The number one drug prescribed today is to lower your LDL cholesterol. When anyone states that your cholesterol is not important anymore, just remember that the medical community knows that it has been proven that getting your LDL cholesterol lower has saved thousands of patients from heart attacks and strokes. You can do this by one of two ways: taking a pill or changing your lifestyle. If you are on a cholesterol-lowering drug, listen up. If you read that little literature paper written in fine print that comes with the medicine, you may be surprised that there were things you could be doing that may result in avoiding the medicine all together, or at least be taking a lower dose which would insure fewer side effects. That drug information paper says that if eating properly, getting to a healthy weight and exercising does not lower your cholesterol (your LDL cholesterol), then take the medicine. I have asked numerous individuals who are on such medicine if their physician had them go on a trial of lifestyle changes of avoiding certain foods, losing weight and exercising — before prescribing the drug. So far I have not had anyone say that had been the plan. Most patients are placed on the medication and told that they should work on changing their lifestyles. However, there is one great example of a football coach who had the highest total cholesterol I have ever seen. His doctor had prescribed a statin for him but had not discussed changing his eating lifestyle. The coach did not want to go on a medicine he would have to take for the rest of his life. We went back to his doctor and asked if it would be okay to try changing his eating habits before beginning the medicine. His physician agreed and two months later his cholesterol numbers were normal. If you are on a cholesterol-lowering drug, the most prescribed medicine in America, read Prescription For Life and see how to get the dosage lowered or even completely discontinued.
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