May 3, 2019

How you can lower your cholesterol levels quickly, safely and naturally

Wie Du Deine Cholesterinspiegel schnell, sicher und natürlich senken kannst

Heart disease kills more people than almost any other disease, and high cholesterol is the main culprit. In this article you will learn how to lower your cholesterol levels quickly

Having gone into more detail about what cholesterol actually is and where healthy cholesterol levels should be in the first part of this article, in this second part of this article I will explain how cholesterol can increase the risk of heart disease and what you can do to lower your cholesterol levels.

Do high cholesterol levels cause heart disease?

The traditional story of how cholesterol causes heart disease goes like this (11):

Cholesterol sticks to the walls of blood vessels like gunk in a pipe.
As cholesterol levels rise (and especially LDL levels), more and more of it sticks to your blood vessels.
Over time, this buildup of cholesterol forms deposits known as plaques (a process known as atherosclerosis).
As these plaques grow, they begin to clog the blood vessels.
When one of these plaques breaks loose, it travels through the bloodstream until it gets stuck somewhere, blocking blood flow and causing a heart attack or stroke.
So if you want to prevent a heart attack or stroke, you should keep your cholesterol levels low.

In addition to this, eating foods high in cholesterol, such as saturated fats, is said to increase your cholesterol levels and your risk of heart disease. By reducing or eliminating your consumption of these foods, you can reduce your risk of heart disease.

Together, these ideas are referred to as the "lipid hypothesis" or the "diet-heart hypothesis" and for years they were considered holy writ by doctors, health gurus and book authors.

In recent years, however, this idea has come under fire. Some say that cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease, that LDL cholesterol isn't bad for you and that trying to lower cholesterol levels is a futile effort.

Who is right?

To answer this question, let's look at one of the largest studies ever conducted on diet and heart health. Scientists at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute collected data from over 5,000 men and women for over five decades (12). Sure enough, they found that total cholesterol levels were strongly associated with heart disease in both men and women.

This means that the people with the highest cholesterol levels over time also had the most signs of heart disease. The other two main risk factors were high blood pressure and obesity.

However, just because high total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels are associated with heart disease does not mean that they are the cause of these diseases. We need other studies to prove this. Fortunately, these have been done and they show the same thing.

Scientists at McMaster University looked at 108 randomized controlled trials that included nearly 300,000 people in total (13). They found that for every 10% reduction in LDL cholesterol levels, the risk of events attributable to coronary heart disease (heart attacks of one kind or another) also fell by 10%.

These were not statistical sleights of hand, lied up by the drug companies. These results have been confirmed again and again and again by numerous independent scientists (14-18).

If you want to reduce your risk of heart disease, you should try to get your total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels into a healthy range

However, this doesn't stop the doomsayers from claiming otherwise. They point to countries like Finland where people have higher than average cholesterol levels and a relatively low risk of heart disease (19).

They also bring up other studies that show that high cholesterol levels are not associated with heart disease and yet other studies that show that people with higher cholesterol levels have a lower risk of death from all causes (including heart disease) (19 - 21).

Some say that it is not high LDL cholesterol levels that are the problem, but low HDL cholesterol levels. In other words, the problem is not that you have too much bad cholesterol in your blood, but that you don't have enough good cholesterol in your blood.

And all of this is more or less smoke and mirrors.

In the case of Finland, it's likely that other factors help these people live longer despite their higher cholesterol levels (such as lower rates of obesity and better medical care) (22, 23).

Secondly, the handful of studies that have shown that cholesterol is not associated with heart disease do not hold a candle to the many studies that have shown that cholesterol is a key factor (24).

Finally, the idea that HDL cholesterol levels are more important than LDL cholesterol levels is on shaky ground. The latest research shows that HDL cholesterol does not necessarily protect against heart disease, but is probably just a marker for other things that do (25).

Dr. Dr. Christopher Cannon, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School describes this as follows (26):

"We now recognize that HDL cholesterol levels are a marker for other factors that increase or decrease the risk of heart disease..."

In other words, the things that increase HDL cholesterol levels, like exercise, losing weight and quitting smoking, are what really matter for your heart health - not HDL cholesterol itself.

The bottom line is that the vast majority of high-quality, controlled studies of men and women, old and young, and people with and without heart disease show that both total cholesterol levels and LDL cholesterol levels are reliable markers of your risk of heart disease. If you want to reduce your risk of heart disease, you should bring your total and LDL cholesterol levels into a healthy range.

Does eating cholesterol raise your bad cholesterol levels?

It used to be thought that foods such as eggs, butter and meat, which are rich in cholesterol, increased the risk of heart disease. Today we know that it's not that simple. Eggs, for example, have been exonerated (27) and scientific research shows that even though the consumption of processed meat is associated with a higher risk of heart disease, this does not apply to the consumption of red meat per se (28).

Another fact that casts doubt on this idea is that people who eat more fat (a primary source of cholesterol) often have a lower risk of heart disease than people who eat more carbohydrates (29).

It would be premature to say that dietary cholesterol is completely innocent, but most experts agree with the statement that it affects your LDL cholesterol levels strongly enough to really play a role (30). On the other hand, many cholesterol-rich foods also contain large amounts of saturated fat, which can increase your risk of heart disease (31).

The final verdict on how dangerous saturated fats really are is still out, but as long as you keep your saturated fat intake below 10% of your total calorie intake, you shouldn't have anything to worry about (32).

For example, if you consume 2,500 kcal per day, your upper limit for saturated fat should be around 28 grams. To reach this limit, you would need to eat 150 grams of hard cheese, 20 strips of bacon or three large cheeseburgers.

So as long as you don't consume most of your calories in the form of junk food, or consume massive amounts of saturated fat in other ways (such as preparing all your meals with coconut oil), eating saturated fat and cholesterol shouldn't be a big problem.

How to lower your levels of bad LDL cholesterol

With all the complexities surrounding the science of cholesterol and heart health, we know that reducing bad cholesterol levels is your best option. You should also try to lower your total cholesterol levels, but most of this should come from reducing LDL cholesterol levels.

Fortunately, the steps that will have the biggest impact in this regard are fairly easy:

Exercise
Quit smoking
losing weight
a healthier diet

Let's take a closer look at each of these steps.

Step 1 to lower bad cholesterol levels: Exercise more

Exercise is the easiest and fastest way to lower your total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels (33). But not only that - more exercise is also associated with a lower risk of death from all causes (including heart disease) (33). Up to a point, the more exercise you do, the more this risk decreases.

Both cardio and weight training for as little as 30 minutes five times a week can significantly reduce cholesterol levels. If you want to achieve a greater reduction in LDL cholesterol levels, then you need to focus on high-intensity exercise such as strength training (34).

Step 2 to lowering bad cholesterol levels: Quit smoking

I won't belabor the point, but here's the truth:

Smoking increases your risk of dying by 300% (35).

This is partly due to an increase in the risk of cancer and heart disease (36, 37), but also an increase in the risk of heart disease (38). Smoking increases levels of bad LDL cholesterol and lowers HDL cholesterol levels (39). There is also evidence that it converts LDL cholesterol into a form that is more likely to cause heart disease.

It's not entirely clear how much you can lower your LDL cholesterol levels by quitting smoking, but the bottom line is that it will dramatically lower your risk of heart disease, and this is likely due in part to the effects on your cholesterol levels.

Step 3 to lowering bad cholesterol levels: Lose weight

One of the main causes of high cholesterol levels is excess body fat (40). Although not everyone who is overweight or obese has high LDL or total cholesterol levels (41), losing weight will improve these levels (42). The more weight you lose, the more your total cholesterol levels, your LDL cholesterol levels and your triglyceride levels will drop.

The good news is that you don't have to lose a lot of weight to get things moving in the right direction. Just a few pounds less can significantly lower your LDL cholesterol levels. And the icing on the cake is that losing weight will also raise your HDL cholesterol levels (43).

Step 4 to lowering bad cholesterol levels: Eat a healthier diet

Experts are still arguing about the best diet to lower LDL cholesterol levels (44, 45), but here's what we know so far (46):

You should eat enough calories to reach and maintain a healthy weight. (In other words, energy balance is most important).
Eat a high protein diet. While protein won't directly lower your LDL cholesterol levels, it can help you improve your body composition (47), which will help you over time.
You should consume most of your fats in the form of monounsaturated fats, limit your consumption of polyunsaturated fats and keep your saturated fat intake below 10% of your total calorie intake.
Eat as little trans fats as possible.
Eat at least 4 to 6 portions of fruit and vegetables a day (the more the better (48).
Consume at least 30 to 45 grams of fiber per day in the form of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds and beans.
Keep your sugar and junk food intake under control. A little here and there is fine, but no more than that.

The bottom line on cholesterol

Regardless of what you may have heard, one of the best things you can do for your heart is to keep your LDL and total cholesterol levels under control. However, figuring out where your cholesterol levels should be and how to achieve them can be confusing. For this reason, you should work with a doctor to decide on your battle plan.

Chances are they will recommend that you follow these steps.

Exercise more
Stop smoking
Lose weight
Pay attention to a healthier diet

Do this and you should be able to move your cholesterol levels in the right direction.

References:

Source: https://www.muscleforlife.com/how-to-lower-cholesterol/

By Armistead Legge

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