Diet, exercise, weight loss
I know, nobody wants to hear about this. But significantly reducing the fat in the diet (especially saturated fat and cholesterol), getting plenty of aerobic exercise, and losing weight are the best ways of reducing cholesterol levels.These three methods go hand in hand. It is difficult to accomplish one without also incorporating the other two. (Successful weight loss, for instance is essentially impossible without resorting to both dietary changes and vigorous exercise.) So what we’re really talking about here is a complete alteration in lifestyle. Living a healthy lifestyle, of course, brings benefits far beyond merely reducing cholesterol levels. It reduces the incidence of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and death from ALL causes, including cancer.
As almost anyone knows, transforming one’s lifestyle is not a slam dunk. While it is easy to say “eat right, lose weight, and get plenty of exercise,” if it were as easy as it sounds people wouldn’t be spending billions of dollars each year on magic potions. The worst part of all is: most of the non-prescription cholesterol-lowering methods discussed below work best (or only) in conjunction with a low-fat diet. Oh, well.
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