For millions of Americans, taking statins – medications like Lipitor and Crestor – to lower cholesterol has become the norm. However, these drugs, while they work, can come with significant side effects.

Although most people tolerate the medications just fine, statins can cause body achiness, brain fog, liver function abnormalities and even increase the risk of diabetes. Plus, they don’t address why your cholesterol is high in the first place.

Luckily, there is another way to lower your cholesterol – without the side effects. Decreasing your LDL (bad) cholesterol levels can be accomplished with a nutritious and balanced diet.

Since all or part of cholesterol abnormalities can be traced back to the foods we eat, making better food choices must be part of the management plan – regardless of whether you already take statins or not.

The effects of a healthy diet can be profound. For example, switching to an entirely vegan diet high in fiber, healthy fats, antioxidants and plant sterols has been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol by 30% – in just 2 weeks! That’s a statin-level cholesterol response.

Now, switching over to a highly regimented vegan diet might not be realistic, but you can still benefit from a few simple modifications.

Here are five foods that are easy to add in and can help lower your cholesterol naturally:

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is full of soluble fiber. This type of fiber binds cholesterol in the digestive system, preventing its absorption. The net effect is lower LDL levels and lower heart disease risk.

Nuts

Nuts not only contain fiber, but also contain the good fats, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, which help lower triglyceride levels, increase HDL (good) cholesterol, and help lower LDL.

In addition, nuts have positive effects on blood vessel function, and regular nut consumption is associated with a markedly lower risk of dying from heart disease.

Foods That Contain Plant Sterols

Plant sterols are substances that are naturally found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Plant sterols block cholesterol absorption in the intestines, helping to keep your LDL levels low. In fact, getting just two grams of plant sterols, a day can lower your LDL levels by about 10%.

Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate contains flavonoids and antioxidants, which help reduce the toxicity of any LDL that is around. For LDL to be incorporated into blood vessel walls, it has to be oxidized first. Having lots of antioxidants around reduces that likelihood.

Oleic acid, a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat that is found in olive oil, is also found in dark chocolate and helps lower cholesterol, too. A few important points: milk chocolate does not have the same effects. You should be looking for at least 70% cacao content chocolate.

And if you’re including dark chocolate in your diet to lower your cholesterol, make sure you don’t overdo it. Just 1 ounce a day is all you need to make an impact on your cholesterol.

Red Wine

No, it’s not food, but red wine can help improve your cholesterol profile. Red wine contains resveratrol, a substance found in red grape skin, which helps lower LDL cholesterol and reduce the risk of blood clots.

Regular alcohol consumption has also been shown to raise HDL. However, much like with dark chocolate, you don’t need much to see a benefit and overdoing it can be counterproductive. Just one serving of wine – that’s 5 ounces – is all you need.

In Conclusion

You don’t have to rely solely on medications to lower your cholesterol – nor should you. A nutritious and balanced diet that is rich in whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables, which all contain fiber, antioxidants, healthy fats and plant sterols, can help decrease your LDL levels.

To see even greater results in lowering your cholesterol, incorporate regular exercise into your routine. Exercise is not only great for lowering your cholesterol – it also plays a central role in keeping your heart healthy.

If you are using food to lower your cholesterol, you should approach your efforts just as if you were using a medication.

‘Take’ your cholesterol lowering foods every day. And follow-up with blood tests to measure how your efforts are working. Even small dietary changes can yield objective cholesterol improvements in as little as 30 days.

Are you on medications to lower your cholesterol? Would you be willing to try to lower your cholesterol naturally? If you’re hesitant to try things the natural way, why? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Twice a year, Bath & Body Works pulls out all the stops and discounts holiday and everyday favorites up to 75 percent off, which new discounts throughout the week. The Bath & Body Works Semi-Annual sale for holiday 2020 is no different—actually, it might be even better. We’ve got the details on all the goods so you can game-plan your shopping trip.

Of course, deals will be online as well as in-store so if you feel safer shopping from your couch, you can still stock up on Bath & Body Works favorites. Now’s the chance to score the beloved holiday fragrances before they’re gone (until next year), as well as throwbacks including Secret Wonderland, Honeysuckle and Sensual Amber brought back just for this sale. Christmas body care will be just $4.95 and select Christmas 3-Wick Candles will be $11.95.

Source: Instagram

For the best of the best deals, you’ll want to dig for those 75 percent off products. These include body care, candles, hand soaps and tons of non-holiday items you’ll want to use all-year round. You’ll even be able to find some best-selling fall body scare scents and ones you haven’t smelled for months. It’s basically like a rummage sale where you never know exactly what you’ll find.

The sale begins Saturday, December 26. If you’re shopping in store, don’t forget your face mask and hand sanitizer and maybe even consider going on off hours to avoid the crowds. Or, there’s always delivery! As much as we want to shop and treat ourselves this year (we deserve it), we also have to stay safe too. Set your iCal and get ready to get your haul on. Then, have big New Year zoom with friends to share exactly what you got.

Twice a year, Bath & Body Works pulls out all the stops and discounts holiday and everyday favorites up to 75 percent off, which new discounts throughout the week. The Bath & Body Works Semi-Annual sale for holiday 2020 is no different—actually, it might be even better. We’ve got the details on all the goods so you can game-plan your shopping trip.

Of course, deals will be online as well as in-store so if you feel safer shopping from your couch, you can still stock up on Bath & Body Works favorites. Now’s the chance to score the beloved holiday fragrances before they’re gone (until next year), as well as throwbacks including Secret Wonderland, Honeysuckle and Sensual Amber brought back just for this sale. Christmas body care will be just $4.95 and select Christmas 3-Wick Candles will be $11.95.

Source: Instagram

For the best of the best deals, you’ll want to dig for those 75 percent off products. These include body care, candles, hand soaps and tons of non-holiday items you’ll want to use all-year round. You’ll even be able to find some best-selling fall body scare scents and ones you haven’t smelled for months. It’s basically like a rummage sale where you never know exactly what you’ll find.

The sale begins Saturday, December 26. If you’re shopping in store, don’t forget your face mask and hand sanitizer and maybe even consider going on off hours to avoid the crowds. Or, there’s always delivery! As much as we want to shop and treat ourselves this year (we deserve it), we also have to stay safe too. Set your iCal and get ready to get your haul on. Then, have big New Year zoom with friends to share exactly what you got.

I’ve played piano to entertain myself since I was a kid. Until my 60s, I didn’t realize how good it is for my mind. When I found out reading and playing music staves off memory deterioration, I was all in. Alzheimer’s Disease lurks in my family tree.

Unpacking from a move a few years back, I unburied the flute my parents bought me in junior high. What the heck, I thought. Why not? I spent some money on repairs.

Then, on the internet, I learned about the Gulf Coast Flute Choir, a local non-audition group. Rehearsals were beginning in September for the holiday concert. I was thrilled with my timing.

Music Helps Us Connect

At first rehearsal, the notes I thought would come to me like riding a bike were torture. I sat most of the session with my flute on my lap, embarrassed but determined as hell. After rehearsal, several of my woodwind sisters told me how out of practice they were first season. It made me feel better… less embarrassed.

By the second rehearsal, I knew all but the most difficult parts of my pieces and could wiggle my fingers fast enough to fake it. I was dreaming of Sleigh Bells in October and whistled Jingle Bell Rock through November. When the lights went up in December to a packed house, I’d never felt so full of Christmas spirit.

The standing ovation gave us all chills because we knew how far we’d come as a group. But performance and applause are far from the best part. The synchrony of playing music together is like stimulating conversation. The feeling lingers. It’s a mix of happiness and accomplishment.

A Best Friend in Hard Times

My flute kept me company through a late-in-life divorce, the stressful sale of my business and yet one more move. But this time, I didn’t pack it away to gather dust for 40 years. Even when we aren’t practicing for a concert, I have fun playing along with recorded backgrounds. There is so much to choose from online.

Now, my flute keeps me company during Covid. It is so disappointing not to be able to have in-person rehearsals and concerts. But it’s a new day, and old dogs can learn new tricks.

Our conductor assigned our parts for Christmas, along with a “click” track. We practiced, recorded, and uploaded each piece. Ta da! Gulf Coast Flute Choir’s 2020 Virtual Holiday Concert.

Mental Calisthenics

An article by a Johns Hopkins specialist calls music a total brain workout. “If you want to keep your brain engaged through the aging process, listening to or playing music is a great tool. It provides a total brain workout… Music is structural, mathematical, and architectural. It’s based on relationships between one note and the next. You may not be aware of it, but your brain has to do a lot of computing to make sense of it.”

Scientists have learned music stimulates more corners of the brain than any other function. Music can reduce pain and speed the recovery of stroke patients. The MRIs of some memory loss patients light up when they hear classical music. lt’s a spoonful of the kind of medicine that’s good for everybody.

Adults who had music training as children have more robust brainstem responses to sound than adults with no music training. It disturbs me, with all that we know about the good of music, that one of the first things cut from school budgets is often music.

When things are tight, a lot of parents can’t justify the cost of private lessons, no matter how good it is for the intellect. Thank you again, Ms. Internet, for all the training options. What a wonderful gift from a grandparent: music lessons benefit your grandchild for a lifetime!

Music and Meditation Combine for Relaxation

I don’t make time to meditate every day, and I don’t take time to play music every day unless it’s concert season. Almost always, I do one or the other. The benefits are much alike. Stress and anxiety are reduced. Blood pressure is lower. Sleep and memory can improve.

For me, there isn’t room in my head for random thoughts when I play. I’m too busy reading and making notes. I’m forced to concentrate on my breath so there’s enough to hold the long notes.

With meditation, I struggle to clear my head, but it usually works. Sometimes I have to mentally mumble “in… out” to remember to concentrate on breathing. I think combining music and meditation helped me though some rough days. I’m glad I’ve got them in life’s toolbox.

Even if you don’t play music or aren’t convinced about meditation, I’m sure belting it out in the shower in all your naked glory is a great way to start the day, too. Breathe deep into your gut and let it rip. You will feel great!

Wishing you happy holidays!

How often do you enjoy music? Do you play a musical instrument? When did you learn? Have you tried online lessons? Please share your experience with music!

Twice a year, Bath & Body Works pulls out all the stops and discounts holiday and everyday favorites up to 75 percent off, which new discounts throughout the week. The Bath & Body Works Semi-Annual sale for holiday 2020 is no different—actually, it might be even better. We’ve got the details on all the goods so you can game-plan your shopping trip.

Of course, deals will be online as well as in-store so if you feel safer shopping from your couch, you can still stock up on Bath & Body Works favorites. Now’s the chance to score the beloved holiday fragrances before they’re gone (until next year), as well as throwbacks including Secret Wonderland, Honeysuckle and Sensual Amber brought back just for this sale. Christmas body care will be just $4.95 and select Christmas 3-Wick Candles will be $11.95.

Source: Instagram

For the best of the best deals, you’ll want to dig for those 75 percent off products. These include body care, candles, hand soaps and tons of non-holiday items you’ll want to use all-year round. You’ll even be able to find some best-selling fall body scare scents and ones you haven’t smelled for months. It’s basically like a rummage sale where you never know exactly what you’ll find.

The sale begins Saturday, December 26. If you’re shopping in store, don’t forget your face mask and hand sanitizer and maybe even consider going on off hours to avoid the crowds. Or, there’s always delivery! As much as we want to shop and treat ourselves this year (we deserve it), we also have to stay safe too. Set your iCal and get ready to get your haul on. Then, have big New Year zoom with friends to share exactly what you got.