Lowering Cholesterol Naturally


While there's plenty of medical advice that indicates the statin
family of drugs are highly effective in lowering your levels of
cholesterol, there are many
people who are seeking
alternative non-medical solutions to lowering high cholesterol.


These people include the not-so-old who wish to make
lifestyle changes now rather
than face 30 or more years on medications. Why take the chance
of suffering unacceptable side-effects from statin medications,
such as erectile dysfunction in males and abdominal pain and
muscle soreness in both sexes? Also, the long-term use of these
drugs could lead to as yet unknown problems. So, eat a healthy
diet low in saturated fats and
combine this with the following natural health tips.
Natural Health Tip No 1: Regular
Exercise.

Start a program of
regular exercise that will lead to
achieving a healthy body weight. This means exercising three or
four times a week to a level where your heart rate is raised to an
acceptable rate for your age. Walking, swimming and cycling are all
good activities that don't place unnecessary strain on your body.
Be sure to warm up with at least five minutes of muscle-stretching
exercises beforehand.

Raised oxygen
levels also help your body organs maintain their vitality and firms
and tones your muscles.
Natural Health Tip No 2: Plan Your Menus. Think about the
healthy foods you like and plan your meals a week in advance to
coincide with food shopping day. This saves you having to make
compromises to your diet that involve the wrong foods.


It also means you'll have plenty of low fat products on hand that
may be hard to find at the corner store.
Natural Health Tip No 3: Smart Cooking Techniques. Avoid bad
cooking techniques such as deep-frying and try to prepare your
foods by simmering, dry baking, steaming or using Asian stir-fry
techniques. Even microwaving can allow foods to cook in their
natural juices and retain their nutrients.

And be sure to eat lots
of raw foods, especially fruit and vegetables.
Natural Health Tip No 4: Take Your Supplements. Supplements such
as Omega-3, inositol hexaniacinate, pantethine, and guggulipid can
be effective in lowering cholesterol. Supplements for lowering
cholesterol should be used as a part of an overall plan that
includes diet and
lifestyle changes.


Natural Health Tip No 5: Clean Out Your System. Plan an
occasional system cleanout day where you consume only fruit and
vegetables. The high water content of fruit and vegetables
facilitates the spread of their valuable nutrients through your
body and helps flush out the wastes that have built up from eating
the wrong foods.
Natural Health Tip No 6: Relax.

Stress and ill health go
hand-in-hand. While you can't and shouldn't eliminate stress, you
can learn to control it by meditation and relaxation techniques and
by regular exercise. If you are currently on
prescription drugs, don't stop them without consulting your doctor.
But follow these natural health tips and you should be able to
lower your cholesterol.

In any case, you will certainly be much
fitter and healthier.
Rod Ritchie is editor of
www.lowering-high-cholesterol.com

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