Healthy Tip: Cholesterol – Don’t Let it Scare you

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

Healthy Heart Tip: Cholesterol – Don’t Let it Scare you

Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in our blood. There are two main types, LDL, sometimes termed ‘bad cholesterol’, and HDL, sometimes termed ‘good cholesterol’. 

We need some of both types to be healthy, but an incorrect balance can be harmful. Being told we have high cholesterol can be scary and leave us worried.

This Halloween we encourage you to become informed and take positive action to restore a healthy cholesterol balance, and to reduce the fear that goes hand in hand with a diagnosis:

Increase fibre intake

Fibre is a type of carbohydrate that comes from plants, and research tells us that those people who have more fibre in their diet have lower cholesterol.

Aim to eat fibre from a variety of different sources such as fruits, vegetables, wholegrain, nuts, seeds and pulses (lentils and beans).

Pumpkins are a great source of fibre, when you are carving your pumpkins this week why not use the flesh to make a fibre-rich pumpkin soup.

Exercise more

We should be aiming for at least 150 minutes of exercise per week.

Aerobic exercise such as running or cycling can help increase the levels of ‘good cholesterol’ in our blood.

Aiming for 30 minutes moderate physical activity, five times per week will help restore a healthy cholesterol balance, among many other health benefits.

Limit alcohol consumption

Alcohol can raise the levels of cholesterol in our blood. Cutting back on how much we consume can improve the health of our liver, meaning we can better remove bad cholesterol from our blood.

The good news is there are many alcohol-free alternatives available in the supermarkets and in pubs nowadays.

It is recommended that we limit our alcohol consumption to 14 units per week (about six pints of average strength beer or about five 250ml glasses of wine).

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips. To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/. Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/.