You could eat a bowl of oatmeal, a handful of walnuts or a baked potato topped with a heart healthy margarine to lower your cholesterol and you could also stay off medications.

To reduce your low density lipoprotein (LDL), the bad cholesterol, you should eat oatmeal since it contains soluble fiber. Some of the foods that have soluble fiber are kidney beans, apples, pears. psyllium, barley and prunes.

You can reduce the absorption of cholesterol in your intestines by eating foods with soluble fiber. Your total and LDL cholesterol can be decreased by eating ten grams or more soluble fiber a day. You would get 6 grams of fiber from eating 1 cups of cooked oatmeal. Adding fruit like bananas will add another 4 grams of fiber. Cold cereal made with oatmeal or oat bran gives you fiber as well.

Studies have shown that walnuts can significantly reduce blood cholesterol. Rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, walnuts also help keep blood vessels healthy and elastic. Almonds and some other nuts appear to have a similar effect. Nuts are high in calories so just a handful.

According to researchers, you can lower your cholesterol by eating fatty fish that has high levels of omega 3 fatty acids. You can help your heart by eating omega 3 fatty acids which will lower your blood pressure and the risk of blood clots.

The Food and Drug Administration recommends using about 2 tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil a day to get its heart-healthy benefits. To add olive oil to your diet, you can saute vegetables in it, add it to a marinade, or mix it with vinegar as a salad dressing. You can also use olive oil as a substitute for butter when basting meat. Olive oil contains a potent mix of antioxidants that can lower your “bad” (LDL) cholesterol but leave your “good” (HDL) cholesterol untouched.

Margarines, orange juice and yogurt drinks fortified with plant sterols can help reduce LDL cholesterol by more than 10 percent. The amount of daily plant sterols needed for results is at least 2 grams which equals about two 8-ounce (237 milliliters) servings of plant sterol-fortified orange juice a day.

You should think about cutting back on the types and amounts of fat you eat before you make other changes in your diet. Fats will raise your cholesterol. By eliminating fats in your diet you will improve your cholesterol levels and overall health.

For extra information or questions in regards tolower cholesterol diet please forward any messages to Dr. Sam Robbins

Tags: Cholesterol

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