BY SANDRA GUY
Reassessment is Job #1 as each month ticks by in coronavirus time.
The theme for September — National Cholesterol Education Month — offers a chance to take a deep breath and find time to get your cholesterol level checked, and to figure out what that means.
Most Americans’ bad cholesterol — the so-called “lousy” or LDL cholesterol — is too high and puts them at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, studies show.
Armed with your personal cholesterol information, you have far greater control over your risk of heart attack or stroke than you may realize, even if you inherit the higher levels, experts say.
What’s a healthy lifestyle? The ideal goal includes:
- Watch your food portions, keeping in mind that one portion is half a cup;
- Eat as many as five fruits and vegetables each day;
- Avoid carbs like white bread and rice;
- Stop eating processed foods that are more likely to include saturated fat and high fructose corn syrup;
- And get at least 30 minutes a day 5 days a week of moderate exercise or 75 minutes each week of vigorous exercise (or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity), according to American Heart Association guidelines.
Though doctors disagree on specific targets for the so-called “lousy” cholesterol, the lower the number, the better. Cholesterol levels are measured in milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL).
And even if you have high levels of the good guy – the “hero” or “helper” cholesterol called HDL — no amount of boosting HDL has been shown to lower the risk, experts say.
Sandra Guy 