Bad cholesterol nestles stubbornly in the body. This common fact causes great amount of effort to afflicted ones. If only cholesterol can be passed out or rinsed easily with water, then the fear accompanying its effects will not be gruesome to prepare about. The sad thing about bad cholesterol is its presence in the minute-diameter of the veins, where the life-giving flow of blood must not be trafficked even for a second.

Don’t take it wrong. The presence of good cholesterol is an important ingredient in our vital processes. It is the bad cholesterol, which has to be prevented from clogging the arteries. Usually it takes years of careless consumption of high cholesterol foods to find out one day it is too late to eliminate the disadvantage.

Cholesterol and weight gain go together, the main reason why obese or simple overweight people are prone to having high cholesterol levels. The main factors affecting the levels are some drugs, hereditary traits and food diet. This is the reason why there are normally weighing individuals who get surprised knowing their levels are high.

Usually there is less information about preventing cholesterol from rising and the only time they learn is when they get assessed clinically. It means one cannot simply trust personal diagnosis in claiming safety on future dilemmas with cholesterol.

Keeping a healthy lifestyle is a must in preventing health troubles in the first place. While this is commonly said everywhere, the most practical precaution to be watched over is the food consumption. Avoid fats.

In the meantime, there are food groups that are helpful in lowering cholesterol levels. It means foods with antioxidants help prevent the accumulation of bad cholesterol.

Here are some of these helpful foods to consider:

OATMEAL and other FIBERS – Oatmeal is a nutritious fiber with the reputation for its capability to reduce cholesterol. This benefit became an important issue based on expert’s studies sometime in 1980’s until 1989. This eventually lost popularity and became another issue again in 1997 after the Food and Drug Administration declared how it can prevent heart disease if regularly taken with the practice of good diet low in fat. Other than oatmeal, fibers of the same kind such as bran, wheat, brewer’s yeast, breads, rice, beans, legumes and other cereals help boost and improve the level of good cholesterol.

VEGETABLES AND FRUITS – vitamin rich and full of anti-oxidants, fruits and vegetables rank highest in the food pyramid group. Human beings are required to eat more of this than any other kinds of edible foods, especially processed ones. These have cleansing properties and do not contain a single fat, particularly citrus fruits rich in vitamin C. Cucumber, rich in vitamin E, is one of the best anti-oxidants good for fighting free-radical elements causing different kinds of disease and discomforts in the body.

FISH – tuna and other fish with white meat are good choices for healthy diet. Fish is low in saturated fat.

SELECTED LEAN MEATS – chicken and turkey without the skin, liver, extra lean beef. Without the fat, these protein rich foods are important part of low cholesterol diet.

YOGURT – very good in the regulating the acids in the stomach which is a good way to balance the digestion of food. Yogurt is healthy in regulating cholesterol levels because of this quality, while at the same time it is low in fat.

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There has been a substantial increase in people having high cholesterol levels. It has been proven in many studies that an unhealthy increase in blood cholesterol levels can lead or be associated with the development of heart disease. High cholesterol levels can also increase the risk of strokes and heart attacks. Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death among people living in industrialized societies such as the US. The increasing incidence of high cholesterol levels in people living in this part of the world can often be contributed to a high saturated fat diet, smoking and leading a sedentary lifestyle.

There are several dugs now available that is being used to treat unhealthy cholesterol levels in people. Most popular of these is the HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor or what is more simply known as Statins. This group of cholesterol lowering drugs come in different name drugs and is increasingly being used in order to help high risk patients drastically lower their cholesterol levels. Statins can also increase the levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol.

Although statins and other known drugs being used to lower cholesterol levels have been proven to be very effective, there are also other ways available for people to lower their cholesterol levels without the use of such drugs. One of these is trying to lead a more active lifestyle. Physical activity and exercise is an important part of several low cholesterol therapies that aim to reduce bad cholesterol levels. Regular exercise can also help in reducing blood pressure, excess weight as well as decrease the diabetes risk.

Following a low cholesterol diet can also help a lot in trying to decrease high cholesterol levels. Scientists have found that a low cholesterol diet can help decrease cholesterol levels by as much as 29 percent in one month. This suggests that a combination diet can also be as effective as drugs like statins used to treat people with high cholesterol levels. It has also been established that eating low cholesterol and high fiber foods can cut individual cholesterol level by seven percent.

A recommended diet that can help people avoid developing coronary heart disease include consuming non-hydrogenated or unprocessed fats, eating a rich diet of soy protein, nuts and fiber rich foods such as oats and barley. Increased consumption of Omega-3 fats from fish and other plant sources can also have a positive effect in any low cholesterol diet as well as a healthy amount of fruits and vegetables.

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You would have to be living in a cave to not be aware that there are a lot of diets out there. All of them make claims about how much weight you can lose, and each one is a bit different. One of the more popular diets to come out recently is the 3 Day Tuna Diet. There are many good reasons for choosing this eating plan over others.

If you have looked into other diets, then chances are that you have noticed that many of them list tuna as a food you can eat. To be fair, tuna can be high in sodium and fat, but if you get it packed in spring water, then you can keep the calories under control. Other than that, tuna is inexpensive, convenient and an excellent source of complete protein.

Even though tuna stands as a good food on its own, the 3 Day Tuna Diet is about losing weight quickly. As the name says, it only lasts for three days, so it’s not meant to be followed as a long-term weight loss solution. It’s best used as a way to drop some weight before an event of some kind, or as a way to jump start a longer term weight loss plan.

While everybody is different, and results will vary, some people have reported a weight loss as high as six pounds while on the diet. A word of caution is in order. It is generally recommended that you lose no more than one or two pounds per week, so six pounds in three days would typically be thought of as risky. For this reason, you should talk to your personal doctor before going on the 3 Day Tuna Diet.

There are actually two variations of the diet: strict and less strict. The strict version fully lives up to its name. When doing the strictest version of the diet, you eat nothing but tuna and drink nothing but water for three days. Again, this should never be done for more than three days, and then only after getting the okay from your doctor. The silver lining is that you can eat as much of it as you wish, so you shouldn’t have to worry about getting hungry. It won’t be easy, so don’t kid yourself, but it will be effective if you can stick with it.

The less strict version of the 3 Day Tuna Diet adds a few more foods to the menu, and is therefore better balanced nutritionally; though tuna still figures heavily in what you’ll be eating. Breakfast includes 1/2 cup tuna and 1/2 large grapefruit. Lunch is 1/2 cup tuna and salad made of greens only, and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil for dressing. Supper is 1 cup tuna and 1 cup each of two different vegetables.
That’s the 3 Day Tuna Diet in a nutshell. It isn’t a long-term diet solution, but it can be used on occasion when you need to lose weight quickly.

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No matter what your reasons for eating a more vegetarian diet, there’s no denying the obvious health benefits that are derived from the elimination of red meat from your diet. On average, vegetarians have lower levels of the blood fats, cholesterol and triglycerides than meat eaters of similar age and social status have. High levels of blood fats are associated with an increased risk of heart disease.

Lacto-ovo vegetarians, those who eat eggs and dairy products, which contain cholesterol-raising saturated fats and cholesterol, have higher cholesterol levels than do vegans, as those who abstain from all animal foods are called. But even among lacto-ovo vegetarians, cholesterol levels are generally lower than they are among meat eaters.

Researchers have found that older men who eat meat six or more times a week are twice as likely to die of heart disease as those who abstain from meat. Among middle-aged men, meat eaters were four times more likely to suffer a fatal heart attack, according to the study. As for women, who are partly protected by their hormones and generally develop heart disease later in life than men do, the risk of fatal heart disease has been found to be lower only among the older vegetarians.

In a 1982 study of more than 10,000 vegetarians and meat eaters, British researchers found that the more meat consumed, the greater the risk of suffering a heart attack. Though eliminating meat from the diet is likely to reduce your consumption of heart-damaging fats and cholesterol, substituting large amounts of high-fat dairy products and cholesterol-rich eggs can negate the benefit.

To glean the heart-saving benefits of vegetarianism, consumption of such foods as hard cheese, cream cheese, ice cream and eggs should be moderate. And the introduction of more vegetables, fruits and raw foods will definitely enhance the benefits of abstaining from eating meat.

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