Content

• Steps
• Warning

The fastest way to lower cholesterol is to combine lifestyle changes, dietary changes and medication use (if directed by your doctor). Cholesterol levels cannot drop immediately. If your cholesterol is high, you need to find ways to lower it to lower your risk of clogged arteries and heart attack.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Lifestyle changes

1. 

   Start exercising. Exercise helps to improve the body's ability to process fat and cholesterol. Note that you should start exercising slowly and not overdo it. Consult with your doctor before starting a new exercise program to make sure it's just right. Then, you can gradually increase the intensity of your exercise to 30 minutes to 1 hour per day. For example, try exercises like:
   • Walk
   • Brisk walking
   • Swimming
   • Cycling
   • Join a community sports group, like basketball, volleyball or table tennis

2. 

   
   
   Quit smoking for immediate health improvement. Quitting smoking improves cholesterol levels, lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and lung disease. You can get help by:
   • Ask for support from family, friends, groups, forums or the quit hotline.
   • Consult your doctor.
   • Use nicotine replacement therapy
   • See your doctor for advice. Some consulting doctors also specialize in tobacco cessation help.
   • Consider inpatient treatment.

3. 

   
   
   Weight control. Weight control helps lower cholesterol levels. If you are overweight, losing 5% of your weight will also help lower your cholesterol. Your doctor may suggest you lose weight if:
   • You are a woman with a waist circumference greater than 90 cm or a man with a waist circumference greater than 100 cm.
   • You have a BMI greater than 29.

4. 

   
   
   Limit alcohol consumption. Alcohol is high in calories and low in nutrients. Drinking lots of alcoholic beverages increases the risk of obesity. The Mayo Clinic (USA) recommends consuming only:
   • One serving of alcohol per day for women and two servings per day for men.
   • One serving is a can of beer, a glass of wine or 45 ml of brandy.
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Method 2 of 3: Change your diet

1. 

   Reduce your cholesterol intake. Cholesterol is in fats in the blood. Your body only makes a certain amount, so limiting your cholesterol intake will help lower overall cholesterol levels. Too much cholesterol increases the risk of clogged arteries and heart disease. People with heart disease should consume no more than 200 mg of cholesterol per day. Even if you don't have cardiovascular disease, it's best to limit your cholesterol intake to less than 300 mg per day by:
   • Don't eat egg yolks.When preparing egg foods, you can try egg substitute instead of real eggs.
   • Do not eat offal meat. Organ meats are often high in cholesterol.
   • Cut back on your red meat intake
   • Eat skim or low fat dairy products instead of whole milk. This group of preparations includes milk, yogurt, cream and cheese.

2. 

   Avoid trans fats and saturated fats. These two fats increase cholesterol levels. You can get the fat your body needs from monounsaturated fats. In addition, unhealthy fats can be reduced by:
   • Cook with monounsaturated fats like canola, peanut, and olive oil instead of palm oil, lard, butter, or thickened fat.
   • Eat lean meats like poultry and fish.
   • Limit your consumption of ice cream, cheese, sausages, and milk chocolate.
   • Check ingredients in processed foods. Even foods that are marketed as trans fat-free often contain these fats. Therefore, you need to carefully read the ingredients information and see if the product is partially hydrogenated oil. These oils are trans fats. Products that often contain trans fats include margarine and cookies and cakes.

3. 

   Control hunger with fruits and vegetables. Vegetables and fruits are high in vitamins and fiber, and low in fat and cholesterol. You should eat 4-5 servings of fruits and vegetables, equivalent to 2-2.5 cups per day. You can increase your fruit and vegetable intake by:
   • Reduce hunger with an appetizer with a salad. Eating salad first will help you less hungry before eating fatty foods like meat. This will also help you control portion sizes. A variety of vegetables and fruits should be incorporated into salads such as green vegetables, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, avocados, oranges and apples.
   • Dessert with fruit instead of high fat foods like cakes, pies or candies. Do not use sugar when making fruit salads. Instead, enjoy the natural sweetness of the fruit. For example, you can have a dessert with mango, orange, apple, banana, and pear.
   • Bring vegetables to school / work to help control hunger between meals. The night before school / work, you can prepare a container of shredded carrots, bell peppers, apples and bananas to bring.

4. 

   Eat more fiber-rich foods to lower cholesterol levels. Fiber can help control your cholesterol. Fiber is considered a natural substance that significantly reduces cholesterol levels. Not only that, fiber also helps you feel full for a long time to limit eating foods high in calories and high in cholesterol. Eating whole grains is the simplest way to increase fiber intake. Whole grain foods such as:
   • Whole-wheat bread
   • Rice bran
   • Brown rice (instead of white rice)
   • Oat
   • Whole-wheat pasta

5. 

   Talk to your doctor about supplements. Functional foods are not strictly regulated like drugs, that is, has been less tested and the dosage is not certain. Therefore, you need to be cautious about products that offer unrealistic promises such as immediate lowering of cholesterol. Also, understand that while natural, supplements can interact with drugs, even over-the-counter drugs. Therefore, you should talk to your doctor before taking any supplements, especially pregnant women, nursing mothers or young children. There are several types of dietary supplements to consider such as:
   • Artichoke
   • Oat bran
   • Barley
   • Garlic
   • Whey protein powder
   • Blond psyllium (found in psyllium shells)
   • Sitostanol
   • Beta-sitosterol

6. 

   Check the ingredients of the red yeast rice supplement. Some red rice yeast supplements contain lovastatin - the active ingredient in the drug Mevacor. Supplementing with Lovastatin as a dietary supplement is dangerous because the dosage is not controlled and its use is not closely monitored.
   • Safer, instead of using red rice yeast containing lovastatin, you should see your doctor for a prescription for drugs to be strictly managed and to reduce the medication administration.
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Method 3 of 3: Take medications

1. 

   Talk to your doctor about Statin. This class of drugs is very popular in lowering cholesterol. They prevent the liver from making cholesterol, forcing the liver to take cholesterol out of the blood. This class of drugs helps to reduce plaque buildup in the arteries. Once you start taking it, you will likely need to take Statin for life as your cholesterol level increases if you stop. Statin side effects include headache, muscle aches, and digestive problems. Commonly used statins include:
   • Atorvastatin (Lipitor)
   • Fluvastatin (Lescol)
   • Lovastatin (Mevacor, Altoprev)
   • Pitavastatin (Livalo)
   • Pravastatin (Pravachol)
   • Rosuvastatin (Crestor)
   • Simvastatin (Zocor)

2. 

   Ask your doctor about anti-bile acid reuptake medications. These drugs bind to bile acids, causing the liver to push cholesterol out of the blood while producing more bile fluids. Commonly used bile acid reuptake agents include:
   • Cholestyramine (Prevalite)
   • Colesevelam (Welchol)
   • Colestipol (Colestid)

3. 

   Take medicine to prevent your body from absorbing cholesterol. These drugs prevent the small intestine from absorbing cholesterol from the diet during digestion.
   • The drug Ezetimibe (Zetia) can be taken with the same class of statins. Ezetimibe usually does not cause side effects when taken alone.
   • Ezetimibe-simvastatin (Vytorin) is a combination drug that helps both reduce cholesterol absorption and reduce the body's ability to produce cholesterol. Side effects include digestive problems and muscle pain.

4. 

   Ask your doctor about new medications if the above are ineffective. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved drugs that can be administered to patients at home 1-2 times per month. These medications increase the amount of cholesterol the liver absorbs. It is often used in patients with a heart attack or stroke and has a high risk of relapse. These drugs include:
   • Alirocumab (Praluent)
   • Evolocumab (Repatha)
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Warning

• Inform your doctor if you are pregnant or preparing to become pregnant before starting a new medicine.
• Give your doctor information about all the drugs you are taking, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines, supplements, and herbal ingredients. From there, your doctor can advise if the medications you are taking could interact with cholesterol-lowering medications.