Foods That Lower Cholesterol
A persons diet plays a crucial role in how healthy their cholesterol levels are. Eating foods that keep cholesterol within a healthy range can help prevent health issues, including a heart attack or stroke.
Cholesterol is a waxy substance that travels through the bloodstream as a part of two different lipoproteins: low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein .
People sometimes refer to LDL cholesterol as bad cholesterol because it causes fatty deposits to build up in the blood vessels. These deposits can block blood flow and cause heart attacks or strokes.
HDL, or good, cholesterol helps remove cholesterol from the body through the liver. High levels of HDL cholesterol can reduce the risk of heart problems and strokes.
The Best 30 Foods That Lower Cholesterol Fast
Most people do not care about their cholesterol until they get a high cholesterol condition. High cholesterol increases the risk of having heart diseases and high blood pressure. If the condition gets worse, you may need to take medications.
Instead of medications or pills, a healthy diet can also be effective in the case of high cholesterol. Most people have observed a good change in their LDL level after adding the foods that lower cholesterol fastto their diet.
Usually, the foods that are rich in soluble fibers, and have unsaturated or monosaturated fats in them, can lower cholesterol. Read on to this article to get the best foods that can control your LDL level.
Modify Your Risk Factors
High cholesterol is usually treated based on total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol levels, plus the presence of additional risk factors for heart disease. While some cannot be changed, some can:
- Previous heart attack
- Family history of early heart disease
- Age over 45 in men and greater than 55 in women
- 10-year risk of a heart attack greater than 20%
Of these, not smoking is something you take action on. You can also treat your high blood pressure and diabetes to keep them under control.
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Stick To A Specialty Diet
From keto and paleo to vegan and vegetarian, specialty diets abound. Keto and paleo arent ideal for those with high cholesterol, since these diets are heavy in meat and their by-products. Vegan vegetarian and pescetarian can be good options.
Diets like the DASH and Mediterranean diets are designed specifically for people with risk factors for heart disease.
The DASH diet
Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, is a diet based on studies sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute . Research shows that this diet lowers high blood pressure and reduces cholesterol, lowering your risk for heart disease. The DASH diet focuses on heart-healthy foods like:
- Fruits
- Lean proteins like chicken and fish
The Mediterranean diet
Like the DASH diet , the Mediterranean diet is based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean meats. This diet supports cardiovascular health as well as optimal brain function, lower blood sugar levels, and lower blood pressure. While there are no hard-and-fast rules for following the Mediterranean diet, the general guidelines and the countless Mediterranean diet recipes online help you incorporate healthier foods into your diet. These are a few of the easy-to-follow guidelines:
Eat as much as you want: fruits and vegetables, seeds and nuts, legumes, potatoes, whole grains, fish, seafood, and extra-virgin olive oil.
Eat in moderation: poultry, eggs, yogurt, and cheeses
Tips For Healthier Eating With Ease:
- Institute Meatless Mondays, Fish Fridays, and Salmon Sundays to cut down your meat consumption.
- Help combat sugar cravings with sweet fruits like oranges, grapes , strawberries, and bananas.
- Look in the specialty or health food aisles at your grocery store for healthier swaps.
- Eat the colors of the rainbow when consuming fruits and vegetables to get as many different nutrients as possible.
- Rethink old beliefs about food, such as If theres no meat, its not dinner or You cant have a side vegetable and a salad but no starch!
- To help battle cravings for candy, chips, and other unhealthy snacks, go for a walk. Or distract yourselfcall a friend, run an errand, scrub the bathtub. Cravings usually last around 15 minutes and then subside.
- Stay motivated with a food tracking app that will keep track of your intake of nutrients, including fiber, sugar, and fat, and show you your daily results and progress over time.
- Make fewer trips to the grocery store. Dont shop hungry and shop the perimetermost of the processed stuff is in the aisles.
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Extra Virgin Olive Oil
One of the most important foods in the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet is extra virgin olive oil.
One five-year study gave older adults at risk of heart disease 4 tablespoons a day of extra virgin olive oil alongside a Mediterranean diet.
The olive oil group had a 30% lower risk of major heart events, such as stroke and heart attack, compared to people who followed a low-fat diet .
Olive oil is a rich source of monounsaturated fatty acids, the kind that may help raise good HDL and lower bad LDL cholesterol.
It is also a source of polyphenols, some of which reduce the inflammation that can drive heart disease .
Summary
High cholesterol levels are a major risk factor for heart disease.
Thankfully, you can lower this risk by incorporating certain foods into your diet.
Upping your intake of these foods will put you on the path to a balanced diet and keep your heart healthy.
You can also practice techniques like mindful eating to make sure youre enjoying your meal and getting full without overdoing it.
Start Your Day With Grains
Swap granola, energy bars and breakfast cereals for whole grains to bring your cholesterol down. Whole wheat, oats, rye, wild rice and other whole grains are packed with fiber and contain little or no saturated fat. One cup of oats, for instance, boasts 16.5 grams of fiber and large doses of phosphorus, magnesium, iron and B vitamins. These nutrients promote cardiovascular and metabolic health.
According to a 2015 review published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, whole grains especially oats reduce total and LDL cholesterol, but not HDL cholesterol. Even though their hypocholesterolemic effect is lower than that of statins and other drugs, it still matters. A 1 percent reduction in cholesterol levels can lower coronary heart disease risk by as much as 3 percent.
Researchers attribute these benefits to the fiber in grains. Oat and barley, for example, are rich in beta-glucan, a type of soluble fiber that has been frequently shown to reduce blood lipids. The study also suggests that calorie restriction can help maximize these beneficial effects.
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What Diet Is Best For Lowering Cholesterol
Studies have found that plant-based diets lower cholesterol levels more effectively than other diets. In 2017, researchers reviewed 49 studies that compared plant-based diets with omnivorous diets to test their effects on cholesterol. Plant-based diets lowered total cholesterol, LDL, and HDL levels when compared to omnivorous diets. Low-fat, plant-based regimens typically reduce LDL levels by about 15 to 30 percent.
Some recommendations for lowering cholesterol still include consuming chicken and fish. However, a number of studies have shown that heart disease patients who continue to eat these foods still tend to get worse over time. Those who adopt a low-fat, plant-based diet, get daily exercise, avoid tobacco, and manage stress have the best chance of reversing heart disease.
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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.
How Much Dry Oatmeal Daily To Lower Cholesterol
A bowl of oatmeal a day keeps the doctor away that new twist on the old adage may have some truth to it. An excellent source of whole grains, fiber-rich oatmeal has a long history as a nutritious, filling morning meal option. Making it a regular part of your diet may also keep your LDL and total cholesterol at healthy levels.
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Lower Your Cholesterol Levels Naturally
As you can see, there are plenty of foods that lower cholesterol fast. Your diet may also include nuts, seeds, leafy greens, soy, garlic and high-fiber fruits like berries and apples. Extra dark chocolate is a healthy choice too.
Garlic, for example, may reduce total and LDL cholesterol as well as blood pressure when combined with lemon juice, according to a 2016 clinical trial published in the International Journal of Preventive Medicine. Subjects saw major improvements in their blood lipids in just eight weeks.
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Remember to cut back on processed foods as well. Sausage, salami, pizza, pastries and junk food are all loaded with trans fats and sugars. They not only clog your arteries and raise cholesterol levels but also affect your waistline. In the long run, they may increase your risk of chronic illnesses and accelerate aging.
Sugar: One Of The Very Worstavoid As Much As Possible
Large amounts of added sugar in your diet increase your total cholesterol, lower your good HDL cholesterol, and significantly increase triglyceride levels. High cholesterol is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the damage too much added sugar can do to your body. While American adults consume an average of 77 grams of sugar each day, the American Heart Associations recommendation for a heart-healthy amount of sugar is 36 grams for men and 25 grams for women.
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Focus On Fruits Vegetables Whole Grains And Beans
Our typical American diet is now abbreviated as SAD by scientists nationwide because its full of foods that do sad things to both hearts and waistlines. Hyperprocessed foods like potato chips and French fries. Sugar-saturated drinks. And fatty, artery-clogging meats and full-fat dairy foods like cheese.
We dont have to become complete vegetarians to get our cholesterol levels into healthy ranges, studies on the Pritikin Program have found, but clearly, the more vegetables, fruits, potatoes, and other naturally-fiber-rich plant foods we eat, the healthier well be.
Plant foods high in soluble fiber are especially beneficial in lowering total and LDL bad cholesterol levels. Good sources include beans , yams, oats , barley, and berries.
For simple tips on bringing more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans into your life, here is a 5-day sample healthy meal plan from the doctors and dietitians at Pritikin Longevity Center.
Olive Oil And Avocados
Extra virgin olive oil is low in saturated fat and high in monounsaturated fatty acids, which is supportive of heart health and can increase your HDL. Avocados have similar properties. Extra virgin olive oil and avocados should be used as staple fat in a heart-healthy diet to replace saturated fats like butter, margarine and white condiments like mayonnaise, sour cream and cream cheese, says Zumpano. When you start to utilize plant-based fats to replace animal fats, that will help lower your cholesterol and improve your overall heart health.
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Sunday: Oatmeal For Breakfast
Start your week with a cholesterol-lowering food superstar: Choosing oatmeal for breakfast is a simple way to lower cholesterol fast. Oatmeal is high in fiber, and the TLC diet recommends increasing your fiber intake to get to healthy cholesterol levels. Oatmeal contains more soluble fiber than other grains you can actually imagine it sopping up the bad LDL cholesterol. Getting 5 to 10 grams or more of soluble fiber a day decreases your total and LDL cholesterol, according to the Mayo Clinic, which recommends having 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal for 6 g of soluble fiber. And oatmeal doesnt have to taste bland sprinkle on some fruit or cinnamon for extra flavor.
Eat Less Refined Food
It is best to avoid refined food whenever possible.
Refined and packaged foods tend to have ingredients that make them shelf-stable while also giving them a desirable flavor.
These foods often include ingredients that a person should avoid when they are looking to reduce their cholesterol.
Among the ingredients to avoid are refined grains, added trans and saturated fats, and added sugars.
Several lifestyle factors can affect a persons cholesterol levels. Some people may find that making certain changes to their lifestyle helps lower their cholesterol.
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Lower Cholesterol To Prevent Heart Attack And Stroke
If you need to lower your cholesterol, you can take steps each day that will help. First, if you’re taking a cholesterol-lowering drug, remember to stick to your daily medication schedule. If you can then pick up some heart-healthy habits, you may see your numbers start to improve in only a matter of weeks, says Chauncey Crandall, MD, a cardiologist at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Lowering your cholesterol not only reduces your risk for heart disease, but also helps prevent heart attack and stroke. So what are you waiting for? Heres a weeks worth of tips one a day that will have you seeing better numbers in no time.
Eating Well + Exercise
For best results with a healthy lifestyle, new research has found that plunging right in with both healthy eating and exercising is the way to go.3
The Stanford University School of Medicine study involved 200 middle-aged Americans, all sedentary and with poor eating habits. Some were told to launch new food and fitness habits at the same time. Others began dieting but waited several months before beginning to exercise. A third group started exercising but didnt change eating habits till several months later.
All the groups received telephone coaching and were followed for one year. The winning group was the one making food and exercise changes together. The people in this group were most likely to meet U.S. guidelines for exercise and healthy eating , and to keep calories from saturated fat at less than 10% of their total intake of calories.
For best results with a healthy lifestyle, new research has found that plunging right in with both healthy eating and exercising is the way to go.3
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What Is The Normal Range Of Blood Cholesterol
By the time, we all know that high levels of cholesterol are a threat to our wellbeing, but do you know what is the normal range of it? Well, according to studies, the following levels are said to be favourable:
- Total cholesterol:Levels below 200 mg/dL
- LDL cholesterol:Levels below 130 mg/dL
- HDL cholesterol:Levels above 40 mg/dL in men and above 50 mg/dL in women
However, the most important thing that you must keep in mind is that the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol which should be around 2:1.
When Can I Eat Or Drink Again
As soon as your blood is taken, your fast is over. You might want to bring a snack and a drink with you so you can eat as soon as possible after the test.
Show Sources
American Academy for Clinical Chemistry: “Basic Metabolic Panel,” “Comprehensive Metabolic Panel,” “GGT,” “Glucose Tests,” “Iron Tests,” “Lipid Profile,” “Renal Function Panel,” “Vitamin B12 & Folate.”
British National Health Service: “Can I Eat and Drink Before Having a Blood Test?”
Crystal Moore, MD, PhD, FCAP, anatomical and clinical pathologist, Chesapeake, VA.
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: “What Are Blood Tests?”
Nemours Foundation: “Blood Test: Comprehensive Metabolic Panel .”
Providence Laboratory Services : “Fasting Instructions.”
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Understanding Your Cholesterol Results
The results of a cholesterol test can be as confusing as they are important. Learn the difference between LDL and HDL, and how to lower your cholesterol. What do my cholesterol results mean?
Thats because lowering heart attack risk is not just a matter of lowering cholesterol. There are many other factors that damage artery walls and increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke, including:
- High glucose levels
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