7 Tips to Help You Fast Properly Before a Blood Cholesterol Test

Doctors almost always instruct to fast before going in for a blood cholesterol test. You need to fast in the correct manner if you have scheduled a blood cholesterol test. It’s always a good idea to check with your doctor as well as the lab where you’ll have the blood work done about any specific instructions for the pre-test fasting.

Follow these tips and you will not mess up your test:

1. Keep track of what you’ve been eating in the few weeks before the blood cholesterol test if you know much in advance when you’d be doing the blood test. If your blood test is part of a life insurance medical exam, stay away from red meat, fried foods and other high fat and high cholesterol foods.

2. The best time to schedule a blood cholesterol test is early in the morning, especially if you need to fast for 12 hours. This way you can have your last meal of the day by 7 PM and then go first thing in the morning for your blood test.

3. Make sure you check with your doctor or with the people at the lab about how long you need to fast. The time period could anything from 6-8 hours to even 12 hours depending on the case.

4. If you’re doing a routine blood cholesterol test do not change your diet too much otherwise your test results would not show accurate data for your usual diet.

5. Fasting doesn’t mean staying off water so keep drinking water even after you have started your fast. Most labs will let you drink water and will not consider that as part of the fast even if you have been fasting for 12 hours.

6. In some cases, you are allowed to have coffee when fasting for your blood test. Just make sure to check with your doctor or the lab whether you could have coffee during the fasting period.

7. In case you made a mistake and fasted for a lesser time than you were supposed to, be honest and let the lab know. If you were required to fast for 12 hours but you did it only for 8 hours, your test results might show a significant difference from what they would have been with the right amount of fasting. So don’t do yourself a disservice and come clean if you made a mistake.

Sandhya Mridul is a freelance writer who enjoys traveling, cooking and tennis. She’s also a shopaholic and proud of it! Check out her current work researching Double Oven Gas Range. You can visit the site at DoubleOvenRanges.net.

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