A Diet to Lower Cholesterol Naturally
January 22, 2010 by Howard
Filed under General Health
High cholesterol it seems is becoming a problem for a lot of people and affecting all ages. Many people are now reliant on medication such as statins for help in controlling this condition. Apart from medication when looking to lower cholesterol obvious lifestyle changes can help significantly such as stopping smoking, drinking less alcohol (no binge drinking) and taking more exercise. Another major factor that can help you considerably is changing your diet to lower cholesterol.
A diet to lower cholesterol diet is not that hard to follow, given the variety of foods available and to be honest is common sense. If you do suffer from high cholesterol either through genetics or lifestyle choices then these are the diet guidelines I would recommend.
1. A very obvious one to start and that is cutting down saturated fats. Choose leaner cuts of meats and avoid all fast and processed food that contains trans fats. For cooking use canola, coconut or olive oil instead of vegetable or corn oil.
2. Eat more fish. Fish especially the oily fish such as salmon, sardines and trout because as we know they contain the essential fat omega 3, which is known to reduce blood fats and bad cholesterol. If you struggle to eat fish then I do recommend buying a quality fish oil supplement
3. Consume more healthy fats. Foods such as raw onion, almonds, walnuts, and avocados are all bursting with monosaturated fats a well-known adversary to your bad cholesterol levels.
4. A diet to lower cholesterol should be packed full of fibre. This means lots of fruits and vegetables, switching to wholegrain carbohydrate products and adding legumes to your weekly menus.
5. Eat garlic. Cooked or raw garlic both contain compounds that help lower your liver’s production of cholesterol.
It should also be remembered that cholesterol is not bad for us and serves many functions in the body. The problems occur when we have too much of the LDL Type and not enough of the HDL type that keeps our arteries clean and healthy. So apart from lowering our bad cholesterol (LDL) levels the foods that we have mentioned here also boost the good (HDL) cholesterol levels which sounds like a perfect result to me.
Combine this diet to lower cholesterol with regular exercise (especially aerobic) and you are well on your way to reducing and managing your cholesterol levels.
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