Heart Healthy Food Basics 2 Cholesterol #123

PART 2
Your first priority should be cholesterol.   To begin a change to eating healthy, you need to establish and know your starting place.  Contact your cardiologist and get your most recent cholesterol total and individual (HDL- LDL- triglyceride) readings.  Those starting levels and your current weight, will be your gauge to measure your progress for the next 12 months.   I am going to go off course here for a moment and go over a mistake a few of you are going to make.  If you are in the initial stages of recovery and your personal goal is to lose a few pounds, follow doctors orders, be as good as new in three months and go back to unhealthy habits,  do not make the mistake of thinking there is not much here that will apply to you.  You need to give a lot of thought to following some of our ideas and paying attention to what we have experienced.  It is probably going to be a long time before you feel really okay again, and you do not really want to go back to your old ill health habits?  So listen up we can help you get back to a new and better you.

Once you have your cholesterol readings, talk to your cardiologist about them, begin to thoroughly understand what they mean and what your cardiologist thinks good cholesterol level numbers for you to be at in six months.  But more than just knowing what is an acceptable number for your total cholesterol, know specifics about HDL, LDL, and triglycerides.  Ask him the same about your weight.  Let him know why you are asking and the changes you are trying to make.  He may provide you with some healthy food information and ideas.

Food ideas.  Now you know your cholesterol levels and where they should be.  Your next step is to begin researching foods you are eating and determining their cholesterol levels. There are two obvious sources you can go to for cholesterol and calorie levels in specific foods.  Informative healthy food books and the internet.  First, determine the cholesterol levels and calorie content of the specific foods you are eating and determine which foods you should begin to avoid.  My experiences and theory are at this point in your recovery be focused on low cholesterol foods.  That focus should result in lowering your cholesterol levels and result in weight reduction.   Changing your eating habits to cholesterol friendly foods will, or should reduce your calorie intake.  From common sense you already know the foods you eat that are not good for your heart health or cholesterol.  Avoiding those foods is a good start.  You and I know without reading any healthy lifestyle food books, or doing any research on the internet, that foods like Twinkies, Cheetos, snickers, ice cream, prime rib, hamburgers, donuts, cakes, fried foods, etc. are not good for us.  You do not need me to give you a list of do not eat foods.   I can give you some ideas of what has worked for me.  Foods that reduced my cholesterol and were part of my weight loss.    Do not forget the importance of eating foods containing omega-3 fatty acids, which is a tremendous way to improve your cholesterol.  Certain types of fish and plant food contain omega-3.  Omega-3 fatty acid research has shown  they lower LDL, and triglycerides, while improving HDL cholesterol.  Which foods are best sources of omega-3 ?  Fish, but not all fish.  Tuna, salmon, sardines, herring are good sources.  Almonds, walnuts, olive oil, and soybean oil are also sources of omega-3.   Lists of omega-3 fatty acid food sources are easily available on the internet to help you in your search.  

Remain focused on lowering your cholesterol.  Allow weight loss or control to be a secondary priority to lowering your cholesterol.  One reason being that lowering cholesterol is critical to your health as a heart patient, and if you truly apply yourself in eating those type foods, you will begin to lose weight.  You will be surprised at how quickly you can turn your cholesterol numbers around towards the good range by changing your daily diet and avoiding those type foods we have talked about.   You will become more pleased to go to your cardiologist and look forward to getting your lipid blood test results. You will begin to take pride in improving your cholesterol and weight, along with feeling good about yourself.

In part 3 we will get specific about cholesterol levels, their meanings, and some healthier foods.