Snack on nuts. Drizzle a little olive oil on your salad. Dine on salmon. Have a little chocolate—guilt-free! These eating strategies (and more) can help reduce your cravings for high cholesterol foods and lower “bad-guy” LDLs, maintain “good-guy” HDLs, AND help you reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.What follows are Prevention‘s choices for the healthiest foods that lower cholesterol. If you’re already eating plenty of them, keep up the good work. If not, begin adding them into your diet today.
1 Soya Foods :
Being naturally low in saturated fat, soya foods help lower cholesterol. The special proteins in soya also appear to influence how the body regulates cholesterol too. Studies show you can lower your cholesterol by around 6% by including as little as 15g soya protein per day.
Choose from: soya alternatives to milk and yogurt, soya desserts, soya meat alternatives, soya nuts, edamame beans and tofu.
high fiber content actually blocks cholesterol absorption. The presence of soluble fiber, in particular, increases the viscosity of the digested food and inhibits the uptake of cholesterol and bile acids. Another strong reason behind fenugreek’s cholesterol-lowering effect is the fact the fiber acts as a food for the beneficial gut bacteria (pre-biotic). The volatile fatty acids released by these gut bacteria enter the bloodstream and suppress the cholesterol production by the liver.
Nuts All nuts are rich in vegetable protein, fibre, heart healthy unsaturated fats, vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, natural plant sterols and a host of beneficial plant nutrients. 30-35g a day of nuts (a handful) has the potential to lower cholesterol by an average of 5%.
Oats and Barley Both oats and barley are rich in a form of soluble fibre called beta glucan. Once eaten beta glucan forms a gel which helps bind cholesterol in the intestines and prevent it from being absorbed. It is recommended that we eat about 3g of beta glucan per day. Foods which contain 1g or more of beta glucan can carry a cholesterol lowering claim.
4 Curry leaves:
Protects you from heart disease
Did you know that curry leaves have properties that can help in lowering one’s blood cholesterol levels? Well, as per a study published in the Journal of Chinese Medicine , curry leaves prevent the oxidation of cholesterol as it is packed with antioxidants. This in turn increases the amount of good cholesterol (HDL) and protects you fromheart disease and atherosclerosis.
5 Fruits and vegetables:
All fruits and vegetables are low in saturated fat so eating more helps to keep saturated fat intake low. Fruit and vegetables are also a valuable source of cholesterol lowering soluble fibres. Try to include at least one pulse (beans, peas, lentils) everyday. Other rich sources of soluble fibre include sweet potato, aubergine, okra (ladies finger), broccoli, apples,grapes, strawberry and prunes.
6 Green tea:
While tea has become well known for its cancer-fighting antioxidants, it is also a great defense against LDL cholesterol levels. According to research conducted with the USDA, black tea has been shown to reduce blood lipids by up to 10% in only 3 weeks. These findings were concluded in a larger study of how tea may also help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.
Beans, beans—they really are good for your heart. Researchers at Arizona State University Polytechnic found that adding ½ cup of beans to soup lowers total cholesterol, including LDL, by up to 8%. The key to this heart-healthy food is its abundance of fiber, which has been shown to slow the rate and amount of absorption of cholesterol in certain foods. Try black, kidney, or pinto beans; each supplies about one-third of your daily fibe
8 Olive oil:
This common cooking ingredient can help your health. Olive oil is full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), which lower LDL cholesterol—and have the welcome side effect of trimming belly fat. Use it to make your own salad dressings, marinate chicken and fish, or roast vegetables.