Things To Eat To Lower Your Cholesterol – Your diet affects your cholesterol. To lower cholesterol, limit foods high in saturated fat and avoid trans fats. These fats raise your “bad” cholesterol (LDL). Adding more soluble fiber and plant-based foods to your diet can lower your LDL cholesterol while giving you the nutrition you need to lead an active and vibrant life.
Yes, what you eat can affect the amount of cholesterol circulating in your blood. Cholesterol is a waxy substance that your body needs to function. Your liver produces enough cholesterol to support your body’s processes. So you don’t need to get it from food (and it’s not an essential nutrient). The cholesterol you get from your diet is extra and unnecessary, like adding sand to a beach. That being said, your diet only affects 20 to 30% of your blood cholesterol.
Things To Eat To Lower Your Cholesterol
There are certain foods that cause your “bad” cholesterol (LDL) levels to rise higher than normal. On the other hand, other foods can help lower LDL levels. Knowing which foods to eat and which foods to avoid can help you manage your cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of heart disease.
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The main nutritional source of cholesterol (called dietary cholesterol) is animal products. These include meats, cheeses and dairy products.
When it comes to lowering cholesterol levels, research shows that dietary cholesterol is not something to worry about. Instead, two types of fat – saturated fat and trans fat – are to blame for raising bad cholesterol. It turns out that many foods that contain dietary cholesterol can also contain these unhealthy fats.
Some ingredients help lower LDL cholesterol. The main thing to know is soluble fiber. This is a water-soluble form of fiber. Soluble fiber binds around the bile (which is made up of cholesterol) and removes it from the body with waste. Aim for 10 to 25 grams of soluble fiber per day. Ask your provider what amount is best for your calorie needs.
Saturated fat is a type of fat that is solid at room temperature. Common sources of saturated fat include:
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Your body needs some saturated fat to stay healthy. But it can be easy to overeat if you don’t check nutrition labels. Learning how much saturated fat is in some of your regular foods can help you find ways to reduce it.
You may wonder, how much is too much? Aim to get no more than 5% to 6% of your daily calories from saturated fat. The chart below provides suggested limits based on how many calories you need each day.
Keep in mind that these ranges are suggestions, not hard and fast rules. Focusing on numbers and strict limits can lead to disordered eating habits, like orthorexia. In addition, dietitians warn that overindulging in quantities can lead to the elimination of some foods that are more healthy than harmful.
For example, olive oil contains some saturated fat, but its health benefits make it worth adding it to your diet in moderation (up to four tablespoons per day). Other foods that contain saturated fat that you may want to keep in your diet include avocados and walnuts.
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The key is to look at the food source. It’s okay to slightly exceed the suggested ranges for saturated fat, as long as that fat comes from otherwise healthy foods. If in doubt, talk to a dietitian about what sources of saturated fat you should cut out and what you can keep in moderation.
Trans fats are a combination of liquid vegetable oil and hydrogen. Traditionally, fast food and processed foods were the main sources of trans fat in people’s diets. That’s because those foods contained partially hydrogenated oils, and they get trans fats through the manufacturing process. However, in 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of partially hydrogenated oils in food.
Although this is good news, it still does not mean that fast food and processed foods are harmless. It can be a lot of saturated fat. They can also still contain trans fats due to the cooking method (like frying). Your body does not need trans fats. It harms your body, and its food sources have no health benefits. So it’s best to avoid it altogether, if possible.
When trying to reach healthy cholesterol levels with your diet, it’s important to eat meals that include a balance of:
Juicing For High Cholesterol
Eat few snacks, and be careful with the ones you choose. Aim for snacks that are low in fat, sugar and sodium. Here are some good healthy snack options and suggested portion sizes:
Be careful when buying low-fat snacks or desserts at the store. Many of these foods are low in fat but high in sugar. Keep an eye on the sugar content and talk to your healthcare provider about how much sugar is okay to eat. This is especially important if you have high blood sugar or diabetes.
One way to have a low-sugar, low-fat treat is to experiment in the kitchen with healthy dessert recipes. Many recipes have little or no sugar, but taste great.
Cooking at home helps you control your diet. But just because something is home cooked doesn’t mean it’s healthy or good for your cholesterol levels. Consider these tips to prepare in a way that supports your healthy eating plan. Your provider or dietitian can also give you more advice.
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The TLC diet is part of the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) Program. It is a three-part program aimed at lowering cholesterol through diet, physical activity and weight management. The US National Institutes of Health created this program in 1985, and some people still follow it today.
But there is a problem. This diet is too low in fat and too high in carbohydrates, as recent studies have shown. So it can raise your blood sugar and triglyceride levels, especially if you’re not eating healthy carbs.
Dietitians instead recommend the Mediterranean Diet as a heart-healthy eating plan. This plan helps you manage your cholesterol levels and supports many other aspects of your health. If you follow the Mediterranean diet, you will:
The key is to watch the types of fat you eat. The Mediterranean diet reduces your intake of saturated fat and trans fat, which can make a big difference in your LDL levels. It replaces those fats with healthy fats that support your overall heart health. Studies show that this diet can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
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What you eat can raise or lower your blood cholesterol, especially the bad kind that causes atherosclerosis. This knowledge can be empowering. Your choices can make a difference. But sometimes, even the best efforts will not bring cholesterol down to where it needs to be. There are a few reasons.
In a perfect world, everyone would have access to nutritious food, time to cook, and community resources to help them achieve their goals. In reality, we have to make choices within the limits of what is available to us.
We all face certain constraints or factors that affect the choices we can make. So our individual choices are just a few pieces of a larger puzzle that encompasses our entire community.
Don’t blame yourself if you have barriers to making all the ideal choices that support a low-cholesterol diet. Instead, do what you can and ask your provider to help you fill in the gaps.
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Scientists believe that heredity (the genes you inherit) affects your cholesterol. As a result, dietary changes help, but sometimes they can’t make enough of a dent in getting your numbers healthy.
Some people have very high cholesterol because the body cannot get rid of enough LDL cholesterol. This inherited condition is called familial hypercholesterolemia. So it is difficult for these people to lower their cholesterol level with diet alone. You may also need statins or other medications.
As we age, our cholesterol levels rise. So dietary changes may not have the same effect at age 60 as they would at age 30.
If you’ve made changes to what you eat, you can expect to see immediate changes in your cholesterol numbers. But your cholesterol numbers reflect patterns that develop over time.
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Picture a large blackboard covered with writing. Once you run an eraser over the board, you will erase some of the writing. But you have to keep swiping a bit to remove all the writing. Meanwhile, someone else is writing to the parts you just deleted. (You’re probably eating some foods that raise your LDLs, and your body continues to make cholesterol!)
Be patient and give your body time to adjust to your new nutrition plan. In the meantime, incorporate exercise into your daily routine. Also, ask your provider how long it might take to see changes and whether you would benefit from medication along with your new eating plan.
The foods you eat can have a big impact on your health, including your cholesterol levels. If you’ve started making changes to your diet, be patient with yourself. Don’t expect to upgrade
