Food to Lower Cholesterol

Food plays an important role in managing the cholesterol level in your body. Apart from a well-managed lifestyle or proper medication, it is mandatory that you switch to fat-free, cholesterol-free healthy diet in order to manage the level of cholesterol. If you are suffering from high blood cholesterol problem, quite obviously you are having a high level of LDL; then you should consider about three important factors concerning your selection about food to lower cholesterol. These three factors are – saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol. It is always advisable that you make your meal absolutely free from these three factors. Otherwise, you must limit the intake of these three components in your food.

This article enlightens on the important food to lower cholesterol level in your body. You may add any of the following foods to your diet to manage your blood cholesterol.

Beans, Peas and Lentils

This is an appropriate food to lower cholesterol level. All of them consist of high soluble fiber, which effectively manages cholesterol level in your body. You can always prepare a colorful salad dishes using these nutritional substances and keep yourself and your loved ones healthy. Apart from that, you may eat apples, carrots, barely, and oats to fulfill the demand for soluble fiber.

Soy

It contains high protein. Isoflavones, naturally found in Soy products, are believed to mimic the role of hormones that help in regulating cholesterol level in the body. If you really care about lowering your cholesterol level, it is a must that you take a minimum of 25gms of soy proteins as a part of your daily diet. You may take soy yogurt, soy burgers, ground soy, soy nuts, soy milk, tofu and tempeh in your regular diet.

Fish

Fish is an ideal food to lower cholesterol level. It meets the demands for omega 3, which is beneficial for lowering high blood cholesterol. It especially provides protection against LDL cholesterol. Omega 3 fatty acids are commonly found in mackerel, salmon, herring, sardines, tuna and halibut. Truly fishes are the perfect option for getting omega 3, but you may also opt in walnuts, flax seeds or almonds to have the same benefits.

Olive Oil

Mono-saturated fats can effectively lower the level of high blood cholesterol, especially ‘bad’ or LDL one. It also has the ability to raise the amount of HDL cholesterol in the system. Olive oil is rich with mono-saturated fat. Hence, you can switch to this wonderful food to lower cholesterol, especially while cooking or preparing salads.

Flax seed

Flax seed is a perfect food to lower cholesterol level. It constitutes high protein, soluble fiber and omega 3 fatty acids. It also consists of useful component called lignans. Lignans offers protection against cardiovascular problems by means of lowering LDL cholesterol level. Apart from that, it is assumed that flax seed has the ability to fight against few types of cancer like breast and colon cancer. It also helps protecting body from diabetes.

Garlic

Garlic is known as kitchen’s pride. Its medicinal property is highly respected among different cultures for several hundreds of years. It has the ability to fight against different cardiovascular diseases such as high cholesterol, atherosclerosis, and high blood pressure. According to the results found in different scientific studies, garlic helps lowering cholesterol level. Garlic has two compounds, known as allin and allicin. These two compounds are assumed to intrude with the cholesterol metabolism function in the liver. Additionally, garlic also regulates the amount of cholesterol released in the blood stream.

Vitamin C and E

These two vitamins are well known for their anti-oxidizing property. They can also help in minimizing the level of cholesterol in the body. The primary sources for deriving vitamin C are cabbage, oranges, potatoes, peppers, kiwi and strawberries. On the other hand, for having vitamin E in your diet you can easily depend on various healthy foods such as avocados, broccoli, mangoes, Brazilian seeds, peanuts, almonds and sunflower seeds.