Those with high cholesterol know that it can be caused by heredity, lifestyle factors, or a combination. Regardless of where yours came from, following the TLC Diet can help improve your cholesterol levels and even add years to your life.
The Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) Diet is actually more than just what you eat. It’s a three-part program that combines diet, physical activity, and weight management to reduce high blood cholesterol without medication. But even those requiring drug treatment for their cholesterol will benefit from following the TLC program.
What does the TLC program include?
Developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the TLC Program is best known for its diet component. In addition to lowering LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol), TLC helps reduce metabolic disease and other severe conditions. Beginning with a heart-healthy diet plan and physical activity, the program also works to control high blood pressure, smoking, and similar risk factors for heart disease.
The TLC eating plan guides users in choosing, preparing, and cooking heart-healthy foods to:
- Decrease consumption of saturated fat and cholesterol
- Increase consumption of soluble fiber (fruits, beans, oats, etc.)
- Increase consumption of sterols from plants, whole grains, nuts, legumes, and oils
Since saturated fats increase blood cholesterol levels (especially LDL cholesterol), the TLC Diet is focused on limiting your daily intake of those while increasing your consumption of fiber, sterols, and plant stanols. Sterols and plant stanols are substances found in plants that help block the body’s absorption of cholesterol.
What’s in the TLC Program
Adopting the TLC Program can help you live a healthier, longer life. Making what may be major changes in your lifestyle is not necessarily easy, but as the saying goes—you’re worth it!
What You Eat
Eating heart-healthy meals doesn’t mean food must be bland or tasteless. The TLC Diet limits serving sizes or replaces foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol with healthier options. Those following the diet consume many fruits, vegetables, legumes (beans and lentils), nuts, whole grains, low- or non-fat dairy products, and fish. Skinless poultry and lean meats in moderate amounts are also included. Salt-free spices and herbs are used to flavor food to limit sodium intake to no more than 2,300mg daily.
Typical daily intake includes:
- Bread, Cereals, and Grains: 6 or more servings
- Vegetables, Dry Beans, and Peas: 3-5 servings
- Fruits: 2-4 servings
- Dairy Products: 2-3 servings a day (fat-free or low-fat)
- Eggs: 2 or fewer per week (including baked and processed foods)
- Meal, Poultry, Fish: 5 or fewer ounces
- Fats, Oils: Depends on daily calorie goal
Additional daily options include food products that contain stanols and sterols (such as certain margarine and orange juices) and foods high in soluble fiber (oats, apples, broccoli, tofu, etc.).
Foods that followers of the TLC Diet work to exclude from their diet altogether include:
- Fatty red meat
- Full-fat dairy (butter, cream, ice cream, some cheeses)
- Processed meats (deli meat, hot dogs, sausage, etc.)
- Sugary foods (sweets and pastries
- Alcohol
How You Move
The TLC program uses regular physical activity to lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides while raising HDL cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol), improving heart and lung fitness, and reducing blood pressure.
Reducing Excess Weight
Becoming less sedentary can also help manage weight and reduce the risk for and severity of Type 2 diabetes. Having less weight around your waist reduces the risk of developing metabolic syndrome.
TLC Program Benefits
By following the TLC program, you can substantially lower your LDL cholesterol. Here are estimates of what you can expect.
| Change | LDL Reduction | |
| Saturated Fat | Decrease to less than 7% of calories | 8-10% |
| Dietary Cholesterol | Decrease to less than 200 mg/daily | 3-5% |
| Weight | If overweight, lose 10 pounds | 5-8% |
| Soluble Fiber | Add 5-10 grams daily | 3-5% |
| Plant Sterols/Stanols | Add 2 grams daily | 5-15% |
| Total Reduction in LDL Levels | 20-30% | |
Food for Thought
Although physicians continue to recommend the TLC Diet to patients experiencing high cholesterol, particularly when heart disease risk is high or already present, there is some disagreement on whether the diet part of the program needs to be as limiting as initially structured.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, clinical experts point to three areas in which current research appears to disprove some of the theories behind the TLC Diet:
- Dietary cholesterol isn’t bad for you. Recent studies have shown that dietary cholesterol has little effect on cholesterol levels or heart-disease risk; saturated fats and sugars are the primary culprits.
- High-carb diets can negatively affect heart health. The TLC Diet recommends that carbohydrates make up 50-60% of daily calories. It doesn’t incorporate recent findings that refined carbs, white flour foods, and sugary foods can increase triglycerides, increase blood sugar, and contribute to obesity.
- Daily calories are too low. The TLC diet recommends that women consume between 1,000-1,200 calories per day and men 1,200-1,600 calories per day. These calorie levels can be unrealistic for many people.
More Information
The NHLBI publishes a comprehensive 80-page booklet on the TLC program, “Your Guide to Lowering Your Cholesterol with TLC.” Download the guide at no charge from their website.
The Cleveland Clinic also publishes helpful information about the diet on its website and related articles on cholesterol and nutrition.
Read More:
All You Need To Know About the Elimination Diet
