ASHLEY REAVER: I am Ashley
Reaver.
I'm a registered dietician.
I own a private practice
in Oakland, California,
and I teach at the University
of California, Berkeley.
I love being a dietician
and helping people
with their nutrition,
because it is an opportunity
three times a day,
or 21 times a week,
that you can directly impact
someone's life,
and their long term health.
High cholesterol is something
that is incredibly
prevalent in the US.
95 million Americans have
high cholesterol,
and cardiovascular disease
is the number one cause
of death.
So I have oriented my career
around cholesterol, because I
don't think that the resources
are available to help
this large population of people
lower their cholesterol levels
and prevent
that cardiovascular disease.
I think in the US in particular,
there is a humongous focus
on body weight.
And often, I find
with my clients,
even if they know the types
of foods
that they're supposed to be
eating for their cholesterol,
they are distracted
by the latest weight loss diet.
You can lower your cholesterol
and lower your body weight
at the same time.
Eating a diet that has more
fiber in it,
has more plants in it,
has less fat in it,
is also a diet that supports
lowering your body weight.
Oftentimes, those diets that are
weight loss diets, they are not
supportive of lowering
your cholesterol.
Fad diets usually are increasing
saturated fat and decreasing
soluble fiber.
A diet to lower your cholesterol
really should be trying
to increase that soluble fiber
and drop that saturated fat.
Soluble fiber is the type
of fiber that swells when it
comes into contact with water.
So oats, beans, whole grains,
chia seeds.
Those are things that really
should be in your diet
at least once every single day.
The other big factor
for cholesterol
is lowering the intake
of saturated fats.
And saturated fats primarily
come from animal products.
And it absolutely doesn't mean
that every single person needs
to be a vegan, that you can
never have ice cream or steak
again.
It's just balancing how they fit
into your diet.
The key to a sustainable diet
is not deprivation, it really
is moderation.
It's finding a balance
of including all of the foods
that are going to be really
important for your health, as
well as dropping
in, occasionally, the foods that
maybe aren't
the best for your health,
but maybe satisfy other needs
that you have as well.
Fried chicken, as an example,
is probably not something
that you should have
multiple days a week.
But if that is your mom's
specialty, and when you go home,
she loves preparing that
all day, there has to be
some sort of concession
there where you can still get
enjoyment out of your food
without necessarily taking it
to the extreme where it
negatively impacts your health.
A healthy diet is one that you
can really stick
with for the rest of your life.
It is not something that you
start knowing that you can only
do it for a short period
of time.
It's one that satisfies you,
not only nutritionally,
but also emotionally
and mentally.
Crash diets, or fad diets,
promise very fast results,
and you often do see results
a lot faster.
Always, though, the downside
of any of those stricter types
of diets is that if you can't
maintain the diet,
you're also not going
to maintain the results
of that diet.
Eating more fiber and less
saturated fat
takes longer to lose weight,
but it's more of a sustainable
weight loss.
Food is just fuel in your body.
Stop putting so much emphasis
on things being perfect.
Good enough is really, really
good enough.
Taking a step
in the right direction,
making progress
towards your goals, is also more
important than not being
able to be perfect,
and then just deciding not to do
something at all.