Avoid high cholesterol. See how it takes place:

The picture to the right illustrates the LDL that breaks apart, creating plaque that blocks the artery.

Many factors such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar heart attack, stroke, impotence and memory loss. Control of Cholesterol.

Prescribed Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs, Side Effects:

For those of you who have been taking Prescribed Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs to avoid high cholesterol, there may be common side effects you can most likely relate to, and they are:

Foods to Avoid High Cholesterol:

The most recommended foods to avoid high cholesterol are:

FIBRE + PSYLLIUM
One tablespoon of this crushed seed, available in most drugstores, provides as much fiber as a serving of bran cereal. If you sometimes find it difficult to get enough fiber rich foods in your diet, you may want to take a tablespoon or two of psyllium daily. You can mix it in water and belt it down or sprinkle it on cereals, smoothies, or other foods. PSYLLIUM is a good source of soluble fiber. Adding 3 grams of soluble fiber to your diet gives about a 5% reduction in LDL within a month or two.

OATS
Fill up on OATS.This cereal grain has gotten a lot of attention for its cholesterol-lowering effectiveness for good reason: The soluble fiber in oatmeal and oat bran helps prevent cholesterol from getting into the bloodstream.
Studies find that eating as little as 1 cup of cooked oat bran daily can lower cholesterol as much as 5% within a month or two. But cooked oat bran is different from instant oatmeal: One packet of instant oatmeal has about 1 gram of soluble fiber, so you'd have to eat three servings to get an appreciable effect.

FISH
Put fish on the menu. It contains omega-3 fatty acids, healthful fats that lower LDL and triglycerides-harmful blood fats that have been linked to heart disease -while raising HDL at the same time. Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna contain the most omega-3s.

FLAX
Eat flax: a nutty-tasting grain seed, it is loaded with cholesterol-lowering omega-3s. It's also rich in soluble fiber and phytoestrogens, which help with cholesterol control. Health food stores and most supermarkets sell whole or ground flaxseed. If you buy the whole form, grind it at home (no more than 3 day's portions at the time for maximum effectiveness) since the whole seeds aren't broken down during digestion.

FOLLOW THE "RULE OF FIVE"
Some breakfast cereals, especially the super-sugary kind, are fiber lightweights, but others provide a real fiber kick. Check the labels. Buy only cereals that provide AT LEAST 5 GRAMS of fiber per serving.

WHOLE GRAINS
Enjoy whole grains. Forget "white" anything-white rice, white bread, or white flour. Most of the fiber has been stripped away during processing. Whole grains, on the other brans, are loaded with it. A slice of whole wheat bread, has about 2 grams of fiver, three times more than a slice of white bread...

BROWN RICE
Switch to brown rice. It takes longer to cook than white varieties, but it's higher in fiber and contains more rice oil, which is thought to have cholesterol-lowering effects. You can also buy instant brown rice which cooks faster.

AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL...

GRAPEFRUIT
Eat more grapefruit, it contains a type of fiber called pectin, which blocks the absorption of cholesterol and other fats into the blood. Red grapefruit is better than white because it is richer in the carotenoid called lycopene, an antioxidant that helps prevent LDL from sticking to artery walls.

NUTS
Snack on nuts. Even though they're almost dripping with fat, sutdies dind that people who eat nuts are less likely to develop heart disease. Most nuts are high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Replacind saturated fat in the diet with these "good" fats can cause a significant drop in LDL.

MILK
Include milk in your diet. White full-fat milk, cheese and other dairy foods are extremely high in saturated fat, fat-free and low-fat dairy foods have negligible amounts. Plus, studies suggest that low-fat dairy foods can help high blood pressure.(Kristine Naper, R.D.)

MUSHROOMS
Add mushrooms to recipes. Studies show that shiitake mushrooms can lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Health food stores and many grocery stores often carry fresh shiitake mushrooms. Try sautéing them for tasty and healthful additions to soups, stews, sauces, omelets, and stir-fried meals.

APPLES
Apples are rich in the soluble fiber pectin. Experts have found that pectin mops up excess cholesterol in your intestine, like a sponge soaks up spills, before it can enter your blood and gunk up your arteries. Then the pectin is excreted, taking fat and cholesterol along with it.

AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL...

VITAMIN C-RICH FOODS
This vitamin is an antioxidant that helps prevent cholesterol from sticking to artery walls and blocking the flow of blood. You can get a lot of vitamin C in your diet by eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, especially green and red peppers, spinach, tomatoes, and oranges or other citrus fruits. Because it takes a lot of vitamin C-about 500 milligrams daily- to control cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease, it makes sense to take a supplement as part of a vitamin C-rich diet.

GREEN TEA
Drink green tea. It's rich in polyphenols, antioxidants tat keep LDL from sticking to artery walls. Black tea contains some of the protective compounds, but green tea, which undergoes less processing, is a better source.

SOY
Add soy to your diet and avoid high cholesterol. Soy is a staple in Asian cuisine, which may be one reason heart disease is much less common in Asian countries than in the United States. Soy foods such as TOFU, TEMPEH, and SOY MILK contain chemical compounds called isoflavones, which appear to reduce the amount of cholesterol that the liver produces. People who eat about one ounce of soy protein daily can have drops in total cholesterol of about 10 percent! To incorporate more soy in your diet:

AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL...

WINE
Toast your health with wine. Dozens of studies suggest that drinking moderate amounts of red wine can reduce the risk of heart attack-possibly by 30 to 50 percent, in some cases. Wine raises level of HDL and helps prevent blood clots from forming in the arteries. It also contains antioxidant compounds that reduce cholesterol buildup in the arteries. Men are advised to have no more than two drinks daily; for women, one drink is the upper limit.

GARLIC
Cook with garlic. It's loaded with sulfur compounds that may lower blood pressure and cholesterol and reduce the tendency of platelets (cell-like structures in the blood) to form clots. There's even some evidence that garlic may reverse existing cholesterol buildup. If the taste of garlic isn't for you, you can get the same benefits by taking enteric-coated garlic tablets. The coating allows the tablets to pass intact through the stomach to the small intestine, where they're absorbed into the blood.

ONIONS
Add more onions to recipes. They contain a powerful antioxidant called quercetin, which helps prevent LDL from accumulating in the arteries. In addition, the sulfur compounds in onions raise levels of beneficial HDL. Eating half of a raw onion a day may raise HDL as much as 30 percent. All onions are helpful, but red and yellow onions contain the highest levels of other antioxidant called flavonoids.

AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL...

SHOP FOR COLOR
The next time you're in the produce department at the supermarket, take a look at all the pretty colors: Fruits and vegetables with red, orange and yellow hues are all rich in carotenoids, plant pigments that make cholesterol less likely to stick to artery walls. Carotenoid-rich foods include tomatoes, red peppers, sweet potatoes, and watermelon. Studies find those who eat the most fruits and vegetables-and get the most carotenoids- are less likely to develop heart disease than those who get smaller amounts.

When you're trying to lower cholesterol, BEANS are among the best foods you can eat. They're very high in soluble fiber, which "traps" cholesterol in the intestine and helps keep it out of the bloodstream. All beans are high in fiber, but some varieties really stand out. Black beans, for example, have 7-1/2 grams of fiber in a half-cup serving. Lima and kidney beans have about 6-1/2 grams, and black-eyed peas contain about 5-1/2 grams. The drawback to beans, of course, is that they take forever to cook. Make life easy and use canned beans. They're just as good at lowering cholesterol as the dried kind.

My wish is for you to follow these recommendations and avoid high cholesterol. Good health to you!

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Avoid High Cholesterol