stores, and you can use it in things like smoothies.

Avoid sugars and refined carbs. Unhealthy sugary foods can affect your cholesterol levels and they don’t offer much other nutritional value. Similarly, refined carbs, such as pastries and white bread, break down into sugars that could negatively affect your heart health as well. Try to limit or completely cut them out from your diet so you can maintain healthy levels. Stick to complex carbs, like whole-wheat breads and enriched pastas. Try a low-glycemic diet to help control your body sugar levels.

Getting Enough Exercise

Exercise regularly. If you're not doing it already, exercising on a regular basis can help keep your cholesterol down. Try exercising 30 minutes a day most days of the week. You don't have to do 30 minutes all at once. You can break it up into five- or 10-minute blocks if you need to. When you're first starting out, start with shorter periods of exercise and work your way up to 30 minutes a day.

Make it moderate. When getting exercise, you need to be exerting yourself enough to feel warm and be a bit out of breath; however, you should still be able to hold a conversation with someone, though you shouldn't be able to sing. Try to find an exercise you love. You can walk, run, use an elliptical machine, play tennis, do Zumba, swim, or play volleyball, just to name a few.

Increase your baseline activity level. A sedentary lifestyle, or one in which you do not receive regular amounts of physical activity, can lead to serious health problems, including elevated cholesterol. While baseline activities — such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or walking to a nearby store instead of driving — don't necessarily count toward your goal of 30-minutes of exercise (these types of activities are generally light, not moderate intensity), you can improve your overall health by increasing your baseline activity levels. For instance, you can park your car further away when you go shopping. When you take a break at work, try making a rotation or two around the office.

Stay motivated. It can be difficult to stay motivated with an exercise program; however, you can take steps to help keep you on track. For instance, make sure to choose programs you know you can stick to. In other words, don't bite off more than you can chew. Make small, gradual changes instead of trying to overhaul multiple areas of your life all at once. For instance, instead of jumping into an intense (and difficult to sustain) schedule of running five days a week, start by going for a 30-minute walk around your neighborhood three times a week. It's also helpful to have a buddy to exercise with. That way, you both hold each other accountable. Another option is to offer yourself small rewards. For instance, if you do your exercise for the day, you could allow yourself to watch your favorite television show.

Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle

Avoid smoking. If you don't smoke, make sure you don't take it up if you want to maintain your cholesterol. Similarly, if you do smoke, try to quit, as smoking can lead to higher cholesterol levels. The best idea is to never start, so don't take it up even recreationally.

Maintain a healthy weight. Your cholesterol levels are affected by your weight; therefore, it's important to maintain a healthy weight for your size and body type. Talk to your doctor about what a healthy weight means for you. Eating healthy and exercising, the other parts of maintaining low cholesterol, should also help you maintain your weight.

Get some healthy sleep. When you don’t get enough sleep, you put yourself at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and high cholesterol. Do everything you can to get the most restful night of sleep, like turning off all the lights in your room, keeping your room cool and quiet, and getting into a nighttime routine. Aim to get around 8 hours of sleep every night.

Take supplements to control your cholesterol. Some supplements that can help you manage your cholesterol include fish oil, vitamin D, niacin, and red rice yeast. You can find the supplements in the vitamin section of your local pharmacy. Follow the dosage instructions on the package to ensure you’re taking them properly.

Avoid drinking too much alcohol. Alcohol can be detrimental to your heart health in a number of ways, though not directly to cholesterol. For one, it adds calories and sugar to your diet, increasing your weight. In addition, it can increase your triglycerides, which is also bad for your heart. If you're not a drinker, it's best not to take it up at all. Don't drink more than a drink a day for women or two drinks a day for men.

Schedule yearly check-ups with your doctor. It’s easier to monitor and control your cholesterol levels if you catch any issues early on. Your doctor will do some bloodwork to check your cholesterol to see if there’s anything you can do to improve it. Make sure you bring up any changes in your lifestyle when you’re talking with your doctor so they can offer you the best care. If you’ve had a heart attack or other risk factors, talk to your doctor about starting a low dose of statin.