Most over-50s know that keeping healthy cholesterol levels is necessary for their well-being. They know too high LDL (bad cholesterol) will compromise their heart health.
Your body cells cannot handle too high LDL levels. With nowhere to go, the cholesterol can build up on the walls of the arteries and eventually block them.
High LDL cholesterol level is a serious risk factor for the development of coronary artery and peripheral arterial disease leading to higher risks of heart attack, mini-strokes, and stroke. Statins and other cholesterol-lowering medications are often recommended to people with high cholesterol. But many over the 60s are unaware of ways to help reduce high cholesterol levels naturally. You can just read on to learn how you can.
Like many health conditions, the foods we eat play a big role in how cholesterol affects our bodies.
For some people, the amount of cholesterol they get from their diet or some of the foods they eat can damage their arteries, producing more bad cholesterol, which then gets metabolized in the liver and then travels from their liver to their arteries and gets deposited there.
Though they may be tasty, typically, these foods are high in saturated fats or produced from animal fats that are highly damaging to cholesterol. The worrying part is trans fats are used in most processed foods like baked goods or foods that have a longer shelf life in superstores.
These fats are added to foods to make them taste better or stay longer on the shelf. But in fact, they are very detrimental to your arteries, and these fats not only lead to the deposition of bad cholesterol in your arteries, but they also cause inflammation in your artery wall.
Since some people are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol, these foods can enormously influence their diets. For instance, even smaller amounts of cholesterol in food could make a much bigger impact on the blood of people who naturally have higher cholesterol levels than most.
Generally, before a health professional or doctor prescribes medication, lifestyle and diet changes should be considered.
The foremost natural way is first to increase the amount of fiber in your diet. So start eating plenty of vegetables and lots of foods such as oats and flaxseeds. You require adequate amounts of soluble and non-soluble fiber in your diet.
Another top way to naturally lower high cholesterol is to move to a more plant-based diet and reduce red meat levels. Equally effective are nuts, almonds, walnuts, and pecans in lowering cholesterol.
All those simple dietary changes will lead to a significant drop in blood cholesterol.
Other major foods to eliminate to reduce cholesterol naturally include butter, processed meats like bacon, sausages, salami, fried foods, lobster, and prawns, and sugary and high-fat desserts like baked goods, ice cream, and chocolate.
Just as diet plays an important role in lowering LDL levels, physical exercise and activity also play equally important roles. It’s something that is more important, especially for people over the age of 60, to do as often as possible. However, health issues like arthritis and knee and hip problems can prevent people from doing heavily impacted exercises. These people need to discuss with their health care professional and doctor to find out what works for them.
Note: Those at higher risk of a coronary episode may be prescribed statins or medications. In addition to statins or medication, lifestyle and diet changes may still be recommended to help them further.
It’s always good to talk to your doctor about the best ways of lowering high cholesterol because what works for someone may not work for everybody. The advice can differ for individuals.
Disclaimer: This article is for general information only. It cannot be a substitute for any medicine or treatment in any way. Always consult your doctor for more details.
What do you think about this? Do you have high cholesterol? What are you doing to keep cholesterol levels low?
About Author: Renu Bakshi, AKA Fitness Buffhq, is ISSA Certified Elite Trainer. He 
passed Personal Fitness Trainer Course, Nutrition Health Coach course & Specialist Exercise Therapy course from ISSA, the USA, obtaining + 97% marks. He shares his experience and knowledge about nutrition and effective workouts to get you in the best shape of your life, no matter how old you may be. The author says: “For me, age is just a number!”