Foods That Help Lower Cholesterol

Foods that help lower cholesterol are plentiful. The simple act of monitoring our diet can play an crucial role in bringing down your cholesterol. We will discuss five foods that can lower your cholesterol and protect your heart.

Can something as simple as a bowl of rolled oats each day help prevent a heart attack? How about a little handful of walnuts, or even your baked potato, topped off with some heart-healthy margarine? A couple of oh so simple fine-tunings to your diet - like these - could be enough to lower your cholesterol to a healthy level and assist you to keep off medications.

Oatmeal and Oat Bran

Rolled oats contain soluble fiber, which reduces your beta-lipoprotein or low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol. Soluble fiber is also found in such foods as beans, apples, pears, psyllium, barley and prunes.

Soluble fiber appears to reduce the soaking up or absorption of cholesterol in your bowels. Ten grams or more of soluble fiber everyday decreases your total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Consuming 1 1/2 cups of cooked oatmeal supplies 6 grams of fiber. If you add fruit, such as bananas, you will add approximately 4 additional grams of fiber. To mix it up a bit, try steel-cut oatmeal or dry cereal made using oatmeal or oat bran.

Raw Walnuts, Almonds and More

There are studies that demonstrate that raw walnuts can significantly reduce blood cholesterol. Walnuts, rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, also assist in keeping blood vessels healthy and elastic. Almonds also show to have a similar effect, with a marked improvement in just four weeks.

A cholesterol-lowering diet in which 20 percent of the calories derived from raw walnuts may reduce LDL cholesterol by as much as 12 percent. Warning, all nuts are high in calories, so a handful (no more than 2 ounces or 57 grams) will do. As with any food, eating excessive amounts can cause weight gain, and being overweight places you at a higher risk for cardiopathy or heart disease. To avoid excessive weight gain, substitute foods high in saturated fat with nuts. For instance, rather than using cheese, meat or croutons in your salad, add a handful of walnuts or almonds.

Cold Water Fish and Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Research supports the cholesterol-lowering benefits of eating fatty cold water fish because of the high levels of omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids also aids the heart in other ways, such as reducing blood pressure and the risk of blood clots. For those who have already had heart attacks, fish oil and/or omega 3 fatty acids significantly reduces the risk of sudden death.

Doctors highly recommend eating at least two 3oz servings of cold water fish a week. The highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids are found in mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon. To really maintain the heart-healthy benefits of fish, bake or grill it. If you don't like fish, take a fish oil supplement. You can get omega-3 fatty acids from foods like ground flaxseed or canola oil.

If you take an omega-3 or fish oil supplement to get some of the beneficial effects, you won't get all the other nutrients in fish, like selenium. If you do decide to take a supplement, be sure to remember to watch your diet and eat lean meat or vegetables in place of fish.

Cold Pressed Olive Oil

Cold pressed olive oil contains a powerful mix of antioxidants that can lower your "bad" (LDL) cholesterol. It will then leave your "good" (HDL) cholesterol untouched.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends using approximately 2 tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil every day to get the full  heart-healthy benefits. To get enough cold pressed olive oil in your diet, you can sauté vegetables in it. It can be added to a marinade, or mixed with vinegar as a salad dressing. Use it a good alternative to butter when basting meat.

Just about all research indicates that the cholesterol lowering effects of cold pressed olive oil are even greater if you select extra-virgin olive oil, which means  the oil is less processed and holds more heart-healthy antioxidants. Make sure to avoid so called "light" olive oils. This label generally implies the oil is more processed and lighter in color, but not fat or calories.

Foods Fortified With Plant Sterols or Stanols

Foods are at present available that are fortified with sterols or stanols. These substances are found in plants and assist in blocking the absorption of cholesterol.

These fortified foods such as margarines, orange juice and yogurt drinks can help reduce LDL cholesterol by more than 10 %. The quantity of daily plant sterols needed for  positive results is at least 2 grams. This equals about two 8 oz  per 237 milliliters servings of plant sterol-fortified orange juice a day.

Plant sterols or stanols in foods that are fortified don't seem to impact the levels of triglycerides or of "good" high-density lipoprotein/alpha-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Also, they don't interfere with the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins, vitamins A, D, E and K. The American Heart Association highly advocates the consumption of foods fortified with plant sterols for people with levels of LDL cholesterol over 160 milligrams per deci liter.

First, Consider Your Diet

Before looking for foods that help lower cholesterol and making other changes to your diet, think of reducing the types and amounts of fats you eat. These will raise your cholesterol. The reduction of these fats will improve your cholesterol levels and health overall. When cutting back on fat from your diet, concentrate on saturated and trans fats. Saturated fats, those fats that are in meat and some oils, elevates your total cholesterol. Trans fats, which are almost always used to make store-bought cookies, crackers and cakes, are especially bad for your cholesterol levels. This is due to the fact that they raise low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL), "good" cholesterol. You should attempt to limit the number of calories you consume daily to less than 10 percent from saturated fat, and eliminate as many trans fats from your diet as possible.

It is proven over and over that reducing the bad fats from your diet can greatly improve your health. Then you can make greater strides to improving your health by consuming foods that help lower cholesterol.