It’s never too late to decrease your bad LDL cholesterol, a fat that can attach to artery walls, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. When your LDLs decrease, your immune system starts cleaning out any bits of plaque, making them fade or even disappear. Here’s how to do it.
Eat oatmeal & berries.
Eating one cup of oatmeal topped with 1/2 cup of berries daily could cut your LDL level in one month. Oatmeal is rich in fiber that obstructs fat absorption in the intestines. They’re packed with plant compounds that help your liver rein in its LDL output.
Relax more.
Decreasing your stress level lowers your risk of LDL woes. Relaxing decreases your production of cortisol, a stress hormone that causes LDLs to increase, even if you’re eating a healthy diet.
Snack on raw veggies.
Consuming three cups of veggies a day, at least one cup raw, can decrease plaque buildup in your arteries. Vegetables include nutrients that coat cholesterol, making it too slippery to stick to artery walls. Raw vegetables have more nutrients than cooked vegetables.
Lift weights.
Weight training pushes your liver to burn cholesterol for energy. Twenty minutes of lifting light weights three times weekly can cut your LDLS! As long as you’re developing muscle, your cholesterol control will get better.
Track your LDLs.
To keep your arteries healthy and plaque-free, National Institutes of Health experts recommend keeping LDLS below 100 mg/dL-and getting them checked every five years to be sure you’re on track. For the most accurate reading, wait six weeks if you’ve recently had a bad cold or other illness. Fighting infections disrupts your liver’s LDL output, making blood tests less accurate.
Supplement with tocotrienols.
Tocotrienols are natural forms of vitamin E that can reduce your LDL level. How? By switching off, the liver enzymes churn out the artery-clogging cholesterol.
Have yogurt for breakfast.
Eating a cup of yogurt with cultures daily can cut your LDLs. The fatty acids and probiotic bacteria speed the breakdown of LDLs in your liver. To increase the benefit, eat up to 1/2 cup of cheese daily, too. The calcium and protein in cheese help clean out dietary fats before they are converted into LDLs.
Drink rooibos tea.
Drinking four to five cups of fruity rooibos tea daily can lower your LDLs. Rooibos comes from a South African plant and is the only natural source of aspalathin, which helps your liver keep blood fats balanced.