I reduced my cholesterol.

“I reduced my cholesterol.”

How Carolyn Trono of Winnipeg reduced her cholesterol through simple lifestyle changes

By Lesley Young

Despite living an active lifestyle, Carolyn Trono, a Winnipeg mother of three and full-time education, training and development consultant, couldn’t seem to shed those extra pounds. In December 2007 she decided to visit Phyllis Reid-Jarvis, a registered dietitian. Reid-Jarvis gave Trono a few initial pointers to get through the holiday season until results from her annual physical in January painted a clearer picture of the problem.

The breaking point

Trono’s test results were a surprise. “My blood work showed I had quite high cholesterol," she says, "including LDL [low-density lipoproteins], and triglyceride levels. Some of it was hereditary but some of it was diet. I knew I could do something about that.” High LDL and triglycerides are types of fat called “lipids” that clog arteries (worse when high levels of both are combined) and increase the risk of heart attack.

The challenge

To reduce cholesterol levels through dietary changes and exercise (while cooking for a family of meat lovers).

The plan

Reid-Jarvis recommended simple dietary changes, starting with cutting back on saturated fat intake. She suggested eating red meat only once per week, poultry one to two times per week, fish two to three times per week and meatless meals (e.g., legumes, tofu) two to three times per week. Trono was also encouraged to significantly reduce or cut out processed foods and decrease cheese consumption to one to two times per week. She also introduced healthy fat sources into her diet, such as nuts and seeds. While Trono had been working out five days a week, Reid-Jarvis told her to up the intensity of her workouts from basic cardio to include interval and resistance training.

The biggest obstacle

Juggling the menu is hard for Trono because her three kids and husband love red meat (and they are picky eaters). Her solution? She plans ahead and makes sure she has healthier alternatives for her on hand. "When it’s hamburger night, I will prepare a salmon burger for myself. Or I’ll make a big batch of vegetarian chili and defrost some for my dinner.”

The results

• 6 healthy fruit smoothie recipes
• It worked for me

Six months later, Trono went to her GP for another blood test and the changes had paid off. Her cholesterol levels are close to normal and, as a bonus, she’s shed 10 pounds. “What’s really amazing is how I feel," she says. "I just have so much energy doing stuff around the house. By the end of the day, I’m like, ‘OK, what’s next?,’ not counting down to 10 p.m. when I can go to bed.” Next up? Trono’s working on her portion sizes with the goal of shedding the last 15 pounds.

The tips

• Take baby steps. “Don’t change everything right away,” says Trono. She found it much easier to focus on one dietary change at a time, such as tackling protein. Now, six months later, she’s going to work on portion control.
• Taste temptations. Trono quit her bad habit of “taste testing” whatever she’s cooking by ensuring she has fresh vegetables close by to snack on while she prepares meals. As for her love of eggs, she found she didn’t miss the yolk when she makes egg-white-only omelettes.

Eggs

4 foods that boost good cholesterol

These four super-foods increase your levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or "good cholesterol," which will help lower your risk for heart disease

PreviousSlide 4 of 4

Eggs

Adults who ate an egg every day for 12 weeks increased HDL as much as 48 percent, according to a study from Thailand. Why? They have tons of lecithin.

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Dark chocolate

4 foods that boost good cholesterol

These four super-foods increase your levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or "good cholesterol," which will help lower your risk for heart disease

PreviousSlide 3 of 4Next

Dark chocolate

A study found that 100 grams of dark chocolate daily raises HDL by nine percent. That’s 550 calories; luckily, 15 grams helps too, say researchers.

Berries

4 foods that boost good cholesterol

These four super-foods increase your levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or "good cholesterol," which will help lower your risk for heart disease

PreviousSlide 2 of 4Next

Berries

They needn’t be fresh, just plentiful: HDL levels rose five percent when adults ate about a cup (250 mL) of frozen berries a day for eight weeks.

4 foods that boost good cholesterol

4 foods that boost good cholesterol

These four super-foods increase your levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or "good cholesterol," which will help lower your risk for heart disease

Slide 1 of 4Next

Salmon

HDL rose four percent in adults who ate two 115-gram servings of salmon a week for four weeks, according to a Loma Linda Universitystudy.

Trim your personal fat zones

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

Prevention is key when is comes to a healthy heart. Improve your cholesterol levels by following these tips

PreviousSlide 10 of 10

9. Trim your personal fat zones

Losing about six percent of your body weight  could lower your LDL by 12 percent and raise your HDL by 18 percent, researchers say. The best weight-loss strategy for making your cholesterol levels healthier is a moderate-fat diet with lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and unsaturated fat from fish, nuts and olive and canola oils. Skip extremely low fat diets: while research shows that they can make plaque in arteries shrink, they're impossibly difficult for most people to follow. And plenty of studies show that a moderate-fat diet not only protects your heart well, but is also much more pleasurable.

Related:
• 4 foods that boost good cholesterol

• "I reduced my cholesterol."

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Have up to two glasses of alcohol a day, with food

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

Prevention is key when is comes to a healthy heart. Improve your cholesterol levels by following these tips

PreviousSlide 9 of 10Next

8. Have up to two glasses of alcohol a day, with food

Studies suggest that people who drink alcohol in moderation (no more than two standard drinks a day, for both men and women, with food) get a double cholesterol benefit. In one study, one drink a day lowered LDL nearly eight points. Drinking moderately also increases HDL; in one Dutch study, HDL rose by a respectable seven percent.

et moving to boost good cholesterol

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

Prevention is key when is comes to a healthy heart. Improve your cholesterol levels by following these tips

PreviousSlide 8 of 10Next

7. Get moving to boost good cholesterol

Recently, doctors have discovered that having high levels of good cholesterol is every bit as important as having low levels of bad. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of effective ways to increase your HDL — but exercise is one of them. Aerobic exercise, whether it's walking, swimming, cycling or even working hard in your garden, can raise HDL by five to 10 per cent. If you're also following a healthy diet, adding exercise can nudge LDL down three to 16 points, other studies suggest. A recent Japanese study of 1,400 people found that those who took a 40-minute brisk walk four times a week raised their HDL by about two points — enough to lower heart disease risk by about six percent. For raising HDL, longer workouts are better than several short ones.

Feast on fruit, double your vegetables

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

Prevention is key when is comes to a healthy heart. Improve your cholesterol levels by following these tips

PreviousSlide 7 of 10Next

6. Feast on fruit, double your vegetables

Eating nine servings of fruit and vegetables a day can reduce your LDL by as much as seven percent. Researchers aren't sure why, but it could be because of soluble fibre, which blocks the reabsorption of cholesterol found in the bile acids (digestive juices) that make their way into your intestines. This effectively lowers your LDL levels. Apples, pears and prunes are all good sources of soluble fibre. Or it could just be that people who tend to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables probably eat fewer fatty meats, snacks and desserts.

Snack on nuts

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

Prevention is key when is comes to a healthy heart. Improve your cholesterol levels by following these tips

PreviousSlide 6 of 10Next

5. Snack on nuts

It may seem odd, since nuts are fatty, but they really are excellent for your cholesterol, thanks in part to the cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated fats they contain. Choosing almonds instead of a doughnut, chips or pretzels for your afternoon snack every day could cut bad cholesterol by nearly 10 per cent. A bonus is that vitamin E in the almond's 'meat' plus flavonoids in its papery skin protect LDL from oxidation, which is the first step in the development of artery-clogging plaque.

If you want to raise your HDL at the same time? Choose walnuts. Bad cholesterol fell 10 per cent and good cholesterol rose 18 per cent when 58 women and men in one study snacked on about 14 walnut halves a day for six months.

Nuts are high in calories, so control portions. A 90 calorie serving is about 12 almonds, eight whole cashews, eight pecans, 26 pistachios or seven walnut halves. Double that for a 180 calorie serving. Eating a small handful of any type of nut is a good rule of thumb when it comes to portion control.

Eat oats, barley and legumes every day

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

Prevention is key when is comes to a healthy heart. Improve your cholesterol levels by following these tips

PreviousSlide 5 of 10Next

4. Eat oats, barley and legumes every day

These three 'superfoods' are packed with a type of soluble fibre called beta-glucan. It acts like a sponge, trapping cholesterol-rich bile acids in your intestines so they can be eliminated before they have the chance to raise your cholesterol. Whole grains such as whole wheat bread and brown rice, which are rich in insoluble fibre, just can't perform that trick. In one study of 36 overweight men, those who ate two large servings of foods rich in soluble fibre a day lowered their LDL by 17 percent. Here are three great ways to include more fibre into your diet:

▪ Enjoy grated apples over oameal at breakfast; oats contain more soluble fibre than any other grain. Having just two serves of porridge a day can lower your cholesterol by two to three per cent.

▪ Cook up barley and serve it instead of rice. In a US study from the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, 25 people with slightly high cholesterol who ate barley daily for several weeks saw their LDL drop significantly.

▪ Try to eat a combination of soy protein, almonds, oats, barley and plant sterols at the same meal. Studies show that this can reduce LDL by 28 percent in people with high cholesterol who also have a diet low in saturated fats.

Stop smoking

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

Prevention is key when is comes to a healthy heart. Improve your cholesterol levels by following these tips

PreviousSlide 4 of 10Next

3. Stop smoking

Smoking depresses levels of good cholesterol by seven to 20 percent and at the same time can raise your bad cholesterol 70 percent, according to one analysis of several studies. It also unleashes toxic chemicals that make LDL more dangerous to your arteries. By quitting smoking, you'll see benefits incredibly quickly: blood levels of heart-protecting HDL bounce back within a month or two of making this one change.

Avoid foods with 'hydrogenated' on the label

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

Prevention is key when is comes to a healthy heart. Improve your cholesterol levels by following these tips

PreviousSlide 3 of 10Next

2. Avoid foods with 'hydrogenated' on the label

Read the back of a bag of chips or a box of cookies, crackers or baked goods, and you may well see 'partially hydrogenated oil' on the list. These oils, also known as trans fats, extend the shelf life of a product, but they can spell disaster by raising LDL and triglycerides, reducing HDL, and increasing your odds of having a heart attack. In one study of 50 men with healthy cholesterol levels, eating trans fats for five weeks raised LDL 5 per cent and lowered HDL a heart-damaging 11 percent.

Food served in restaurants and at fast-food chains — especially fried food — can also be high in trans fats; ask how food is cooked before you order it, and find out what oils are used and how often they're replenished. Even if they have made the switch to healthier oils, fried food is still generally too high in fat and calories to eat safely except on rare occasions.

Eat less saturated fat

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

Prevention is key when is comes to a healthy heart. Improve your cholesterol levels by following these tips

PreviousSlide 2 of 10Next

1. Eat less saturated fat

This is the fat found in hamburgers, steaks, butter, cheese and ice-cream. To lower your risk of heart attack, switch to skinless chicken breasts, oily fish, olive or canola oil, and low-fat dairy foods. Experts estimate that for every two percent decrease in calories from saturated fat — about what you'd get if you had baby carrots instead of 1 oz (28 g) of regular potato chips or drank two cups (500 mL) of skim milk instead of two cups (500 mL) of one percent milk — you would lower your LDL by one point. Keep your daily intake of saturated fat to less than 7 per cent of daily kilojoules — about 1 tablespoon of butter or a slice of cheddar cheese plus ½ cup of ice-cream if you eat 1,800 calories a day — and you could lower your LDL by nine to 11 percent.

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

Prevention is key when is comes to a healthy heart. Improve your cholesterol levels by following these tips

Slide 1 of 10Next

Prevention strategies

Cholesterol is necessary to make cell membranes as well as hormones, and your body produces this cholesterol. What you eat also contributes to blood cholesterol levels, but it's not so much this as the saturated fat in your diet that raises your cholesterol. Some cholesterol is 'bad' (LDL attacks arteries and contributes to plaque buildup), while some is 'good' (HDL escorts the bad cholesterol out of the body). Only about half of people who have heart attacks have high cholesterol, but it's still important to keep your levels healthy. For every one percent drop in LDL, heart attack risk falls by two percent; every one percent rise in HDL reduces your risk of a fatal heart attack by three percent.

Peanut butter

4 fatty foods that are good for cholesterol

Not all fat is bad for you. These four types of fatty foods actually help lower your bad cholesterol levels and may even raise good cholesterol levels

PreviousSlide 4 of 4

Peanut butter

Eat peanut butter! That's right, peanut butter. Yes, it's high in calories, but most of the fat it contains is unsaturated. Buy a "natural" brand that contains no hydrogenated oils.

Related:
• 4 foods that boost good cholesterol

• Quiz: Are you at risk for high cholesterol?

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Avocado

4 fatty foods that are good for cholesterol

Not all fat is bad for you. These four types of fatty foods actually help lower your bad cholesterol levels and may even raise good cholesterol levels

PreviousSlide 3 of 4Next

Avocado

Have an avocado a day and you might lower your LDL by as much as 17 percent. True, avocados are very high in fat, but it's mainly the unsaturated kind.

Nuts

4 fatty foods that are good for cholesterol

Not all fat is bad for you. These four types of fatty foods actually help lower your bad cholesterol levels and may even raise good cholesterol levels

PreviousSlide 2 of 4Next

Nuts

Enjoy nuts. They are packed with heart-healthy unsaturated fats, including omega-3s. Walnuts and almonds seem to be especially good at lowering LDL. Eat a shotglass-size serving a day and watch your numbers drop. But nuts contain a lot of calories, so make sure you eat them instead of—not in addition to—other snacks.

4 fatty foods that are good for cholesterol

4 fatty foods that are good for cholesterol

Not all fat is bad for you. These four types of fatty foods actually help lower your bad cholesterol levels and may even raise good cholesterol levels

Slide 1 of 4Next

Olive oil

Numerous studies have shown that olive oil not only lowers LDL but also raises HDL. One study found that people who ate about 2 tablespoons of olive oil a day had lower LDL levels in just one week. Use it in garlic bread, salad dressings, in place of margarine, and in place of other oils when sautéing.

Once you're on cholesterol-lowering drugs, lifestyle doesn't matter

Myths and truths about cholesterol and your health

Here are some common misconceptions about cholesterol and the truth behind them

By Kat Tancock

PreviousSlide 9 of 9

The myth: Once you're on cholesterol-lowering drugs, lifestyle doesn't matter

The truth: "Lifestyle modifications are critical," says Dr. Iglar. 

"Cholesterol is only one component of cardiovascular health" – and that's not even to mention other diseases that are more likely to occur if your lifestyle isn't up to par. 

"The vast majority of people who are destined to have a heart attack could avoid it if they paid attention carefully to diet and lifestyle," says Dr. David J.A. Jenkins, professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto. "Drugs won’t stop you from getting fat, won’t lower your blood pressure, won’t improve your blood glucose – they’re not going to hit all the other things that are going to cause you trouble from a bad diet."

Related:
• 4 foods that boost good cholesterol

• "I reduced my cholesterol."

• Quiz: Are you at risk for high cholesterol?