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Newspapers have reported on the drawbacks of having the diet high in fat. High fat diet has been linked to high cholesterol and ultimately to the heart attacks. Hence people have started avoiding beef and eggs. But cholesterol is not bad. Our body needs it to protect nerves and build new cells and hormones. It is only when we include foods like pizzas, burgers, ice creams, steaks or any food containing animal product that the problem starts. Excess cholesterol settles along the walls of the arteries and can clog them thus restricting blood flow. This gives rise to angina, heart attack or stroke. It has also been shown that high cholesterol leads to gallstones. There are two types of cholesterol called good cholesterol or HDL and bad cholesterol or LDL. LDL is the cholesterol that clogs the arteries and should be lower while HDL scours the artery walls and removes the harmful LDL and should be higher.

Doctors recommend reducing and avoiding high-fat diets containing meat, eggs and dairy products. But you can use the following home remedies for treatment:

Increase the intake of Vitamin E: It is advised to increase your intake of Vitamin E to 400 international units to prevent the oxidation of bad cholesterol where the cholesterol hardens into the arterial plaque thus giving rise to heart attack. It also raises the level of HDL. You can include Vitamin E as dietary sources or include vegetable oils, nuts or grains in your diet.

Eat your breakfast: People who skip the breakfast have higher cholesterol levels than those who have breakfast everyday. This is because they tend to eat unhealthy foods which are high in fats.

Eat small meals frequently: Large meals have been shown to release the large amount of insulin, which in turn stimulates the production of the enzymes that increases cholesterol production by the liver. But eating small frequent meals without increasing the total calories will limit the insulin production and thus control the cholesterol and in turn heart diseases.

Add Vitamin C to the diet: Though other vitamins and minerals play an important role in the cholesterol production, Vitamin C is the most crucial vitamin for cholesterol control. It increases HDL level and is very beneficial if you get it from fruits and vegetables, since they have a special fibre called pectin. It surrounds the cholesterol and flushes it out of the digestive system before it gets into the blood. Include fruits like citrus fruits, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, apples and spinach which are rich in vitamin C and pectin.

Increase garlic intake: Take seven cloves of garlic a day will reduce the cholesterol levels significantly. If you cannot stand the normal garlic, then you can opt for odorless garlic pills, which are available in the local health stores.

Skip decaf: Avoid decaffeinated coffee since it has been shown to raise the LDL levels. This is because the beans used for decaf are far stronger than the normal beans.

Munch grapes: Grapes and their products have a compound which lowers the cholesterol significantly. So you can increase your intake of grapes, grape juice and wine to decrease your cholesterol level.

Have grapefruit: Grapefruit contains pectin which reduces cholesterol significantly. Hence people who consume grapefruits show a marked decline of cholesterol over 7 percent after two months of consumption.

Eat beans: Lima beans, kidney beans, navy beans, soybeans and other legumes have been shown to lower cholesterol as they have a high amount of pectin. Research has shown that people who consume about 11/2 cup of cooked beans a day have decreased their cholesterol levels by 20 percent within three weeks.

Splurge on carrots: Carrots have plenty of pectin, the most useful type of fibre for lowering cholesterol. Having about 2 to 3 carrots a day will reduce the cholesterol levels by 10 to 20 percent.

Kevin Pederson has been managing a number of natural home remedies websites which gives information on Home based remedies for cholesterol level by eating pectin based fruits and vegetables.
Keywords: cholesterol, home remedies.

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Lowering cholesterol is important business. The airwaves are replete with messages promoting drugs to reduce cholesterol risk. “Ask your doctor if Brand-X is right for you.”

I am not here to minimize the importance and usefulness of proper drug therapy in cholesterol management. Simply put drugs save lives. For many they are an integral part of reducing the risk of heart disease. In situations like these the mantra of the 1960’s, “Do drugs!” might be appropriate.

But there is a down side to drug therapy. It is expensive. And drugs can have many negative side-effects. If given the choice, would it not be better if you could reduce your cholesterol risk without drug therapy?

Suppose for a moment that you and I lived inside the artic circle in an igloo. Since television reception would be a bit limited we would have to content ourselves with more conversation. What would we talk about? It is an interesting scenario.

One topic of conversation that would not arise is that of cholesterol management. It simply would not be an issue. We would be ignorant of the topic. Not because we couldn’t watch the local news, but because we would have no problems with our cholesterol levels. Wouldn’t that be a switch?

For us our whole world would be our freezer. But the contents of that freezer would be a bit different than the freezers we have now. There is, however, one thing that would be the same. In both scenarios our freezers would be stuffed with fatty foods. In fact it could be argued that the artic freezer has more fatty foods than the one I have out in my storage room.

Towards the middle of the last century researchers discovered that the Inuit Eskimos had diets high in fat yet had very low incidence of heart disease. This flew in the face of our ideas concerning heart disease and fat.

The fact is the Inuit Eskimos had stable cholesterol profiles and low triglycerides. Their blood platelets also were not as sticky as their American and European counterparts. They stuffed their faces with fatty foods all day long and yet had healthy hearts. Apparently they could teach us a thing or two about cholesterol management.

As you can imagine this discovery gave rise to a flurry of scientific studies. The flurry still has not subsided. Finally we could have our fat and eat it too.

We have learned some things since then. We now know that not all fats are the same. We know that there are some fats which are known as essential fatty acids. They are necessary for proper health and our bodies cannot produce them.

The particular essential fatty acid that the Eskimos were getting in abundance - they still are I suppose - is known as omega-3.

Since the startling discovery involving the Inuit Eskimos omega-3 has received abundant attention among researchers. The result is that omega-3 has been used in the treatment of a variety of chronic health conditions. Some of these include

Tags: cholesterol management, lower cholesterol, lowering cholesterol, omega 3, reduce cholesterolcholesterol management, lower cholesterol, lowering cholesterol, omega 3, reduce cholesterol

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Is there any truth to the cholesterol scare or is it merely a fraud? There are two schools of thought on whether high cholesterol is harmful and can cause risks of heart disease and heart attack.

The conventional medical community has been telling us for many years to avoid certain fats in our diet and by doing so, will keep our cholesterol levels low; thus, preventing heart attack and stroke. Along with diet, they recommend exercise and in some cases, certain medication that claims to help lower the cholesterol levels.

Many have been led to believe cholesterol is a foreign substance in the body and is not needed or wanted, when, in fact, it is a necessary substance that performs many vital functions in the body. Cholesterol is naturally produced by the liver and is found in all the cells of the body, most prominently in the brain and nerve cells. Cholesterol protects the wall of the cells and is used to produce hormones, bile acids and vitamin D. Each day large amounts of cholesterol are used by the body to perform all these necessary functions. When the body makes large amounts of cholesterol, it’s because the body needs it and not because the body wants to clog the veins and arteries.

By eating meat and dairy products or any other foods deemed to be high in cholesterol, our bodies are supplied with less than ten percent of our cholesterol needs. The body then produces its own supply of cholesterol, amounting to three to four times the amount eaten. Thus, by cutting down on high cholesterol foods, the body simply produces the rest of the needed cholesterol naturally. Regardless of diet, the level of cholesterol in our blood is managed naturally by the body. This is why only a few points are dropped, when someone uses diet to bring down their high cholesterol level.

The claims of high cholesterol causing heart disease and heart attack are not really justified, as studies have shown that people with low cholesterol have just as many heart problems as those with high cholesterol. In fact, it has been found with heart attack victims that they have not eaten any more fat than other people.

Stress, physical activity and body weight contribute to blood cholesterol levels. Also, if the body is unhealthy from another illness or disease, the cholesterol level may rise.

Cholesterol lowering drugs are given to those with high blood cholesterol levels. These drugs have serious side affects and can lead to eventual death. Over the past forty years there have been four important studies done on the effects of cholesterol lowering drugs, which showed a seven percent increase in premature death. .

The newest of these drugs are called statins. The possible side effects to these statin drugs include damage to the liver and to muscle tissue. The doctor needs to keep close check of the person’s liver who is taking these drugs and if the liver is found to be not functioning properly, then the drug should be stopped. Damage to the muscle tissue can be very serious. Pain, weakness and tenderness in the muscles should be reported immediately to the doctor, as a very dangerous condition can develop, if the drugs are not stopped. The brain is also affected by these drugs and can cause memory loss and inn addition, can cause individuals to do traumatic things such as commit homicide and suicide.

Even more alarming, the American Diabetes Association is recommending all diabetic patients be put on the statin drugs, in case it’s found sometime in the future to be a good treatment for diabetics. It’s also reported that some doctors have convinced their patients to take the statin drugs, even though their cholesterol isn’t high.

One has to wonder what has caused this misconception or fraud to be perpetrated on the people. All one has to do is follow the money trail, as usual. It’s all driven by greed. The drug companies make billions a year selling these statin drugs and there are more of these sold than any other.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Cholesterol

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