Cholesterol rises during fasting, what is the cause?

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims in Indonesia spend approximately 13 hours fasting. This means that during that time, people who observe fasting do not eat and drink at all. This routine certainly helps in controlling cholesterol levels in the blood. However, is it possible that the opposite happens, namely that cholesterol rises during fasting? If so, what was the cause? Check out the various causes of increased cholesterol that occur during fasting, and what restrictions should be avoided by people with high cholesterol when breaking the fast.

Cause cholesterol levels rise during fasting

According to a study published in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism states that fasting in the month of Ramadan has the potential to increase levels of good cholesterol (HDL) and reduce levels of bad cholesterol (LDL). Then, why do some still experience an increase in cholesterol during fasting? Here are some of the causes of cholesterol to rise during fasting.

1. Not maintaining diet

One of the main reasons you experience an increase in cholesterol while fasting is not maintaining your diet, especially when you are breaking fast. Therefore, there are several dietary restrictions that should be avoided when breaking the fast, especially for people with high cholesterol.

After enduring hunger and thirst for the whole day, you may be one of the many people who "take revenge" by eating a variety of foods that you like. Starting from takjil sugary drinks and foods that contain saturated and trans fats. In fact, you also eat foods that are high in cholesterol.

Maybe you think because you don't eat food all day, it's okay to eat these foods and drinks. You may also think that it will not have too much of an effect on blood cholesterol levels.

In fact, that includes a wrong understanding. This means that even though you are fasting all day long, you are still not advised to eat foods with high cholesterol levels. So, avoid various high cholesterol restrictions as usual, even when breaking the fast. Better, keep eating healthy foods for cholesterol.

2. There is a metabolic syndrome

Another cause of cholesterol rising during fasting is metabolic syndrome, which is a group of medical conditions that can increase your risk of heart disease, including heart attacks, coronary heart disease, and a variety of other heart diseases.

Usually, this condition is characterized by an increase in blood pressure, an increase in blood sugar, to excess fat in the body, especially in the waist area, and abnormal cholesterol and triglyceride levels. These three conditions can occur during fasting, especially if an empty stomach and not filled with food for a whole day is suddenly filled with various unhealthy foods.

If you violate high cholesterol restrictions while breaking your fast, you may have metabolic syndrome which causes high cholesterol. For example, you break your fast with a sweet drink, followed by a fatty meal for dinner.

Therefore, if you want to keep your cholesterol levels normal during fasting, avoid restrictions for people with high cholesterol even when breaking your fast.

3. Taurine deficiency

Taurine is a type of amino acid that functions to control bad cholesterol levels in the blood and liver (liver). When fasting, you may be deficient in taurine. Taurine can be obtained from zinc (zinc) and vitamin A.

Food sources that are high in taurine include vegetables such as spinach, broccoli and mushrooms. Remembering that you don't get zinc and vitamin A throughout the morning to evening, your body also lacks taurine and cholesterol levels become difficult to control.

In order to avoid this risk, make it a habit to break your fast with a variety of foods and vegetables that are high in taurine as mentioned above.

How to prevent cholesterol levels from rising during fasting

The various causes of cholesterol increase during fasting that have been mentioned above may occur if you do not comply with the restrictions that must be avoided by people with high cholesterol when breaking the fast. Here is a list of things you should watch out for if you don't want your cholesterol levels to rise while fasting.

Sahur and iftar with a diet low in cholesterol and low in sugar.
Take cholesterol-lowering drugs (such as statins) at night.
Increase the consumption of foods that can help control cholesterol levels at dawn and breaking the fast, for example oatmeal and salmon.
Keep exercising regularly when fasting.
Maintain the portion of the meal at dawn and breaking the fast.
If you are overweight or obese, try to control your fasting weight.

Keep cholesterol stable during Eid

After successfully preventing cholesterol from rising during fasting, it is no less important to keep cholesterol stable during Eid. Considering that Eid is synonymous with the day of victory after successfully carrying out fasting for a full month, the most eagerly awaited activity is of course the meal.

If you succeed in avoiding various restrictions for high cholesterol when breaking the fast for one month, you may not be able to do it on the day of Eid. Why? The temptation to eat delicious food is indeed the hardest to avoid on Eid.

Unfortunately, many Eid specialties are high in fat. Starting from chicken opor, rendang, papaya vegetables with coconut milk sauce, and many more. Of course it would be very unfortunate if your efforts to avoid abstinence from high cholesterol when breaking the fast for one month ended up being in vain with just one day.

Therefore, always try to keep your cholesterol stable even on Eid. If you can't refuse the invitation to eat foods with high fat content, eat only as needed. In addition, try to compensate by eating fiber-rich foods or fish that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids.