High Cholesterol Levels

What Can I Do To Control My Cholesterol Levels?

• Know your cholesterol levels. Work with your doctor to decide how often you should be having blood tests. Keep a record of your levels.
• Take your cholesterol medicines as prescribed. The “statin” class of drugs helps to bring your blood cholesterol levels into the desirable range, and also works to remove plaque from the coronary arteries. This can contribute to your heart disease getting better. Learn what cholesterol medicines are and how they help control cholesterol »
• Exercise 5 times per week including aerobic exercise (such as walking or cycling) and resistance training (such as lifting weights).
  • Learn how to do aerobic exercise safely »
  • Learn how to do resistance training safely »
• Increase your intake of soluble fibre. Eat foods such as oats, ground flax seed, beans, and lentils. Learn how to get more fibre in your diet »
• Eat vegetables and fruit with every meal.
• Choose lower-fat dairy products or alternatives.
• Remove all visible fat from meats before cooking. For example, remove skin from poultry.
• Avoid deep fried foods.
• Include plant sterols in your diet. Plant sterols can be naturally found in small amounts in:
• fruits
• vegetables
• grains
• nuts
• seeds
• Plant sterols are also added to foods such as margarine, juice, cereals.
• Limit sugars and sweets as much as possible. Learn how to avoid added sugar in the foods you eat »
• Contact a registered dietitian for advice on improving your eating habits.
• Speak to your cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation team or doctor to help develop your action plan. Learn how to build an action plan »
• Learn more about cholesterol.
  • See what cholesterol is (opens in new window) »
  • See how your cholesterol numbers matter (opens in new window) »​