Managing our cholesterol is part of a lifelong commitment to reduce our risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, this book gives us a better understanding about cholesterol and teaches us on to lower our cholesterol level to a normal or healthy level through 7 ways:
1. Understand the blood lipid profile to have a better understanding on cholesterol level reading, lipoproteins, the good side and dark side of cholesterol. The need to have scheduled blood test.
2. Eat heart healthy food know our fat, understand the saturated/monosaturated/polyunsaturated fats and it sources. Increase soluble fibre in our diet.
3. Increase high density lipoprotein increase our HDL cholesterol through exercise, get weight down, increase consumption of cold-water fish and soluble fibre; do not smoke/drink alcohol and manage stress.
4. include cholesterol-lowering supplements to add fibre supplement to our diet, multi-vitamin/mineral, omega-3 fatty acid from fish oil, garlic, soy protein supplement, vitamin E, B complex, calcium etc.
5. include cholesterol-lowering herbs the writer recommended a short list of herbs such as hawthorn berry extract (an old herbal remedy for heart condition, gugulipid (commiphora mukul) and turmeric.
6. take drugs if need be if healthy lifestyle and nutrition cannot help to lower our cholesterol to a healthy life, then, take drugs. Get doctors advice on which cholesterol-lowering drug or in combination would be suitable for you. However, be caution on side effect of every drug.
7. start loving our heart commit to live a healthy lifestyle and eat right before resorting to drugs. Have our blood lipid profile taken (as in key#1) to check whether we are headed for a heart attack or will we escape? Then, start the plan as recommended by the writer in his book.