Battling High Cholesterol - 5 Foods You Must Include In Your Diet

Bad cholesterol sticks to the body and refuses to let go. Efforts by the afflicted ones to lower cholesterol levels can prove futile and can be very frustrating. If only water could flush out all the bad cholesterol from the body! Then it would not be such a big cause of worry as it is today. Bad cholesterol clogs the veins. Even though they have a tiny diameter, this can cause a hindrance to the smooth flow of blood which can even be fatal.

It is a common misconception that all cholesterol is bad for heath. Good cholesterol is important for all the vital processes of the human body. The bad cholesterol is the one that clogs arteries. However it takes many years of unchecked dietary habits that gradually leads up to these levels of cholesterol that can be fatal.

Cholesterol usually affects obese or overweight people. The factors that adversely affect this are drugs, bad diets and hereditary traits. As a result, cholesterol in people with normal weights is comparatively rarer, but not unheard of.

There is not much information available about prevention of cholesterol these days. Most of the available information only talks about reduction of cholesterol levels after a person has been diagnosed clinically. Therefore personal diagnosis cannot ensure a safer future when concerned with cholesterol.

Maintaining a healthier lifestyle is the most effective method in preventing various health disorders to begin with. Although this is talked about all the time, carefully watching over your food consumption is the most practical way of preventing bad health. And one of the many ways to do this-avoid fat.

On the other hand, various food groups help in lowering of cholesterol levels. Such foodstuffs contain antioxidants that help in preventing increase in bad cholesterol levels in the body. These include:

1. FIBERS including OATMEAL- This is a fiber of high nutritional content with a capability of reducing cholesterol. Many studies where conducted on this in the 1980's right up until 1989. However it lost its popularity temporarily till 1997 when it was revived again by the Food and Drug Administration after it was declared that combined with a good diet that is low in fat, it can prevent various heart diseases. Other fibrous foods include legumes, rice, brewer's yeast, bran, wheat, breads, beans and various other cereals that help in increasing the levels of good cholesterol in the body.

2. FRUITS and VEGETABLES- These are full of vitamins and antioxidants and are found at the top of the food pyramid. It is necessary that we eat lots of these natural food that processed food. They cleanse the body and are healthy as they do not contain any fats. Citrus fruits that contain vitamin C should be particularly favored. The best medicine to combat free-radical elements that cause various diseases is cucumber as it is rich in the anti oxidant vitamin E.

3. FISH- Fishes with white meat and tuna are also a part of healthy diets as fishes contain lesser amounts of unsaturated fats.

4. LEAN MEATS- extra lean beef, liver, turkey and chicken without their skin are all fat free and are rich in proteins. Therefore they are an integral part of healthy diets.

5. YOGURT- It helps in digestion of food by regulating the stomach acids. Hence it helps in reduction of cholesterol levels and is also low in fat.

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