high cholesterol (dyslipidemia)

Having high cholesterol (dyslipidemia) increases your risk of developing heart attack, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, and erectile dysfunction, just to name a few. In addition, having very high triglycerides can cause pancreatitis. You cannot “feel” high cholesterol, so it’s important to manage it before you develop complications.

Having high cholesterol may be largely due to genetic predisposition (e.g. your parents have high cholesterol). Still, here are a few non-medication options to bring down your total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and improve your HDL (“good”) cholesterol:

• Weight loss in patients with overweight or obesity
• Aerobic exercise (150 min of moderate intensity exercise spread over 4-7 days per week; start small and build up)
• Limit foods high in saturated and trans fats, e.g. fatty meats, high fat dairy, fried foods

Strategies to lower your triglycerides:

• Weight loss in patients with overweight or obesity
• Aerobic exercise (150 min of moderate intensity exercise spread over 4-7 days per week; start small and build up)
• Avoid concentrated sugars (e.g. soft drinks, juice and other sweet beverages)
• Ensure blood sugars are well controlled
• Limit alcohol intake – no more than 1 (women) or 2 (men) drinks per day