HIGH CHOLESTEROL

High cholesterol in the body increases your risk of getting heart diseases. If you're already taking medications, these diet and lifestyle changes can also improve their cholesterol lowering effect.

• Consume high fiber diet. As fiber cuts down the bad cholesterol in the blood.
• Soluble fiber is also found in foods such as kidney beans, apples, pears, barley and oatmeal. 
• Consume low fat dairy products.
• Increase the amount of vegetables in the food because they do not have cholesterol with less fat or calories by nature.
• Consume a number of almonds or walnuts to have low cholesterol munch. 
• Avoid cashew nuts (kaju) as they have high cholesterol.
• Avoid potato chips. 
• Add garlic and ginger to regular diet.
• Choose whole-grain products like whole-wheat pasta, whole-wheat flour and brown rice.
• Consume fat-free yoghurt as it is rich in protein, calcium and lactobacillus microorganisms which can help to lower blood cholesterol levels.
• Consume fruits daily.
• Use sesame (til), mustard (sarson), olive, sunflower and soybean oil in cooking.
• Do not consume more than 2 cups coffee per day.
• Restrict use of coconut milk or fresh coconut.
• Walk daily for half an hour (min.5 days in a week).
• Quit smoking as it can improve your HDL cholesterol levels in the blood.
• Limit alcohol.
• Loose extra weight.
• Yogic asanas like sarvangasana, vajrasana, shalabhasana are quite beneficial to reduce cholesterol in the body.
• Yogic pranayama like kapalbhati, bhastrika and anulom vilom are good.