Top 3 ways to naturally lower your LDL cholesterol
47% of heart attack and stroke survivors are unaware of their LDL cholesterol.
98% are willing to get their cholesterol measured if recommended by their health care provider.
The optimal level of LDL Cholesterol (LDL-C) is 60 mg/ dL.
That is 40 mg/dL lower than the recommended amount by your doctor.
The reason below 60 is optimal is becuase an LDL-C of <60 mg/dL is where you can start to see the plaque that built up disappear.
Too much cholesterol in the blood is what helps build up plaque (a fat-like substance that sticks to the walls of your arteries and can eventually lead to a stroke or heart attack).
How much cholesterol is built up in the blood depends on many factors, such as: diet, genetics, and body fat distribution.
However, many different types of medication (e.g. aromatase inhibitors such as anastrozole, letrozole, and exemestane) can all increase your LDL cholesterol.
Regardless of what has caused your cholesterol levels to rise, there are also many natural ways you can lower your LDL cholesterol.
Natural LDL Cholesterol-lowering food
The best food to naturally lower your LDL cholesterol are foods naturally high in fiber.
Eating more fiber and, in particular, foods high in soluble fiber can lower LDL cholesterol levels.
Fiber is a type of carbohydrate that does not turn to sugar and instead forms a gel-like substance in your intestines, which helps trap cholesterol and prevents it from being sent to the bloodstream.
In reality, fiber is the cleansing food you are really after, and the more fiber you eat, the more it naturally lowers your LDL cholesterol.
Food’s high in fiber include: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, lentils, and seeds.
Check out our blog on fiber to know 15 of The Foods highest in Fiber.
For example:
Foods that help reduce cholesterol:
Healthy fats, like avocado, nut butter, tahini (seasame seed spread), olive oil
Legumes: chickpeas, lentils, beans
Any yellow, green, red, or orange vegetables
Eating more fiber in your day can often seem overwhelming, but you can easily achieve eating enough fiber to naturally lower your LDL cholesterol by
Eating 1 big salad with a palm size of protein. A big salad is a plate full. Do not trick yourself by eating a side salad and thinking you’ve had enough.
Snacking on 2 fruits a day (ideally a citrus and a berry)
Supplementing your meals with a handful of nuts, seeds, or legumes a day.
A lot of research supports the benefit of fiber in your body.
In fact, eating at least 25 grams of food filled with fiber a day is actually associated with a lower weight, blood pressure, blood sugars, cholesterol, and a lower risk of developing (or dying from) breast or colon cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and strokes.
Avoid foods that naturally raise your cholesterol
The key to knowing which foods raise your cholesterol is by remembering one simple rule:
If it has a liver, avoid it.
Cholesterol is processed by the liver so anything that has a liver has the potential of increasing your cholesterol.
Now, of course, there are exceptions to that rule, such as eating fatty fish, but in general, it’s a good rule to live by.
That being said, not everything with a liver has the same effect.
For example, eating lean meats, such as chicken, increase your cholesterol far less than lamb, which is one of the foods with the highest concentrations of saturated fats.
But, if you want to be more specific, the key is to avoid foods that are high in saturated fat and trans fat such as:
dairy - cheese and milk
red meats - beef, steak, lamb, etc.
processed meats - deli meats, ham, sausage, bacon, etc.
sweet/savory biscuits and pastries
tropical oils - coconut, and palm oil
ghee, lard, creams, butter
processed food - burger, fries, ice cream
foods that list ‘hydrogenated oils’ or ‘partially hydrogenated vegetable oils’
Instead, focus on eating foods from the previous that will help you feel better and heal from the inside out.
What about eggs? Can I eat eggs?
One large egg has about 186 mg of cholesterol, which can sound scary at first, but research shows that eating cholesterol and your body producing cholesterol are not the same.
Let me explain 🤓
Studies show that eating one egg a day or <7 eggs a week does not actually impact your LDL cholesterol becuase LDL cholesterol actually comes from the saturated fat and trans fat you eat rather than the cholesterol you eat.
Therefore, the cholesterol in eggs is not something that you should worry about.
The real culprit, instead, is saturated fats, which eggs contain as little as 1.5 grams of saturated fat (compared to a burger, which can have up to 11-12 grams of saturated fat).
Ideally, you want to eat less than 13 grams of saturated fats per day, and any product that is high in saturated fat will generally have more than 5 grams of saturated fat per portion.
Disclaimer: it is still important to watch out for how you cook your eggs, as eating them fried would increase your cholesterol. But eggs alone do not impact your LDL cholesterol, as you may have thought before.
In addition, eggs actually contain a lot of helpful and healthy nutrients, vitamins, and protein, such as lutein, choline, vitamins (A, B, and D) and 6 grams of protein for only ~70 calories.
So, while some people may actually be more sensitive to eating cholesterol, it is safe to eat <7 eggs a week.
Focus on losing belly fat
Many people wonder why they have high LDL cholesterol even though they are not overweight or obese, and the reality is that lowering your LDL cholesterol comes down to 3 things:
Not eating enough of the foods which naturally lower your LDL cholesterol, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and beans.
Eating too many foods which naturally increase your LDL, such as processed meats, dairy, and pastries.
Or carrying too much belly fat.
Carrying too much belly fat does not mean you have to look overweight or obese, but having too much belly fat can be as simple as storing too much fat around your belly.
How much fat you hold and where you store it matters the most.
You can be only slightly overweight or even have a "normal" weight and still have high cholesterol.
In fact, many people can be underweight and not carry enough healthy muscle mass and this can also increase your cholesterol.
Thats why losing belly fat but also putting on muscle is so important, it’s not just one or the other but both.
Therefore, one of the best treatments to lower your cholesterol is to focus on losing stubborn belly fat.
But how do you know if you have too much?
Research suggest that one of the best measurements to know whether you are carrying too much belly fat that could be impacting your health is by measuring your waist circumference.
Men should shoot for a waist circumference of less than 40 inches or a 102 cm, and non-pregnant women should shoot less than 35 inches or 88 cm.
How you store body fat is also essential as to how it relates to increasing your cholesterol; the more fat your store around your belly versus your thighs or arms, the more it could increase your cholesterol.
Therefore, if you are struggling with your cholesterol and have a hard time getting rid of stubborned belly fat, we have a free 3-step guide to getting rid of belly fat.
It comes with how to reduce cravings so you can have an easier time losing fat. This is a coach’s guide to how many daily steps you need to burn fat like butter and 101 workouts, so you can turn fat into muscle and get a thin waist with a toned body.
How to start naturally lowering your LDL cholesterol today
There are multiple factors that can impact your LDL cholesterol, such as your diet, the body fat you carry, the amount of calories you eat, and the medication you are on.
But despite the effects of genetics on LDL cholesterol, always remember that there are plenty of ways you can naturally lower your LDL cholesterol without first going on medication.
These are just the top 3 ways you can naturally lower your LDL cholesterol, but there are also plenty of healthy habits that will also help you naturally lower your LDL cholesterol, such as:
emphasizing healthy fats
eating more fiber
exercising
eliminating process food
avoiding alcohol and smoking
improving your quality of sleep
changing your medication
So, don’t give up just yet,
if you are struggling with your LDL cholesterol, and you do not want to be put on a statin to lower your cholesterol, then reach out to a trainer and see how we could help you start to move so you can build muscle, lose fat, and lower your cholesterol.
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Welcome, I'm your trainer JC 🤓
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