How to Lower Cholesterol in 30 Days

Lower your cholesterol and you'll live longer. That's pretty much the bottom line. Maintaining safe cholesterol levels also reduces the risk of a heart attack. There are two types of cholesterol, HDL and LDL. The good cholesterol is called HDL, or high-density lipoprotein, which is a substance used to transport cholesterol and triglycerides within the bloodstream. Bad cholesterol is referred to as LDL, or low-density lipoprotein, which transports cholesterol from the liver to tissues throughout the body. LDL causes mucus to build up on the walls of your arteries. This creates plaque buildup and increases the risk of heart disease.

Instructions

• 1

  Oatmeal is a heart healthy breakfast.

  Eat oatmeal every day during the 30-day period. You want to use unsweetened, whole-grain oatmeal, such as steel-cut oats, not the flavored kind. Oatmeal, as its name suggests, is made from oats, which is a great source of fiber.

• 2

  Almonds are a rich source of Vitamin E.

  Eat 10 to 30 almonds daily. Almonds provide rich sources of vitamin E and are one of the more nutritional of all the various nuts. The taste is rather bland, so add them to low-fat yogurt, salads or vegetable dishes.

• 3

  Apples contain pectin, quercetin and flavinoids, all of which provide various health benefits.

  Eat an apple a day. There's definitely something to the adage, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." There's an ingredient in apples called "pectin" that will lower your cholesterol as much as 16 percent if you eat at least two per day.

• 4

  Walking is a healthy exercise.

  Walk one to three miles every day. Exercising and working up a sweat speeds up the flow of blood in your arteries. This reduces chances of inflammation and hardening of the arteries.

• 5

  Take one garlic caplet per day. Choose an all-natural formula with no sugar, starch, yeast, caffeine, dairy or preservatives. Some garlic caplets are "enteric coated," which allows it to be absorbed in the small intestine instead of the stomach to decrease garlic breath.