An important benefit will likely happen automatically to most people when they follow a proper diet and take off a few pounds. Being overweight leads to higher LDL and total cholesterol. Just losing 20 pounds will likely reduce your cholesterol by 10 points. In Healing Heart support groups overweight most people who followed the diet faithfully and who started a moderate exercise program lost an average of over 2 pounds a week for the first 10 weeks - and they kept it off. When your body reaches the weight that is best for you, you should still be able to eat all you want of the proper foods, without counting calories, and remain at that weight.
Exercise is important in reducing cholesterol.
A daily program of aerobic exercise will help you to lower and keep down your cholesterol level. Aerobic exercise at least 40 minutes a day, at least five days a week, is needed to get maximum benefits in reversing heart disease and lowering risk. If prescribed by your physician, continue to take them as directed. As you follow all the elements recommended here and your cholesterol goes down, your doctor may wish to gradually lower the dosage of some medications. Many Healing Heart support group participants were able to stop taking their medications completely after a short while.