Make your diet effective to lower your cholesterol level; Eat natural whole healthy foods can lower LDL, triglyceride, and total cholesterol; additionally, improve HDL.
He who takes medicine and neglects to diet wastes the skill of his doctors. ~ Chinese Proverb
Below are healthy diets; it helps lower your cholesterol level. Additionally, this food is good for your overall health.
- Fruits & vegetables are good for health; because, they loaded with nutrients (minerals & vitamins), and a good source of fibers (eat with skins to get more fiber).
- Stop white sugar; it is a major risk towards cardiovascular disease; increases triglyceride level and contribute plaque formation. Additionally, in an unhealthy way sugar creates insulin spikes. Excess blood glucose causes glycosylation and leads to plaque formation. You are advised to use unrefined sugar in place of refined white sugar. Unrefined sugar contains numerous nutrients; it slows down glucose absorption and reduces insulin spikes.
- Limit carbohydrate consumption; since high carbohydrate digestion and absorption causes blood glucose spikes proportional to the carbohydrate in the food. This glucose spikes in turn proportionally raises the insulin level in your blood. Excess unused glucose is converted into fat and stored in the liver & adipose tissue. Long Term, fat storage in the liver, leads to fatty liver and in the adipose leads to obesity. Studies show high carbohydrate diet raises triglycerides associated with cardiovascular risk. On the other hand, low carbohydrate diet reduces the triglycerides level. Specifically, you should stop eating refined carbohydrates; it has low nutrient value but creates high glucose, insulin and triglycerides spikes. Refined flour affects digestion; on the other hand, whole-grain flour helps digestion and easily passes through the intestinal tract. Furthermore, it has fiber; it helps the excretion of fat and prevents its absorption.
- Dietary fiber helps to eliminate fats and stop absorption through the intestine. Increased fiber consumption is useful for various gastrointestinal disorders, confirmed by numerous studies. Some of these disorders are gastroesophageal reflux disease, duodenal ulcer, diverticulitis, constipation, and hemorrhoids. These health conditions may be the cause for high cholesterol level. To learn more, you may visit benefits of fiber to lower your cholesterol level.
- Ban trans-fats, because trans fat raises your blood cholesterol levels; especially LDL cholesterol and increase your risk towards heart disease. Man-made trans fats are hydrogenated vegetable oils; they are not friendly with your digestion and strain your digestive system. On the food label, if you find “partially-hydrogenated” or “hydrogenated” word before oil; it indicates the food containing trans-fats. You should avoid this food completely. To learn more, you may visit LDL cholesterol foods.
- Nuts & seeds are rich in protein, fiber, heart-healthy unsaturated fats, vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, natural plant sterols and a host of beneficial nutrients. All nuts and seeds help improve your cholesterol level. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who ate 1.5 ounces of whole walnuts six days a week for one month lowered their total cholesterol by 5.4% and LDL cholesterol by 9.3%. Almonds and cashews are other good options.
- Flax seed raw, drink and bread consumption can decrease total and LDL-cholesterol (by 12 and 15%) by increasing fat excretion (by 23 to 50%). Flaxseed fibers lower your blood cholesterol; additionally, plays a role in energy balance. Reference: "Flaxseed Dietary Fibers Lower Cholesterol and Increase Fecal Fat Excretion, but the magnitude of the effect depends on the food type" was published in Nutrition and Metabolism, 2012; 9(8).
- Omega-3 fatty acids from fish decreases triglyceride (by 25% to 30%), increases LDL cholesterol (by 5% to 10%) and increases HDL cholesterol (by 1% to 3%). Additionally, in a clinical study fish oil consumption of 5.6 g/d has significantly lowered blood pressure (-3.4/-2.0 mmHg). Reference: “Fish Consumption, Fish Oil, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and Cardiovascular Disease” published in Circulation 2002; 106: 2747-2757. To learn more, you may visit HDL good cholesterol foods.
- Saturated & unsaturated oils consumption in moderate quantity can support healthy cholesterol level. Many leading cardiologists based on their experience they claim; saturated fats (e.g. coconut oil) for cooking (frying) are beneficial. It is more stable than unsaturated fats, and it will not go rancid easily. You can consume organic grass fed animals in moderation. Beware, Processed meats possess inflammatory and heart-disease-causing properties. Unsaturated-fats containing olive oil or flaxseed oil has high levels of monounsaturated fats; raises HDL, and lower LDL when you use them. Poly & monounsaturated fats can lower LDL and total cholesterol. To learn more visit good and bad fat.
- Red-wine consumed moderately appears to reduce the heart disease rate by about 20%. Red wine contains "Resveratrol"; this is a flavonoid antioxidant compound in grape skin and seeds. Caution, extremely heavy drinking seems to have a negative effect. If you are a non-drinker, do not start; because alcohol can affect your liver and cause Cirrhosis.
- Dark chocolate is nutritious; it contains fiber, iron, magnesium, copper, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, and selenium. Dark chocolate is powerful antioxidants, improve circulation, improve brain function, raises HDL, protect LDL oxidation, and lower cardiovascular disease risk. In a 2007 study published in AJCN, participants who given cocoa powder had a 24% increase in HDL levels over 12 weeks, compared with a 5% increase in the control group. Remember to choose the dark or bittersweet kind.
- Tomato juice decreases LDL cholesterol levels and increases LDL resistance to oxidation, published in British Journal of Nutrition, Volume 98, Issue 06, December 2007, pp. 1251-1258. In conclusion, a high dietary intake of tomato products had atherosclerosis protective effects. It significantly reduced LDL cholesterol levels and increased LDL resistance to oxidation in healthy normal cholesterol adults. These protective atherosclerosis features associated with changes in serum lycopene, beta-carotene, and gamma-carotene levels.
Is it possible to lower cholesterol by low-fat diet?
Our body absorb just 1/3 of the cholesterol requirement from the diet, the remaining 2/3 is from liver production. Additionally, based on the dietary cholesterol intake, your liver is capable of balancing its production. Any defect in this mechanism may lead to cholesterol-level disturbance.
High cholesterol level is mostly due to inflammation or any other underlying health condition. Thus, by lowering dietary fat intake you cannot achieve significantly lower cholesterol.
Studies demonstrated that low-fat diet has greater reductions in LDL cholesterol, but it is not persisting over time. On the other hand, low carbohydrate diet exhibits various benefits; weight loss, HDL increases, reduces LDL & triglyceride and reduces heart disease risk.
But study shows for a smaller number of people that is about 2% of the population on low carb diet has elevated LDL and total cholesterol.
Limiting carbohydrate intake (instead of fat) is more effective in the management of cholesterol. Various clinical studies confirm this; additionally, it helps to lower your risk towards diabetes.
Low Carb Diet Lower High Cholesterol
Are you looking forward to lowering your cholesterol number just with food? Try a low-carb diet; clinical study shows carbohydrate restriction lower triglyceride level and improves HDL level.
“Carbohydrate Restriction Alters Lipoprotein Metabolism by Modifying VLDL, LDL, and HDL Sub-Fraction Distribution and Size in Overweight Men” was published in The Journal of Nutrition February 2006 vol. 136 no. 2-384-389. In this study, we showed consumption of a carbohydrate-restricted diet had critical implications for the size and atherogenicity of lipoproteins and on the overall risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Carbohydrate restriction and weight loss significantly reduced triglycerides (TG) and apolipoproteins involved in TG metabolism, reduced the levels of atherogenic lipoprotein particles, and increased the mean HDL particle size.