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How Can I Prevent Cholesterol Problems?

As with many other health problems, prevention is the best medicine. You can help prevent high cholesterol and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease by:

• Keeping your weight in check.
• Eating no more than 300 mg of cholesterol each day.
• Getting no more than 30% of your daily calories from fat.
• Exercising three to four times a week (vigorously if you can, but moderate exercise is better than none at all).
• Quitting smoking.
• Tracking your progress. Have your blood cholesterol level tested periodically by your doctor or a reputable lab. At-home test kits, like many consumer health devices, are generally unreliable.

Cholesterol screening

Regular cholesterol screenings are recommended for men and women over the age of 20 every five years. Regular screenings are particularly important for people with diabetes, obesity or a family history of cardiovascular disease. They may need to be screened more frequently.

Make Healthy Food Your Ally

People who have a genetic predisposition to cholesterol problems should follow their doctor's dietary recommendations. The rest of us should be able to keep cholesterol levels in check by not consuming more than 30% of our daily calories from fat.

If you know your foods well, you can distinguish friend from foe.

• Cut back on red meat because of its high saturated fat and cholesterol content. When you do indulge, eat only lean meats with very little visible fat. Your store's butcher may be able to help you select lower-fat cuts of different meats. Examples of lean beef include London broil, eye of round and filet mignon.
• Eat poultry sparingly and remove the skin; chicken has less saturated fat than red meat but still contains significant cholesterol.
• Increase your consumption of seafood. Most fish contains less fat and cholesterol than red meat. Most shellfish are also low in fat, although some are high in cholesterol. Still, for most people shellfish are preferable to red meat and poultry.
• Whenever possible, go easy on whole dairy products, mayonnaise, chocolate, tropical oils, and hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils or fats such as margarine. These products are usually high in saturated fats, which can raise your cholesterol level.
• For cooking, replace saturated fats that are solid at room temperature (such as butter and shortening) with liquid monounsaturated fats such as olive, canola or flax oil. There is evidence that consuming moderate amounts of monounsaturated fat — found in such foods as nuts, seeds and avocados — may actually lower LDL cholesterol. Avoid tropical oils such as palm and coconut. They contain no cholesterol but are high in saturated fat.
• Eating red grapes may help reduce blood cholesterol, thanks to flavonoid compounds in their skins. Look for grape-seed oil (squeezed from grape seeds after wine pressing) for cooking and for salad dressings.
• Limit the total amount of meat, fish, poultry and low-fat cheeses to seven ounces or less each day. Limit yourself to three eggs a week. One egg yolk contains almost an entire day's allowance of cholesterol.
• Vitamins, minerals and nutrients that have reputed cholesterol-reducing properties include vitamins E, C and A (beta carotene), L-carnitine, pantethine, chromium, calcium, copper and zinc. To keep your menus lively, try incorporating foods that naturally contain these nutrients, such as rice bran, artichokes, shiitake mushrooms and chili peppers — all believed to help lower cholesterol.
• Finally, select foods that contain water-soluble fiber, which offers an excellent defense against high blood cholesterol. High-fiber foods include grapefruit, apples, beans and other legumes, psyllium seed, barley, carrots, cabbage, and oatmeal.