3 Strategies For Diets To Lower Cholesterol
Probably one of the easiest ways of lowering your cholesterol is by making changes to your diet which can be made even easier by following one of the many formerly laid out diet plans available.
Diets that include more natural foods i.e. grown rather than processed and reduce dairy products like Butter, eggs and milk is the direction to head in.
Foods low in calories and saturated fat are what we are looking for, some of which should be high in fibre too. Vegetables, Fruits, Whole Grains and Legumes all qualify for the low cholesterol part and Breads, Cereals, Rice, Pasta, Peas and Dry Beans also provide the extra fibre and starch that is also necessary to a good diet.
In general around between 6 and 11 portions a day of these foods is optimum.
Do however be careful of the sweet bread and bakery based foods with a high fat content.
If your LDL (bad cholesterol) count is high and/or your HDL (good cholesterol) count is low, then you should also make sure that no more than 60% of your calorie intake is from carbohydrate foods, as your liver will raise the creation of cholesterol if you consume too much carbohydrate, thus increasing the levels of cholesterol in your blood rather than reducing them.
Furthermore, you should be reducing the amount of total animal products that you consume. A very large proportion of animal based foods contain high levels of saturated fats as well as cholesterol. Saturated fats will further increase your blood cholesterol over what the additional cholesterol on its own will add.
Obvious examples of these high cholesterol, saturated fat foods are: red meats where the fat is visible processed meats including duck, goose, salami, sausage, pate', other meats with a lot of fat such as bacon and its derivatives.
Animal derived foodstuffs such as butter, cheese, egg yolks and ice cream also contain large amounts of saturated fats and cholesterol, therefore cutting back on these things will also help.
Another approach you can take to reducing your cholesterol with diet is to lower your intake of trans fats (Trans Fatty Acid). This type of fat both increases your blood levels of LDL and reduces your HDL levels, the worst of both worlds! Determining whether or not certain foods contain trans fats can often be done simply by consulting the labels ingredients list. Look for words such as shortening, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, and/or hydrogenated vegetable oil, or indeed trans fat.
Tran fat is also contained in foods like crisps, fried food, baked foods, sweets and confectionery, salad dressings, vegetable shortening etc. It is best to just avoid these types of foods wherever possible.
By following these guidelines and diets while at the same time maintaining correct levels of protein, you are definitely on the road to lowering your cholesterol.
Diets that include more natural foods i.e. grown rather than processed and reduce dairy products like Butter, eggs and milk is the direction to head in.
Foods low in calories and saturated fat are what we are looking for, some of which should be high in fibre too. Vegetables, Fruits, Whole Grains and Legumes all qualify for the low cholesterol part and Breads, Cereals, Rice, Pasta, Peas and Dry Beans also provide the extra fibre and starch that is also necessary to a good diet.
In general around between 6 and 11 portions a day of these foods is optimum.
Do however be careful of the sweet bread and bakery based foods with a high fat content.
If your LDL (bad cholesterol) count is high and/or your HDL (good cholesterol) count is low, then you should also make sure that no more than 60% of your calorie intake is from carbohydrate foods, as your liver will raise the creation of cholesterol if you consume too much carbohydrate, thus increasing the levels of cholesterol in your blood rather than reducing them.
Furthermore, you should be reducing the amount of total animal products that you consume. A very large proportion of animal based foods contain high levels of saturated fats as well as cholesterol. Saturated fats will further increase your blood cholesterol over what the additional cholesterol on its own will add.
Obvious examples of these high cholesterol, saturated fat foods are: red meats where the fat is visible processed meats including duck, goose, salami, sausage, pate', other meats with a lot of fat such as bacon and its derivatives.
Animal derived foodstuffs such as butter, cheese, egg yolks and ice cream also contain large amounts of saturated fats and cholesterol, therefore cutting back on these things will also help.
Another approach you can take to reducing your cholesterol with diet is to lower your intake of trans fats (Trans Fatty Acid). This type of fat both increases your blood levels of LDL and reduces your HDL levels, the worst of both worlds! Determining whether or not certain foods contain trans fats can often be done simply by consulting the labels ingredients list. Look for words such as shortening, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, and/or hydrogenated vegetable oil, or indeed trans fat.
Tran fat is also contained in foods like crisps, fried food, baked foods, sweets and confectionery, salad dressings, vegetable shortening etc. It is best to just avoid these types of foods wherever possible.
By following these guidelines and diets while at the same time maintaining correct levels of protein, you are definitely on the road to lowering your cholesterol.