Cholesterol: eating and moving for healthier levels

Step by step

1. 1

   Step 1: Change the kind of fat, not just the amount

   This matters more than cutting fat altogether. Nuts, seeds, olive, mustard and groundnut oil, and oily fish are the ones to lean on. What is worth easing back on is deep-fried food, bakery items, cream-heavy gravies and packaged snacks, where the fats are the least helpful kind.

   Learn more: Anti-inflammatory swaps for an Indian kitchen
2. 2

   Step 2: Eat more soluble fibre

   Oats, barley, beans, lentils, apples, guava and okra all carry the kind of fibre that helps carry cholesterol out rather than letting it circulate. This is one of the few dietary changes with a direct and well-established effect, and it costs nothing extra to do.

   Learn more: Nutrition basics
3. 3

   Step 3: Bring in soy and other plant protein

   Soy in its various forms, tofu, soy chunks and soy milk, alongside dal, rajma and chole, is worth putting in place of some of the meat and full-fat dairy in a week. Plant protein brings fibre with it and leaves out the saturated fat, which is the combination that helps here.

   Learn more: Soy milk and other plant milks
4. 4

   Step 4: Move regularly, and keep muscle

   Activity nudges the helpful side of the cholesterol picture upward, which diet alone does less for. Regular walking, chair-based dance and light strength work a couple of days a week all count, and keeping muscle matters as much as the walking does.

   Learn more: Movement as a community habit
5. 5

   Step 5: Get it measured, and treat this as alongside

   Cholesterol has no symptoms, so a blood test is the only way to know where you stand. Have it checked as your doctor advises. If you have been prescribed something for it, keep taking it: food and movement work with treatment, not instead of it. This is general food and activity guidance, not medical advice.

   Learn more: Anti-inflammatory basics

All topics in this guide

• Anti-inflammatory swaps for an Indian kitchen
• Nutrition basics
• Soy milk and other plant milks
• Movement as a community habit
• Anti-inflammatory basics

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