What you eat or do close to dinner time can have a profound impact on your cholesterol levels. If you regularly indulge in fatty foods, desserts, and skip vegetables at dinner time, you may be inviting a host of health troubles including high cholesterol.
If you are trying and failing to control your cholesterol levels, it’s high time to reflect and pinpoint dinner-time mistakes that are raising your LDL cholesterol levels.

Delaying your dinner time

It’s the common mistake people make, thanks to their busy routine. The shorter the window between eating and sleeping time, the greater the damage. A study published in the journal Cell Metabolism shows eating later in the day is associated with increased hunger and a decrease in leptin, a hormone that sends signals of satiety. This could make you obese over a period of time which is a risk factor of high cholesterol.

Eating fatty foods

Dinner time is the time to unwind and this is when families come together to have a hearty meal and heart-to-heart conversations. However, this also means partaking in lavish and high-calorie meals which could add extra layers of cholesterol to your diet. Eating too much saturated fat or trans fats can lead to unhealthy cholesterol levels.

Not eating veggies

Not eating enough vegetables or including adequate fibre in your diet can increase your risk of high cholesterol levels. Vegetables are rich in soluble fibre, which helps to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and promote heart health. A diet lacking in these fibre-rich foods can lead to elevated cholesterol levels, contributing to heart disease and other cardiovascular issues. Incorporating a variety of vegetables into your meals supports overall health and helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels.

Going to bed immediately after dinner

Eating close to bedtime is the biggest dinner mistake you can make. This not only leads to delayed digestion, but also affects your sleep quality as your digestive system wouldn’t be able to rest and recuperate during night. Inadequate sleep and metabolism slowdown can lead to weight gain, which is a risk factor for cholesterol.

Eating salty foods

Eating salty foods at night can lead to high blood pressure, which is linked to high cholesterol levels. High sodium intake causes the body to retain water, increasing blood volume and putting extra strain on the arteries. This strain can damage arterial walls, making them more susceptible to cholesterol buildup and plaque formation.
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