Many of my clients struggle to eat well when they are trying to lower their cholesterol because of their family. The children are clamoring for ice cream, the husband is munching on salty chips while watching TV in the evening, and no one likes vegetables. Sound familiar?

Here are a few tips to help you eat well and improve your cholesterol levels even given a difficult family dynamic.

First off, don\’t immediately assume your family won\’t try new, healthy foods or eat vegetables. I have many clients who are very surprised that their family actually is willing to try new dishes, and that they end up enjoying them too. Keep in mind that the reason your family thinks they don\’t like healthy food or vegetables may be due to the fact that they haven\’t tried healthy food or vegetables that were prepared properly. So don\’t give up on your family too soon. Try new recipes that others have rated highly or incorporate some familiar ingredients into your new, healthy dishes so that everything isn\’t new at once.

Just because you have a husband who wants to eat meat every night doesn\’t mean you have to give up reducing your saturated fat intake and improving your heart health and cholesterol levels. You can buy organic, grass-fed meats. Such meats typically have higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and less saturated fat. Another option is to alternate who has cooking responsibility. One night your husband cooks a meat dish (enough for two evenings) and you eat a leftover non-meat dish that you made from the night before. The next evening you cook a non-meat dish, and he eats the leftover meat he prepared from the night before. You get the picture.

If your children or other family members are craving ice cream, don\’t go out and buy a large portion and bring it home with you. Instead go to an ice cream parlor and order one serving or buy a box of 3 chocolate covered ice cream popsicles versus a large container of ice cream. In other words, buy the smallest quantity that you can so that you don\’t have ice cream sitting in your freezer day in and day out tempting you. Dairy fat affects LDL cholesterol levels negatively more so than other saturated fats and don\’t just opt for low-fat varieties or you are likely to be eating more sugar than you should.

Plan evening activities to take the place of sitting in front of the TV. There is a very strong link between being overweight and how much a person sits in front of the TV, and people who are overweight are more likely to have elevated cholesterol levels. If a family member likes to sit in front of the TV while snacking, you don\’t have to participate too. Go for a walk. Read a book. Call a friend. Do something else. You won\’t be missing the snacking at all. Or if you really don\’t want to miss your favorite TV show, have a healthy snack instead or do as one of my clients did and knit instead of eat while watching TV.

Author Bio: If you would like even more suggestions on how to lower your cholesterol fast, I am offering a free audio \”Top 3 Secrets to Lower Your Cholesterol Fast without Drugs or Drastic Dieting\” at www.cutcholesterolnow.com. During this audio I share how I lowered my cholesterol by double digits in 90 days without deprivation or restriction. The secrets I share are ones you can easily use too to start seeing improvement in your cholesterol levels fast.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: cholesterol,lowering cholesterol,snacking,lower LDL cholesterol,saturated fat,difficult famly