A Simple Daily Intake Plan to Keep your Cholesterol Levels in Check
Cholesterol is essential and has many good uses. The recommended cholesterol level is below 5.5 mmol/Lsq for the general public and less than 4.0 mmol/Lsq for people at risk and with heart problems. (1)
I recently attended seminars at “The Natural Therapy Conference”, Sydney. In one of the seminars I learnt something very useful for those of you who have been told by your Doctor that your Cholesterol levels are too high.
If you supplement your daily diet with all four simple natural items – you will be surprised how easy it is to reach safer and optimum levels.
These are:
2g Plant Sterols – in foods such as nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetables. It is also available in plant sterol enriched spreads.
20g Viscous Fibre – oats, legumes, barley, peas, okra and eggplant.
30g Almonds
40g Soy Protein – Soya milk, tofu, tempeh, miso, Soya beans, Soya flour, textured soy protein
If you can lower your cholesterol by 10%, this can reduce your risk of heart disease by 25% or more. It is worth it as recent calculations show that high cholesterol levels in blood is responsible for almost 12% of all deaths in Australia. (2)
(1) National Heart Foundation of Australia, Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, Lipid Management Guidelines – 2001, MJA 2001;175:S57-S88
(2) National Heart Foundation of Australia (Report by Vos T and Begg S, Centre for Burden of Disease and Cost effectiveness, University of Queensland School of population Health). The burden of cardiovascular disease in Australia for the year 2003, 2006
Useful websites include:
