September is here and National Cholesterol Education Month 2006 is underway. This year NHLBI is highlighting a new booklet, Your Guide to Lowering Your Cholesterol with Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC), to help the 65 million American adults with high blood cholesterol make the changes needed to lower their cholesterol and, with it, their risk for heart disease.

The theme for National Cholesterol Education Month 2006 is, "Know your cholesterol numbers – Know your risk – Give yourself some TLC." September is a great time for adults to have their cholesterol measured because cholesterol numbers help determine the risk for heart disease – and knowing your cholesterol numbers and your risk can help you get started on lowering both. Individuals can check their risk status with the online calculator at http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/atpiii/calculator.asp?usertype=pub, or with the paper and pencil risk tools found in the TLC booklet or in the fact sheet High Blood Cholesterol: What You Need to Know. The online calculator gives the more exact result, while the paper and pencil tools give a useful result that is not quite as exact. The good news is that following a heart-healthy lifestyle can lower heart disease risk and keep it down.

Check out these other helpful tools from the 2006 National Cholesterol Education Month Kit:

• Suggestions on simple steps you can take to reduce your risk for heart disease
• Links to heart-healthy recipes, including African American, Latino, and Stay Young at Heart favorites
• A Chart your progress – Reach your goal worksheet to help you keep track of your cholesterol numbers
• Questions and answers about the new food label: saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol