But let us start with the beginning – what is cholesterol? Well, cholesterol is a substance of a very waxy consistence that naturally occurs in all parts of the body. Our bodies do actually require cholesterol in order to produce different substances such as Vitamin D and bile acids, but also to produce other hormones. A high level of cholesterol in your blood will start building up on arteries including coronary arteries where an eventual block can cause a heart disease. However, build-ups all over the body can be very dangerous since they can lead to heart attacks or strokes.

The treatment for hypothyroidism – thyroid hormone replacement can reduce cholesterol levels to normal for those whose elevated cholesterol levels have not been yet diagnosed. But that is for those lucky cases. In other cases, even with the treatment for hypothyroidism the cholesterol levels remain elevated and cholesterol lowering treatment is needed in addition to thyroid treatment.

Lowering cholesterol levels

What are your options when you need to lower your cholesterol? Losing some extra weight and beginning to do some regular exercise is most of the time, a very good idea for a low cholesterol lifestyle start. Prescription medications, changes in diet, supplements – these all come in addition to those above to help lower your cholesterol. In conjunction with your practitioner or dietitian, you should also make other decisions about your new lifestyle changes.

Low cholesterol diet

A change in diet is a primary line of attack in lowering cholesterol. One of the first steps to be done in this direction is reducing high-cholesterol foods, but also emphasizing a more low saturated fat / high fiber diet. Into diet it is recommended to introduce foods that specifically lower your cholesterol. Such foods include oatmeal – slow cooking steel cut oatmeals (for the best health value) and of course, only a bit sugar. Also, you can try the special cholesterol lowering margarine spreads such as Benecol, Take Control to help reduce cholesterol levels.

These spreads help lower your cholesterol with their sterols/stanols content that compete with cholesterol in the intestines and when taking its place allowing cholesterol to be passed through the system. The good part is that these products cut those LDL cholesterol levels with as much as 10-15 percent. On the downside, these products are pretty calorie-dense.

Jean Helmet is a content editor who focuses on a wide array of niche health topics. Her latest website - Natural Cholesterol Supplement focuses on cholesterol as a whole, and in partcular, a natural product our editors personally use with excellent health results known as - Cholest-Natural Be sure to check out our cholesterol product of choice, it is the natural supplement we use and recommend to friends and family, and have done for over 3 years.