Reprinted from the Health District's quarterly publication mailed to district residents Fall 2003)

Many folks, told by their doctor that they’ve got high cholesterol, want to hear next about the quick fix.

While changing your eating and exercise habits may not happen overnight, these lifestyle changes are an important first step, medical experts agree. If your levels of LDL (“bad” cholesterol) are high and you have certain risk factors such as heart disease and diabetes, your doctor may suggest also taking a cholesterol-lowering drug called statin.

What route is best for you — diet change alone or diet change plus statins — is something you and your doctor should discuss.

Results of a Canadian study suggest a diet rich in cholesterol-lowering foods may be as effective as statins for some people who want to lower the artery-clogging substance that leads to heart disease.

The study, reported in the July 23 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found those who combined soluble fiber, almonds, soy products and plant sterols with a diet low in saturated fat lowered their levels of LDL – or bad cholesterol – by 29 percent. That compared to a 31 percent drop for those on the low saturated fat diet alone and a statin.

So, how do you go about changing what you eat? A new class titled Eat To Your Heart’s Content, and offered by the Health District, shows you how. In the two-hour class that meets for three weeks, you’ll learn about delicious ways to incorporate soluble fiber, nuts and soy into your meals.

It is the first such class offered in Fort Collins.

Longevity runs in the family for Elva Alden, a 68-year-old Larimer County resident. Her mother and two aunts lived well into their 90s, but little exercise and poor eating habits still made cholesterol a problem for her. In October 2002, she signed up for the pilot class of Eat To Your Heart’s Content. Four months later, her total cholesterol had dropped from 275 to 232.

“This program was so well-presented,” she says. “They brought in foods to taste and offered tips on where to buy healthy foods like soy nuts at a reasonable price.”

Alden says eating heart healthy takes effort, but she now has the tools to do it.

“I don’t think it’s hard to make the changes to your diet. You don’t have to make them all at once. Every week you could incorporate something,” she says.

What’s so bad about cholesterol? After all, our bodies produce it and use it to build cell membranes and hormones. But when it builds up in your blood, cholesterol sticks to artery walls, restricting blood flow. Eating foods high in cholesterol isn’t the big problem. A bigger concern, experts say, is saturated fat, which elevates LDL, or bad cholesterol. One way to lower LDL is to add soy and soluble fiber to your meals, as taught in the Health District class.

But sometimes diet change alone is not enough. Your genes influence how your body metabolizes cholesterol. If changing your habits alone doesn’t significantly lower your levels of cholesterol and particularly LDL, you may need statins. Here’s how they work: Statins block production of cholesterol in the liver as well as boost the organ’s ability to remove LDL from the blood. As with all medications, some people experience side effects with statins.

Sometimes people who have a family history of high cholesterol feel resigned to having it as well.

“The last thing you really want is that person walking around in fear or in passive acceptance,” says Dr. Christina Kuroiwa, a physician at the Health District.

“The huge positive is empowering that person to say, ‘Wow, my life choices do affect my health.’ ”