• Press Release

September is National Cholesterol Education Month: 5 Steps to Keep Your Cholesterol in Check

Free Mount Sinai Health System Cholesterol Fairs in September to raise awareness about the importance of maintaining healthy cholesterol levels.

  • (September 08, 2014)

This September the Mount Sinai Health System will host five, free cholesterol fairs in honor of National Cholesterol Education Month. The effort is meant to increase awareness about the importance of maintaining healthy cholesterol levels to prevent cardiovascular diseases and stroke, and to promote a daily heart-healthy diet and an active lifestyle.

Each fair will offer the community free heart health screenings for cholesterol, body mass index, education about ways you can prevent and reduce your heart disease risk, and heart healthy food samples.

Mount Sinai Health System's Cholesterol Fairs will occur between September 9th- 26th from 10:00am to 2:00pm at:

  • Mount Sinai St. Luke's – Tuesday, September 9th
    Location: 1111 Amsterdam Ave, Babcock Building Lobby
  • Mount Sinai Beth Israel Brooklyn – Tuesday, September 16th
    Location: 3201 Kings Highway, Main Lobby
  • The Mount Sinai Hospital – Thursday, September 18th
    Location: 1468 Madison Avenue, Guggenheim Pavilion, 1st Floor Atrium
  • Mount Sinai Roosevelt – Tuesday, September 23rd
    Location: 1000 10th Avenue, Main Lobby
  • Mount Sinai Beth Israel – Friday, September 26th
    Location: 10 Union Square, Phillips Ambulatory Care Center (PACC), 2nd Floor

5 Steps to Keep Your Cholesterol in Check
Most of your body's cholesterol is produced by your liver, but blood cholesterol levels can rise if you eat the wrong foods every day.

Blood contains both high-density lipoprotein (HDL) referred to as "good cholesterol"and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), also called "bad cholesterol." However, too much bad cholesterol overtime can lead to the build-up of fatty substances in our arteries that can cause artery blockages as part of cardiovascular disease, and in the worst cases, heart attack or stroke.

Unfortunately, potentially dangerous high cholesterol levels do not always have symptoms. That's why Mount Sinai cardiologists and nurses urge everyone to take time to get their cholesterol levels checked starting as a young adult and throughout their lifetime. A simple blood test can help save your life or allow you to make lifestyle changes to maintain healthy cholesterol levels to prevent a future cardiac event or heart disease.

To keep your cholesterol in check the Mount Sinai Health System heart experts recommend you take 5 key steps:

1. Know your cholesterol numbers
At least once every five years, get a simple blood test performed to check your LDL and HDL cholesterol levels, as well as, your triglycerides. An ideal LDL cholesterol level is 100-129 mg/dL, an ideal HDL cholesterol level is 60 mg/dL and above, and below 150 mg/dL for triglycerides. An ideal "total cholesterol" level measuring together your HDL, LDL, and your triglycerides is less than 180 mg/dL. A statin medication may be prescribed by your doctor to help lower your high LDL cholesterol, which also may have additional health benefits.
-Beth Oliver, DNP, RN, Vice President of Cardiac Services, Mount Sinai Health System

2. Exercise regularly
Stay active and avoid a sedentary lifestyle to maintain healthy cholesterol levels. You should aim to walk briskly for at least 30-minutes a day, or perform aerobic exercise for at least 30-minutes as part of your everyday routine. This can include exercising at the gym, brisk walking, bicycling, or swimming. The key to success is finding an exercise activity that you love and do it daily.
-Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart at The Mount Sinai Hospital and Chief of the Division of Cardiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

3. Eat healthy
A heart healthy diet low in bad LDL cholesterol and high in good HDL cholesterol is best to remain heart healthy. To reduce your bad cholesterol, include more colorful fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads and pastas, brown rice, nuts, and some fish, while reducing your intake of red meats, whole milk, eggs, fried foods, fast food, processed foods, trans-fat, and saturated-fats.
-Blase Carabello, MD, Chair of Cardiology, Mount Sinai Beth Israel

4. Maintain a healthy weight
It is critical to maintain a healthy weight, or a normal body mass index (BMI) to remain heart healthy and keep cholesterol levels under control. BMI is a number calculated based on a person's height and weight. A healthy BMI is between 18.5–24.9, more than 25 is overweight, and 30 or greater is considered obese.
-Alan Rozanski, MD, Chief of the Division of Cardiology, Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai Roosevelt

5. Don't smoke
Cigarette smoke narrows and damages the arteries of the body. Tobacco smoking can lead to the extra buildup of cholesterol inside or lining the body's arteries, so it is important that you do not smoke or stop smoking.
-Barry L. Huppert, MD, Chief of Cardiology, Mount Sinai Beth Israel Brooklyn

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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