Lowering cholesterol – food choices

Posted by: Jasenka on: March 6, 2012

• In: Food | Food as medicine | Health
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Eat a fiber-rich breakfast

Such as oatmeal, whole grain muffins and/or fruit. Read cereal box nutrition  labels to choose one with five grams or more of fibre per serving. Oat bran and rice bran are the most effective. Some excellent fiber-rich choices besides oatmeal and oat bran include beans, barley, apples and prunes.

Switch to whole grains

Choose whole grain breads, crackers, bagels, muffins, waffles and pancakes.

Eat legumes (beans) at least three times a week

Try bean soup, cold bean salad, humus sandwiches and black bean dip as snacks. Soy protein is especially effective, so be sure to include plenty. Even soya milk, tofu and textured soy protein are good.  One USDA study concluded that eating as little as one-half cup of cooked dry beans per day helped lower total cholesterol levels of the study participants.

Beans are especially rich in soluble fiber. They also take a while for the body to digest, meaning you feel full for longer after a meal. That’s one reason beans are a useful food for folks trying to lose weight. With so many choices — from navy and kidney beans to lentils, garbanzos, black-eyed peas, and beyond — and so many ways to prepare them, beans are a very versatile food.

Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day

One at breakfast, one veggie (e.g. carrot sticks, tomato slices) and one fruit (e.g. orange sections, apple) at lunch, and one salad and one cooked vegetable at dinner…that makes an easy five.

Eggplant and okra – these two low-calorie vegetables are good sources of soluble fibre.

Choose whole fruit, skin included, instead of juice

Juice is the fruit with all the fibre removed.

Eat garlic

Most of the modern research on garlic has concentrated on its ability to lower cholesterol and blood pressure as well as offering protection against strokes and heart disease. When the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians reviewed data on cholesterol in 1993, it found that after just four weeks there was a 12 per cent reduction in cholesterol levels in the research groups that had taken garlic.

Cooked or raw garlic both contain compounds that help lower your liver’s production of cholesterol.

Other good foods include raw onion, salmon, olive oil, almonds, walnuts and avocados

The  latter five are all high in fat, but most of it is monounsaturated fat which helps to improve cholesterol.

A bushel of studies shows that eating almonds, walnuts, peanuts, and other nuts is good for the heart. Eating 2 ounces of nuts a day can slightly lower LDL, on the order of 5%. Nuts have additional nutrients that protect the heart in other ways.

Eat plenty of foods that contain the natural antioxidants: vitamins C and E: Rich in Vitamin C Rich in Vitamin E

Red and green peppers, cantaloupe, sunflower seeds, walnuts, strawberries, papaya, almonds, peanuts, oranges, grapefruit juice, wheat germ, soybeans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, wheat germ oil, soybean oil.

Studies show that a little bit of wine or beer helps cholesterol levels

Binge drinking is not effective, but light to moderate drinking through the week is.