What can be the reason that you’ll be sitting and suddenly your legs cramp up, and you find yourself unable to move with excruciating pain? You’ll be surprised to know that the reason could be unchecked and high cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol is a silent killer and normally you’d not see people paying much attention to it, but if not controlled it can lead to very serious heart problems like heart attacks or even sudden strokes.
There is a problem though; there are no telling signs of high cholesterol, no warning signals which can lead to timely detection of the problem, so you can end up complicating your health situation to an extent it becomes fatal or irreversible.
How can pain in your legs tell you that you have high Cholesterol?
Interestingly there is a logical link between high cholesterol and the Cramps that you might have in your legs.
Untreated high levels lead to plaque buildup in the body, which is made of fatty substances. Now Plaque makes the blood f in the arteries flow slowly, which causes pain, cramps, and spasms in the legs, also known as peripheral artery disease. So next time your legs cramp up, and they cramp up too often, it could be that it is plaque and therefore high cholesterol that is causing it.
Although it is important to understand that there could be other reasons for the pain in your legs, the leg pain that develops with activity goes away with rest, and again comes back if you start your activity is most likely to be cholesterol related.
The area you will have the most pain when you have high cholesterol is the calf but health experts say that the pain can also travel to your thighs and buttocks, and the pain can be so severe that it could limit physical activities.
What causes high Cholesterol?
You can have high cholesterol, if you keep sitting at one place, with very little activity and you don’t exercise.
You can also have it if you have an imbalanced diet which consists of a lot of saturated fat that is not good for your body. Foods like red meats, Dairy products, deep-fried and processed foods.
So, how can you lower your Cholesterol levels?
A few things that might be useful are:
Exercise: exercise at least 30-45 minutes every day if you want to improve cholesterol levels. It can be any form of exercising; running, walking, jogging, swimming, or you could even cycle every day, which helps tone your body and improve your vitals.
Eat lots of fibre: There are wonder foods like oats, apples, papaya and beans that are high in soluble fibre, which keep your body from absorbing too much cholesterol. Research shows that people who ate 5 to 10 more grams of fibrous foods each day saw a drop in their LDL. Eating more fibrous foods would also make you feel full, and you won’t be craving for more snacks all the time.
Laugh your lungs out: According to health experts, if you laugh more often you reduce stress, and it can decrease ailments, including Cholesterol.
Cut out saturated fats: Try substituting olive oil for butter to reduce HDL by as much as 15 per cent. Olive oil has trans-fat or good fat which benefits your heart in the long run. If you take care of what you eat and don’t consume food with too much of saturated fats, you can keep your cholesterol in check. Eating the right kind of fats won’t affect you that much, so keep an eye out and be conscious of what goes into your body.
Do follow these 5 healthy lifestyle choices and you’ll never have high cholesterol or other serious health issues
