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High Cholesterol
- Overview
-
Health Tools
- FAQs
- Cause
- Symptoms
- What Happens
- What Increases Your Risk
- When to Call a Doctor
- Exams and Tests
- Treatment Overview
- Prevention
- Making Lifestyle Changes
- Medications
- Other Treatment
- Other Places To Get Help
- Related Information
- References
- Credits
Lifestyle changes are important to help control high cholesterol, especially if you have other risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
Even if your doctor has prescribed medicine for you, you may still need to make changes at home to lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk. Some people can even take less medicine after making these changes.
What changes do you need to make?
One Man's Story: Joe, 61 “The walking was the easy part for me. I get out every evening for a walk. The food part took some thought. Each week, I added a food that was good for me and took something away that was bad for me.”—Joe Read more about how Joe is improving his cholesterol by making one change at a time. |
Make these lifestyle changes to help lower your cholesterol:
- Eat healthy foods. Follow a heart-healthy diet such as the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet, the Mediterranean diet, or the American Heart Association diet recommendations. See:
- Lose extra weight. Losing just 5 lb to 10 lb (2.3 kg to 4.5 kg) can lower your cholesterol and triglycerides. Losing weight can also help lower your blood pressure. For help, see:
- Get active. Regular physical activity raises "good" HDL cholesterol. Getting active has many other benefits too. It can help you lose weight. And it can lower your blood pressure. See:
- Don't smoke. Quitting can help raise your HDL and improve your heart health. "Good" HDL levels often go up soon after a person quits smoking. For more information, see the topic Quitting Smoking. And for more help, see:
More on food
Making healthy eating habits a part of your daily life is one of the best things you can do to lower your cholesterol. Your doctor may recommend the TLC diet. The diet's main focus is to reduce the amount of saturated fat you eat, because saturated fat raises your cholesterol.
You could also use the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet emphasizes eating foods like fish, fruits, vegetables, beans, high-fiber grains and breads, and olive oils. These foods are rich with monounsaturated fats, fiber, and omega-3 fatty acids.
Knowing which diet to follow can be confusing. A chart with several heart-healthy diets 
(What is a PDF document?) shows how the TLC and Mediterranean diets compare with other eating plans. If you have questions about which diet to follow, talk to your doctor.
For more information about food and high cholesterol, see:
- Soy Protein and Cholesterol.
- Fiber and Cholesterol.
- Fish, Fish Oil, and Cholesterol.
- Antioxidants.
- Cholesterol-Lowering Margarines for High Cholesterol.
- Foods to Avoid for High Cholesterol.
- Foods and Their Effect on Cholesterol.
- Healthy Food Choices to Lower Cholesterol.
If high cholesterol runs in your family, these lifestyle changes may not be enough. You may need to take medicine, too. But no matter what treatment you use, you can lower your high cholesterol.
How do you make lifestyle changes?
One Man's Story: Joe, 61 “I’m just not that type of person who can change everything at once.”—Joe Read more about Joe and how using the TLC plan helped him take charge of his cholesterol. |
Making any kind of change in the way you live your daily life is like being on a path. The path leads to success. You get there one step at a time. Here are the first steps on that path:
- Have your own reason for making a change. If you do it because someone else wants you to, you're less likely to have success.
- Set goals. Include long-term goals as well as short-term goals that you can measure easily.
- Measure improvements to your health. For example, keep track of your blood pressure, cholesterol, or blood sugar. Or see how you can shorten the time it takes to walk a mile.
- Think about what might get in your way, and prepare for slip-ups.
- Get support from your family, your doctor, your friends—and from yourself.
1. Have your own reasons for making a change
Your reason for wanting to make a lifestyle change is really important. Why do you want to lower your cholesterol? To live longer? To be around for your family?
But it's very important that you feel ready to make changes. If you don't feel ready now, learn more about high cholesterol and the damage it can do. When you truly want to make changes, you're ready for the next step.
It's not easy to make changes. But taking the time to really think about what will motivate or inspire you will help you reach your goals.
2. Set goals you can reach
Ask yourself if you feel ready to begin taking steps toward big goals. If you're not ready yet, try to pick a date when you will start making small changes. Any healthy change—no matter how small—is a good start.
When you are clear about your reasons for wanting to make a change, it's time to set your goals:
- Long-term goals: These are large goals that you want to reach in 6 to 12 months. Your doctor can help you figure out what your long-term goals should be for your cholesterol.
- Short-term goals: What are the short-term goals that will help you reach your long-term goals? Short-term goals are the small steps you take, week by week, to improve your health.
- Updated goals: To help you stay motivated, track your progress and update your goals as you move forward.
Tips for setting goals
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3. Measure how your health has improved
Before you make lifestyle changes, ask your doctor to write down your cholesterol levels for you. You may also want to record your blood pressure and your weight. Then, as you make changes and have your cholesterol level, blood pressure, and weight checked again, you will begin to see improvement.
4. Prepare for slip-ups
One Man's Story: Joe, 61 “I've learned to not beat myself up [when I slip up]. Instead, I refocus on my plan and get right back to eating healthy food. What keeps me going is the results—I've lost weight, my cholesterol's getting better, and I feel younger every day.”—Joe |
It's perfectly normal to try to change a habit, go along fine for a while, and then have a setback. Lots of people try and try again before they reach their goals.
What are the things that might cause a setback for you? If you have tried to make lifestyle changes before, think about what helped you and what got in your way.
By thinking about these barriers now, you can plan ahead for how to deal with them if they happen.
Barriers | Solutions |
|---|---|
"I might be too busy." |
|
"I might get bored." |
|
"It might rain." |
|
Use a
personal action plan (What is a PDF document?) to write down your barriers and backup plans.
There will be times when you slip up and don't make your goal for the week. When that happens, don't get mad at yourself. Learn from the experience. Ask yourself what got in the way of making your goal. Positive thinking goes a long way when you're making lifestyle changes.
4. Get support
The more support you have for making lifestyle changes, the easier it is to make those changes.
You can use this
personal action plan (What is a PDF document?) to organize your support system.
Tips for getting support
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| By: | Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: April 22, 2011 |
| Medical Review: | E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine Carl Orringer, MD - Cardiology, Clinical Lipidology | |
© 1995-2011 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
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