How to Reduce Cholesterol through Lifestyle Changes

By Mike DuBose with Blake DuBose and Surb Guram, MD

 

Part II of the Lowering Cholesterol without Statin Drugs Series 

The human body is a miraculous thing. All of our different systems work in beautiful synchronization to keep us alive, our organs trading vitamins, oxygen, and other by-products back and forth in a complex, intricate dance. But when we introduce some of the conveniences of modern life—such as excessively sugary drinks; fatty, deep-fried foods; refined carbohydrates like white bread; and sedentary lifestyles—we start to overload the body’s natural tendency to self-regulate. Certain nutrients, like fat, that can be positive in normal doses can cause serious health issues when we don’t make an effort to limit them in our daily lives.

Take cholesterol, for example. Small amounts of cholesterol are needed for your body to produce hormones, cell membranes, Vitamin D, and bile acids. However, as the American Heart Association notes, “your body, and especially your liver, makes all the cholesterol you need and circulates it through the blood.” Yet, many people introduce much higher levels of cholesterol than normal into their bodies by eating an unhealthy diet. Genetics are another factor behind some peoples’ high cholesterol, but so are changeable behaviors like not getting enough exercise.

Fortunately, there are many strategies you can employ to make your life healthier and lower your risk of heart disease due to high cholesterol. Every treatment option has different effects on the individual components of your cholesterol score (LDL, HDL, and triglycerides). For example, one strategy may increase your good HDL cholesterol, but fail to impact your triglycerides or vice versa. With your doctor’s guidance, you will want to work on all three individually and in combination to bring your numbers into the safe range.

Commit to changing: If you really want to reduce your high cholesterol, then you must make a solid commitment to examine your lifestyle, what you consume, how much you exercise, your stress levels and coping strategies, and the other factors mentioned in this article and make improvements. You do not have to turn your life upside down to reap important health benefits—several small changes can add up to a major cholesterol reduction! For example, you don’t have to eat a bland, rigid diet; just practice moderation instead. Try playing at reducing cholesterol like a game, or team up with your spouse or a friend to work together to improve your health.

Develop a written strategy: After reviewing the following research, make a list of the changes you are going to make and how you will execute the plan—it’s almost like planning a trip! Establish a target overall cholesterol number that you would like to reach by the end of the first 120 days. I suggest beginning with a very achievable objective like a 10% reduction (i.e. if your overall cholesterol is 250, initially shoot for 225) to avoid discouragement. You may still be in the high zone after the four months are up, but as a Harvard psychiatrist once told me, “When you want to change behaviors, take baby steps.” Then, over the next 120 days, shoot for another 25 points. Keep this up and celebrate the small victories as you travel down the path to a lifestyle that manages your total cholesterol within a safe range.

Control your sugar levels (if diabetic): Diabetics need to watch their diets carefully and maintain good sugar readings to help keep their cholesterol within normal ranges. Long-term regulation is measured by a blood test called an A1c, and the goal is to keep it at 7.0 or lower.

Lose weight: Being overweight, as Susan Davis and Cynthia Haynes, MD noted in a WebMD article, “tends to increase the amount of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in your blood.” Before I set an objective to lose weight, I was approaching 240 pounds with a 42” waist. I stepped out of the “danger zone” for my weight and waist measurements by losing 35 pounds over 30 weeks (see www.mikedubose.com/weightloss for details on how I accomplished this). Speak to your doctor about how you can change your diet and safely increase exercise to shed excess pounds.

Exercise: As Davis and Haynes wrote, “Researchers aren’t entirely sure how exercise lowers cholesterol, but they are beginning to have a clearer idea.” Several recent studies have researched the effect of exercise alone (versus exercise paired with dietary changes) to get a better idea of how it works to promote heart health. Davis and Haynes noted two distinct exercise benefits: first, it “stimulates enzymes that help move LDL from the blood (and vessel walls) to the liver. From there, the cholesterol is converted into bile (for digestion) or excreted. So the more you exercise, the more LDL your body expels.” Second, it increases the size of the protein particles carrying cholesterol through the blood, which is good because it prevents smaller, denser particles from attaching to the lining of the heart and blood vessels.

To maximize your benefits, perform thirty minutes of vigorous exercise (where you are huffing and puffing) every day. Mix it up for some fun: try brisk walking, gardening, dancing, swimming, bicycling, aerobics, climbing stairs, and tennis, to name a few. My wife, Debra, and I walk about two miles daily either at the mall or outside (when temperatures permit). It not only helps our health but also elevates our moods, reduces negative feelings, and gives us a chance to spend time together.

Control stress: Stress and anger can surface for many reasons, such as dissatisfaction or frustration with our jobs or the workplace, marriages, and child rearing; medical problems; depression; conflicts with relatives and friends; caring for aging parents; being too busy and involved in an excessive number of activities, etc. While not all stress can be controlled, we bring much of it on ourselves and are usually capable of reducing it a good bit! Read more about stress reduction at www.mikedubose.com/stress.

Change your diet: Diet is very important in managing cholesterol. Not only is it vital to maintaining a healthy weight (or losing weight, if necessary), but certain foods can also inhibit bad LDL cholesterol and raise good HDL cholesterol. There are a variety of foods, oils, and liquids that all have unique effects on cholesterol, and you should try to incorporate multiple heart-healthy choices to maximize your health benefits.

The bottom line: High cholesterol is dangerous, but it’s not a death sentence. There are many lifestyle changes, including changing your diet, incorporating more exercise, and managing other aspects of your health, that can help bring cholesterol down to healthy levels. Read our next segment for more specific information on foods that can help reduce cholesterol and protect you from the heart disease it may bring!

 

About the Authors: Our corporate and personal purpose is to “create opportunities to improve lives” by sharing our knowledge, research, experiences, successes, and mistakes. You can e-mail us at [email protected].

Mike DuBose, a University of South Carolina graduate, is the author of The Art of Building a Great Business. He has been in business since 1981 and is the owner of Research Associates, The Evaluation Group, DuBose Fitness Center, and Columbia Conference Center. Visit his nonprofit website www.mikedubose.com for a free copy of his book and additional business, travel, health, and personal published articles.

Blake DuBose graduated from Newberry College’s Schools of Business and Psychology and is president of DuBose Web Group (www.duboseweb.com).

Katie Beck serves as Director of Communications for the DuBose family of companies. She graduated from the USC School of Journalism and Honors College.

Dr. Surb Guram, MD is a board-certified internist and a graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. He is a partner with the SC Internal Medicine Associates in Irmo, SC and has practiced internal medicine in the Midlands for the past 30 years. See www.scinternalmedicine.com for more information on Dr. Guram and his practice.

© Copyright 2015 by Mike DuBose—All Rights Reserved. You have permission and we encourage you to forward the full article to friends or colleagues and/or distribute it as part of personal or professional use, providing that the authors are credited. However, no part of this article may be altered or published in any other manner without the written consent of the authors. If you would like written approval to post this information on an appropriate website or to publish this information, please contact Katie Beck at [email protected] and briefly explain how the article will be used; we will respond promptly. Thank you for honoring our hard work!

 

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