September is Cholesterol Awareness Month, so we turned to Ariel Mejia, medical director at UCF Health Faculty Physician Practice, for ways you can help lower your cholesterol.
Mejia is a board-certified internal medicine specialist who provides care to patients throughout the community, in addition to being an assistant professor of medicine at the UCF College of Medicine.
Diet plays a key role in high cholesterol, Mejia says. But the “cholesterol bad guys” aren’t just eggs and fatty steaks.
Highly processed, sugary foods, like breakfast cereal, snack cakes and cookies, also contribute to elevations in cholesterol. In fact, Mejia says patients can often be misled into thinking that prepackaged “low-fat” foods and snacks are healthy.
Yes, these foods may be lower in fat and contain no cholesterol, but they can be high in simple sugars and low in fiber.
“These foods are designed to keep you snacking,” he says. “Excess sugar in the body is turned into triglycerides, and these in turn stimulate the creation of new LDL particles.”
September is National Cholesterol Education Month, a time to raise awareness about high cholesterol as a major risk factor for heart disease, the importance of screening and ways to manage it.
About 120 million American adults have cholesterol higher than 200, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mejia’s advice: “Eat foods that are as close as you can get to how they appear in nature. Foods you can pick off a tree or pull from the ground,” he says. “Choose fibrous greens. Spinach is a superfood, kale [is great] and I am always a big fan of broccoli.”
You don’t have to drive all over town to find a specialty market. You can buy unprocessed, fresh, or frozen fruits and vegetables (no sauces) at any grocery store.
If you are a meat eater, choose leaner cuts of beef and pork. Eat more chicken (without the skin) and fish.
However, Mejia says recent research has found that heart disease doesn’t come just from eating high-fat foods.
Inflammation plays a key role in cardiac disease and other lifestyle-related diseases, like Type 2 diabetes, obesity and autoimmune conditions.
Highly processed, sugary foods, such as those containing high-fructose corn syrup, lead to insulin spikes and insulin resistance, which, along with high LDL cholesterol, contribute to inflammation and the formation of plaque in vital arteries.
The second step in reducing cholesterol is exercise.
Work up to 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week, Mejia says. Start with 30 minutes a week — for example, a brisk, 10-minute walk three days a week — then gradually work up to 60 and 90 minutes, and increase from there.
“Lowering cholesterol boils down to two recommendations,” Mejia says. “Fix the diet and exercise. They’re milquetoast, but they hold true.”
Some people may be genetically predisposed to high cholesterol, and if lifestyle changes aren’t enough to lower their levels, a physician may consider treatments such as prescribing statins.
“For the vast majority of people, changing how you eat and exercise can make a huge difference,” Mejia says.
UCF Health Faculty Physician Practice has two locations: one in East Orlando, just blocks from UCF’s main campus, and another in Lake Nona. For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit the UCF Health website.
