Cholesterol gets into our body from 2 sources: the food we eat and the cholesterol produced by the liver. In normal situation, the liver produces enough cholesterol required by the body. So anything that comes from our food will be an extra. Genetics also plays part to determine how much cholesterol produced by the liver so two people with the same diet can have highly different cholesterol levels. Cholesterol by itself is actually not dangerous for our health. On the contrary, it is required to keep us healthy. But too much of it in our blood will increase the risk of getting heart disease.

Although cholesterol reducing medicine and supplements are widely available, we should first aim at reducing cholesterol level the natural way by controlling and choosing what we eat everyday. Here are few things you can do:

• Eat 1 – 2 cups of oatmeal everyday.
  Oatmeal contains soluble fiber which helps to reduce cholesterol level. If 1 cup is too much for you, even half-cup is helpful. My cholesterol level dropped 60 points after I eat half-cup of oatmeal every morning for a month. Other source of soluble fiber is barley, carrots, oranges, apples.
• Low cholesterol doesn’t mean low fat.
  Be careful when buying foods labelled as low or zero cholesterol. Only products derived from animals, such as meat and dairy, contain cholesterol. Vegetable and fruits has zero cholesterol so of course a bag of peanuts or potato chips can be labelled as no-cholesterol. However, they can have high saturated fat and sodium contents and eating foods high in fat makes our body produce more cholesterol, hence increasing cholesterol level in our body.
• There is a debate on whether egg yolk is bad for our cholesterol level.
  The common perception is to avoid egg yolk because on average each egg yolk contains 220mg of cholesterol while the recommended amount is 300mg per day. However, there are studies that prove eating 1 – 2 eggs daily does not change blood cholesterol level. Regarless of which one is true, I still say limit your consumption to 1 – 2 egg yolk per week to maintain a healthy diet.
• Reduce intake of high-cholesterol foods such as organ meats and seafood.
• Limit fat in your diet, especially saturated fat and trans fat.
  Pre-packaged and processed foods usually contain high saturated fats while deep-fried foods may contain trans fat. Margarine is low in cholesterol because it is made from vegetable oil but it contains trans fat which is very dangerous to our body. Sometimes trans fat is listed as hydrogenated oil in the ingredients list so read the labels carefully.
• Exercise regularly.
  This is an obvious choice but also the one we don’t do because of the extra effort required. But regular exercise increases HDL or good cholesterol which removes excess cholesterol in our body.

Sometimes the above is not enough to bring your cholesterol level to a healthy level, especially if the problem is genetic. In this case, your doctor can prescribe you with cholesterol reducing medicine such as statin but as much as possible, opt for the natural solutions before popping up pills.