The Optimal Plan For Lowering LDL Cholesterol

Scientists worldwide agree that the single most important thing you can do to lower your risk of a heart attack is to lower your LDL (the bad cholesterol). The safest, most effective way to lower your LDL is to dramatically reduce the saturated fat, hydrogenated fat (trans fat), and cholesterol in your diet, and instead eat an abundance of natural, whole, high-fiber foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans.

The lower your LDL cholesterol level, the better. The National Cholesterol Education Program recently set new lower goals. A desirable LDL cholesterol is now less than 100. People at high risk of heart attacks are urged to get their LDL below 70.

Should people without heart disease aim for the same goal of 70? Ideally, yes. Admittedly, we do not have the same wealth of data for healthy individuals as we have for those with heart disease. What we do know is that almost every study involving lowering cholesterol has shown a decrease in heart disease and stroke. A recent trial of more than 15,000 volunteers without heart disease found that cardiovascular events decreased when LDL cholesterol was lowered from about 100 to about 60.

On an eating plan like the Pritikin Program, very low in saturated and hydrogenated fats and very high in cholesterol-lowering, high-fiber fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans, people achieve phenomenal cholesterol reductions. In an analysis of 4,587 people attending the Pritikin Longevity Center for three weeks, both total and LDL cholesterol plummeted on average 23%. (Archives of Internal Medicine, 151:1389, 1991. See also Circulation, 106: 2530, 2002.)

Of course, in addition to lowering your cholesterol, the Pritikin Program delivers other benefits – priceless ones. Just ask Ida Godges. Within one month of graduating from the Pritikin Longevity Center, her LDL cholesterol fell from 140 to 85, and, much to the delight of this retired airline employee from Seal Beach, California, her doctor took her off all hypertension medications. She also lost 25 pounds, and her energy level soared. She's chasing grandchildren on soccer fields and flying back and forth to Iowa to help her sisters with the heavy chores on their farm. "Today," she says, "I have a new life!"