Eating healthy is all about taking in the right combination of fat, calories, protein, vitamins and other materials that keep your machinery functioning at full performance. By contrast, metabolic syndrome, or a breakdown of this system, occurs when you are ingesting low HDL (good cholesterol), high LDL (bad cholesterol), and you have high blood sugar, waist fat, high triglycerides and high blood pressure.

cholesterol and triglycerides
Many people with high cholesterol lowering live for a long time, completely unaware of their body’s malfunction. They may be overweight, feel sluggish or suffer occasional stomach pains, but chances are the symptoms won’t appear until it’s too late or unless a routine check up reveals high blood pressure.

To get your triglycerides and cholesterol back down to a normal level, you will have to make some dietary changes. For people who have cholesterol levels levels from eating too many fattening foods, cholesterol lowering can be accomplished by as much as 10-20% from dieting alone.

cholesterol levels
Reducing calories to 1,200-1,500 for women and 1,500-1,800 for men will help you lose 2 pounds per week. When losing weight, you shouldn’t drink more than one serving of alcohol per day and you should be ingesting eight cups of water daily. Adding just 30 minutes of exercise per day, either all at once or in 3 intervals of 10 minutes, can work wonders for heart health.

When cooking, replace butter with olive oil, canola oil or peanut oil. In many baking recipes, you can use applesauce instead of butter, believe it or not! Dieticians recommend eating no more than 5 ounces of meat per day, substituting ½ cup of beans to get your protein and eating no more than 2 egg yolks per week.

To reduce cholesterol and triglycerides and extend your life, you’ll be limiting carbs, sugars, fat and alcohol but your replacement diet doesn’t have to be torture. In fact, many companies are manufacturing sugar free sweets and low fat ice cream to help tame those cravings. Once you use discipline over an extended period of time, you’ll find that these foods have lost their luster and no longer have control over your life or your health.

ldl cholesterol
If your doctor finds that you have an abundance of cholesterol and triglycerides, then there are several things that may be recommended. The first step is usually a diet/lifestyle change. To prepare for a ldl cholesterol and lipids test, do not eat or drink anything other than water for 12 hours prior to your appointment. This is a relatively painless procedure. If you’re doctor-o-phobic, then there are even home cholesterol screening tests available for purchase.

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