Cleanse your blood vessels of fatty Triglycerides that may be clogging your artery walls, and build up your good HDL cholesterol to absorb and flush that bad cholesterol out!
Knowing your cholesterol numbers and how to affect them is the first step in avoiding heart disease. Keeping your cholesterol levels healthy is a great way to keep your heart healthy. Losing weight, eating a healthy diet and quitting smoking are lifestyle changes that can lower your risk, but studies have shown that exercise is one of the best ways to lower your cholesterol.
How does exercise help unclog arteries?
Out with the bad. Triglycerides are a type of fat in your blood that your body uses for energy. A high level of these combined with a low level of good HDL cholesterol builds up in your arteries and can cause heart attack and stroke. Exercise to convert that fat into energy!
In with the good. Exercise increases good HDL cholesterol. HDL acts as the cleaning crew to collect and expel the bad cholesterol of fatty deposits and flush them out through your liver. 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise a day pumps up your HDL to scrub your artery walls clean!
STEPS TO GET MOVING
Check with your doctor. If you don’t exercise now, it’s a good idea to visit your doctor to evaluate your current cardiovascular health before starting an exercise program.
Make a plan. Most health organizations recommend at least 30 minutes every day of moderate to vigorous exercise. That includes walking, jogging, biking, gardening, swimming, stair-stepping and more. You can get your exercise in 10 to 20 minute increments if you need to, as long as it adds up to 30 minutes or more by the end of the day. Find someone to exercise with you for moral support and to make the exercise more fun. Find several activities you love, so you can vary your routine.
Raise the bar. Extend your exercise or exercise twice a day to reach 60 minutes. Try lifting weights or using resistance machines.
Bottom line. Some exercise is better than no exercise. More exercise is better than some exercise!
Eat right. Exercise can’t do everything - eat less saturated fats and more unsaturated fats. Eat more fish, more high-fiber foods such as vegetables and whole grains and more protein from plant sources. Drink alcoholic beverages in moderation.
Stick with it. Constantly challenge yourself to vary your workouts. While walking is the easiest aerobic exercise you can do, choose a different aerobic activity that you like, and change things up now and then to help give you more motivation to stick with your exercise plan.
“A human being; an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing.” Christopher Morley