How to Lower Cholesterol Before a Medical Exam

If you have high cholesterol or are on the borderline, you may want to try to lower it before you have a medical exam. If the exam is for insurance purposes, it might help you get the insurance or qualify for a lower premium. If you're just having your regular medical exam, it might show your doctor that you're able to maintain a healthy lifestyle in order to fight medical problems. If you can lower your cholesterol yourself, he might not need to put you on medication. You just have to be willing to take some solid steps before the exam.

Instructions

• 1

  Schedule the medical exam far enough in the future to give yourself time to lower your cholesterol. If you're diligent, you should be able to lower it within two months so schedule the exam at least eight weeks in the future.

• 2

  Cut back on saturated fats and trans fats. The Mayo Clinic recommends getting less than 10 percent of your daily calories from saturated fat and eliminating as much trans fat as possible in order to have a noticeable effect on your cholesterol level.

• 3

  Eat cholesterol-lowering foods. The Mayo Clinic recommends oats, almonds, walnuts, olive oil and fish containing omega-3 fatty acids. General Mills says that Cheerios can lower your cholesterol level by up to 4 percent within six weeks, and Benecol markets a cholesterol-lowering margarine called Benecol.

• 4

  Take a cholesterol-lowering dietary supplement. You can find a wide variety of supplements in larger pharmacies and health food stores. Commonly used supplements include garlic extract, artichoke extract, blond psyllium, fish oil, red yeast rice and sitostano.

• 5

  Exercise from 30 to 60 minutes per day. The Mayo Clinic says you can do virtually any activity, from swimming to walking to biking, as long as you do it on a daily basis. You can break down your exercise time into small chunks or do it all at once.

• 6

  Stop smoking. If you are a tobacco smoker and you quit, your cholesterol level will go down. You can maintain the benefit as long as you don't start smoking again.