Vegetable creams … light?
Vegetable creams … light?
If your vegetable creams have cream for cooking, you are adding a saturated fat to your diet that does not help you control cholesterol. To lighten them, you can substitute the cream for vegetable broth, for skimmed milk or use the lighter varieties of cream (18% fat).
Always look for light foods
Always look for light foods
A food is considered light when it has less than 30% calories than its reference food (that is, the no light). But just because the words "light", "no added sugar" or "low fat" appear on the packaging, it does not mean that they are actually low in fat or sugar. It only tells you that they have less than the original, but they can still have quite high levels of sugar or fat.
In fact, there are many foods that have hidden fat … and you may not know it!
Eat only fruit
Eat only fruit
Fruit is a very healthy food, although it has a but … it is very rich in fructose, a rapidly absorbed sugar. If you eat a lot of fruit for dinner, its sugar will be stored in your body as fat. And this will also contribute to raising your blood cholesterol level. The best time to have fruit is for breakfast, as a dessert after the midday meal or as a snack.
Discover some myths about the fruit that you have surely heard once.
Doing too much sport
Doing too much sport
If you do excessive physical activity, your body will suffer a drop in sugar (glucose) and will ask you for foods rich in sugar and fat. And it is proven that you end up consuming more calories from fatty foods than those expended when exercising. However, doing moderate physical exercise on a regular basis, especially if it is aerobic (walking, running, swimming, dancing…), helps reduce “bad” cholesterol and increase “good” cholesterol.
Smoking or second-hand smoke
Smoking or second-hand smoke
Breathing tobacco smoke makes the “bad” cholesterol stick better to the walls of the arteries. This increases cholesterol, triglycerides and platelet aggregation, promoting atherosclerosis and the loss of flexibility of the arteries. If you have cholesterol problems, quitting smoking will benefit you.
See "cholesterol free" and not look at the whole label
See "cholesterol free" and not look at the whole label
Many foods that are presented as "cholesterol-free" do not contain this specific type of fat, but can incorporate other fats - such as saturated or trans. And frequently eating foods high in saturated and trans fats does increase blood cholesterol, even more than eating foods that contain cholesterol. Therefore, look at the amount and type of fats in food.
Drink more than one glass of wine a day
Drink more than one glass of wine a day
Many studies claim that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, especially red wine, improves "good" cholesterol levels thanks to its phenolic components and tannins. But what happens when consumption is higher? That saturates the liver enzymes, responsible for metabolizing fats, which produces an increase in fat concentration in the liver and an increase in bad cholesterol or LDL. Therefore, the ideal is not to have more than one drink.
Living with stress or anxiety
Living with stress or anxiety
Stress is a natural response to a threat. The body prepares itself by releasing hormones and mobilizing fat and glucose. If they are not burned and stress becomes chronic, it is when the levels of fat (lipids) in the blood rise. Avoid doing sports and kill two birds with one stone, since aerobic exercise (walking, running, cycling, swimming) helps lower cholesterol and also helps to curb stress.
Get rid of stress by following these 5 steps.
Eating a lot of white bread, rice, or pasta
Eating a lot of white bread, rice, or pasta
The abuse of refined carbohydrates causes us to accumulate fat in the body, since excess carbohydrates can be transformed into triglycerides. For this reason, it is convenient to moderate its consumption and opt whenever possible for whole grains. These, in addition, thanks to their fiber content, delay the absorption of cholesterol.
Taking the birth control pill
Taking the birth control pill
There are drugs that increase the level of cholesterol in the blood. According to the Spanish Society of Cardiology, the main ones are the contraceptive pill, steroids, cortisone and diuretics. Likewise, your cholesterol can also rise in case of suffering diseases such as diabetes, hypothyroidism, ailments that affect the kidney or obstructive liver disease.
Excess cholesterol is an unapproachable health threat. You can have it elevated and not realize it until you do a routine analysis. How can it be if you do not abuse eggs or sausages or red meat in your diet? There are other factors that you may not take into account and that decisively influence your cholesterol level. Discover in our gallery of images what mistakes you may be making without realizing it and what are causing your cholesterol to rise. And remedy them.
How it affects you
Cholesterol is a substance that our body makes naturally or from certain foods, and it is necessary because it intervenes in many vital functions. Why are we so afraid of it? The problem arises when its levels become unbalanced, as it can cause cardiovascular problems. The key to avoiding this is to find a balance between "bad cholesterol" (LDL) and "good cholesterol" (HDL), lowering the former and increasing the latter.
How to decipher the blood test
- Total cholesterol. It should be below 200 mg / dl of blood. An excess up to 239 can be controlled through diet and exercise.
- "Bad" cholesterol, LDL. It should be below 129. Up to 160 is slightly high. Above this figure can increase the risk of suffering a cardiovascular disorder.
- "Good" cholesterol, HDL. It is acceptable above 50 in women and 40 in men. The higher the HDL cholesterol, the better protection against heart disease.
Before I'm high
High cholesterol is the result of a process that can be long. You can find clues to the imbalance in the analysis. If triglycerides are high (more than 150 mg / dl) and HDL cholesterol is low (less than 60 mg / dl) you should start taking action.
Myths about cholesterol you should know
- Eggs raise cholesterol. False. You shouldn't be so afraid of them. You can take up to 3-4 a week. An egg provides about 185 mg of cholesterol, but a day you can take up to 300 mg, so if you consume skimmed dairy and legumes instead of meat that same day, you do not have to exceed the limit. Of course, get used to making tortillas with one yolk and two whites, because the yolk is the one that contains cholesterol.
- Salads do not raise cholesterol. False. Salads are not always synonymous with light and low-fat food. That depends on the ingredients you include. If you usually take it with fatty cheese, think that this is a source of saturated fat and that these influence your cholesterol level to rise. The same can happen if you add bacon or sauces with milk and eggs such as mayonnaise and its variants, etc.
- Phytosterols control my cholesterol. False. It is proven that phytosterols can lower cholesterol and that is why they are added to different foods (dairy, margarines), which can help control it. But a fortified food can't fix what spoils an unbalanced diet. The essential thing is to take care of the whole diet. Don't neglect the rest of your food just to eat them.
