Friday, April 20, 2012

Foods To Lower Cholesterol



Foods To Lower Cholesterol


“Let Food Be Your Medicine, Not Medicine Your Food.” Hippocrates

High cholesterol levels, more specifically high LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels are a main contributor to heart disease. Foods that lower cholesterol can easily be combined in your diet and will help you not just to reduce but also to manage your cholesterol levels in the long run.

It is now usually assumed what a “heart healthy” diet is and that it can significantly lead to lowering your cholesterol. global nutritional guidelines are now universal and incorporate:
· Eat less fat. Drastically decrease your consumption of saturated fats, and cut out trans fats (“hydrogenated” vegetable oils). Saturated fats can increase total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. substitute them with mono and polyunsaturated fats.
· Substitute meat with lean meat, poultry or fish
· Increase your consumption of fruit and vegetables.
· Substitute refined carbohydrates in your diet with complex carbohydrates.
Let us look at what this means in detail.

Fats:
Avoid as much as possible or cut out altogether: butter, hard cheese, fatty meat, meat products, biscuits, cakes, cream, lard, dripping, suet, ghee, coconut oil, palm oil, hardened (“stick”) margarine.
Substitute by:
Monounsaturated fats: These fats can lower the LDL level but do not lower the level of HDL cholesterol. You can find them in olive oil, rapeseed oil, avocado, nuts, and seeds such as almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts, and pistachios.
Polyunsaturated fats: These fats are an essential part of the diet. They can help lower LDL cholesterol (which is a good effect), but they also lower HDL cholesterol. You can find them in corn oil, sunflower oil, soya oil, nuts and seeds such as walnuts, pine nuts, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds.
Oily fish contains omega-3 fatty acids, a particular type of polyunsaturated fat that can help to reduce triglyceride levels in the blood.
Oily fish includes (wild) salmon, halibut, herring, mackerel, pilchards, sardines, lake trout, and tuna.

Meat:
Limit as much as possible or cut out altogether: fatty or marbled meat and meat products as they are high in saturated fat. Also, avoid roasting or frying.
Replace by: poultry (without the skin), fish, or lean cuts of meat that are best steamed, poached, grilled or boiled.
You can obtain additional protein from soya (soya milk, soya yoghurts, and tofu), beans, and pulses. Beans and pulses are also good sources of fibre.

Fruit and Vegetables:
The benefits of eating above all fresh fruit and vegetables cannot be amplified. Conservative guidance now tells you to eat five portions a day. You really ought to have from seven to 11 portions each day. A portion is roughly a handful.
Among the major benefits of eating fruit and vegetables are:
· Natural antioxidants - they can reduce damage caused by LDL. LDL cholesterol is not very stable. It oxidises easily and can then damage your arterial walls. There is evidence that it is oxidised LDL cholesterol, rather than cholesterol itself, that contributes to cardio vascular disease.
· Soluble fibre provided by fruit and vegetables helps eliminate cholesterol from the intestine.
Carbohydrates:
Avoid as much as possible or cut out altogether refined carbohydrates: white bread, rice, pasta. Refined carbohydrates have been stripped of most nutrients.
Replace by: complex carbohydrates such as whole grain bread, brown rice, wholemeal pasta, oats. Complex carbohydrates contain fibre and other nutrients the body needs.

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I invite you to find out more about specific foods to include in a low cholesterol diet plan. Just click the linkBest Foods To Lower Cholesterol You find more information about various aspects of a diet for high cholesterol at the link Low Cholesterol Diet Plan

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