High Cholesterol Levels - Foods to Eat

Good food and adequate exercise are essential for your body's organs to function efficiently. Essentially, cholesterol is the basic building block of the cell membranes or cell walls within your body. In a healthy body these walls are soft and porous so that nutrients travelling in the blood stream can easily pass into cells which need them. In an unhealthy body nutrients have more difficulty passing through the cell walls to nourish the cell. This is because the cell walls are hardened and less porous.

Eating excessive fat, especially animal fat, hardens your arteries and cell membranes. Eating more vegetables can help maintain the health of your arteries and cell membranes so that cells get the optimum amount of nutrients it needs.

What do oats, beans and peas, onion, garlic, eggplant, the white pith of oranges and grapefruit, yam, tofu, mushrooms and apples have in common?

A. They are foods I don't like

B. They are foods that mop up bad cholesterol

C. They are low in fat

D. They are very bland foods

E. They are high in dietary fibre

All of the above may be correct depending on your personal preferences and how you cook them. However the most appropriate answers I want to highlight are B and E. Think about the texture of these foods... All of them, except for beans and peas, have a spongy texture. That's right they act like sponges to absorb all the bad fats from your body. Foods high in dietary fibre take to high cholesterol fats to the body's waste disposal unit.

Beans, peas and other legumes are high in protein and are also packed with dietary fibre to reduce your cholesterol and (as a bonus) they keep your blood sugar down too. The fibre in legumes acts like a bouncer at a night club. They stop the thugs (bad cholesterol) from getting into your arteries and heart.

Eating yogurt and probiotics benefit your body because these contain good bacteria which fight and kill off the bad bacteria your body has absorbed through eating meat. A good ratio of good bacteria versus bad bacteria helps your body regulate the digestive system and flush out bad cholesterol from the body.

If you must eat dead animals eat white meat rather than red meat. Poultry and seafood are leaner than red meat, however lean cuts of beef and pork are available from most butchers. Seafood also contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids which lubricate your joints and help prevent arthritis.

The healthier you are the better you will feel. Eating right will give you less illness and more vitality. Always choose food that is as fresh as possible and tantilize your taste buds with foods of different colours and textures. Each colour also represents a different nutrient group.

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