A Guide To Healthy Eating: Strategies Tips And Recipes To Help You Make Better Food Choices
Eat real food. Thats the essence of todays nutrition message. Our knowledge of nutrition has come full circle, back to eating food that is as close as possible to the way nature made it. Based on a solid foundation of current nutrition science, Harvards Special Health Report A Guide to Healthy Eating: Strategies, tips, and recipes to help you make better food choices describes how to eat for optimum health.
Dried Fruits And Cholesterol: Benefits For The Heart
Alongside the studies that have associated the consumption of dried fruit with the reduction of cholesterol, others have shown that it can actually be useful to prevent cardiovascular disorders, so high cholesterol is a risk factor. In particular, those who consume more dried fruit seem to run a lower risk of cardiovascular events.
The good reasons to include dried fruit in your daily diet do not really seem to be missing. Beware, though: it is a rather caloric food, and for this, it is good not to abuse it. Rather, it is possible to insert a portion of dried fruit within a varied diet in which nutritious foods are also present that can control cardiovascular risk factors, such as fish rich in omega 3 and extra virgin olive oil.
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Passion Fruit For Weight Loss And For Fighting Cholesterol
In this long list of benefits, youll notice that it is rich in phytosterols, elements that help naturally reduce the formation of cholesterol. If cholesterol levels exceed certain amounts, the body will become harmful, causing severe health effects, like obesity. This plant reduces harmful cholesterol and helps control and lose weight. By following a healthy diet and habits, like exercise, these effects will be even more pronounced, making beneficial results noticeable in less time.
There are a lot of ways to lower cholesterol, but walking is undoubtedly the ideal way. Not only does it provide a great path towards healing, but it also makes the body strong and has no harmful side effects on health, like medications that damage and deteriorate the kidneys, stomach, etc.
If you want a natural way to fight cholesterol, try these passion fruit remedies and tips, that can be used in combination to recover health.
Begin healing:Follow a cleansing diet, drinking just passion fruit juicewith squeezed lemon juice, daily. This is the only thing you should drink for an entire day, nothing more than juice and 2 liters of fresh water. The sugar in this fruit will help satiate your hunger. If you experience effects like a stomachache, headache, rash, etc., this is normal. These are symptoms of healing. The fruit is cleaning your body. If you feel an intense pain, drink vegetable broth at midday, and continue the diet after half an hour.
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If Your Diet Gave You High Cholesterol It Can Lower It Too
Its easy to eat your way to an alarmingly high cholesterol level. The reverse is true, too changing what foods you eat can lower your cholesterol and improve the armada of fats floating through your bloodstream.Doing this requires a two-pronged strategy: Add foods that lower LDL, the harmful cholesterol-carrying particle that contributes to artery-clogging atherosclerosis. At the same time, cut back on foods that boost LDL. Without that step, you are engaging in a holding action instead of a steady and tasty victory.
Eat To Lower Your Cholesterol
Cholesterol isnt all bad news. Follow these tips to lower your cholesterol, the natural way.
Chances are, youve heard a thing or two about cholesterol. Having high blood cholesterol is a risk factor for developing heart disease.
But did you know that you can reduce your cholesterol level by making smart food choices? Its true!
Cholesterol clarified
Before we get to the details, lets be clear on what were talking about. For years, cholesterol has had a bad rep that it doesnt really deserve. The truth is, we need cholesterol to function. Your body makes most of the cholesterol it needs. The rest comes from foods you eat.
Heres the important thing: Dietary cholesterol found in meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products has less impact on increasing your blood cholesterol level. Foods that contain lots of saturated fat are the true culprits.
Now heres how to make nutritious choices to lower your blood cholesterol.
Keep eating simple
In the last 20 years, the rules on healthy eating have shifted. Super restrictive diets arent sustainable or the healthiest choice. Rather than zeroing in on a single nutrient, nutrition research shows the quality of your diet matters more. A diet filled with the right portions of whole, unprocessed foods can help decrease heart disease and stroke. What does that look like? For a healthy, balanced eating plan:
Cook at home
Choose more fibre
Each of these options will provide you with two grams:
- ½ ripe avocado
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Treatment For High Cholesterol
Making lifestyle changes, especially changing some of the foods you eat, and regular physical activity, are very important to help reduce high LDL cholesterol.
You may also need to take cholesterol-lowering medicines to help manage your cholesterol and reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Talk to your doctor about finding the most appropriate treatment for you.
Berries: How Can They Reduce Cholesterol Level
Berries are queens of fruits!
Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries all contain antioxidants. This definitely helps your health on various ways.
They also contain pectin, which is a sort of soluble fiber, and which can help drop your cholesterol levels .
Berries also have bioactive compounds that offer antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which can reduce your risk of heart disease as well. Pick up a couple of containers of berries the next time youre at the grocery store.
Theres more
Strawberries work well with many salad recipes, and just about all berries make a tasty snack all by themselves.
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Triglycerides In Your Blood
In addition to cholesterol, your blood also contains a type of fat called triglycerides, which are stored in your bodys fat deposits. Hormones release triglycerides to make energy between meals.
When you eat, your body converts any extra energy it doesnt need right away into triglycerides.
Like cholesterol, your body needs triglycerides to work properly. However, there is evidence to suggest that some people with high triglycerides are at increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
If you regularly eat more energy than you need, you may have high triglycerides .
Nuts Especially Almonds And Walnuts
Nuts are another exceptionally nutrient-dense food.
Theyre very high in monounsaturated fats. Walnuts are also rich in the plant variety of omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fat associated with heart health .
Almonds and other nuts are particularly rich in L-arginine, an amino acid that helps your body make nitric oxide. This, in turn, helps regulate blood pressure .
Whats more, nuts provide phytosterols. These plant compounds are structurally similar to cholesterol and help lower cholesterol by blocking its absorption in your intestines.
Calcium, magnesium and potassium, also found in nuts, may reduce blood pressure and lower your risk of heart disease.
In an analysis of 25 studies, eating 23 servings of nuts per day decreased bad LDL cholesterol by an average of 10.2 mg/dl .
Eating a daily serving of nuts is linked to a 28% lower risk of both fatal and nonfatal heart disease .
Summary
Fatty fish, such as salmon and mackerel, are excellent sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3s bolster heart health by increasing good HDL cholesterol and lowering inflammation and stroke risk.
In one large, 25-year study in adults, those who ate the most non-fried fish were the least likely to develop metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that includes high blood pressure and low good HDL levels .
In another large study in older adults, those who ate tuna or other baked or broiled fish at least once a week had a 27% lower risk of stroke .
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What To Eat: Foods That Lower Cholesterol
There is great evidence to support functional foods that help lower cholesterol, Featherstun says. Add these choices to your diet:
Plant stanols and sterols These are naturally occurring compounds found in plant cell walls, Featherstun says. They interfere with cholesterol absorption in the small intestine and can help lower LDL cholesterol. A study published in October 2012 in Lipids in Health and Disease found that eating 9 to 10 grams of stanols per day can help lower LDL cholesterol by more than 17 and as much as 22 percent. You can get plant stanols and sterols in margarine-like spreads such as Benecol and Smart Balance, available in the dairy section of most grocery stores.
Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats These fats can help decrease LDL cholesterol, Featherstun says. To get them, eat fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, tuna, trout, herring, or king mackerel, at least twice a week. Other good sources of unsaturated fats include chia seeds, avocados, almonds, walnuts, and olive oil.
Soy foods Soy proteins contain isoflavones and phytoestrogens, which block both cholesterol absorption and new cholesterol production, Featherstun says. Good sources of soy protein include tofu, soy milk, and edamame. Try to replace one daily animal protein item with a soy protein alternative, Featherstun suggests.
Study Suggests Lower Ldl Cholesterol Is Better
A recent meta-analysis published in JAMA Cardiology suggests that it is both safe and effective to lower LDL below 70 mg/dL. The authors reviewed a large database of CVD patients with LDL levels averaging 70 mg/dL or less at the start of the studies. On average, there was a 20% drop in CVD risk seen for every 39 mg/dL drop in LDL cholesterol. In other words, a drop in LDL from 70 mg/dL down to 31 mg/dL was associated with 20% fewer CVD events such as heart attack or stroke.
The benefit was consistent regardless of the medications used to lower cholesterol. The JAMA Cardiology meta-analysis looked at studies in which LDL was lowered with a statin drug, which works by lowering LDL production in the liver, or with a different type of medication, including ezetimibe , which interferes with absorption of LDL from the intestine, or PCSK9 inhibitors, newer injectable medicines that increase uptake of LDL from the bloodstream into the liver. The drop in CVD risk was in line with previous studies of patients who started with LDL levels around 130 mg/dL, and saw a drop in CVD events of about 22% for every 39 mg/dL drop in LDL.
In this study, there was no increased risk of adverse outcomes , even when LDL was lowered to as low as 20 mg/dL. Although statin medications themselves have been linked to side effects, especially at high doses, it appears that extremely low LDL concentrations are not responsible for side effects.
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Foods That Fight High Cholesterol
It’s easy to eat your way to an alarmingly high cholesterol level. And the reverse is true too changing what you eat can lower your cholesterol and improve the composition of the armada of fats floating through your bloodstream. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and “good fats” are all part of a heart-healthy diet. But some foods are particularly good at helping bring down cholesterol.
How? Some cholesterol-lowering foods deliver a good dose of soluble fiber, which binds cholesterol and its precursors in the digestive system and drags them out of the body before they get into circulation. Others provide polyunsaturated fats, which directly lower LDL, or “bad” cholesterol. And those with plant sterols and stanols keep the body from absorbing cholesterol. Here are 5 of those foods:
Good Juices For Lowering Cholesterol: Orange Kiwi And Strawberry Juice
A juice loaded with vitamin C and E is one of the best options for controlling bad cholesterol as well as preventing it. And for that we can prepare a juice from three very healthy and delicious fruits: oranges, Kiwis and strawberries. Strawberries, in addition to providing aroma and a rich flavor to this juice, are important allies in reducing the levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides as well as improving platelet function.
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Red Wine Or Grapes: A Toast To Resveratrol
A plant-based chemical known as resveratrol, found in the red grapes used to make red wine, can help to lower blood levels of LDL cholesterol. It also appears to protect against coronary artery disease, thanks to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Furthermore, a glass of red wine with a meal can help prevent the constriction of blood vessels that can follow a fatty meal and lead to atherosclerosis and heart attack.
If you don’t drink, don’t start now. You can get resveratrol from red, black, and purple grapes, and from blueberries, cranberries, and even peanut butter. If you do drink alcohol, limit your consumption of red wine to one or two 5 oz glasses a day.
What Is The Difference Between Good And Bad Cholesterol
The actual name for bad cholesterol is low-density lipoprotein, or LDL. LDL is considered bad cholesterol because it contributes to the buildup of plaque in the arteries, narrowing the artery pathway and putting you at risk for things like heart attack, stroke or artery disease.
Good cholesterol, or high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, on the other hand, acts as a defense against bad cholesterol, carrying LDL away from the arteries and into the liver where it is broken down and passed through the body.
According to a 2017 study, around 18% of Americans over the age of 20 had high levels of bad cholesterol and low levels of good cholesterol.
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Strawberries Raspberries Blueberries And Cherries
Eat Berries to Lower Cholesterol
Eat Berries to Lower Cholesterol || Shutterstock
The simplest ways to lower cholesterol can include a few readily available fruits. Berries are delicious fruits rich in anthocyanins, substances that promote lower cholesterol production. It is recommended to take about 100 grams of these fruits daily to reduce the cholesterol level. Also, blueberries help to reduce blood pressure and stiffen the arteries.
There are many different kinds of natural resources that have been proven to help with lowering cholesterol such as fish, garlic, grape seeds, and fruit. Berries, especially blueberries and strawberries have many health benefits including but not limited to help with lowering cholesterol levels in the blood.
Eating strawberries is good for several reasons. It can help with lowering blood pressure and has many antioxidants. They contain high levels of vitamin c which are great antioxidants that protect your cells from damage. Also, strawberries have many cholesterol-lowering benefits. They can help reduce LDL BAD cholesterol and increase HDL GOOD cholesterol levels to balance and bring your overall levels down. There have been several studies done suggesting that it is the ellagic acid in strawberries that helps lower bad cholesterol.
Anthocyanins have also been known to enhance memory, prevent heart disease, lower cholesterol levels, strengthen blood vessels, and increase overall athletic performance.
Vegetables And Fruits For Cholesterol
With that said, if you know that you need to work on lowering your cholesterol levels, what kind of fruits and vegetables will help?
Rich in soluble fiber. The U.S. National Library of Medicine notes that eating foods high in soluble fiber helps keep your digestive tract from absorbing cholesterol. It recommends apples, bananas, oranges, pears and prunes as fruits high in soluble fiber. According to the National Institutes of Health News in Health, beans and peas are some of the best veggie sources of soluble fiber.
Certain vitamins have also been shown to reduce cholesterol levels, although the benefits are often associated with high doses, and sometimes in association with prescription medications. Talk to your doctor before taking supplements or making drastic changes to your diet.
Niacin. As the U.S. National Library of Medicine explains, prescription-level doses of niacin helps block how your liver makes cholesterol. The National Institutes of Health suggests potatoes, bananas, edamame, raisins, tomatoes, broccoli, apples, spinach and onions as noteworthy sources of niacin. Whole grains tend to have even more niacin.
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Tip
Eating fruits and veggies that lower cholesterol may mean a sudden uptick in dietary fiber intake, which in turn can cause intestinal distress. Increasing your fiber intake slowly can help reduce any intestinal upset.
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Cholesterol And Healthy Eating
What we eat has an impact on our cholesterol levels and can help reduce our risk of disease. Try to eat a wide variety of foods from each of the five food groups. Not only does this help to maintain a healthy and interesting diet, but it provides essential nutrients to the body.
The Heart Foundation recommends:
- Plenty of vegetables, fruits and wholegrains.
- A variety of healthy protein sources , legumes , nuts and seeds. Smaller amounts of eggs and lean poultry can also be included in a heart healthy diet. If choosing red meat, make sure it is lean and limit to 1-3 times a week.
- Unflavoured milk, yoghurt and cheese. Those with high blood cholesterol should choose reduced fat varieties.
- Healthy fat choices nuts, seeds, avocados, olives and their oils for cooking
- Herbs and spices to flavour foods, instead of adding salt.
Also, be mindful on how much you are eating and whether you are filling up on unhealthy foods. Portion sizes have increased over time and many of us are eating more than we need which can lead to obesity and increase our risk of cardiovascular disease.
Ideally, a healthy plate would include servings of ¼ protein, ¼ carbohydrates and ½ vegetables.
Serving size can vary depending on age, gender and specific nutrition needs.