Learning ways to lower your risk for heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, and stroke, the fifth leading cause of death, is critically important for your health. Your risks can be lessened by lowering your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and body mass index. Prevention is the best way to deal with these potential problems.
One aspect to help minimize the risk of heart disease and stroke is by controlling your cholesterol. Diet and exercise can greatly impact your cholesterol levels. To help maintain a lower cholesterol, you should decrease the amount of saturated fat and trans fat in your diet.
Some suggestions for lowering your fat intake are to select lean cuts of meat with less visible fat and trim the fat from your meat prior to cooking. Lean beef cuts include the round, chuck, sirloin or loin. Lean pork cuts include tenderloin or loin chop. Buy lean or extra lean ground beef. Broil meat instead of frying. Remove skin from chicken and turkey prior to cooking. Fish is low in saturated fat. Eat more vegetables and fruit. Choose to cook with liquid vegetable oils rather than solid fats. Also, choose 1% or skim milk and cheeses and increase your fiber and whole grains.
The American Heart Association has some excellent information on cholesterol at https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol. Please lower your cholesterol by watching what you eat so you can live longer!
Amy Justice, RN
