Then your liver removes the cholesterol from your body. The treatments for high cholesterol are heart-healthy lifestyle changes and medicines. The lifestyle changes include healthy eating, weight management, and regular physical activity.

Heart-healthy lifestyle changes include a diet to lower your cholesterol. The DASH eating plan is one example. Another is the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet, which recommends that you. Choose healthier fats. You should limit both total fat and saturated fat. Depending upon how many calories you eat per day, here are the maximum amounts of fats that you should eat:.

Saturated fat is a bad fat because it raises your LDL bad cholesterol level more than anything else in your diet. It is found in some meats, dairy products, chocolate, baked goods, and deep-fried and processed foods. Trans fat is another bad fat; it can raise your LDL and lower you HDL good cholesterol.

Trans fat is mostly in foods made with hydrogenated oils and fats, such as stick margarine, crackers, and french fries.

Instead of these bad fats, try healthier fats, such as lean meat, nuts, and unsaturated oils like canola, olive, and safflower oils. Limit foods with cholesterol. If you are trying to lower your cholesterol, you should have less than mg a day of cholesterol. Cholesterol is in foods of animal origin, such as liver and other organ meats, egg yolks, shrimp, and whole milk dairy products.

Eat plenty of soluble fiber. Foods high in soluble fiber help prevent your digestive tract from absorbing cholesterol. These foods include:. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables can increase important cholesterol-lowering compounds in your diet.

These compounds, called plant stanols or sterols, work like soluble fiber. Lipoproteins carry cholesterol, fat, and fat-soluble vitamins in your blood. Your liver produces as much cholesterol as your body needs. Yet several factors may influence these levels, including:.

Some people recommend an overall low fat diet for weight loss, but research is mixed on its effectiveness in managing blood cholesterol, according to experts.

Here are a few great sources of monounsaturated fats :. Research from shows that polyunsaturated fats reduce LDL cholesterol and decrease the risk of heart disease. Polyunsaturated fats may also reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Omega-3 fatty acids are an especially heart-healthy type of polyunsaturated fat.

Trans fats are unsaturated fats that have been modified by a process called hydrogenation. This makes the unsaturated fats in vegetable oils more stable. The body handles trans fats differently than other fats, and not in a good way.

Trans fats increase LDL and total cholesterol while decreasing beneficial HDL. Soluble fiber is a type of fiber that is abundant in plants and whole grains. Prioritizing whole grains can help lower LDL cholesterol levels and may have a protective effect against cardiovascular diseases.

Some of the best sources of soluble fiber include:. Exercise is a win-win for heart health. Not only does it improve physical fitness and help prevent obesity , but it also reduces harmful LDL and increases beneficial HDL. The American Heart Association AHA advises that minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week is enough to lower cholesterol levels.

Regular strength training alongside aerobic exercise can provide even more benefits. Having excess weight or obesity can increase your risk of developing high cholesterol levels.

Losing weight, if you have excess weight, can help lower your cholesterol levels. Overall, weight loss has a double benefit on cholesterol by decreasing harmful LDL and increasing beneficial HDL.

Consider working with a doctor to determine a nutrient-dense diet and sustainable weight management plan that works for you. Smoking tobacco increases the risk of heart disease in several ways, including:.

Giving up smoking, if possible, can help reverse these harmful effects. According to a review of studies , some research indicates that when consumed in moderation, alcoholic drinks can increase good HDL cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC and AHA disagree. The AHA does not recommend drinking wine or any other alcoholic beverage specifically to lower your cholesterol or improve heart health. If you drink, the CDC suggests you consume only two drinks per day for males or one drink per day for females on days that you drink.

Multiple types of supplements show promise for managing cholesterol. You just need to eat them in moderation. You probably know fiber as something that can help you with your digestive health.

But if you thought fiber was only for digestion, think again: It can also help build your cardiovascular health. A low-cholesterol food list is rich in soluble fiber fiber that can dissolve into water. Soluble fiber grabs cholesterol in your gut — before it gets into your bloodstream — and helps lower bad LDL cholesterol levels.

Try oatmeal and whole grain toast for breakfast, curried lentils for lunch, or turkey chili with kidney beans for dinner. Generally, the more processed a grain or bean, the less likely it is to have healthy benefits and nutritional value.

Whenever you can, try to stock up on fresh ingredients. But common snack foods like chips, microwavable popcorn, cookies, pastries or crackers are high in trans and saturated fats.

On the other hand, snacking on fruits, vegetables and nuts not only helps you avoid bad fats, but also helps you get good fats and fiber.

Raw nuts are high in unsaturated fats — which are the best kind of fats. Nuts are great for a heart-healthy diet because they raise your good HDL cholesterol levels and lower your bad LDL cholesterol levels. Other examples of foods that are high in unsaturated fat include avocados and olives.

Nuts — along with many fruits and veggies — can also be a great source of soluble fiber. Adding as many of these foods as you can to your diet can be a double-dose of cholesterol-reducing impact.

As with meats and whole grains, remember that more processing means less benefit. When it comes to dairy, this is a big area where picking a healthier alternative can be an easy win. For items like cheese, milk, cream and yogurt, use low-fat dairy products instead of the regular versions.

Who knows? It could become your next craving. Making these changes is helpful because full-fat dairy products contain saturated fat as well as cholesterol. Just as you can change what you buy in the grocery store, you can also choose healthier ways to make your food that help lower your cholesterol naturally.

For example:. When you do need to add fat for cooking, baking or pan frying, use healthy oils instead of solid fats, like butter, margarine, shortening and lard. Solid fats are high in saturated fats, but oils are high in unsaturated fats, which — remember — are better for you.

The American Heart Association AHA recommends using oils that have less than 4 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon and no trans fats.

Try using olive oil, sunflower oil or grapeseed oil in place of a solid fat.

Smoking can lead to high cholesterol levels. Genetics — your family history may affect your cholesterol level. In some families, several people might be diagnosed with high cholesterol or heart disease at a relatively young age men below age 55 years and women below 65 years. This type of pattern can be caused by genetics, including a genetic condition called familial hypercholesterolaemia.

Cholesterol and healthy eating What we eat has an impact on our cholesterol levels and can help reduce our risk of disease. A heart-healthy eating pattern includes: plenty of vegetables, fruit and wholegrains a variety of healthy protein-rich foods especially fish and seafood , legumes such as beans and lentils , nuts and seeds.

Smaller amounts of eggs and lean poultry can also be included in a heart-healthy eating pattern. If choosing red meat, make sure it is lean and limit to one to three times a week unflavoured milk , yoghurt and cheese.

People with high cholesterol should choose reduced fat varieties healthy fats and oils. Choose nuts, seeds, avocados, olives and their oils for cooking herbs and spices to flavour foods, instead of adding salt.

Serving size can vary depending on age, gender and specific nutrition needs. Healthy eating tips to lower cholesterol As well as sticking to a varied and healthy diet, try these tips to help you manage your cholesterol: The Heart Foundation recommends that people follow a heart-healthy eating pattern, which is built on eating mostly plant-based foods.

Eating more plant-based foods like vegetables, legumes, fruit, wholegrains, nuts and seeds is good for heart health. Include legumes or pulses such as chickpeas, lentils, split peas , beans such as haricot beans, kidney beans, baked beans , bean mixes in at least two meals a week.

Check food labels and choose the lowest sodium salt products. Beans make a great alternative to meat in tacos, or snack on hummus with vegetable sticks. You can also add legumes to soups, pasta sauces, curries and stews.

Use tofu or lentils instead of meat in stir fries or curries. Choose wholegrain breads, cereals, pasta, rice and noodles. Snack on plain, unsalted nuts and fresh fruit ideally two serves of fruit every day. Use avocado, nut butters, tahini or spreads made from healthy unsaturated fats such as canola, sunflower or extra virgin olive oil instead of those made with saturated fat such as butter, coconut oil and cream.

Use healthy oils for cooking — some include canola, sunflower, soybean, olive extra virgin is a good choice , sesame and peanut oils. For people at high risk of heart disease, the Heart Foundation recommends people eat grams of plant sterol-enriched foods every day for example, plant sterol-enriched margarine, yoghurt, milk and cereals.

Enjoy fish two to three times a week grams fresh or g tinned. However, a maximum of seven eggs each week is recommended for people with high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Select lean meat meat trimmed of fat, and poultry without skin and limit unprocessed red meat to less than g per week. Choose unflavoured milk, yoghurt and cheese. People with high cholesterol or heart disease should opt for reduced fat options. Non-dairy milks and yoghurts are ok too; opt for versions that have no added sugar and have had calcium added.

Limit or avoid processed meats including sausages and deli meats such as ham, bacon and salami. Check out the Heart Foundation website External Link for a range of simple, delicious recipes including vegetarian recipes and those that include plant-based proteins such as lentils, chickpeas and beans: Dietary fibre If you are trying to lower your cholesterol, aim to eat foods that are high in dietary fibre particularly soluble fibre , because they can reduce the amount of LDL bad cholesterol in your blood.

You can increase your fibre intake by eating: fruit vegetables legumes such as chickpeas, lentils, soybeans and bean mixes wholegrains for example, oats and barley nuts and seeds. Dietary fats Following a healthy, balanced diet that is low in saturated fats and trans-fats can help to lower your cholesterol.

Unhealthy fats Foods high in unhealthy saturated fats include: processed or deli-style meats such as ham, bacon and salami deep fried fast foods processed foods such as biscuits and pastries takeaway foods such as hamburgers and pizza fat on meat and skin on chicken ghee, lard and copha coconut oil palm oil often called vegetable oil in products cream and ice cream butter.

Healthy fats Foods high in healthy polyunsaturated fats include: soybean, sunflower, safflower, canola oil and margarine spreads made from these oils pine nuts, walnuts and brazil nuts.

fish tahini sesame seed spread linseed flaxseed and chia seeds Foods high in healthy monounsaturated fats include: cooking oils made from plants or seeds, including: olive, canola, peanut, sunflower, soybean, sesame and safflower avocados olives unsalted nuts such as almonds, cashews and peanuts.

If you regularly eat more energy than you need, you may have high triglycerides. Lowering triglycerides Some ways to reduce triglyceride levels include: stick to a healthy diet by following a heart-healthy eating pattern and limiting unhealthy fats, salt and added sugar opt for water, tea and coffee without adding sugar as heart-healthy drinks, instead of sugar-sweetened drinks such as soft drinks, cordial, energy drinks and sports drinks include foods with healthy omega-3 fats for example, fish such as salmon, sardines and tuna reduce or limit your alcohol intake maintain a healthy weight and reduce fat around your middle.

Treatment for high cholesterol Making lifestyle changes, especially changing some of the foods you eat, and regular physical activity , are very important to help reduce high LDL bad cholesterol. Move more. Regular physical activity is one of the best things you can do for your heart health.

Quitting smoking reduces the risk of heart disease and can help reduce cholesterol levels. The most effective way to stop smoking is with a combination of stop-smoking medicines like nicotine replacement therapy and support from a service like Quitline Tel: 13 78 Speaking to your GP is also a great first step.

Alcohol contributes unnecessary kilojoules energy and is of low nutritional value. Alcohol is not a necessary or recommended part of a heart-healthy eating pattern. If you do drink, to reduce your risk of alcohol-related harm, healthy women and men should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than four standard drinks on any one day.

You may also need to take cholesterol-lowering medicines such as statins to help manage your cholesterol and reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Talk to your doctor about finding the most appropriate treatment for you.

Where to get help Your GP doctor Dietitians Australia External Link Tel. Nutrient reference values NRVs for Australia and New Zealand External Link , , National Health and Medical Research Council.

Fats, oils and heart health External Link , Heart Foundation. Healthy eating to protect your heart External Link , Heart Foundation.

Blood cholesterol External Link , Heart Foundation. Give feedback about this page. Was this page helpful? Yes No. Snack on air-popped popcorn or pretzels — but keep track of the calories.

If you crave something sweet, try sherbet or candies with little or no fat, such as jelly beans. Look for ways to incorporate more activity into your daily routine, such as using the stairs instead of taking the elevator or parking farther from your office.

Take walks during breaks at work. Try to increase standing activities, such as cooking or doing yardwork. Moderate use of alcohol has been linked with higher levels of HDL cholesterol — but the benefits aren't strong enough to recommend alcohol for anyone who doesn't already drink.

If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For healthy adults, that means up to one drink a day for women of all ages and men older than age 65, and up to two drinks a day for men age 65 and younger.

Too much alcohol can lead to serious health problems, including high blood pressure, heart failure and strokes. Sometimes healthy lifestyle changes aren't enough to lower cholesterol levels. If your doctor recommends medication to help lower your cholesterol, take it as prescribed while continuing your lifestyle changes.

Lifestyle changes can help you keep your medication dose low. There is a problem with information submitted for this request. Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health.

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