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The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Women: High Cholesterol

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High Cholesterol

High Cholesterol

Little Changes, Big Benefits

You're not a big eater. A bagel with a smear of cream cheese for breakfast, an egg salad sandwich for lunch and a pork chop with a salad for dinner will make you a happy camper.

But your doctor is worried. Blood tests show that your cholesterol is a little high--especially the reading for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, a bad sort notorious for clogging arteries with a soft, waxy substance that can harden into plaque. And your doctor seems to think that a steady diet of your favorites from the meat and dairy world is paving the way for heart disease.

Given the fact that your arteries have had three or four decades to accumulate cholesterol, you may find yourself wondering, "Is there anything that I can really do?"

"Absolutely," says Valery Miller, M.D., medical director of the Lipid Research Clinic at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. "If you lower your LDL cholesterol to less than 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl), the soft stuff will come off your arteries."

Besides measuring LDL cholesterol, your blood test also measures high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol--the "good" stuff that escorts LDL cholesterol out of the body.

Both readings are important, says Dr. Miller. If you can drop your LDL cholesterol to below 130 mg/dl and increase your HDL cholesterol to around 55 mg/dl, your risk of heart disease is significantly reduced.

But what about total cholesterol?

"Worrying about total cholesterol is passé," says Linda L. Colle Gerrond, M.D., director of the Center for Women's Health at the Shawnee Mission Medical Center near Kansas City, Kansas. "The focus now should be on LDL, HDL and triglyceride levels."

Here's how women doctors say that you can reduce high levels of LDL cholesterol.

Declare your plate a low-fat, cholesterol-free zone. Cholesterol is only found in animal products. Avoid foods loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol, such as red meat, liver, butter, cheese and eggs, says Dr. Miller. Saturated fat raises blood levels of cholesterol. True, your body uses cholesterol to make hormones and cell membranes, but it can manufacture what it needs without dietary assistance. So every time you eat a food that contains saturated fat and cholesterol, chances are that it ends up contributing to blood levels of LDL cholesterol.

Trade fiber for fat. Gradually substitute high-fiber foods for high-fat foods, says Linda Van Horn, R.D., Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. Foods high in soluble fiber, such as oat bran, oatmeal, barley and beans, have the wonderful ability to help decrease LDL cholesterol, especially as part of a low-fat diet. What's more, eating high-fiber foods can help decrease your cravings for fatty, high-cholesterol foods like cheese and bacon by filling you up.

"If you stick with a high-fiber, low-fat diet, you can see a change in LDL cholesterol in as little as three weeks," says Dr. Van Horn. Your taste for burgers, three-cheese omelets and cheesecake usually disappears in about the same amount of time, she says.

Start with breakfast. Read cereal box labels and pick one that's high in fiber (five grams per serving or higher) and low in fat (three grams per serving or, preferably, lower), says Dr. Van Horn.

Go for the grain. Whole-grain bread has more fiber than white bread. And be careful with other breads like rye and pumpernickel, since they are often just white bread with a small percentage of rye grain added, says Dr. Van Horn. When buying bread and rolls, make sure that the whole grain--like whole wheat, oats, rye or millet--is listed as the first ingredient on the label.

Don't fry--ever. Cooking food at high temperatures in oil, shortening, margarine or butter can increase the risk of raising LDL cholesterol, says Dr. Van Horn. Instead, steam, microwave and broil foods.

A spritz or drizzle will do. When you must use something slippery to keep food from sticking, use a vegetable oil spray--preferably canola oil or olive oil--that will leave just a whisper of fat, Dr. Van Horn says.

Load up on plant foods. Citrus fruits, yellow-orange vegetables and dark leafy greens are rich in fiber and antioxidants such as vitamin C. Antioxidants are naturally occuring vitamins, minerals and other substances that, among other benefits, seem to help prevent damage to artery walls. Soy foods have flavonoids, saponins and other natural substances known as phytochemicals that can also help lower cholesterol or reduce clogged arteries (or both), says Dr. Van Horn. For similar reasons she advises using garlic and onions liberally.

Scientists haven't yet figured out how much of any one food that we need to eat in order to get a therapeutic amount of a particular cholesterol-lowering substance, says Dr. Van Horn. So the best strategy is to make sure that your diet is rich in all these plant-based foods.

Sweat. Dietary changes alone tend to drop HDLs along with LDLs, says Dr. Gerrond. Luckily, exercise can preserve your HDLs. So after checking with your doctor about your regimen, be sure to get 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week. Examples of aerobic exercise include walking, swimming, jogging and skipping rope. Choose an activity that you like.

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