What determines my cholesterol?

Many factors help determine whether your cholesterol level is high or low. In addition to your diet, heredity, weight, physical activity, age, sex, alcohol intake and stress, all play a role. Some cholesterol is made by your body. The food you eat is responsible for the rest. Foods that contain saturated fat and trans fat are the main culprits that impact the cholesterol in your blood. Surprisingly, these foods raise your cholesterol even more than the foods that actually have cholesterol in them!

Risk factors: What you can do
You can’t choose your parents, gender, or age, all of which can increase your risk of heart disease; however, there are lots of other contributors to heart disease that you can control. Follow these American Heart Association (AHA) recommendations to help lower your total cholesterol, blood pressure, and LDL levels while increasing HDL levels (all of which can help reduce your risk): is a major risk for coronary heart disease (which leads to heart attack) and for stroke.

-- If you smoke, stop.

-- Eat healthy foods low in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sugar, and sodium.

-- Exercise at least 30 minutes a day, most days.

-- Maintain a healthy weight. Lose weight if you are overweight.

-- Recognize and treat diabetes.

-- Don’t drink too much alcohol.

-- Have your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked regularly. Take steps to reduce both if the numbers are too high.

The American Heart Association recommends keeping:

-- total fat to between 25 -35 percent of your total calories

-- saturated fat to less than 7 percent of total calories

-- trans fats to less than 1 percent of total calories

-- limiting your intake of cholesterol from food to less than 300 mg per day

It is also helpful to eat at least 25 to 30 grams of dietary fiber each day, preferably from whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes, to help in cholesterol reduction.

For more tips, information and healthy recipes, visit the health and wellness section of ShopRite.com