Brief Answer:
Diet and exercise

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXXX,

Greetings from healthcareMagic.

Elevated serum cholesterol levels are common, blame it to the diet and lifestyle mistakes that you might be doing mistakenly. A good blend of diet and exercises would help you bring it under control.

The following considerations might be helpful:

•     Include more fruits and vegetables in the diet- Add salads and fruits in daily meals. Avoid the salad dressings Coconut, fried vegetables, canned fruits and preserved vegetables and try to take whole fruits instead of juices.
•     Take controlled portions- Try not to overload the plate. Eat just as much you need. Include different varieties of foods, like dal, vegetable, curd, chapatti and salad. Ensure that the amounts are appropriate and a keep a track of the portions that you have had.
•     Check your fat- limit the intake of the saturated fats like ghee, cream and butter. Include the healthy fats like vegetable oils in the diet. Restrict the fat intake to 5-6 tsp. per day and avoid the deep-fried preparations. Cream and butter preparations, like puffs, cakes and cookies are also to be avoided. Nuts and Dry fruits may be included in the diet, while keeping a check on their quantities. Choose from the leaner portions of non-veg. Avoid egg yolk, use the white portion only. Red meats and organ meats are rich in saturated and Trans fats, therefore best avoided.
Avoid: Butter, Cream sauce, Hydrogenated fat, Cocoa butter, Coconut fat, pure Ghee, processed cheese and cream and other commercially baked food items.
Choose: Olive oil, Canola oil, Margarine that's free of trans fats and all Vegetable Oils ( however use coconut and palm oil in moderation)

•     Include Whole grains and pulses – like wheat, Bajra, Ragi etc. Do not sieve the flour while preparing the dough. Include oats, broken wheat and muesli in the diet. Make way for a variety of legumes and pulses.

•     Watch the sodium- taking excessive sodium increases the risk of elevated blood pressure. Foods that contain salt and sodium based preservatives should be avoided.
Consider the following:
     Read the labels to check the sodium content of the food item.
     Stop adding table salt in the food.
     Avoid salted salads, pickles and papads.
     Packaged and preserved foods have the sodium based preservatives. The intake of these should be avoided as far as possible.
     Avoid taking the ready to eat snacks. These are generally from bakery, and thus contain sodium.

Exercise regularly – divide your exercise into small segments and do them on a regular basis. Be aware of your body’s limit and make sure that you reach and maintain an activity index of 250 minutes per week.

Hope this helps.

Meenakshi

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