Tips on Lowering your Cholesterol during Holidays
It’s the time of the year again where all our favorite foods can be found in our dining table. This season full of reunions, fun, and, yes, fattening diet that’s bad predominantly to those with high level of cholesterol.
For people with high cholesterol, it’s easy to intake high cholesterol food, but changing your lifestyle can be almost as simple. We can start now and make some changes to ensure that our holiday season is healthy, so we can lower our cholesterol intake. Here are some tips on how you can lower your cholesterol during the holidays.
Plan ahead. Planning ahead about the food that you will serve during the holidays can help a lot in picking the right food lower in cholesterol. For snack at home before attending a party, you can hummus/veggies dips or a glass of carrot or tomato juice and a handful of nuts. Nuts are said to lower your cholesterol, but we must set a limit to a handful since this is also high in calories. You can also consider bringing a healthy dish.
Be choosy on your beverages. Keep in mind that any sugary beverage or whipped-cream-laden after-dinner has a lot of calories and put at risk your diet to lower cholesterol. Drinks like creamy eggnog are bad when you have high cholesterol, so avoid it whenever possible. Drink red wine instead since it has been shown to reduce cholesterol. Another useful alternate is a glass of red wine with a calorie-free beverage, like sparkling water.
Eat smart and healthy. Eat healthy snacks like fruits, veggies, and light yogurt. Make sure to never go hungry at a party or an event where holiday treats are being served to avoid cheating your diet. These yummy party foods are very tough to resist when you’re hungry.
Avoid Stress. Stress is proven to turn people to comfort food, which is mostly unhealthy and bad for the heart. Elevated stress levels releases hormones that can increase cholesterol levels in our body. Physical activity such as exercise can help with stress relief. Be sure to take care of yourself both physically and mentally.
Exercise regularly. Holidays can make you busy, but no matter how busy you can be during the holidays, don’t forget to exercise. It’s better to make treat this as a part of your lowering cholesterol goals. Good exercise can help offset extra calories collected at parties. Not only can working up a sweat keep weight gain controlled, but it has been found that it may help increase the amount of good cholesterol.
Remember to keep all things in moderation for a healthy holiday. It should include a diet to lower cholesterol. Maintaining your current weight and keeping a watch on it during the holiday will be an accomplishment.
Cholesterol during Holidays are usually high so better watch out. This time of year is not just about the holiday goodies, but for healthy living and lower cholesterol levels as well.