High cholesterol is one of the main threats to your hearts health. Cholesterol is a fatty substance that can build up along the walls of your arteries and might eventually clog them up completely resulting in a heart attack or stroke. In the modern world we are subjected to foods that are high in cholesterol and because of this heart disease is one has become one of the biggest killers in existence. On top of that we are putting immense pressure on our health services by eating unhealthily.

Whether you are suffering from high cholesterol or have never heard about cholesterol before, it is time you really took notice of what you are eating.

Dairy products and red meats are the biggest cholesterol clogging foods, so try to limit and lower the amounts of these you have!

You are also far more likely to have high cholesterol if you are over weight, so try and lose weight primarily, using the foods below in your diet if possible.

The following foods can help lower or keep your cholesterol under control:

OATS – oats, oatmeal, oat bran

Oats contain soluble fiber – this will lower your bad cholesterol! It also reduces the absorption of cholesterol into your body. In my opinion there is nothing more effective for lowering/managing your cholesterol than a bowl of oat meal for your breakfast. (if you use milk in your cereal remember to  change to skimmed milk)

NUTS – walnuts/almonds

Walnuts in particular can really help lower your blood cholesterol. They are high in calories but good for cholesterol, so don’t overdo them. Either have a handful as a snack during the day or use in your salads instead of dairy products such as cheese.

Foods high in Omega 3 Acids (FISH!)

Omega 3 can reduce cholesterol, blood preassure, clogs and more. Try and eat a tasty oily fish once or twice a week.

Also eat more:

Potatoes

Fruit

Vegetables

Remember to concentrate on losing weight first, then manage your cholesterol. Get it checked regularly, cut out dairy foods, high fat foods, too much sugar etc. Exercise will also really help. Coming from someone who used to have high cholesterol and a parents who had really high cholesterol i can tell you it is manageable and you can and need to do something about it if it is too high.

An incredible amount of people eat far too many high cholesterol foods – especially in America and Europe. What we are going to be looking at in this post is how to avoid high cholesterol foods – and what you can do to stop having to worry about your cholesterol (for good!).

A lot of  the meals, drinks and snacks we love are actually high cholesterol foods – but fear not, once we identify these dangerous foods we can avoid them and  look at replacing them with similar, healthier alternatives. The idea of this being to both lower your cholesterol and  hopefully losing you some weight too!

Lets start off by looking at food groups high in cholesterol:

Common high cholesterol foods

- Animal Produce – Beef, Veal, Pork, Lamb, Sausages, Eggs, Fish, Milk, Poultry.

- Fried Foods – Fries (chips), battered foods, foods cooked or submerged in oil.

- Processed foods – Butter, Pasties, processed meats, muffins, scotch eggs, sausage rolls. cheese etc.

The above list are high cholesterol foods that you should avoid from eating too often. I say too, because you need meats and treats occasionally. The problem starts to occur when you over do it.

So what can you do, if like me, you love a good steak. Well some good advice would be to eat meat and fish 4 times a week maximum. Try eating vegetarian alternatives the other three days. Food from animals is generally high in cholesterol, whilst anything from plants/vegetation tends not to be.

How to beat high cholesterol foods

For breakfast try and have oats or porridge. These foods can actually help you reduce your cholesterol. In fact so can Soy protein (try replacing your milk with a non sweetened soy milk), fibre such as oat-bran, beans, prunes and apricots. Snack on nuts – but not too many – they might help reduce your cholesterol but they are high in fat.

Instead of processed sandwiches for lunch everyday – try taking a fresh container of soup to work/home/school a couple of days a week. Try a tuna sandwich another day (tuna is has very little cholesterol).

Try having baked beans and a baked potato one night a week – pata with a tomato sauce another, and even meat free (quorn) burgers in rolls with a bit of ketchup another. Serve with some home made chips (oven cooked, not fried) and a good salad with a vinaigrette.

Also try to avoid deep fried food, junk food, chocolates, alcohol and processed foods as much as possible. If you simply can’t do it, at least limit these kinds of foods to once every couple of weeks.

Exercise those high cholesterol foods away!

If you really want to reduce your cholesterol there is another great method. It’s called exercise! If you are a bit over weight and under fit then exercise is really going to help. A brisk walk everyday, a go on wii fit each evening, or going to the gym or a dance class. There are hundreds of ways you can get a bit fitter and get that weight under control. Plenty of studies have shown that there is often a corellation between high cholesterol and being over weight. For more tips on reducing your weight quicly and easilty, have a look at 10 rules to follow when trying to lose weight

Regardless of your weight you will still want to Keep Your Body Healthy. You want to cut out anything that is an obvious risk to your health for whatever reason. Sometimes keeping your body healthy can be as hard as losing a lot of weight, but it is just as vital. Here are some great ways to Keep Your Body Healthy:

• Get plenty of vitamins – they are needed for your heart, your nervous system, your skin. Actually, for just about everything. They are easy to get from having a variety of fruits.
• Try and do 20 minutes of light exercise a day – it is recommended you get your heart pumping quite hard for at least five minutes a day. 20 minutes of exercise should get you to that state. This can stop blood clots in major arteries, will be great for your heart, your fitness and your muscle development.
• Be mentally positive and healthy – by this i mean try and cut down on things that stress you out. Force yourself to do something you enjoy everyday even if you don’t think you have time. A lot of diseases are not caused by physical illness but rather by mental.
• Cut out on too much salt – you do need a bit of salt to survive, but these days we prone to so much of it has become a huge threat to our health. Most of this unneeded salt is in ready meals we buy. So buy fresh ingredients whenever possible and use a salt substitute!
• Drink plenty of water – 8 glasses a day helps your body run as smooth as possible! It will also help you lose weight if that is your goal
• Eat plenty of fiber – the percentage of Americans do not eat anywhere near enough fiber during a typical day. This can cause big problems for your body as well as hindering weight loss!
• Avoid vitamin/mineral/protein pills and get what you need from actual, fresh foods – there is absolutely no evidence to support supplement pills having any effect on your health. The only way to make sure you are getting the right things in your diet is by actually consuming the right things!

Follow those simple tips and you should be able to Keep Your Body Healthy without too many problems!

Losing weight quickly but safely almost sounds like a contradiction – but it is possible and in fact it’s not that tough! A healthy diet, small changes to your lifestyle and a bit of extra exercise will help your weight fly off! You will have to keep up the diet for some time, and even once you reach your target weight loss you will have to stick with a healthy lifestyle so you don’t put it all back on.

OK lets look at how to lose weight fast and safe

The first thing to understand is that fast weight loss is about 2-3 pounds a week, unless you are heavily overweight in which case it might be a pound or two more. That is the fastest you should lose weight for two reasons:

1. Any more than that and you are going to be losing muscle as well as fat. Considering organs such as your heart are muscle, it’s very important you do not lose a lot of muscle.

2. Lose weight quicker than 2-3 pounds a week and your body will go in to “starvation mode” – this is when your body adapts to rapid weight loss and actually changes how it burns calories / fat so it can run on much less food and it becomes very, very difficult to lose any weight at all.

A healthy diet

There are many kinds of diets. Find one that suits you and your lifestyle. Calorie counting diets, such as weight watchers are very popular as they allow you to eat all kinds of foods, which means you get all the vitamins, protein fiber etc that your body requires. If you aim to eat around 300 calories a less than you need a day, then knowing there are 3500 calories in a pound of fat, you will lose one pound of fat in around eleven days. On top of lifestyle changes and exercise you can adjust how much you lose a day by calorie counting to be losing around 2 pounds a week. If you are looking for another kind of diet try browsing the diet review found at the top menu of this page.

Lifestyle changes

These are the little things that you need change permanently. Don’t think of these things as part of your diet as they are things you should be doing regardless of being on a diet or not. Drink diet soda drinks or water instead of sugary soft drinks. Park further away from work, shops or home than you usually would and walk the extra distance. Drink black or green tea/coffee. Cook your own meals from fresh ingredients, not processed foods full of fats, sugars and artificial flavorings. For more lifestyle changes and tips click here.

Exercise

Exercise is a key part of being able to lose weight fast and safe. But exercise is NOT just about weight loss. It is about keeping your body healthy, keeping your heart and muscles strong and freeing up your arteries of fats and plague. Of course it will help with your weight loss too! Try playing a sport such as tennis or squash twice a week. Choose a sport you enjoy and try to find somebody your level to play with to make it more fun, competitive and compelling.  If not, go for a run three times a week or a walk each day. Anything that gets your heart pumping for 20 minutes or more. You will lose a lot of calories from the actual exercise, but long after you have finished exercising your bodies metabolism will still be high and you will be burning more calories than normal.

Try lifting some weights and putting on a bit of muscle – muscle takes a lot more calories to run than fat does, so the more muscle you have the more fat you will naturally burn throughout the day without lifting a finger.