High Cholesterol Control

What is high cholesterol control? There are many ways to answer that question, just as the asking of it can mean many things. Starting at the top, high cholesterol control is minimizing your risk of heart disease.

What you're doing with high cholesterol control is either reducing or preventing the build-up of fatty tissue along the walls of your coronary arteries. The plaque that results from this accumulation is what slows the blood flow, makes it less efficient and strains the heart muscle so. It is what causes a blood clot, which then flows, however slowly, to either the heart or the brain and causes, respectively, a heart attack or stroke. So much for the why.

What High Cholesterol Control Means

A regimen aimed at keeping your cholesterol levels in acceptable or ideal ranges does not necessarily mean medications, though it can entail them. It does mean following a healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise and good eating habits.

Medications, either pharmaceutical or natural, are usually in order if you either have other medical conditions or inherited cardiovascular conditions. Consult your health care practitioner in both situations. Such a situation is by definition too complex and variable to cover in a short generalized paragraph.

Whether you need to take medications aside, the first step is diet and exercise and lifestyle. On lifestyle are two admonitions. If you smoke, stop. If stress is a factor, find ways to minimize it. Eliminating it is well-nigh impossible. Diet and exercise. Emphasize vegetables and fruits, complex carbohydrates and legumes and whole grains. Deemphasize animal products and saturated fats and processed foods. Hydrate with distilled or spring water. If you drink, drink red wine, and keep it light. Exercise regularly, several times a week, aerobically. Keep your heart healthy and young and strong.