What To Really Expect With High Cholesterol Diagnosis
If you’ve been diagnosed with high cholesterol, what does that actually mean? Chances are you’ve heard a lot about high cholesterol. You might be feeling nervous about the lifestyle changes that invariably need to come from having high cholesterol.
What can you really expect from this kind of diagnosis?
Dietary Changes
One of the first things you’ll probably have to change in your life is your diet.
You’ll want to start lowering the amount of cholesterol you take in, as well as reduce the amount of chemicals you take in which can cause your liver to produce extra cholesterol.
To make a long story short, you’ll have to start eating healthier. You’ll need to cut back on fatty foods, processed foods and preserved foods, and increase your intake of greens, fruits and whole grains.
Medication & Treatments
You’ll likely also need to start taking one or more medications regularly.
These medications can range from very mild with no side effects to extreme kinds of medications for drastic changes to your cholesterol.
Taking medications works a lot faster than dietary changes or lifestyle changes. However, it doesn’t actually affect your overall health and other health complications can come up.
Regular Check-Ups
Another change in your lifestyle is regular visits to your doctor.
If you’re at a moderate to high-risk level, you’ll need to see your doctor regularly for tests, for prescriptions and for check-ups.
You’ll also want to see your doctor regularly just so you can discuss your options and measure your progress.
Exercise and Activity Recommended
Your doctor will probably tell you that you should start exercising if you don’t already.
The American Heart Association recommends working out 30 minutes a day, four days a week. Of course, in the beginning, it might make sense to only work out twice a week for a few minutes at a time to get your body used to exercise again.
If you haven’t worked out for a while, starting to work out again can be quite a change in lifestyle. Though it’ll be tough at first, getting exercise is good for your overall health, in addition to your cholesterol.
Can High Cholesterol Actually Be a Good Thing?
Having high cholesterol can be treated as a kind of a wake-up call. It’s not as serious as cancer or other kinds of health conditions and is more or less curable.
The main cure is to live a healthier lifestyle, as well as to take the necessary medications.
In other words, though having high cholesterol can be very dangerous for your health, it can also be treated as a wake-up call to get healthier overall.
Lowering your cholesterol helps prevent all kinds of other health diseases. Researchers have estimated that a 1% reduction in cholesterol results in a 2% to 3% reduction in your likelihood of cardiovascular diseases.
Being diagnosed with high cholesterol definitely means some lifestyle changes. It might mean several months or even a couple years of paying a lot of attention to your health. But in time, even this will fade into the background.
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