Counter Excellence: Running a Cholesterol Service

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Prevention and Healthy Living Advice

To help support your conversations on lowering cholesterol, you can use the healthy living advice below:

Topic	Suggested Advice
Diet	Include at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day –they are full of fibre. Take a look at the eat well plate here which shows you how much of what you eat overall should come from each food group. Cut down on saturated fats – this is found in foods such as butter, ghee, cakes, chocolate, ice cream and switch to unsaturated fats. Guidelines for saturated fat: Men = no more than 30g a day Women = no more than 20g a day Unsaturated fats are found in foods such as avocados, oily fish (such as salmon, mackerel and sardines) and vegetable oil. Check the labels on your food and choose those with lower saturated fat
Physical Activity	Recommended guidelines for physical activity if 30 minutes of exercise spread over 5 days (150 minutes in total) Reduce the amount of time spent sitting down Start oï¬€ with small, gentle exercise and gradually increase Exercise can include things you enjoy such as gardening Try to walk instead of using other transport / take the stairs vs. lift
Alcohol	Recommended guidelines for alcohol intake is no more than 14 units for men and women Spread your drinking over 3 or more days if you regularly drink as much as 14 units a week Aim to have several drink-free days each week Take a look at Alcohol Concerns website for further reading
Smoking	Smoking can clog up the vessels meaning it will make it harder for the blood to travel through the body If you oï¬€er a stop smoking service in pharmacy, sign the customer up. If you don’t, ensure you can signpost to the nearest stop smoking service. Consider Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products. Consider if your pharmacy oï¬€ers medication to quit (visit our pages on administering Oral PGD’s).
Weight	Being overweight means the heart needs to work faster to pump the blood around the body. Slow, steady weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week is achievable and easy to maintain. Follow a healthy and balanced diet. Increase your physical activity

You can also read further recommendations on lowering cholesterol at Heart UK’s pages.

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Topic

Suggested Advice

Diet

Physical Activity

Alcohol

Smoking

Weight

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