How to lower your cholesterol – diet
If you’ve received a high cholesterol reading, a good place to start is with your diet. Here are some tips to bring down your low density lipoproteins “LDLs” (the “bad fats” that, in excess, can stick to your blood vessel walls) and to increase your high density lipoproteins “HDLs” (the “good fats” that keep your blood vessels clear):
Cut down on saturated animal fats. As you probably already know, it’s important to decrease saturated animal fats such as butter, milk, cheese, ice cream, chocolate and fatty red meats.
However, when you eliminate animal fats from your diet you need to add unsaturated vegetable fats in their place, otherwise you will create more problems for your liver.
If you love cheese, choose the “white” cheeses like fetta, ricotta and cottage cheese rather than the harder-to-digest blue cheese, brie, camembert and cheddar varieties.
Increase vegetable fats. You need “good fats” such as avocadoes, olives, olive oil, nuts (almonds, walnuts and cashews in particular) and seeds (flax, chia and pumpkin) and oily fish such as salmon and sardines.
Include lecithin. This naturally occurring healthy fat can help to control cholesterol balance and is found in foods such as soybeans, chicken, turkey, rolled oats, brown rice, wheatgerm, eggs, almonds, brazil nuts and peanuts.
Boost your fibre. Include whole food with plenty of fruits (especially fruits with dark red or purple skins such as cherries, grapes and berries due to their resveratrol content (acts like an antioxidant protecting your body from damage) and apples, pears, citrus fruits, apricots, figs and prunes.
Load up on vegetables. Especially broccoli, sweet potato, squash, corn, cabbage, brussell sprouts, onion, garlic, eggplant, carrots, ginger, artichokes, cucumber, seaweed, shiitake mushrooms.
Eat wholegrains. Such as oats and barley and legumes (navy beans, kidney beans, lentils and chickpeas) as they’re rich in soluble fibre which helps reduce cholesterol.
Avoid trans fats. These are the “bad fats” found in processed foods made by a chemical process called hydrogenation that is used to turn healthy oils into solids. Hydrogenation soon became used in everything from commercially baked cookies to fast-food fries when it was found to lengthen shelf-life!
Quit sugar. Try and cut out refined sugar wherever possible as where you find sugar it’s likely you’ll find trans fats too. Watch out for hidden sugars in commercially baked goods such as pastries, biscuits, cakes, canned food, breakfast cereal, bread, packaged deli foods to name a few.
If you’d like to find out whether herbal medicine can help you or for any more information, please contact tracie@thewellnesscompany.com.au
