We’ve come to the end of this series of posts focussing on the importance of low cholesterol and your health; so I thought I’d finish the series with a recap of the monthly posts, discuss the importance of maintaining low cholesterol and share how I’m going to continue to work on it.

At the beginning of the series I realised that it was time to take my health more seriously and paid a much-overdue visit to my doctor requesting an overall check-up. While my BP remained high and I’m obviously still very overweight – most of my other blood test results were fine; however my cholesterol levels were a teensy bit high.

I quickly learnt that high cholesterol, combined with my high BP and weight issues put me at risk of a heart attack so I decided to do something about it.

Firstly I took control of my health (for a change) by learning a bit more about how to reduce my cholesterol levels. This led me to examine factors contributing to high cholesterol, including the levels of cholesterol in foods.

I was particularly interested to discover that I’d probably just equated high fat with high cholesterol in the past without knowing much more. Fortunately although I indulge in a few of the worst contenders (ie. fast food), my biggest issue was my consumption of eggs – my go-to healthy food. I confessed it wasn’t unusual to have an egg for brekkie every day (which I do) AND an egg (or two) scrambled for lunch. And even sometimes an egg custard for dessert! The general consensus seems to be that six eggs a week is okay – so one of my priorities then was to revisit my breakfast options and I called out to my readers for suggestions.

I was also happy to discover that there are foods (with added plant sterols) which actively lower cholesterol – like Dairy Farmers’ own HeartActive.

So, armed with all of this knowledge I thought I’d wrap this series by sharing MY plan to maintain or (if possible) lower my current cholesterol levels:

1. Continue working towards a healthier weight and exercising regularly (the biggie!)

2. Purposely choosing low cholesterol foods where possible (fish, legumes and so forth)

3. Mixing up my breakfasts a bit more. Not seeing eggs as ‘the healthiest thing I could possibly eat’

4. Opting for foods fortified by plant sterols – such as milk and margarine/butter. (I mean, if there’s an option to actively lower my cholesterol just by switching products… then I’m in! And this is something I’ve already started).

Of course, some are easier than others, but I like to think that some of the small changes I’ve already made will help prevent adding ‘high cholesterol’ to the things I need to address in the future.

Do you find making small changes less overwhelming than big ones? Or are you a ‘rip-that-bandaid-off-quickly’ kind of person?
Has this series of posts helped you learn more about cholesterol or heart health?