Concerned About Your Cholesterol? 10 Ways to Lower LDL and Raise HDL

6. Lose weight. This can lower LDL, though levels will go back up unless you make lasting dietary changes, Eckel says. Aim to lose 10 percent or more of your body weight. Keep in mind that while you’re losing weight, your HDL levels may fall, Eckel warns. But as you maintain your new body weight, your HDL will increase as long as you’ve lost at least 10 percent of your body weight. Try U.S. News’s 10-week workout routine to help you get started, and avoid these 7 mistaken beliefs that can prevent weight loss.

Exercise itself can raise HDL, although usually not by a meaningful amount. “For sedentary people with low HDL cholesterol and heart disease, even a little bit of exercise can raise it—but not by a lot,” Eckel says. “For the average Susan or Joe, moderate aerobic activity needs to be accompanied by a change in body composition—less fat—to increase HDL.” There are a few caveats: Women who have abnormal menstrual periods have minimal increases in HDL, and too much resistance training may actually lower HDL cholesterol if not accompanied by some aerobic training.

7. Limit saturated fats. Eating saturated fats—which are the main diet-linked cause of high cholesterol – tends to raise your HDL, but it also increases your LDL. These fats are mostly found in animal foods such as beef, lamb, poultry, pork, butter, cream, and milk, and in coconut and coconut oil, palm and palm kernel oil, and cocoa butter. “We think the bad cholesterol is more of a concern than the good cholesterol,” says Eckel, so it’s important to limit consumption of saturated fats. The American Heart Association recommends limiting saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent of your total daily calories. “A reduction in saturated fats by a moderate amount will reduce LDL,” Eckel says.

8. Avoid trans fats, which have been purged from many prepared foods but are found in small quantities in some animal products. They also are formed during the hydrogenation process of making margarine, shortening, and cooking oils. Trans fats can increase LDL and decrease HDL. Vegetable oils that are partially hydrogenated are the source of about 75 percent of trans fatty acids in the American diet, according to the AHA. It’s easier now to find foods that contain little to no trans fats, as more attention is paid to how trans fats affect people’s health. Many restaurants are making an effort, and New York City and California have banned trans fats.

As a rule, try to limit your intake of trans fats to less than 1 percent of your total calories on any given day, the AHA suggests. Read the nutrition facts label when you buy food to keep an eye on how much trans fat you’re consuming. “Look at the ingredients, and if ingredients say hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, there are trans fats in there,” says Barry Franklin, director of cardiac rehabilitation at the William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich.

9. Have an occasional drink. Drinking alcohol increases HDL levels slightly but doesn’t decrease LDL, according to NHLBI. Because drinking too much alcohol can result in alcoholism, damage to the liver and the heart muscles, high blood pressure, and high triglyceride levels, among other problems, it’s important to limit consumption. Men and women who consume alcohol should do so in moderation, which means one to two drinks daily for men and one drink for women, the AHA suggests.

10. Quit smoking. There are plenty of reasons to stop, but one that’s not widely known is that smoking has been shown to decrease HDL levels. Smoking also makes it harder to work out, which means it is less likely you’ll reach healthful cholesterol goals. And that’s not all. Consider these other reasons why you should stop smoking right now.

By January W. Payne U.S.News

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