A bowl of oatmeal, a handful of walnuts or a baked potato topped with a heart healthy margarine may be enough to lower your cholesterol to a healthy level and keep you off medications.
Oatmeal is one food item that has soluble fiber which will reduce your low density lipoprotein (LDL), the bad cholesterol. You can find soluble fiber in kidney beans, apples, pears, psyllium, barley and prunes.
To decrease your total and LDL cholesterol eat ten grams or more soluble fiber a day. Eating 1 1/2 cups of cooked oatmeal provides 6 grams of fiber. If you add fruit, such as bananas, you'll add about 4 more grams of fiber. You can also eat cold cereal made with oatmeal or oat bran.
To reduce your blood cholesterol you should eat walnuts according to research. You can keep your blood vessels healthy and elastic with you eat foods such as walnuts that are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Almonds and other nuts produce the same effect, however, only eat a handful because nuts are high in calories.
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.
Eating 2 tablespoons of olive oil a day will give you heart healthy benefits according to the Food and Drug Administration. Introduce olive oil into your diet by using it to saute vegetables, add it to a marinade or mix it with vinegar as a salad dressing. Rather than using butter when you baste meat, use olive oil. 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.
Before you make other changes to your diet, think about cutting back on the types and amounts of fats you eat, which can raise your cholesterol. That way, you'll improve your cholesterol levels and health overall.
For additional info or questions in regards tolower cholesterol diet please send any correspondence to Dr. Sam Robbins
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