Tips to Lower Cholesterol Levels | Homecare and Treatments

Tips to lower cholesterol levels-I hope you all are doing well. Finally, the winters are bidding adieu to us. This is a good sign but honestly, I am not much of a supporter of the summer season. However, as we all know we can’t change the weather according to us but what we can do is adjust ourselves accordingly. So as I always say and would like to repeat that no matter what the weather conditions might be, try to take utmost care of yourself.

If you are a regular reader of our blog you might remember that my last blog was on how an unhealthy lifestyle can lead to many health issues and the one that I talked about in my previous article was cholesterol.As I said at the ending of my last article that there is more to it. So here I am to fill in the rest of the details regarding cholesterol that you guys need to know. Before moving further I just wanna say that “Self Love is Key To Life: “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line.”

⚫ CHOLESTEROL

I’d like to quickly summarize it but would suggest knowing properly do visit my old article. Below is the link to my article About Cholesterol. well to summarize, Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that is present in all our body cells. Although not all cholesterol is bad density lipoprotein or HDL is good for your body. (will be talking about this further). It is said that our body needs cholesterol to form substances like hormones, vitamin D, and so on. A good amount of cholesterol is produced by our body itself but we can even obtain it from food products.

As I always say excess of everything is bad similarly excessive cholesterol can combine with other substances in the blood to form plaque. This plague sticks to the walls of your arteries. Further“This buildup of plaque is known as Atherosclerosis. It can cause Coronary Artery Disease, in which your coronary arteries become narrow or even blocked”.

So the main reason for this article was to cover the treatment and some home care that will help you to control your cholesterol. So let’s begin with the Home Care tips to lower cholesterol levels.As I mentioned above a healthy lifestyle is a must if you want to live a happy and problem-free life. The foremost step that people suffering from high cholesterol or also the ones who are not should do is lifestyle changes such as exercising and eating a healthy diet.

⚫Tips to Lower cholesterol levels (Home care)

Following are some home care tips to lower cholesterol levels

🍀Limit your consumption of food products rich in saturated fats, trans fats, and dietary cholesterol.

It is highly prescribed that we should avoid food products that are rich in such kinds of fat. It can increase the number of fats in our body.

🍀Eat food products that are rich in fiber.

Food products that are especially rich in soluble fiber should be consumed. Food products like beans, oats, barley, fruits, and vegetables. This is so because food products that are rich in soluble fiber have proven particularly good at lowering cholesterol. Excellent sources include oats, oat bran, barley, peas, yams, sweet potatoes, and other potatoes, as well as legumes or beans, such as pinto beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, and peas.

🍀Choose food products that are rich in proteins.

We should choose legumes or beans, nuts, seeds over meat. It is said that legumes include lentils, peas, beans, white beans, and soya beans. They are considered a protein-packed alternative to meat. These food products help lower LDL cholesterol and non HDL cholesterol, blood sugar, and insulin levels.

🍀Weight reduction is important.

Losing excess weight is necessary because it can lead to several health issues. It is highly recommended by doctors even for patients who are suffering from issues of high cholesterol.

🍀Consume plant sterol supplements.

It is believed that plant sterols are naturally occurring substances that are found in plants. And a daily intake of around 1-2 grams of plant sterol can help you in reducing LDL cholesterol levels.

🍀Consume psyllium

Psyllium is soluble fiber supplements and laxatives and is sold in the form of seed grains. Psyllium is also available in the brand Metamucil. According to researchers 9-10 gram daily consumption of psyllium is very effective and is equivalent to 3 teaspoons daily of Sugar-Free Metamucil, reduced LDL levels.

Treatments by Medicines to lower cholesterol levels

Even after making changes in your lifestyle you still are facing troubles in controlling your cholesterol then you should follow the recommended medications from your doctor. The medication that will be given to you will depend on various risk factors such as- your age, your health, and possible drug side effects.

🍀Statins

Statins block the substance that our liver needs to make cholesterol. Moreover, this further helps the liver to drain out the Cholesterol and also helps our body to reabsorb the Cholesterol that is deposited on the artery walls of our body. Choices include atorvastatin (Lipitor), fluvastatin (Lescol XL), lovastatin (Altoprev), pitavastatin (Livalo), pravastatin (Pravachol), rosuvastatin (Crestor) and simvastatin (Zocor). (Source- Mayo Clinic)

🍀Bile-acid-binding resins

Our liver needs cholesterol to produce bile acids which are further used for digestion purposes. The medications cholestyramine (Prevalite), colesevelam (Welchol) and colestipol (Colestid) lower cholesterol indirectly by binding to bile acids. Further, it prompts our liver to use excess Cholesterol which will further reduce the amount of cholesterol in our blood.

🍀Cholesterol absorption inhibitors

Apart from the many functions that our small intestine performs, it absorbs the cholesterol from the food that we eat and releases it into our bloodstream. The drug ezetimibe (Zetia) helps in reducing blood cholesterol by limiting the absorption of dietary cholesterol.

🍀Injectable medicines

There is a new class of drugs that helps the liver absorb more LDL cholesterol. The name of the drug is PCSK9 inhibitors. Its main function is that it lowers the amount of cholesterol circulating in our blood. ‘Alirocumab (Praluent) and evolocumab (Repatha) might be used for people who have a genetic condition that causes very high levels of LDL. It is also used for people with a history of the coronary disease, who have an intolerance to statins or other cholesterol medications.'(Source – Mayo clinic)

🍀Fibrates

The medications such as fenofibrate (TriCor, Fenoglide, others) and gemfibrozil (Lopid) reduce your liver’s production of very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol. They speed up the removal process of triglycerides from your blood.

🍀Niacin

The main function of this medicine is that it reduces the production of LDL and VLDL cholesterol in our liver. Although doctors don’t recommend it much because there is a risk that it can damage your liver. It can also result in strokes.

P.S. I once again add that you should not take medications without your doctor’s recommendation.
You should always consult your doctor before beginning any kind of medication. You guys can help us know more about the same by posting your views in the comment section. We will be more than happy to welcome your reviews.