Diets Can Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally

"diets to lower cholesterol"

So you just got back from visiting your doctor and you got some bad news. The doctor told you that your cholesterol levels are high and that if you don't change your lifestyle a little you could soon be at risk of heart disease or stroke. High cholesterol is a problem for a lot of people these days, especially when the food that we eat is getting more and more unhealthy everyday. With large amounts of salt and sugar and other ingredients that are unhealthy being adding to our food all the time its harder to find food that will actually fill you up without raising your cholesterol levels and weight.

One diet that you can definitely see good results with quickly, is eliminating the amount of trans fat that you eat everyday. Stores are required to print the nutrition facts and list of ingredients on all food products. You can check the list for ingredients such as shortening, hydrogenated vegetable oil or even partially hydrogenated vegetable oil then it contains trans fats. On the ingredients list trans fat should be right after saturated fat. Trans fat is dangerous when you have high cholesterol because it lowers the good cholesterol levels and raises the bad cholesterol. Cholesterol is produced by your liver and is important in controlling hormones and other important functions of your body. If you eat too many carbohydrates when you have high cholesterol it can cause your liver to overproduce cholesterol in order to make up the difference. So make sure to decrease the amount of carbs you are consuming if your cholesterol is high and keep your protein levels maintained.

One of the biggest problems with high cholesterol and trying to lower it is how much saturated fat you consume on a daily basis. Saturated fat is actually more dangerous then just eating cholesterol if you have high cholesterol levels. Foods that you should eat in order to decrease the amount of saturated fat you are taking in are fruits and vegetables, peas, beans, whole grains and even nuts. Having a handful or so of nuts that are not salted or covered in sugar is actually very beneficial in lowering your cholesterol levels. Next time you have a salad try substituting nuts for the croutons or cheese that you normally put on. Milk and eggs especially whole milk is high in saturated fats and cholesterol, so opt for one percent or two percent rather than whole. You can also drink skim milk or low fat milk that has had the saturated fat eliminated from it. Cereal especially oat bran ones or oatmeal are high in soluble fiber. You can also eat fruit like apples and bananas which are also high in soluble fiber.

Animal products tend to have high amounts of saturated fat. As I already mentioned milk and cheese are also culprits here, but so are meats like duck, salami and goose. By limiting your intake of animal products you will also help to lower your cholesterol especially if you are substituting them for the foods I mentioned above. You can also eat fish about two times a week, because it contains omega-3 acids which are a great nutrient for helping to lower your cholesterol levels. Fish is also very good for your heart and will help to prevent heart disease, and blood clots in your arteries.

Changing your daily diet just a little with healthy alternatives rather than foods loaded with preservatives, saturated fat, and trans fat will help you to quickly lower your cholesterol. Also remember to exercise and practice other healthy habits daily in order to maximize the potential these diets have for lowering your cholesterol levels and keeping it that way. Exercise has been shown to raise the HDL or good cholesterol levels in your body and because of this it should be skipped. If you eat the right food, and eliminate the amount of fat you are consuming you will quickly be on your way to a healthy low-cholesterol body.

heart.org/HEARTORG HEARTORG

mayoclinic.com/health/cholesterol/CL00002 MAYOCLINIC

Joshua Brown is a nutrition expert. For more great information on healthycholesterolcenter.com/diets-to-lower-cholesterol.html diets to lower cholesterol, visit healthycholesterolcenter.com healthycholesterolcenter.com/.